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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 6, 2017)
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | October 6 , 2017 | PAGE 11 Guest Opinion By DeMaurice Smith Director, NFL Players Association Response to Trump attacks on athlete free speech The peaceful demonstrations by some of our players have generated a wide array of re- sponses. Those opinions are protected speech and a free- dom that has been paid for by the sacrifice of men and women throughout history. This expression of speech has generated thoughtful discus- sions in our locker rooms and in board rooms. However, the line that marks the balance between the rights of every citizen in our great country gets crossed when someone is told to just “shut up and play.” NFL players do incredible things to contribute to their communities. NFL players are a part of a legacy of ath- letes in all sports who throughout history chose to be informed about the issues that impact them and their com- munities. They chose—and still choose today—to do something about those issues rather than comfortably living in the bubble of sports. Their decision is no different from the one made by countless others who refused to let “what they do” define or re- strict “who they are” as Amer- icans. No man or woman should ever have to choose a job that forces them to surrender their rights. No worker nor any ath- lete, professional or not, should be forced to become less than human when it comes to protecting their ba- sic health and safety. We un- derstand that our job as a union is not to win a popular- ity contest and it comes with a duty to protect the rights of our members. For that we make no apologies and never will. ...Faith group looks at Nabisco outsourcing From Page 5 duction. Workers at other Nabisco bakeries, including Portland’s, have suffered tem- porary layoff as their plants closed down for a week at a time — while shelves remain full of Mexican-made Nabisco products. The BCTGM contract cover- ing about 2,000 Nabisco work- ers at five U.S. bakeries expired Feb. 29, 2016, and 19 months later, the union is no closer to agreement with the company. For BCTGM, the sticking points are Mondelēz’ refusal to commit to no further layoffs or plant closures, its plan to dimin- ish health benefits, and its pro- posal to withdraw from the union-sponsored pension plan, which is headed for insolvency. Commissioner port of vancouver washington, dist. 1 Kris has the experience: SAFETY: Encouraging safe ...NLRB nominee has ties to PATCO environment and development • GROWTH: Developing new family wage jobs 27 years experience in risk management and business ownership • 9 years President of East Vancouver Business Association From Page 10 • 4 years President of Evergreen SD Foundation ing requirements. Days before Emanuel’s con- firmation, Trump also nomi- nated former federal manage- ment-side labor lawyer Peter Robb to be the NLRB’s general counsel, its top enforcement of- ficer. Robb, now an attorney in Vermont, wrote the briefs and made the arguments to get Pres- ident Ronald Reagan to fire the Professional Air Traffic Con- trollers Organization (PATCO) members after they went on strike in 1981 over safety is- sues. Robb has been critical of re- cent NLRB decisions including protecting workers’ rights to use social media, the Board’s re- cently enacted rules removing some employer roadblocks to union representation elections, and a policy pushed by Griffin to hold both franchise holders — your local McDonald’s — and parent firms — McDon- ald’s headquarters — jointly re- sponsible for obeying or break- ing labor law. If confirmed, Robb would succeed Richard Griffin, whose term expires in November. Be- fore entering the NLRB post during the Obama Administra- tion, Griffin was general coun- sel for the International Union of Operating Engineers. No hearing date has been set. EDUCATION: Policy for business-linked educational programs Learn more at GoForGreene.com DeMaurice Smith has served as execu- tive director of the NFL Players Associa- tion since 2009. The Players Associa- tion is an affiliate of the national AFL-CIO. The two sides have not met to negotiate since mid-2016. Yet there’s been no work stoppage — neither strike nor lockout. Nor has Mondelēz unilaterally implemented the final offer it presented last December. For the time being, Mondelēz is continuing to abide by the terms of its previous collective bar- gaining agreement with BCTGM. BCTGM leaders hope a new Mondelēz CEO will break the stalemate: Dirk Van de Put, who is currently CEO of Cana- dian french fry giant McCain Foods, will replace Mondelēz CEO Irene Rosenfeld in No- vember. @goforgreene Paid for by GoForGreene 13215 SE Mill Plain Blvd. #C8506 Vancouver, WA 98684 The Greene family Jill Alcantar 360.787.6975 (Editor’s Note: Press Associ- ates Inc. contributed to this re- port.) 12/31/17 2017
