PAGE 4 | September 15, 2017 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
55 th C onvention of the O regon AFL-CIO
THE PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS — excerpted from the convention speech of Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain
I did not wake up one day and
decide I wanted to be president
of the Oregon AFL-CIO. When
I was a young firefighter, like
many of the firefighters of my
generation, I had to work a sec-
ond job to support my family. I
never had time to attend union
meetings. One day as I walked
into the station, I discovered that
two longtime executive board
members had nominated me to
the executive board. They began
to tell me about their union ex-
perience, how they had dedi-
cated decades of their lives to
their co-workers and their fami-
lies. I would never have thought
about serving my union unless
someone reached out and re-
cruited me.
I became a firefighter when
there were no women and few
black or Latino or Asian men in
the fire service. I was recruited
for union leadership when the
entire executive board looked
like me.
I know that for some, my
words may be troubling, or
make one feel angry, defensive
or guilty. I know because I have
felt that way many times in my
life, from my first racial justice
training in the military in the
1970s, to racial and gender
trainings and discussions in the
Fire Service and at the Oregon
AFL-CIO. As a poor white kid
who couldn’t afford to go to col-
lege, who joined the Air Force
right out high school because it
was my best opportunity, I saw
racial justice as an economic is-
sue. I was uncomfortable with
the term white privilege. I be-
lieved I had worked and fought
to achieve what I have. But the
truth is I have had great oppor-
tunities given to me by well-
meaning people because I am
white, because I am a man.
People are drawn to what is
comfortable, drawn to people
who look, think and have simi-
lar backgrounds. People who
would never classify themselves
as biased, who view themselves
as progressive, who want to do
the right thing nonetheless con-
tinue practices that make the
lives of women, communities of
color, the disabled and LBGTQ
more difficult, denying them ad-
vancement, hiring, or just treat-
ing them as less than.
That, my brothers and sisters,
is institutional discrimination.
Our nation has come a long
way, but not far enough.
Today America stands upon a
dusty path that stretches back to
the first explorer stepping foot
on this continent. It is a path rid-
dled with despair, poverty,
struggle, discrimination and
death, and it ends today in the
streets of Charlottesville where
gun-toting hate groups such as
the Ku Klux Klan and neo-nazis
spew hate and discontent. Such
an agenda runs counter to the
very principles of unionism and
a just society.
We have always had hate
groups that have pushed an
agenda of white supremacy.
Such groups grow in power
when an economic trigger is
pulled, when the rich get richer
and the poor get poorer. Hate is
a capitalist relief valve that di-
verts the attention of people
away from an economy that is
rigged for the rich, and onto
those who are different. If we
are to be a workers movement
for all people, then we must ad-
dress institutional racism and
sexism head on. It is time to talk
to one and other: black, white,
brown, LBGTQ, women.
When hate raises its head in
Charlottesville or Ferguson, we
as the workers movement must
take a stand.
We as a movement must con-
tinually seek new talent for
union positions. We must diver-
sify, mentor, lead, challenge
ourselves to reach out and grow
our movement to reflect the
broad diversity of our member-
ship. Stopping institutional
racism and sexism will only be
possible when individuals like
you interrupt it when we see or
hear it. It is time to incorporate
gender and racial justice into
our strategic plans and educa-
tional programs.
Our mission as a worker’s
movement is to build a just
economy that rewards those
who work hard and play by the
rules. My sisters and brothers,
before you can build such econ-
omy, a sustainable economy, an
economy that works for all, first
you have to lay a foundation of
gender and racial justice.
2017 OREGON AFL-CIO CONVENTION REPORT
From Page 1
Labor united against
hate On Saturday, about 100
delegates took part in a brief
rally just outside the convention
center entrance to oppose racial
hatred of the kind displayed at
an Aug. 12 white nationalist rally
in Charlottesville, Virginia; and
also to condemn President
Trump’s revocation of the De-
ferred Action for Childhood Ar-
rivals (DACA) program. DACA is
the program set up by President
Obama under which law-abiding
undocumented immigrants who
were brought to the United
States as children can apply for a
work permit and indefinite defer-
ral of deportation.
Photo by Russell Sanders, courtesy of Oregon AFL-CIO.
affiliates to support fundraising connected
with an Oct. 11 celebration; and resolving to
defend LERC vigorously against any efforts to
reduce its funding
The convention also served as
the public debut of a new group,
Oregon Women Labor Leaders
(OWLL), which seeks to promote
women’s leadership in the local la-
bor movement. A convention reso-
lution supporting their effort
passed unanimously. And delegates
were invited to sign a pledge in
which they promise to promote
bargaining contract provisions
about paid family leave, provision
of child care and flexible work
schedules, and recruit and support
women to serve as union staff and
elected leaders. As many as 150 la-
bor union women have attended
OWLL get togethers since a dozen
women labor leaders first met in
February. The group is getting to-
gether quarterly, with the next
meeting scheduled for Oct. 16.
Delegates twice took up collec-
tions for charity, raising $1,000 to
help union members harmed by re-
cent Oregon forest fires and an-
other $1,000 to help DACA appli-
cants pay the $495 application fee.
report From the Front
Lines oF the anti-union
Fight Iowa AFSCME President
Danny Homan holds up Iowa state
workers’ new 26-page union con-
tract. That’s what replaced their
256-page contract, after Republi-
can state lawmakers stripped pub-
lic employees of most of their col-
lective bargaining rights. “I don’t
want your pity,” Homan told dele-
gates. “That’s not why I’m here. I’m
here to tell you to get off your ass
and get engaged and do the work
so that this doesn’t happen here.”
wait, isn’t that sgt.
Franco From the tV show
grimm? Yes it is, and convention
delegates greeted him with boos
and heckling. Actor Robert
Blanche — president of the local
Screen Actors Guild — was pre-
tending to be a representative of
the anti-union Freedom Founda-
tion, a group active in Washing-
ton and Oregon that sues unions
and uses TV and radio ads and
door-to-door canvassing to talk
public employee union members
into quitting their unions.