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December 4, 2015 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
NORTHWEST
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... Schrader turns hostile to union rights
From Page 1
U.S. House of Representatives,
he became chair of the Blue
Dog coalition, a group of 15
“conservative Democrats” who
often defy the Democratic main-
stream on tax and budget policy.
Schrader was re-elected three
times since 2008, with labor’s
endorsement. Over the years he
has appeared at labor events and
picnics, while his votes earned
him an 84 percent rating from
the national AFL-CIO.
But the relationship soured
this year when the national
AFL-CIO ramped up its cam-
paign against Fast Track — a set
of rules in which Congress en-
ables quick passage of trade
agreements like the proposed
Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Schrader has long been a sup-
porter of such trade deals, and
voted for Fast Track. When the
national AFL-CIO ran TV ads
critical of Democrats who sup-
port Fast Track and threatened
to withhold support from those
who voted for it, Schrader
seemed to take offense. In June,
he called AFL-CIO President
Rich Trumka a “bully” in an in-
terview with a blog for Wash-
“This isn’t the Kurt Schrader we thought
we were getting in 2008.”
— Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain
ington, D.C., insiders. The rela-
tionship has only worsened
since then.
On Nov. 5, Schrader — to-
gether with Washington Repub-
lican Congressman Dan New-
house — introduced a bill
requiring the president to seek
an 80-day court injunction in the
event of a slowdown by long-
shore workers. The bill would
amend the Taft-Hartley law of
1947. That anti-labor law —
passed by Republican Congress
over President Harry Truman’s
veto — gave presidents the dis-
cretion to seek a court order
forcing workers back to work if
a strike or lock-out is deemed to
be a threat to national health or
safety. But presidents have
rarely used that authority. The
most recent instances were in
1971, when Richard Nixon used
it in a West Coast port dispute,
and 2002, when George W.
Bush did the same. Schrader’s
bill (HR 3932) would make it
mandatory for presidents to use
the injunction in the case of port
disputes — and for slowdowns,
not just strikes and lockouts.
The bill has 10 other co-spon-
sors, all Republicans, including
Eastern Oregon’s Greg Walden
and Eastern Washington’s Cathy
McMorris Rodgers.
Then on Nov. 17, Schrader
joined 225 Republicans and 23
other Democrats in voting for a
bill to eliminate the right of
workers at tribal enterprises to
unionize. According to the na-
tional AFL-CIO, the Tribal La-
bor Sovereignty Act (HR 511)
would apply not just to casinos,
but to mining operations, power
plants, smoke shops, saw mills,
construction companies, ski re-
sorts, high-tech firms, hotels,
and spas — any commercial en-
terprise owned by an Indian
tribe on Indian land. The bill,
which passed the House, seeks
to overturn a 2004 decision by
the National Labor Relations
Board which said workers at an
Indian casino have a federally-
protected right to unionize.
Trumka called it “a union-bust-
ing bill” and an attempt to si-
lence the voices of working peo-
ple.
“The AFL-CIO believes in
both tribal sovereignty and
worker solidarity,” Trumka said
in a press statement. “We don’t
have to choose.”
“This isn’t the Kurt Schrader
we thought we were getting in
2008, back when he voiced sup-
port for the Employee Free
Choice Act,” said Oregon AFL-
CIO President Tom Chamber-
lain. “It seems like he went to a
different level when he tried to
deny collective bargaining
rights for casino workers, and
the carveout of longshore work-
ers has everybody in labor con-
cerned.”
Schrader’s office did not re-
turn a call from the Labor Press.
Schrader faces re-election in
November 2016.