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September 1, 2017 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Outside Paul Ryan’s country club fundraiser
for Oregon Congressman Greg Walden …
FULL HOUSE: Several hundred noisy unionists filled the lobby at Umpqua Bank Plaza in down-
town Portland Aug. 25 to oppose a decision to get rid of a union janitorial firm. Chicago-based
Zeller Realty Group bought the office building in January, and in August replaced union-signa-
tory Able Building Maintenance with nonunion National Maintenance Contractors. That meant
the loss of seven living-wage positions for members of SEIU Local 49. “By using a nonunion jan-
itorial company, Zeller has chosen to put downward pressure on the standards Portland janitors
have been fighting for decades to raise,” said Local 49 researcher Jeremy Simer.
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IATSE Local 28 Business Rep-
resentative Rose Etta Vene-
tucci (right) and a dozen
other unionists joined sev-
eral hundred others outside
the Waverly Country Club
Aug. 23 to protest an appear-
ance by Republican House
Speaker Paul Ryan. Con-
gressman Ryan was there to
headline a $1,000-per-per-
son fundraiser for fellow Re-
publicans Greg Walden of
Hood River and Jaime Her-
rera Beutler of Southwest
Washington. Protesters’
biggest complaint with Ryan
was health care. Ryan’s
American Health Care Act,
which passed the House but
failed in the Senate, would
have increased the number
of people without health in-
surance by 22 million by
2026, according to the Congressional Budget Office. [Walden voted for it, but Herrera
Beutler was one of 20 Republicans to vote against it.] Ryan has been touring the
country to promote a corporate tax cut and raise money for Republicans, but hasn’t
held an open-to-the-public event for his own Wisconsin constituents since October
2015. He faces a challenge in 2018 from union leader and iron worker Randy Bryce,
a Democrat. The day after his visit to the Portland area and Intel, Ryan visited the
Seattle area for a tour of Boeing — and a $2,500-a-plate fundraiser.