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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (April 17, 2015)
PAGE 14 | April 17, 2015 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS LOCAL MOTION Who’s on our side? By Tom Chamberlain Oregon AFL-CIO President Oregon labor bucks national trend It is hard to believe that just eight years ago, the American labor movement was on the verge of a monumental power shift. From 2004 to 2007, the labor movement was united and determined to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, crucial labor law reform. We ed- ucated members, wrote letters, signed peti- tions, and held leaders accountable: No en- dorsements, and no support, unless they signed on. We organized and we—a united union movement—had the power. That power was on display in 2007 on a hot Chicago evening in Soldier Field, where tens of thousands of union members and their fam- ilies listened and cheered as Democratic pres- idential candidates debated our issues. The event was televised nationally. Clinton, Obama, Dodd, Edwards, Kucinich, and Richardson stood and voiced their undying support of labor law reform under the Em- ployee Free Choice Act. And it went beyond presidential candidates; it was all Congressional candidates. With the wind at our backs, organized labor entered the 2009 Congress with victory within our grasp. Corporate America went berserk. From Walmart to Warren Buffett, business do- ing everything they could to stop us. Then our champion, Ted Kennedy, died and we were told to wait until after the Affordable Health Care Act was passed. It never happened. Democrats lost the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010 and the Em- ployee Free Choice Act was dead. Corporate America was satisfied, but the la- bor movement knew we had come close to a real win. By February 2011, the Koch brothers’ can- didate, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, was steamrolling a bill to limit collective bargain- ing rights for all public employees. Wisconsin labor fought hard, but lost. Soon after, Indiana and Michigan followed. Today, 25 of the 50 states are “right to work.” Almost every state has seen similar legislative attacks. All but Oregon. With unions losing membership and power nationwide, the 2014 elections were a disaster. But not in Oregon. We won the majority of our targeted races and gained seats in our Leg- islature. Why is Oregon on the offense with a leg- islative agenda that includes raising the mini- mum wage, fighting for paid sick days, and banning the box, while the rest of the country plays defense? Why have our unions in- creased to 17 percent of the workforce, buck- ing the national trend? What makes us unique? Oregon’s union leaders know that to be suc- cessful we must work together and coordinate our resources. Our leadership is strong, expe- rienced, and willing to change with the times. The Oregon AFL-CIO is different than al- most any state labor federation in the country. Most state federations focus 100 percent on elections and legislation. We focus on elec- tions and legislation, but we’re also a grass- roots organization that uses our resources to knock on doors, send letters, and make phone calls. We build our grassroots power through a community involvement arm called Oregon Strong Voice, which brings together commu- nity-based organizations, students, unions, and more. The 2014 election was the first time we could provide staff to our Oregon Strong Voice regions of Bend, Eugene and Medford, where 33 percent of our election volunteer shifts occurred. Our electoral efforts have ex- panded beyond Portland, and our program was instrumental in electing Sara Gelser to the Oregon Senate in Albany and Corvallis, and re-electing Sen. Alan Bates in Southern Ore- gon. That’s what grassroots power can ac- complish. Oregon is the only state labor federation in the country that directly organizes workers. Over the next two years, we have the potential to bring in more than 2,000 workers to our movement. Oregon is different because our unions work together, fight together, and lead to- gether. Tom Chamberlain is president of the Oregon AFL-CIO, a 120,000-member-strong federation of labor unions. The following are Oregon and Southwest Washington workplaces where workers are determining whether to be represented by a union. The thumbs-up symbol means workers will be union-represented. Thumbs-down means they’ll be on their own. Decert means a decertification election, where union-represented workers vote whether to remain union. The information comes from the National Labor Relations Board and the Oregon Employment Relations Board. NOTE: There were no representation elections held in February. Election Requests Employer (Location) Union Milwaukie Convalescent Center (Milwaukie) SEIU Local 503 ■ 51 workers – CNAs, cooks, housekeepers, laundry and other support workers American Federation of Teachers (Vancouver) CWA Local 7901 ■ 5 workers – staff organizers on AFT-Washington nurses organizing project DFW Security Protective Force (Albany) United Security Forces of America ■ 12 workers – security guards at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Albany Research Center Quality Custom Distribution (Tigard) Teamsters Local 305 ■ 21 workers – warehouse employees Glacier Northwest/Cal Portland (Hillsboro) Teamsters Local 162 ■ 11 workers – concrete mixer truck drivers Unionization by majority signup Employer (Location) Union Washington County Sheriff’s Office (Hillsboro) Wash. County Sergeants Assn. ■ 28 workers –patrol and investigative sergeants Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue District (Waldport) IAFF Local 4619 ■ 8 workers Election Results Employer (Location) Union Yes-No = Highland Laboratories (Mt. Angel) UFCW Local 555 10-11 FREE CLASSIFIED ADS AUTOMOTIVE ‘03 gmc sierra diesel Duramax 4x4, long bed pickup, 72k, white, allison trani, HD tow pkg $19k. 503-891-9877 gmc TrUcK, flat bed, 1.5 ton, runs and drives, 1946 vintage, licensed 2017, $3,800. 541-219-2212 HOUSING rOcKaWaY BeacH rental, 3 bed, 2 bth, sleeps 10, Jacuzzi, 5 min to beach/ shops.Vacationhomerentals.com/43026 rOcKaWaY ocean front, 503-777- 5076, 5bdrms/2 bath, book now for summer! http://rockawaybeachfron- trental.co SPORTING GOODS Union vote scheduled for Boeing South Carolina About 2,400 Boeing production and maintenance workers in South Carolina are scheduled to vote April 22 on whether to unionize with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM). The vote comes after a year-long campaign by the Machinists to unionize at Boeing’s nonunion facilities there. IAM represents Boeing workers in the Puget Sound, Kansas City, and Port- land. But just 4 percent of South Carolina workers belong to a union, and Boeing is campaign- ing hard against the Machinists, with a web site, radio ads, and fierce anti-union messages from South Carolina’s Republican Gov. Nikki Haley. The union, meanwhile, has its own web site, ads on digital billboards around North Charleston, and is sending groups of workers from the Puget Sound to meet with Boe- ing workers in South Carolina. Boeing is spending $1 billion to expand its facilities in South Carolina, and last year said it will build a new model of 787 exclu- sively at a South Carolina plant. Four years ago, the National Labor Relations Board found that Boeing built its South Car- olina facility in retaliation for past strikes by Machinists. 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Ads must include a phone number, including area code, or they will not be published. No commercial or business ads. HOW TO SUBMIT A CLASSIFIED AD WANTED OlD WOODWOrKing tools, planes, levels, chisels, handsaws, slicks, adzes, wrenches, folding rulers, axes, hatch- ets, tool chests. 503-659-0009 Indicate which union you are a member of, and send your ad to michael492@comcast.net or by mail to PO Box 13150, Portland OR 97213. We publish the first and third Fridays of each month, and the deadline is one week prior to that.
