NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | June 17, 2016 | PAGE 5
Labor 100 Years Ago — June 17, 1916
A look back at the front page stories of the Oregon Labor Press, June 17, 1916. A digital version of the front page can be seen at www.nwlaborpress.org/100yearsago
*CHAMBER OF COMMERCE FAVORS THE OPEN SHOP
Yes sir. Portland is to be an open shop town hereafter. The
Executive Board of the Chamber of Commerce says so. As
the Evening Telegram puts it, “a majority of the Executive
Board has unanimously decided in favor of the open shop.”
Suffering cats. Whoever said the town was anything else
than an open shop town except, perhaps, in rare instances.
So far as the action of the Chamber of Commerce is con-
cerned it will not hurt organized labor in this city in partic-
ular, and neither will it do the Chamber of Commerce any
good.
Everybody knows that the Chamber of Commerce is
about on its last legs anyhow and it is presumed that it was
thought necessary to do something desperate in the hope
that the action might attract some support.
Tommy McCusker was on the job and saw an opportu-
nity to pull a stunt for his bunch of union haters and at the
same time bolster up his chances of holding onto his job.
All right, now we are going to have an open shop town.
Then what? Do you propose to reduce wages, or make the
men work longer hours for the same pay? Just what do you
think will be accomplished by declaring for the open shop?
You certainly don’t think for a moment that the you will
stop organization do you?
You might move Council Crest over on the Washington
side of the Columbia and make it easy for the real estate
speculators to plot the Tualatin Valley. You might move
Mount Hood down close to the Columbia River Highway.
You might induce John Yeon that there are just as good
pavements in the world as Warrenite, but you CAN’T
STOP ORGANIZATION. Don’t forget that.
And there are only a very few that want to stop it or
would stop it if they could. Most people have come to real-
ize the absolute necessity of organization both of capital
and labor, and it will take more than the “unanimous action
of a majority” of the Executive Board of the Chamber of
Commerce to convince them otherwise.
There’s nothing to get alarmed about in the action of the
Chamber of Commerce. It would be just about as exciting
if the Central Labor Council would adopt a long resolution
declaring for the closed shop.
There are a few members of the Chamber who have long
wanted to have a fight with organized labor and no doubt
their wish will be gratified.
Following is a copy of the resolution (resolves) “unani-
mously adopted by a majority of the Board”:
Resolved by the Board of Directors of the Portland Cham-
ber of Commerce, assembled in special meeting Thursday
noon, June 15, That we will insist upon at least as low a
wage in the handling of business on the waterfront of this
port as is paid on the waterfront of any competitive port with
*
which we are struggling for business, regardless of any set-
tlement that is reached in the conference now pending in San
Francisco, or such as may be later inaugurated for an adjust-
ment of the strike conditions; and be it further
Resolved by the Board, That the action taken by the long-
shoremen in attempting to tie up this port in the efforts to
raise the standard of wages in other ports of the Pacific has
interfered with the commerce of this port and is an act of in-
gratitude and lack of appreciation of the fact that the long-
shoremen have been paid in this community for many years
a higher wage than the average wage rate of the Pacific
Coast; and be it further
Resolved by the Board, That we oppose in most vigorous
manner any effort at the present time to stir up industrial
strife within this community which must have the effect of
increasing the difficulties confronted by the port in re-estab-
lishing its business to normal conditions; and be it further
Resolved by the Board, That we will oppose the carrying
out of the apparent plan to establish the principles of closed
Oregon Letter Carriers collect 970,000 pounds of food
Letter carriers had a lot to carry on
Saturday, May 14. Not only did
they deliver the mail, they also
collected food donations for the
annual Stamp Out Hunger Food
Drive. The nationwide event is a
collaboration of the National As-
sociation of Letter Carriers
(NALC), the National Rural Car-
riers’ Association, United Food
and Commercial Workers, United
Way, and food banks.
This year the food drive col-
lected 970,000 pounds of nonper-
ishable food in Oregon and Clark
County, Washington. In the Port-
land metro area, 407,000 pounds
of food was gathered. Both num-
bers are lower than in previous
years. Oregon and Southwest
Washington will typically bring in
1.2 to 1.4 million pounds of food
— and over 500,000 pounds in
the Portland metro area.
Melissa Yale of the Oregon
Food Bank said rainy weather
was the likely cause for the lower
amount. “A lot of people didn’t
want to leave bags of food in the
rain,” she said.
Nationally, tallies weren’t final-
ized at press time, but coordinators
were optimistic that the food drive
will exceed 71 million pounds.
Since the food drive began in
1992, more than 1.4 billion
pounds of food have been col-
lected and distributed by NALC
and community supporters.
Food Bank officials say a food
drive this big helps fill the sum-
mer gap for children, many of
whom have access to free and re-
duced price meals during the
school year.
shop to such extent as prevents the laborers at one stage of
commercial movement from handling commerce that has
been handled at another stage of the movement by what is
termed by organized labor as “unfair” or “non-union” help,
and that the principle of a closed shop as applied to the busi-
ness of this port, which would have the effect of limiting
the work of industries and any commercial organizations to
only a limited number of men, who under the guise of or-
ganized labor, seek to restrict selfishly the work to its own
members, and to the detriment of others who desire to en-
gage in the work, is opposed to the best interests of the com-
munity and is an infringement upon the rights of citizenship
guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States and the
State of Oregon, and should be overcome by the business
people and all other elements of the community who be-
lieve in the principle of personal liberty and individual
rights, and in the largest possible opportunity for all people
to labor, regardless of their affiliations.
Labor Agency seeks housing hardship donations
Labor’s Community Service
Agency, Inc. (LCSA) is making
an urgent appeal for donations
to its Helping Hands temporary
hardship assistance program.
“We’re seeing the Oregon
housing crisis force more and
more working families into
eviction and homelessness even
while folks are employed,” said
LCSA Director Vickie Burns.
Affordable local housing is
scarce. Burns said most rental
agreements allow for no-cause
evictions. They also contain pro-
hibitive move-in costs and un-
sustainable rental increase
schedules. As a result, the small,
per-family financial assistance
offered through LCSA’s Help-
ing Hands program falls short of
keeping families in their homes,
and fails to make a dent in hefty
move-in fees.
Anyone can send donations
to Labor’s Community Service
Agency, Inc. at 9955 SE Wash-
ington, Suite 111, Portland, Ore-
gon, 97216. For more informa-
tion, call 503-231-4962.