Northwest labor press., December 16, 2016, Page 15, Image 15

NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | December 16 , 2016 | PAGE 15
...Trump’s Carrier deal
From Page 9
gotiations, and I have likewise,
and if you’re dealing with peo-
ple’s livelihoods, you sure as the
world ought to know what the
numbers are,” Jones told Burnett.
A few minutes after Jones ap-
peared on CNN, Trump at-
tacked him on Twitter: “Chuck
Jones, who is President of
United Steelworkers 1999, has
done a terrible job representing
workers. No wonder companies
flee country!”
An hour and fifteen minutes
later, Trump had more to say: “If
United Steelworkers 1999 was
any good, they would have kept
those jobs in Indiana. Spend
more time working-less time
talking. Reduce dues.”
Burnett brought Jones back
on CNN to respond: “That was-
n’t very damn nice,” Jones said.
“That must mean I’m doing a
good job. Because these people
are making a decent wage at
Carrier, and I feel like I’m
somewhat involved in making
that happen, whereas he does
everything he can to keep the
unions out of his hotels and casi-
nos in this country, depriving
them of making a living wage.
… I appreciate Mr. Trump get-
ting involved and saving as
many people’s livelihood as he
did. I just wish he’d had the
numbers right and been up-
front.”
On Twitter and in the press,
Trump’s attack on a private citi-
zen sparked outrage. Here was
the soon-to-be president of the
United States — a man who
used Chinese steel in his own
buildings — trash talking a local
union president who had fought
to get severance packages for
workers about to lose their
livelihoods to Mexico.
Carrier, in its February an-
nouncement, said the closure
had nothing to do with the qual-
ity of the work. It was because
they could save $65 million a
year by paying Mexican work-
ers $6 an hour. And there’s noth-
ing the union can do about that
through collective bargaining.
Back when Trump was a can-
didate, he said he’d threaten Car-
rier execs with 35 percent tariffs.
Now that he’s president-elect, he
attacked the union president
while praising Carrier’s CEO —
and offering subsidies, tax cuts,
and the elimination of regula-
tions — all for a company that’s
still shipping 600 jobs to Mexico.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of
Vermont said Trump set a bad
precedent: “He has signaled to
every corporation in America
that they can threaten to off-
shore jobs in exchange for busi-
ness-friendly tax benefits and
incentives,” Sanders wrote in an
op-ed in The Washington Post.
Meanwhile, in Mexico, one
official said he wasn’t worried.
Francisco Gonzalez, CEO of a
government-run trust fund that
promotes foreign investment in
Mexico, told the newspaper El
Universal that if Trump’s plan is
to provide companies like Car-
rier with incentives as a way to
deter them from sending jobs
abroad, “then we’re not really
worried, because tax incentives
are a one-time kind of thing.”
...Colvin tapped to lead OPEIU Local 11
From Page 8
business of OPEIU Local 11
and ensure nothing goes amiss,”
Colvin said.
She says her goal is to
strengthen the union’s relation-
ship with members. “We have a
challenging new presidential ad-
ministration coming on board,
and the road for unions as a
whole will be tough when con-
sidering organizing and sustain-
ing what we have,” she said.
“I’m not sure who said this,
but one of my favorite quotes is:
‘You never know how strong
you are until being strong is the
only choice you have.’ Right
now, that’s our only choice.”
Colvin says she will run for a
full term as EST next spring.
Local 11 represents approxi-
mately 1,800 members em-
ployed in all phases of office,
professional, technical and in-
dustrial related work located in
five states —Washington, Ore-
gon, Idaho, Montana and Utah.
Its largest bargaining unit is
NW Natural.