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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (July 3, 2015)
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | July 3, 2015 | PAGE 9 Image A2004-002.9377, courtesy of City of Portland Archives & Records ...Obama signs new fast track bill From Page 1 that for the next six years, any trade agreements will get a rapid come law). The Fast Track bill up-or-down vote in Congress, passed the House with limited debate 219-211 (with sup- and no opportunity port from about one FIG LEAF EXPOSED: to amend. in six Democrats), Of the 14 Senate De- However, under but the Trade Adjust- mocrats who voted for the nefast track law, ment Assistance bill Fast Track when it was all future trade went down 126-302. agreements must Unions called it a combined with Trade be posted on a Adjustment Assistance, website for 60 victory. But Fast Track only Ben Cardin of days, “for people to supporters kept try- Maryland voted against scrutinize, and take ing. On June 18, the when TAA was re- a look at, and pick House held a second apart,” Obama said moved. Fast Track vote in- at the bill signing. tending to send an “So the debate identical stand-alone on the particular bill to the Senate. It passed the provisions of trade will not end House 218-208. The stand- with this bill signing,” Obama alone Fast Track bill then passed continued. “But I’m very confi- the Senate on June 24 by 60-38, dent that we’re going to be able and the Senate also passed a to say at the end of the day that Trade Adjustment Assistance the trade agreements that come amendment to another bill by under this authorization are go- voice vote. The following day, ing to improve the system of the House voted the new Trade trade that we have right now. Adjustment Assistance bill; this And that’s a good thing.” time, it passed 286-138, with HOW THEY VOTED: only six Democrats voting In the Senate: Oregon De- against it. The Trade Adjustment Assis- mocrat Ron Wyden and Wash- tance bill extends assistance ington Democrats Maria through June 2022, with an ex- Cantwell and Patty Murray pansion of the program through voted for Fast Track. Wyden’s June of 2021. That includes $2.7 fellow Oregon Democrat Jeff billion in funds for worker re- Merkley voted against Fast training and education, while Track. In the House: Oregon’s Earl making workers in service in- dustries eligible. In past TAAs, Blumenauer, Suzanne Bonam- only manufacturing workers im- ici, and Kurt Schrader were among the 28 House Democrats pacted by trade were eligible. The bill also extends and ex- who joined 190 Republicans to pands a tax credit for the pur- pass Fast Track. Also voting for chase of health insurance, and it it were Eastern Oregon Repub- includes subsidies for the wages lican Congressman Greg of workers 50 years of age or Walden and Southwest Wash- older forced to find lower-pay- ington Republican Jaime Her- ing jobs than the ones they lost rera-Beutler. Democrat Peter DeFazio was the only Oregon to global competition. President Obama signed both member of the U.S. House to vote against Fast Track. bills into law on June 29. Fast Track’s passage means ONE SENATOR COULD HAVE STOPPED IT:The stand- alone Fast Track vote in the Senate passed by a single vote in a sense, because to get to a vote, there first had to be 60 votes to cut off debate (that vote, the previous day, was 60-37). Thus any U.S. Senator could have stopped Fast Track in its tracks. Striking longshore workers occupy the railroad tracks near Pier Park and N. Columbia Blvd. Remembering Portland Longshore’s BLOODY WEDNESDAY On the morning of July 11, 1934, a train full of Portland po- lice officers moved toward Ter- minal 4 in the St. Johns neigh- borhood. Their intent was to forcibly break the picket line of striking longshore workers, but near the intersection of what is now Columbia Boulevard, pick- eters blocked the train’s passage. Following the police chief’s or- ders, officers opened fire on the unarmed workers. Four were wounded, but the picket line held firm. The event became known within the International Longshore and Warehouse Union as “Bloody Wednesday.” This year on Saturday, July 11, the Pacific Northwest Labor History Association (PNLHA) will commemorate the incident at Pier Park, site of the attack. Local historians will lead a guided walk at Pier Park, dis- cussing what happened that day, the meaning it had for partici- pants, and the strike’s role in Portland's history. “The trees of Pier Park were once pockmarked with bullets, and for decades served as re- minders of the odds the workers and their community supporters were up against,” said PNLHA trustee Ryan Wisnor, a graduate student in history at Portland State University. Bloody Wednesday is Port- land’s version of the more fa- mous “Bloody Thursday” of the week before, when two striking longshore workers were killed by San Francisco police, leading to a general strike. Bloody Thursday is an official holiday in ILWU’s longshore contracts, and in Portland, members of the union gather at Oaks Bottom every year on July 5 to lay wreaths in memory of the union martyrs. The PNLHA event is en- dorsed by several ILWU locals and by the PSU History Depart- ment. The event starts at 2:30 p.m July 11. Participants will meet at Pier Park at the traffic circle at N James St. & N Bruce Ave.
