PAGE 10 | June 19, 2015 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
NATIONAL
At Walmart, charity really
really starts at home
D.C. Jobs with Justice and a
dozen other labor and commu-
nity groups filed a complaint
with the IRS June 15 — accus-
ing Walmart of inappropriately
using its nonprofit Walmart
Foundation to soften up local
opposition to the company’s ef-
forts to expand. The Walmart
Foundation, which is com-
pletely controlled by the com-
pany, has had a habit of ramping
up local giving just before local
votes on whether to approve
new stores. For example, the
foundation donated just over
$200,000 to Los Angeles organ-
izations in 2008 and 2009, in-
creased that to $1.4 million in
2011, just as plans to open a
store were getting underway,
and then dropped back to about
$230,000 in 2013, the year that
store opened. Such a practice vi-
olates the terms of the founda-
tion’s tax-exempt status, the
complaint argues, because it
shows that the charitable dona-
tions are directly benefiting the
donor’s business.
$15 minimum passes in LA,
and will go to Tacoma voters
Los Angeles became the latest
—and largest—U.S. city to raise
its minimum wage June 13,
when mayor Eric Garcetti
signed a bill for a local mini-
mum wage that will rise in steps
to $15 by 2020.
And on June 6, the group 15
Now qualified a ballot measure
that will ask Tacoma, Washing-
ton, voters this November to ap-
prove a $15 an hour minimum,
for businesses with annual gross
revenues of over $300,000.
Tacoma City Council is working
on a counterproposal to refer to
voters.
Sanders finds labor backing
for his campaign for president
The first candidate to earn labor
support for the 2016 presidential
race is … Sen. Bernie Sanders
of Vermont. On June 15, the
North Carolina AFL-CIO
passed a resolution urging sup-
port for Sanders’ campaign, cit-
ing his longstanding and heart-
felt commitment to union
principles and labor’s values,
and policy proposals that put the
interests of the labor movement
Who’s on our side?
By Tom Chamberlain Oregon AFL-CIO President
Free trade — a litmus test for labor
A
fter 20 years of NAFTA, CAFTA and a
host of other free trade agreements, none
of which have fulfilled their promise of new
jobs, the data shows that American workers
have paid for free trade with lower wages and
cuts to benefits. America has lost millions of
good-paying, middle class jobs.
The American labor movement, spear-
headed by AFL-CIO President Richard
Trumka, has been very clear about our posi-
tion on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
and Fast Track. We will not support any trade
agreement that costs jobs, undermines the
sovereignty of our nation, and ignores labor
and environmental standards.
Our answer from President Obama is to
trust him. But the little we know about the
TPP does nothing to convince us that it will
be any different than the previous free trade
agreements.
The labor movement has been united—and
we have been clear with Congress: Trade Pro-
motion Authority, also known as Fast Track,
forces an up or down vote on the TPP. Organ-
ized labor will hold those who side with cor-
porate America accountable. The TPP is po-
tentially the largest free trade agreement in
history, representing 40 percent of the world’s
economy. It will be the last trade agreement
to allow nations to simply sign on.
On June 4, Roll Call magazine ran an arti-
cle titled “Democrats Frustrated by Unions’
Cash Freeze over Fast Track.” The article
speaks to how upset some members of Con-
gress are that organized labor will not make
political contributions until after the vote on
Fast Track and the TPP, and evaluating
whether to find more worker-oriented candi-
dates to challenge supporters of corporate-dri-
ven free trade agreements.
What is upsetting about the article is the
backlash the labor movement is receiving
from those members of the Democratic
House Caucus, who labor is holding account-
able for their support of Fast Track and the
TPP. They’re even going so far as referring
to President Trumka as a “bully.”
I wonder if the named and unnamed mem-
bers of the U.S. House of Representatives
Democratic Caucus members who spoke out
in the article understand that their vote for
Fast Track and for the Trans-Pacific Partner-
ship is the biggest labor vote of their careers.
Taking issue with how unions hold Congres-
sional Democrats accountable defines the
growing fissure between workers and some
politicians. This appears to be based on a be-
lief that unions have no place to go but the
Democratic Party. In reality, we do have a
place to go: It’s to sit out elections or to find
better candidates who understand that work-
ers need help.
The endorsement of any labor organiza-
tion, including the Oregon AFL-CIO, is
earned through voting records, candidate
questionnaires, and how candidates actively
support workers. Do they support cuts to so-
cial programs such as Social Security,
Medicare and Medicaid to balance the federal
budget? Or do they ensure that business and
the one-percenters pay their fair share? Do
they go to union events and glad-hand? Or do
they walk the picket line and send letters to
CEOs in support of workers?
Labor’s endorsements and political contri-
butions aren’t a right. They’re an honor.
Tom Chamberlain is president of the Oregon AFL-CIO,
a 120,000-member-strong federation of labor unions.
front and center. The resolution
comes after similar resolutions
from the Vermont AFL-CIO and
the United Electrical, Radio, and
Machine Workers of America.
FedEx drivers are employees
after all, in California anyway
FedEx Ground announced June
12 that it will pay $228 million
to settle a lawsuit claiming that
it illegally misclassified over
2,000 FedEx Ground and FedEx
Home Delivery pickup and de-
livery drivers as “independent
contractors” when they were in
reality employees. The com-
pany has been sued numerous
times for the practice, which is
meant to skirt payroll taxes and
the law giving workers the right
to unionize.
...Fast Track runs off rails
From Page 1
of all of this discussion that we
could find a path to yes for the
Fast Track legislation,” Pelosi
said. “Some bumps in the road
along the way … unfortunately,
I think, sinkholes as well. But
that doesn’t mean that that road
cannot be repaired. I just believe
that it must be lengthened.”
Pelosi seemed to suggest in
her House floor speech that Fast
Track should come after Con-
gress deals with more urgent
matters, like climate change and
highway fund reauthorization.
How the Oregon/Southwest
Washington delegation voted
Democrat Peter DeFazio was
the only Oregon House member
to vote against the Fast Track
and TAA bills. His fellow De-
mocrats Earl Blumenauer,
Suzanne Bonamici, and Kurt
Schrader, and Republican Greg
Walden, all voted for the Fast
Track and TAA bills, as did
Southwest Washington Repub-
lican Jaime Herrera-Beutler. [In
the earlier Senate vote, Jeff
Merkley (D-Ore.) voted against
the Fast Track/TAA bill, but
Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Maria
Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Patty
Murray (D-Wash.) voted for it.]
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