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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 2015)
SERVING ORGANIZED LABOR IN OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON SINCE 1900 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS VOLUME 116, NUMBER 19 INSIDE Oppose I-1366 Union meetings Grocery talks Heisman display 3 6 11 12 PORTLAND, OREGON OCTOBER 2, 2015 Furor over Mexican Oreos, but no union boycott, yet Ironworker strike now in Month 8 Stop eating Oreo cookies? Not so fast, says the Bakers Union Instafab employees Brandon Nelson (front) and Brian McCafferty walked off the job Sept. 22, joining a strike that began Feb. 27. They were greeted outside by fellow strikers and supporters with Portland Jobs with Justice. A strike at nonunion Instafab is now in its eighth month, with no resolution in sight. The strike began Feb. 27 when five workers walked off the job at the Vancouver steel fabrication and erection com- pany to protest wages and working conditions. “We want to be treated fair. Turn to Page 10 A union for massage therapists? AFL-CIO’s Working America is helping LMTs campaign to raise their industry’s standards Janet Weiser may never have a union. But with the help of Working America, she and fel- low licensed massage therapists (LMT) in Oregon are trying out the union principle — organiz- ing and working collectively to improve industry standards. Working America is the AFL-CIO’s outreach organiza- tion for those who agree with the labor movement’s eco- nomic justice agenda but don’t have a union in their work- place. Nearly a year ago, its or- ganizers started the campaign with a mailing and survey sent to all Oregon LMTs. “There are no standards for the industry at all,” says Aneta Molenda, Working America’s lead organizer in the campaign. LMTs work as employees, as independent contractors, or for Janet Weiser, a member of Working America’s Massage Advocacy Project, works at the Hawthorne Street Fair to raise awareness of the campaign. their own private practices, and do their work in spas, health clinics, chiropractors’ offices, or even homes. Most must cob- ble multiple gigs together to make ends meet, including jobs outside their profession. Weiser, for instance, moonlights as an Uber driver, though she’s been an LMT for five years. LMT earnings vary widely, from as high as $100 an hour to as low as minimum wage. The self-employed, and those work- ing the health care side of the profession — earn the most. Earning the least are those who provide massages at big corpo- rate franchise operations like Turn to Page 3 By Don McIntosh Associate editor Donald Trump says he’ll never eat another Oreo. Stephen Col- bert, spoofing him in his inaugu- ral Late Show, devoured the cookies. And 4,500 people have signed an online pledge to stop eating Oreos. What’s it all about? Oreos, in- vented by the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco) in 1912, have been made by the com- pany in Chicago ever since. But on July 29, Nabisco’s corporate owner, Mondelēz International, announced it will spend $130 million to install four new pro- duction lines at its Salinas, Mex- ico, bakery, and shut nine of its 16 production lines in Chicago, laying off 600 of its 1,200 Chicago workers. The Chicago workers are members of Bakery, Confec- tionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Local 300, Machinists District Lodge 8, and Operating Engineers Local 399. Leaders of BCTGM, the largest of the Nabisco unions, say behind-the-scenes talks over the decision were brutal. Com- pany officials told union reps May 15 they were considering two locations for new capital in- vestment — Chicago and Sali- nas — but they’d only pick Chicago if the unions opened their contracts to offer conces- sions amounting to $46 million a year … and there’d still be 300 job losses even then. BCTGM officials say they re- fused to even consider such a pro- posal: It would have amounted to a cut of as much as $29 per hour — for workers whose wage-and- benefit package totals about $50 an hour. “Mondelēz is a $35 billion multinational corporation,” said BCTGM President David Dur- kee in an Aug. 5 letter to Presi- dent Obama. “It may be head- quartered 30 miles up the road from Chicago, but it has no loy- alty to Illinois workers or to the United States of America.” Mondelēz International may or may not be “creating deli- cious moments of joy,” as its mission states, but its announce- ment created a delicious irony: a sizable fraction of the cookies that used to be described as “America’s Favorite” will soon be made in Mexico. So should American workers stop buying Oreos — and Chips Ahoy, Ritz Crackers, Trident Gum, Tang, and dozens of other Mondelēz brands? “We understand where Trump’s coming from,” said Cameron Taylor, business agent at Portland-based BCTGM Lo- cal 364. But to be clear, the Bak- ers Union is not boycotting Oreos, Nabisco or Mondelēz … yet. For the time being, anyway, Oreos will continue to be made by union workers in Portland, Oregon; Atlanta, Georgia; Fair Lawn, New Jersey; and Rich- mond, Virginia. Turn to Page 3
