PAGE 12 | April 21, 2017 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
On-the-job fatalities in Oregon increase
SALEM — Sixty-one people
died on the job in Oregon during
2016, according to a preliminary
report issued March 7 by the
Department of Consumer and
Business Services (DCBS).
That’s up from 2015’s figure of
41 deaths. [The Workers Memo-
rial Day list contains 66 names
because it was updated more re-
cently.]
The 61 figure is based on a
new data collection program, be-
gun in 2015, that is designed to
provide a more comprehensive
review of workplace deaths. Pre-
viously released figures included
only deaths covered by the Ore-
gon workers’ compensation sys-
tem. The new Workplace Fatali-
ties in Oregon (WFO) program
tracks on-the-job deaths, regard-
less of workers’ compensation
status. As a result, the program
now also includes workplace
deaths involving self-employed
people, city of Portland police
and fire employees, federal em-
ployees, and incidents occurring
in Oregon to workers with out-
of-state employers.
“While Oregon workplaces
are safer today than in previous
decades, there are still far too
many preventable on-the-job
deaths each year,” said Michael
Wood, administrator for the Ore-
gon Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (Oregon
OSHA). “A dramatic increase
such as we saw last year helps to
drive that lesson home. And it
certainly serves as a reminder
that we must do more in our
struggle against death in the
workplace.”
Because the WFO program
started in 2015, comprehensive
data — including total work-
place deaths and numbers spe-
cific to industry, occupation, and
injury — are available only for
2015 and 2016. Based on WFO
guidelines, however, total work-
place deaths were estimated for
2012 through 2014. Total fatality
counts in 2012, 2013, and 2014
were 40, 49, and 63, respec-
tively, meaning that 2015 was
one of the lowest totals in recent
years and 2016 was one of the
highest. Averaged over five
years, there were approximately
51 on-the-job deaths annually.
Other highlights of the WFO
report include:
• Nearly half (29) of all 61 work-
place deaths in 2016 were due to
motor vehicle accidents, while
28 percent (17) of workers died
due to contact with objects.
• The agriculture, forestry, and
fishing industry had the most
workplace fatalities (24) in 2016 –
nearly double 2015’s figure of 13.
• Twenty-eight of the 61 work-
place deaths were accepted com-
pensable fatalities.
There were three events in
2016 that led to multiple deaths:
• Three fishermen died when
their boat sank.
• Two sales associates were
killed in a head-on collision.
• Two construction workers were
killed in a motor vehicle accident.
The WFO program excludes
deaths in the workplace that are
not directly linked to a work ac-
tivity or harmful work exposure,
such as suicides.
Car crash kills union
organizer in Oregon
GOP Congressman Greg
Walden moves further to the right
T
ment. That is abuse of power.
And now that T***p is fling-
ing bombs all over the place,
with no oversight or permission
from Congress, he has become
a clear and present danger to the
safety of the entire world. He
clearly thinks he’s in the lead in
a game of “last man standing,”
and he is determined to be that
last standing man.
A bully is not a leader — just
a bully. T***p needs to be led
out of the White House in a
straitjacket, and Steve Bannon
needs to be convicted of treason.
And for crying out loud, stop
printing T***p’s picture! We
know what he looks like, and
we’re tired of seeing his
snarling, bellowing face.
Kerry Canfield
AFSCME Local 88
Portland, Ore.
Tom Chamberlain is president of the Oregon AFL-CIO, a 130,000-member-strong
federation of labor unions.
A union organizer was among
the more than five dozen work-
ers who died on the job in Ore-
gon in 2016.
Linda Cushing, a national rep-
resentative/organizer for the
American Federation of Teachers
(AFT) and a former staff director
for Portland-based Oregon Fed-
eration of Nurses and Health
Professionals Local 5017, died
in a car accident on the afternoon
of March 21, 2016.
A resident of Fullerton, Cali-
fornia, Cushing, 69, was in Ore-
gon working on healthcare or-
ganizing efforts, including the
campaign for LPNs and techs at
PeaceHealth Southwest Medical
Center in Vancouver. She was
driving on U.S. Highway 26
near Warm Springs — report-
edly on her way to a meeting of
hospital techs who wanted to
form a union —when her car
crossed the center line and
crashed head-on with an SUV.
A former adjunct college pro-
fessor, Cushing got the organiz-
ing bug after helping her col-
leagues unionize in Orange
County California. She was
hired by AFT and later was as-
signed to work with Local 5017.
A bully is not a leader — just a bully
Moreover, we need to all ad-
mit that the highest office of the
land is not occupied by a ra-
tional human being. We need to
acknowledge that because this
selfish, bigoted narcissist is
“president,” he is effectively
leading all manner of oppor-
tunists to believe that they are
now free to do whatever they
want, no matter how reprehen-
sible. How can we not recog-
nize that this man and his cabi-
net are corporate kleptocrats of
the lowest order, who seem to
think that they can just dismem-
ber our federal government and
our country, sell off the pieces,
and pocket the money? Do you
really think it is reasonable for
us taxpayers to pay millions
upon millions of dollars so
T***p’s wife can live in New
York and T***p himself can fly
to Florida whenever he wants to
play golf? That is not govern-
By Tom Chamberlain Oregon AFL-CIO President
wenty years ago, when Greg Walden was in the Oregon
Legislature, he was viewed as a moderate Republican. He
would, depending on the issue, vote for pro-worker legisla-
tion. I found him to be honest, fair and willing to listen to ar-
guments on both sides of the legislation before deciding.
After 18 years in Congress, he has climbed the rungs of the
Congressional Republican leadership ladder. U.S. Rep.
Walden served two terms as chairman of the National Repub-
lican Congressional Committee. The role of the committee is
to elect Republican candidates to the United States House of
Representatives. There is little doubt that Congressman
Walden is a competent leader, and over the course of his two
terms has maintained historic Republican majorities. He
stepped down from this position when he was elected to chair
the powerful House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Along Walden’s path to the chairmanship he moved further
and further to the right. Republican House Members have
voted 54 times to repeal or defund Obamacare, and Walden
has voted “yes” to repeal every single time. As chair of the
House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Walden was a
strong supporter of the American Health Care Act (Trump-
care), which would replace the Affordable Care Act (Oba-
macare). If passed, the AHCA would have denied benefits to
24 million Americans and would have given a back-door tax
cut to wealthy Americans of $600 million. The AHCA did
pass out of Walden’s committee but never received a floor
vote due to lack of support from the Republican Caucus.
During the February Congressional recess, Republican rep-
resentatives held town halls in their districts. Their town halls
were packed with dissatisfied citizens who were opposed to
the repeal of Obamacare. Congressman Walden chose not to
have town halls during this recess.
A week ago, Rep. Walden announced that he would hold
town halls throughout his district the week of April 10. This
is a surprising move by the Congressman, since he hasn’t held
a town hall since 2013 in some parts of his district.
Some 600 people attended the town hall in The Dalles,
1,000 turned out in Hood River, 600 in Prineville, 3,000 in
Bend, 700 in Grants Pass and 1,000 in Medford. The town
halls were scheduled to be two hours, but often stretched into
three- and four-hour sessions of Oregonians voicing their dis-
satisfaction with Congressman Walden’s position on health
care, tax reform, immigration, and a host of other issues. One
woman stated that she had voted for Walden in every election
because she believed he was a moderate, and now understands
he has moved too far right and will not receive her vote again.
My hat is off to the congressman for having the courage to
attend the town halls, giving Oregonians time to voice their
grievances. But his rise to power in the Republican Party has
pulled him further and further away from the center, where
his constituents are. His town hall attendance approaching
7,000 should give the Congressman pause. For years, he has
operated under the radar, receiving 60-65 percent of the vote
in his elections. His continued support of President Trump
and an ultra-conservative agenda may just create an opening
for an upset in 2018 or 2020.
This week’s town halls leads one to believe that Oregon,
like the rest of America, isn’t hard right or left but in the mid-
dle. A moderate candidate with a strong middle-class eco-
nomic message could give Congressman Walden a difficult
time in his re-election bid.
OPEN FORUM
To the Editor:
Your April 7 article “Trump’s
NAFTA draft re-write changes
little” proves how little the AFL-
CIO, let alone much of the
country besides, understands
what is happening with the
T***p regime. Note: it’s not a
presidency — it’s a regime.
Anyone who thinks T***p
promised something in his cam-
paign and can somehow be re-
minded and persuaded to keep
his promises is utterly deluded.
And what about Steve Bannon
saying he wants to deconstruct
the administrative state? Is our
government one of laws or of
men? We as a country are in col-
lective denial about what is be-
ing done to our country in the
name of democracy. We still
cannot seem to fully compre-
hend that our electors have es-
sentially enabled a functional
coup d’etat.
Who’s on our side?