PAGE 24 | December 21, 2018 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Who’s on our side?
By Tom Chamberlain Oregon AFL-CIO President
Why I’m happy about 2018
2018 will be viewed as a pivotal year
for the American labor movement.
From the U.S. Supreme Court’s highly
anticipated Janus decision to a historic
midterm election, working people
stood together and demonstrated why
collective action works.
The year 2018 began with a report
from the U.S. Department of Labor that
for the first time in this century, union
membership grew — by 262,000. Or-
ganizing is up across the board: Ore-
gon’s union membership grew by
34,000 members. In Texas, where pub-
lic sector collective bargaining is ille-
gal, membership grew by 80,000. This
membership growth coincided with
polling released in the fall of 2017 re-
vealing 60 percent of Americans would
join a union if given a chance.
Oregon’s organizing escalated in
2018. Nearly a thousand workers in be-
havioral health non-profits, graduate stu-
dents at OHSU, and temporary and on-
call workers at Multnomah County
entered the union movement by stand-
ing together to join AFSCME. Over a
thousand faculty at Oregon State Uni-
versity and Oregon Institute of Technol-
ogy stood strong and joined AFT-Ore-
gon. Oregon Federation of Nurses and
Health Professionals increased member-
ship through organizing health care
workers. Machinists gained national at-
tention by helping welders at Precision
Castparts form their union and weather
an onslaught of appeals by the em-
ployer. Burgerville workers organized
historic unions at three shops. In May
the Portland City Council passed a res-
olution sponsored by the Oregon AFL-
CIO to implement a Drivers Board to
address Lyft and Uber driver issues —
a step forward to give drivers a voice.
We beat back attacks on health care.
The 2017 Oregon Legislature provided
funding to continue health coverage for
1 million Oregonians through the Ore-
gon Health Plan, almost half of whom
are children. A group headed by Rep.
Julie Parrish was successful in gather-
ing enough signatures to place the Ore-
gon Health Plan funding package on
the ballot for a January 28 special elec-
tion. A coordinated effort by Oregon’s
union movement, health care organiza-
tions, and businesses upheld the fund-
ing measure with over 60 percent voter
support.
We defended our rights as workers to
have strong unions. In June the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled on Janus v. AF-
SCME, effectively ending the require-
ment of represented public employees
to pay fees to administer their contract.
The now-infamous Freedom Founda-
tion predicted the end of public sector
unions, thinking workers would flock to
drop their membership. But a massive
drop in membership just hasn’t hap-
pened because Oregon’s union move-
ment has been preparing for an anti-
worker Supreme Court decision for
years. Oregon AFL-CIO Chief of Staff
Graham Trainor led the effort to assist
and provide resources for internal organ-
izing. Some unions changed their struc-
tures to more directly communicate with
membership. By strengthening the rela-
tionship with members, unions inocu-
lated against the misinformation pre-
sented by the Freedom Foundation.
America watched as educators
marched across the nation from West
Virginia to Arizona to Washington State
for better pay, benefits and increased
education funding. The courage of
these actions captured the hearts and
minds of the American public. This
fever of renewed activism was not lim-
ited to educators: workers stood to-
gether and spoke up through bargain-
ing, strike votes, and strikes. Workers
spoke out: dissatisfied with wage stag-
nation and shrinking benefits while
more and more of the wealth of our na-
tion is enjoyed by a select few.
Renewed American activism played
a huge role in the 2018 November elec-
tions. A historic number of working
people, women, and people of color ran
for office. Volunteers flooded the
streets, phone/text banks and worksites
to elect candidates who shared their
views. In Oregon we defeated ballot
measures that would have limited
women’s access to health care, over-
turned Oregon’s Sanctuary Status, and
created tax loopholes for big business.
We re-elected Gov. Kate Brown and
gained supermajorities in the Oregon
House and Senate.
In Lane County we replaced anti-
worker County Commissions with pro-
worker commissioners. Central to all
those wins were dedicated union vol-
unteers stepping up and working hard.
2018 was a year where working peo-
ple proved that if we are bold enough,
tough enough, and strategic enough we
can change our state and nation from
one that is focused on an agenda that
rewards the rich and powerful to one
that gives opportunity to all.
The Oregon AFL-CIO is a 138,000-member-strong
federation of labor unions.
Nabisco back
at the table
with Bakers
The deep freeze between the
Bakers union and Mondelēz-
Nabisco may be about to
thaw. The union represents
2,200 workers at Nabisco’s
five U.S. plants (including
about 200 workers at Nabis-
co’s Portland Bakery) and
three distribution centers, but
they’ve been working with-
out a new collective bargain-
ing agreement since their
previous one expired Feb.
29, 2016. In May 2018, the
company unilaterally imple-
mented parts of what it called
its final offer, giving 2.25
percent raises, but also with-
drawing from the union-spon-
sored multiemployer pension.
But in October and No-
vember, the two sides met for
bargaining for the first time in
more than two years. Nate
BUNCO RAISES $500 FOR PRESENTS FROM PARTNERS.
Bakers Local 364 member Paul Brock was part of a Dec. 8 demonstration
outside the palatial Northwest Portland home of Mondelēz-Nabisco board
member Christiana Shi. Local union members hold her and other board
members responsible for the company’s decision — over union objections
— to withdraw from the Bakers-sponsored multiemployer pension in May.
Zeff, assistant to the union’s
strategic campaign coordina-
tor, told the Labor Press he’s
optimistic about possible
progress in the talks. Zeff said
at a daylong meeting in Octo-
ber, the Bakers Union put for-
ward a detailed new proposal
to resolve the pension dispute.
The two sides expect to
meet again in January.
LegalShield’s Ladies of Justice sponsored a “Bunco for Presents from
Partners” fundraiser in Gladstone, Oregon, Nov. 28. Presents from Part-
ners is a holiday party sponsored by Labor’s Community Service Agency
for families who are going through difficult times (See Page 1). One fea-
ture of the party is a “Parent’s Room,” which is sponsored by IBEW and
United Workers Federal Credit Union. The parents’ room gives kids the
opportunity to pick out a gift and wrap it for their parents and/or
guardians. Money raised at the bunco party went specifically to the par-
ents’ room. Barbara Mathey, CEO of the credit union, attended the
bunco fundraiser. Kathy Maher of LegalShield coordinated the bunco
event, which raised $500.