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.