SERVING ORGANIZED LABOR IN OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON SINCE 1900
NORTHWEST
LABOR
PRESS
VOLUME 117, NUMBER 18
IN THIS ISSUE
FAIR SCHEDULING Seattle get ready to pass fair
scheduling ordinance. | Page 2
NO ENDORSEMENT FOR YOU! Support for TPP costs
Oregon governor Machinists endorsement. | Page 3
Labor Day Picnic Photos p. 4-5
Meeting Notices p. 7
PORTLAND, OREGON
SEPTEMBER 16, 2016
Portland truck plant
layoffs put Machinist
pension in danger
CALM BEFORE THE LABOR DAY STORM. Bob and Janet Tackett sit practically alone an hour before
the opening of the Northwest Oregon Labor Council’s Labor Day picnic at Oaks Park. Tackett is the exec-
utive secretary-treasurer of the council, which sponsors the event. A few hours later, nearly 15,000 people
filled the park, according to park officials. For more photos from Labor Day picnics throughout Ore-
gon, turn to Pages 4 and 5.
In Labor Day speech
Sen. Merkley calls for national motor-voter
Just as Oregon led the nation as
the first state to recognize Labor
Day as a holiday, the United
States should follow Oregon’s
lead by implementing a national
motor voter registration law.
That was the message U.S. Sen.
Jeff Merkley shared at a Labor
Day picnic at Oaks Park.
The picnic, sponsored by the
Northwest Oregon Labor Coun-
cil, attracted nearly 15,000 peo-
ple, according to park officials.
“Across the nation there are
dark forces that are all about
voter suppression,” Merkley
said. “They don’t believe in
democracy. They want the pow-
erful and the privileged to run
our country.”
“But what are the first three
words of the Constitution?”
Merkley asked. “‘We the peo-
ple.’ It’s not ‘we the privileged.’
It’s not ‘we the powerful.’”
Oregon is the first state in the
country to make voter registration
automatic when you go to the
DMV (Department of Moter Ve-
hicles). Since its inception on Jan.
1, 2016, a total of 222,197 new
voters have been registered, ac-
cording to the Elections Division.
“With each month of 2016,
we are adding a new wave of
Oregon voters,” said Secretary
of State Jeanne P. Atkins. “With
fewer than 90 days until Novem-
ber 8, we are on track to give
over 250,000 new voters the op-
portunity to participate in the
general election.”
During his remarks, Merkley
called for a doubling of the na-
tional minimum wage; for na-
tional (paid) sick leave; and for
a public option choice under the
federal Affordable Care Act.
“And let’s make sure that we
don’t have trade agreements that
undermine the success of Amer-
ican workers,” Merkley contin-
ued. “We can’t compete against
countries that pay workers less
than a dollar an hour and no en-
vironmental rules. We know that
already. Let’s not dig this hole
any deeper.”
Merkley said if the U.S. does-
n’t make things in America, “we
won’t have a middle class in
America. So let’s make things in
the United States of America!”
The Northwest Oregon Labor
Council didn’t invite U.S. Sen.
Ron Wyden or U.S. Reps. Earl
Blumenauer, Kurt Schrader, and
Suzanne Bonamicci on to the
stage to speak because of their
support for fast tracking the
Trans-Pacific Partnership. Fast
track status requires Congress to
take an up-or-down vote on
trade agreements, with limited
debate and no amendments.
Merkley gave a shout out to
Gov. Kate Brown, Attorney Gen-
eral Ellen Rosenblum, and To-
bias Read, a candidate for state
treasurer. He asked picnickers to
vote for them in the general elec-
tion in November. He also put in
a big plug for Brad Avakian, who
is running for secretary of state.
Republicans “really want to
control” this office, he said.
“And they’re bringing in a lot of
outside money to do it.”
Merkley said redistricting is a
big reason the GOP is working
so hard for the seat. “We’ve seen
what’s happened in Texas and
North Carolina and other states”
that redistricted in a way that
give Republican candidates an
advantage at the polls. “Let’s
make sure that Brad Avakian
wins. It’s a critical, critical
race,” Merkley said.
Daimler’s Portland truck plant
set a new record this summer:
Fewest manufacturing jobs ever.
The plant, which entered the
21st century with about 3,000
production workers, today has
570. That’s after the most recent
round of 170 layoffs in June.
Remaining at the plant are about
350 members of Machinists Lo-
cal 1005, 85 members of Team-
sters Local 305, 50 members of
Sign Painters and Paint Makers
Local 1094, and 18 members of
Service Employees Local 49.
The Daimler layoffs won’t
just hurt Daimler workers: Ma-
chinists District Lodge W24
Business Rep Joe Kear says the
latest downsizing will push the
multi-employer Automotive
Machinists Pension Plan toward
insolvency within 20 years.
The Seattle-based pension
plan, founded in 1958, is respon-
sible for the retirement benefits
of 8,416 current and former em-
ployees of firms that have had
contracts with the Machinists
union. But the pension plan has
been severely weakened by job
losses at participating union em-
ployers: As of the end of 2014,
the pension was paying benefits
to 4,137 retirees, while taking in
employer contributions for just
1,605 active workers. (And an-
other 2,674 former employees
are entitled to benefits in the fu-
ture.) That “upside down” struc-
ture makes it difficult or impos-
sible for the fund to recover from
investment losses in the 2008 fi-
nancial crash. As of the end of
2014, the pension plan had an
estimated $1.5 billion in future
liabilities, and $717 million in
current assets.
Daimler — the pension plan’s
largest employer — is currently
paying $10.62 an hour into the
pension, of which $6.15 is a sur-
charge to make up for the plan’s
funding shortfall. That sur-
charge was part of a rehabilita-
tion plan designed to help the
pension plan recover, but thanks
to the newest layoffs, it won’t be
enough. Looming insolvency
could even lead pension plan
trustees to seek government per-
mission to reduce current retiree
benefits, which they’re allowed
to do under a controversial law
passed in 2014.
What to do about the Machin-
ists pension will be a big part of
the next joint union contract ne-
gotiations with Daimler, which
are set to begin Sept. 20. The
current contracts covering mem-
bers of the four unions expire on
Oct. 28. Three years ago, Ma-
chinists and Painters struck for
23 days before the current
Daimler deal was reached.
Ultimately, unions say U.S.
trade policy—especially the
North American Free Trade
Agreement—is largely to blame
for the long-term decline in jobs
at Daimler’s Portland plant.
Portland is where Freightliner
was born, but Daimler gradually
shifted its production to Mexico,
then stopped its Portland pro-
duction altogether in 2007.
Since that time, the Portland
plant has produced Western Star
trucks. [Daimler bought West-
ern Star in 2000, and closed the
Kelowna, British Columbia,
plant where that truck origi-
nated.]
A federal government pro-
gram called Trade Adjustment
Assistance (TAA) provides ex-
tra benefits to manufacturing
workers who lose their jobs be-
cause of trade. Even though
there were 270 layoffs at a
Daimler plant in Mexico too, the
Oregon Employment Depart-
ment has asked the U.S. Depart-
ment of Labor (DOL) to ap-
prove TAA benefits for the latest
layoffs. The state’s petition to
the DOL cited reports that Port-
land work is being moved to
Mexico and India.