SERVING ORGANIZED LABOR IN OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON SINCE 1900
NORTHWEST
LABOR
PRESS
VOLUME 119, NUMBER 16
Special
LABOR DAY
Edition
PORTLAND, OREGON
LABOR DAY PICNICS
On Labor Day, union members celebrate fam-
ily and community. Here are this year’s events.
PORTLAND — The region’s largest Labor Day picnic takes
place at Oaks Amusement Park in Southeast Portland,
sponsored by the Northwest Oregon Labor Council, AFL-CIO.
Members and their families from dozens of unions – up to
20,000 people – turn
out for barbecue,
FOOD-DRINK-FUN
games, carnival rides, Deluxe ride bracelets $11.50
Food/drink scrip
$1.00
raffle drawings,
music, and a chance Burger + chips 3 scrip
Hot dog + chips 2 scrip
to hear from local
1 scrip
politicians. The picnic Chili
Beer
3 scrip
runs 10 a.m. to 5
Pop
1 scrip
p.m. There will be a
Water
1 scrip
kids’ scavenger hunt, Ice Cream
1 scrip
and a blood drive
challenge [See Page FREE SHUTTLE TRAIN!
5 for more details.]
Politicians take the stage at 1 p.m. Free shuttle train: Labor
Day is the busiest day of the year at Oaks Park. To help union
members avoid traffic jams and parking headaches, the
Labor Council has made arrangements with the Oregon
Pacific Railroad for a free shuttle train into Oaks Park. The
train boards at Southeast 4th and Caruthers, near OMSI.
There is plenty of street parking near the McLoughlin
Overpass and McCoy Millwork, and the Portland Opera will
LABOR DAY
Monday, September 3
AUGUST 24, 2018
open its parking lot — yellow spaces only. Pin code for the gate will be 1895. The
shuttle runs 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (last train). For more information, call the Northwest
Oregon Labor Council at 503-235-9444.
ASHLAND/MEDFORD/GRANTS PASS — Emigrant Lake, Shelter D, 5505
Highway 66 (I-5 to Exit 14, Hwy 66 East 3.5 miles to Emigrant Lake Park turnoff) 11
a.m. to 3 p.m.; lunch at noon. Food and entertainment for the whole family! There is a
$4 charge for parking. Sponsored by the Southern Oregon Central Labor Chapter.
BEND — Pioneer Park (NW Wall St.) 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Food and drinks for
everyone, live music and a beautiful setting on the Deschutes River. Bring family,
friends; all are welcome. Please bring a dessert. Everything else is provided.
Sponsored by the Central Oregon Labor Chapter.
COWLITZ-WAHKIAKUM COUNTIES —10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the large covered
picnic shelter at Tam O'Shanter Park in Kelso. Hamburgers, hot dogs, salads, cake and
more — anyone attending is welcome to bring a potluck dish to share. There will
also be a croquet tournament. For info, contact Shawn Nyman at 360-270-5096.
EUGENE/SPRINGFIELD — Splash Pool Picnic Shelter; 6100 Thurston Road,
Springfield, noon to 3:30 p.m. Hamburgers, hot dogs, live music, door prizes, and fun
for the whole family! Please bring a side dish to share. No alcohol allowed. Retiring
State Rep. Phil Barnhart will be honored. Sponsored by Lane County Labor Chapter.
LA GRANDE — 3501 N Spruce St., La Grande., 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., features bouncy
house, water fights, volleyball, badminton, open mic, and more. Hamburgers, hot
dogs, lemonade and iced tea served at 11:30. Bring friends, family, and your favorite
dish. Sponsored by SEIU Local 503 and Eastern Oregon Central Labor Chapter. Contact
Tova at 541-709-6403 or tova@seiu503.org for more info.
SALEM — Salem River Park, 230 Front St SE.; 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.; All friends of labor
and their families are welcome for BBQ, side dishes, soft drinks, and great company!
Food served 11:10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Political guest speakers speak from 11-11:30 a.m.
Please bring two cans of food or $2 per person for donation to the Marion/Polk Food
Bank. Sponsored by the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter.
NATIONAL
ANALYSIS
Missouri voters trounce ‘right-to-work’
How to restore the
power of unions
Anti-union
Republicans
thought they had a slam dunk.
They had the governor’s office
and all the votes they needed in
the Legislature to pass a law
last year making Missouri
America’s 28th “right-to-
work” state. Then Missouri
voters got to have a say. On
Aug. 7, they rejected the anti-
union law by a landslide 67
percent.
So-called “right-to-work”
laws are intended to weaken
unions by barring private em-
ployers from signing union
contracts that require all work-
ers to pay union dues or fees.
Missourians rejected right-to-
work once before, in 1978, by
60 percent. Union membership
rates have fallen by half since
then, but if the Aug. 7 vote is
any sign, Missourians are even
more pro-union 40 years later.
Backed by his union and an-
swering a call from the national
Unions have been under
decades of attack, but several
labor thinkers have put forward
ideas to the comeback that
working people need.
AFL-CIO, Oregon union or-
ganizer Scott Strickland of Op-
erating Engineers Local 701
spent the last five days leading
up to the election knocking on
doors in small towns like Pecu-
liar, Missouri, outside Kansas
City.
“It was really inspiring,”
Strickland said. “The experi-
ences I had on the ground talk-
ing to people really strength-
ened my belief that unions
provide benefits to everyone,
Turn to Page 30
By Don McIntosh
Unions represent just 6.5 percent
of private sector workers today,
the smallest share since the
1920s. Strikes last year were at
their second lowest level since
the government started tracking
them in 1947. Workers’ inflation-
adjusted wages have been flat for
40 years on average, even though
productivity has more than dou-
bled – because all the gains are
going to owners and the top 1
percent of income earners.
American workers need a come-
back, and they need it soon.
There are a lot of ideas about
how to bring that about. In this
issue, we look at three labor fig-
ures whose books propose a
way back to power for labor:
■ Joe Burns, a top negotiator for the flight
attendants union, says workers won’t be
able to get the goods until they relearn
how to strike effectively.
■ Jane McAlevey, a lifelong organizer who
led campaigns in Connecticut and Nevada,
says there’s no shortcut: Unions must
organize the entire workplace so that
workers can move as one.
■ David Rolf, a top SEIU official, says
collective bargaining is dead, and unions
are going to need to experiment with lots
of new approaches.
Take a look, and tell us what
you think about their ideas at
nwlaborpress.org/restore-union-power
Turn to Page 20