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SERVING ORGANIZED LABOR IN OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON SINCE 1900 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS VOLUME 118, NUMBER 18 IN THIS ISSUE WORKERS RIGHTS Burgerville workers stage one-store strike on Labor Day. | Page 2 UFCW LOCAL 555 Members re-elect Dan Clay and Jeff Anderson to top union posts | Page 8 Labor Day Picnic Photos p. 6-7 Meeting Notices p. 9 PORTLAND, OREGON SEPTEMBER 15, 2017 2017 OREGON AFL-CIO CONVENTION REPORT Union delegates endorse Gov. Kate Brown for reelection – and pass resolutions on race, immi- gration, and women’s issues. At the Labor Day picnic, Northwest Oregon Labor Council President Jeff Anderson encouraged Jeff Merkley to run for U.S. president. Soon after, with Merkley speaking in the background, Victor Weekes of Bakers Local 364 held up a hastily drawn sign: “Next President of the United States — Jeff Merkley.” Will Sen. Jeff Merkley run for president in 2020? As U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley waited to take the mic at the Oaks Park Labor Day picnic, union members roared ap- proval at the suggestion that he consider running for pres- ident of the United States in 2020. Northwest Oregon Labor Council President Jeff Ander- son told audience members of several news articles sug- gesting that Oregon’s junior senator might make a run for president in 2020 if there isn’t a strong progressive in the field. “I would like to stoke the fire and make that true,” An- derson said to wide applause. Merkley didn’t respond to that wish on stage, but he told the Labor Day crowd that over the last four decades vir- tually every penny of new in- come has gone to the top 10 percent in America. “How about instead of policies for the top 10 percent we have policies for working America?” Merkley said. “The wealth of the country has gone up, up, up. Let’s have the wealth of working Americans go up, up, up!” Merkley was the only Democratic U.S. senator to endorse Bernie Sanders’ pres- idential bid, and he made na- tional news when he staged a 15-hour filibuster in opposi- tion to President Donald Trump’s nominee for Supreme Court — Neil Gor- such. On Sept. 1, Oregon’s sen- ator authored an op-ed in a newspaper in Iowa, which has the nation’s earliest pres- idential caucus. Dan Mahr, labor liaison for Oregon’s junior senator, says Sen. Merkley is focused on the 2018 mid-term elections, where he is part of the Dem- ocratic leadership team trying to win back the U.S. House and hold the line in the U.S. Senate. “You could tell by his speech that he’s fired up and ready to go to the mat for working folks,” Mahr told the Labor Press. “First things first.” BEND, Oregon — Represent- ing unions from around Oregon, 213 delegates and 77 guests at- tended the biennial convention of the Oregon AFL-CIO Sept. 8- 10 at the Riverhouse on the De- schutes convention center. Ore- gon AFL-CIO is the statewide federation that most of the state’s unions belong to. At its convention, delegates from each union approve policy. This time, delegates voted to endorse Kate Brown for another term as Oregon governor, heard about legislative attacks on union rights in other states, and saluted Oregon unions, union volunteers, and legislators who were singled out for special hon- ors [See Page 4.] The convention began with a Friday night welcome dinner at which the Oregon AFL-CIO distributed its scorecard for the 2017 Legislature [See Page 5] — and lauded state legislators Dan Rayfield, Arnie Roblan and James Manning for their contri- butions to workers’ rights. On Saturday morning, Brown entered the convention hall to a standing ovation and addressed delegates. Before she left the room, a motion to endorse her reelection campaign passed on a near-unanimous voice vote. The general election is 14 months CONVENTION COVERAGE See a Q&A with Governor Brown, which unions got top honors, and more on Pages 4 and 5. away, and Brown doesn’t expect to face a Democratic primary challenger. Bend State Rep. Knute Buehler is the only can- didate seeking the Republican nomination so far. [Just before she entered the convention hall, Brown sat down for a 10-minute interview with the Labor Press, with her labor liaison Elana Guiney and communications di- rector Chris Pair looking on. See Page 5.] On Saturday and Sunday, del- egates passed 18 resolutions set- ting policy, including four spon- sored by the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU), which had a robust presence at the con- vention. Some of them: ■ Defend Medicaid Opposing a ballot initiative that aims to overturn a new $670 million health care tax on Oregon hospitals and insurance companies. The tax will fund Medicaid for 350,000 Oregonians. Chief petitioner Julie Parrish has until Oct. 5 to gather about 59,000 signatures. ■ Immigration Opposing a ballot initiative that seeks to repeal a 1987 state law against using state and local resources to enforce federal immigration law ■ Celebrating LERC Saluting the University of Oregon Labor Education and Research Center (LERC) on the occasion of its 40th anniversary, and urging its Turn to Page 4
