NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | May 1 , 2015 | PAGE 11
...Fast track
From Page 1
25-13, with the support of all 23
Republicans plus two of the 15
Democrats: Earl Blumenauer
(D-Oregon) and Ron Kind (D-
Wisconsin).
The fast track bills now go to
the full House and Senate for a
vote.
The AFL-CIO has mounted a
strenuous campaign to oppose
fast track, and the White House
has pulled out all the stops to
push it.
The online magazine Buz-
zfeed reported the White House
engaging in “hour-long calls to
lawmakers, secret classified
briefings on Capitol Hill, bully-
pulpit wrangling by Obama, and
even a shadowy new progres-
sive-focused group launched by
Obama supporters solely to sell
the trade deals.”
Oregon AFL-CIO President
Tom Chamberlain fires up an
anti-fast track crowd April 18
in downtown Portland.
On April 9, Jeff Johnson,
president of the Washington
State Labor Council, AFL-CIO,
got his first ever call from the
White House, with two aides
suggesting that if he and labor
continue to fight fast track, it
would tear the Democratic party
apart.
On April 18, the Oregon
AFL-CIO sponsored a huge
march through the streets of
downtown Portland. Smaller
rallies were held the same day
in Bend, Salem, Eugene, Med-
ford and Coos Bay.
“The American people—I
don’t care if you’re a Republi-
can, a Democrat, Independent,
Working Family Party—poll af-
ter poll says ‘we hate this.’ And
for a damn good reason,” said
Oregon AFL-CIO President
Tom Chamberlain. “For 25
years we’ve hated this. We’ve
seen the impact on our jobs.
We’ve seen the impact on the
economy. We’ve seen the im-
pact on our childrens’ future,
and it’s wrong. It’s wrong.”
Barbara Dudley, a founder of
the Oregon Working Families
Party, said Wyden, in his deal
with Republicans, touts the inclu-
sion of Trade Adjustment Assis-
tance (TAA) for service workers.
“Why is that necessary?”
Dudley asked. “Because this
trade agreement is going to
screw service workers the same
way the last ones have screwed
all the manufacturing workers.
That’s why they’re going to
have to extend TAA.”
The AFL-CIO wants union
members to call their Congres-
sional representatives and urge
them to oppose fast track.
Call 1-855-712-8441 to be au-
tomatically patched through to
your member of Congress. In
Oregon, call Sen. Wyden, Earl
Blumenauer, Suzanne Bonam-
ici, Kurt Schrader and Greg
Walden. In Washington, call
Sens. Patty Murray and Maria
Cantwell, and Jaime Herrera
Beutler.
Trade-dislocated workers
may get better benefits ...
thanks to Medicare cuts
The same day it approved “fast
track,” the House Ways and
Means Committee voted to ex-
pand aid for workers who lose
their jobs because of foreign
trade. But the bill the committee
recommended April 23 pays for
the Trade Adjustment Assis-
tance (TAA) in part with future
cuts to Medicare. That drew
protest from the AFL-CIO and
from groups representing hospi-
tals and doctors.
The TAA program pays for
job training, wage replacement,
and health insurance. Right
now, the program is funded at a
bare bones level and only ap-
plies to manufacturing workers
certified to have lost their jobs
because of offshoring or foreign
competition with countries the
United States has trade agree-
ments with. Under the expanded
version, the benefits would ap-
ply to service workers as well,
and to job losses caused by trade
with countries like China and
India that don’t have trade
agreements with the United
States.
The bill—sponsored by Rep.
David Reichert (R-Wash.)—au-
thorizes $450 million a year for
the TAA program through 2021,
which is less than the $575 mil-
lion the Obama Administration
requested. And it offsets that ex-
penditure with cuts elsewhere,
including to a health care tax
credit and to Medicare: Under
the bill, automatic budget cuts to
Medicare under a policy known
as sequestration would increase
by 0.25 percent in 2024, a $700
million cut.
“It pits individuals who need
assistance from TAA against
Medicare beneficiaries,” AFL-
CIO government affairs director
William Samuel wrote in a April
23 letter to members of Con-
gress opposing the bill.
The bill must still pass the full
House and Senate before be-
coming law. In the past, bills ex-
tending TAA benefits have often
passed at the same time as trade
bills, to give members of Con-
gress political cover for approv-
ing trade agreements that cause
American job losses.
...Cowlitz PLA
From Page 9
retary of the Building Trades
Council, anticipates that PLAs
will be signed for the other
phases of the project, including
the Exit 16 interchange, which
will need to be updated to han-
dle higher traffic volumes.
Cowlitz Tribe Chairman Bill
Iyall expects the overall project
will generate more than 1,000
construction jobs during the 18-
month build-out. Once open, the
resort will provide more than
1,500 permanent jobs. The tribe
has signed a neutrality agree-
ment that will allow workers to
join a union without any inter-
ference.
The tribe signed a similar
PLA with the construction
trades in 2005. The project has
been held up in the courts by
challenges from several local
entities, including the City of
Vancouver and the Clark
County Board of Councilors.
The Cowlitz Indian Tribe
gained federal recognition as a
tribe in 2000. In 2010 the Bu-
reau of Indian Affairs approved
its application to establish the
Cowlitz reservation on 152
acres of land off of I-5.