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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 2, 2016)
PAGE 8 | September 2, 2016 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS Working Families Party endorses Clinton for president The Working Families Party has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. The organization sur- veyed its membership last month, and 68 percent favored the endorsement, as did WFP’s national board. WFP was an early, strong supporter of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign. The Working Families Party is a minor political party that is backed by many labor unions. WFP endorses and helps to elect major party candidates who commit to its working families agenda. It has an active chapter in Oregon. Elections are about choices, said WFP National Director Dan Cantor. “And when we wake up on Nov. 9, either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will have been elected president. We choose Secretary Clinton, as Bernie did. We make this announcement knowing we’ll need to work to hold her accountable to her cam- paign’s promises. But we need to elect her first.” WFP said Clinton has an- nounced good policies on many issues that are important to the 140 middle class and working poor. But it’s not just the policy pro- posals, Cantor said. It’s the enor- mous power of appointments, and not just the U.S. Supreme Court. The National Labor Rela- tions Board and Department of Labor can make it harder or eas- ier for workers to form unions. The Environmental Protection Agency makes critical choices about clean water and climate change. And 401(k) account holders need serious regulators at the U.S. Treasury and the Se- curity Exchange Commission. The Working Families Party says GOP nominee Donald Trump is unfit to be president, calling him “the most dangerous figure in mainstream American politics since George Wallace.” HAVING A BLAST: Ken Kogle (shooting) and his son Zack (photo left), both members of Machinists Lodge 63, and Roofers Local 49 member Noble Hodgin (photo right) participated in the Hot August Nights clay shoot Aug. 27 spon- sored by Sunrise Dental. The third annual event raised $4,370.57 each for Labor’s Community Service Agency and Sunrise for Children, a program to help end child slavery. Top financial sponsors were Vancouver Energy Project, the Alliance for Northwest Jobs and Exports, IBEW Local 48, the American Federation of Government Employees, and seven Sunrise Dental clinics. Thirty-four people participated in the shoot. The four-man team from Roofers Local 49 captured first place with a score of 239. They donated their cash winnings back to the charity. Portland Painters Local 10 says ‘no’ to both Hillary and Donald At the Aug. 17 general member- ship meeting of Portland-head- quartered Painters Local 10, members passed a resolution saying the local does not sup- port Democrats or Republicans, which “are and have always been strike-breaking, war-mak- ing parties of the bosses.” The resolution was introduced by Wyatt McMinn, vice president and chair of the union’s Volun- teer Activist Committee. It passed unanimously. Specifically, the resolution calls on the Painters interna- tional union to repudiate its ear- lier endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president, and it calls on the labor movement to break from the Democratic Party and build a “class-struggle workers party.” See the full resolution at bit.ly/2btnifr. Most unions on the national level have endorsed Clinton by now, including the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades—Local 10’s parent or- ganization, and the national AFL-CIO has made defeating Donald Trump a priority. Some national unions—like American Federation of Teach- ers and Service Employees Inter- national Union — were early and enthusiastic supporters of the Clinton campaign. Others —and the national AFL-CIO— waited until after the primary season had played out and Clinton had out- polled Bernie Sanders to clinch the nomination. International Association of In Clackamas County WE SUPPORT SWANSON, THOMAS, COON & NEWTON will soon become THOMAS, COON, NEWTON & FROST as we welcome our new partner CHRIS FROST. Jim Bernard for County Chair Ken Humberston for County Commissioner Position 4 NW Oregon Labor Council, AFL-CIO Paid for and authorized by NW Oregon Labor Council Fire Fighters decided not to en- dorse either Clinton or Trump, after polling showed members were very sharply divided. And only one union has endorsed Trump —the National Border Patrol Council, which repre- sents 18,000 U.S. Border Patrol agents. That union is a division of American Federation of Gov- ernment Employees, which it- self endorsed Clinton Dec.10.
