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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 16, 2019)
SERVING ORGANIZED LABOR IN OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON SINCE 1900 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS VOLUME 120, NUMBER 16 Special LABOR DAY Edition PORTLAND, OREGON A DAY FOR PICNICS Every year on Labor Day, union members gather to cele- brate family 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 – more than 15,000 people – FOOD-DRINK-FUN turn out for barbecue, games, carnival Deluxe ride bracelets $13.17 rides, raffle drawings, music, and a $1.00 chance to hear from local politicians. The Food/drink scrip Burger + chips 3 scrip picnic runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. There Hot dog + chips 2 scrip will be a kids’ scavenger hunt, and a Chili 1 scrip blood drive challenge. Politicians take the Ice Cream 1 scrip stage at 1 p.m. Beer 4 scrip Pop 1 scrip Free shuttle train: Labor Day is the Water 1 scrip busiest day of the year at Oaks Park. To help union members avoid traffic jams FREE SHUTTLE TRAIN! and parking headaches, the Northwest Oregon 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 open its parking lot — yellow spaces only. The pin code for the gate will be 1895. The 5-mile shuttle runs from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (last train). For more information, call the Northwest Oregon Labor Council at 503-235-9444. AUGUST 16, 2019 ASHLAND — 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Emigrant Lake, Picnic Shelter D, 5505 Highway 66, Ashland. Food and entertainment for the whole family. Lunch will be served at noon. Vehicle fee of $4. Sponsored by the Southern Oregon Central Labor Chapter. BEND — 12:30 to 3:30 p.m., Pioneer Park, NW Wall St., Bend. There will be food, drinks, and live music. Bring your family! Invite your friends! Please bring a dessert, everything else will be provided. Sponsored by the Central Oregon Labor Chapter. SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON -Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Counties Labor Council and SW Washington Labor Council are teaming up for a good old-fashioned union Labor Day picnic. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Haydu Park, 253 Kalama River Road, Kalama, Washington. There will be barbecue lunch, music, kids’ games, local politicians, and more. EUGENE/SPRINGFIELD — Splash Pool Picnic Shelter, 6100 Thurston Road, Springfield. Noon to 3:30 p.m. Hamburgers, hot dogs, live music, door prizes. Please bring a side dish to share. Sponsored by the Lane County Central Labor Chapter. SALEM — 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Riverfront City Park, 200 Water St., NE, Salem. A barbecue with all the fixings will be provided. Guest speakers from 11-11:30 a.m. Request two non-perishable food items per person, or $2 per person for the Marion/Polk Food Bank. Sponsored by Marion-Polk-Yamhill Labor Chapter. Contact Will Music at 503-598-6344 or williamafmusic@gmail.com NORTH BEND/COOS BAY — There is no picnic this year. LABOR DAY Monday, September 2 Troll on the Hill At OHSU, a union volunteer uncovered management bargaining team members engaging in obscene social media trolling Union accusations about online trolling lead to the resignation of two OHSU executives By Don McIntosh Jesse Miller’s day job is helping Oregon Health and Science Uni- versity (OHSU) patients sched- ule and keep appointments. He’s also a steward, executive board officer, and social media team volunteer for his union, AF- SCME Local 328. On Local 328’s Facebook and Twitter ac- counts, he posts bargaining up- dates, and responds to questions and comments from fellow members. In April, he noticed odd posts from someone claiming to be a member, but didn’t think a lot about it. Local 328 is one of Oregon’s largest union locals, representing nearly 7,000 OHSU employees. Most of its diverse membership is supportive of the union, but criticism of the union isn’t un- THE TROLL CATCHER OHSU office support staffperson Jesse Miller—pictured, creating a live Facebook feed of AFSCME Local 328’s Aug. 8 contract rally— thought something was odd about the online trolls began attacking Local 328. heard of, and Miller was used to responding to critics respectfully and forthrightly. “If they were a member, and had questions, I wanted to give them good faith honest an- swers,” he said. But by late July, Miller says it became clear that the union had a troll problem. In Internet parlance, a troll is a person who shows up to the social media water cooler specifically to cause turmoil, in- sulting or baiting others into an emotional response. Keyboard cowards, they nearly always use fake names and try to stay anonymous. Local 328’s Twitter account started getting interactions from a pair of Twitter accounts under the names “Aanus McFadden” and “Roy Vragina.” Miller says the accounts spread misinformation and tried to bait others, for example ask- ing why the union wouldn’t agree to a management proposal to give bigger raises to lower- paid workers. [Because it wasn’t a serious proposal, and was in- tended to create division in the union, Miller says.] On the bus to his home in the St. Johns neighborhood, Miller’s phone buzzed with Twitter noti- fications. “Aanus” was com- plaining that his questions weren’t being answered imme- diately. “This is pretty classic troll be- havior,” Miller says. “And look- ing at the account, the name is ludicrous.” Miller joked to members of the union bargaining team about it, and someone said he should look more closely at the account. The troll hadn’t hidden his iden- tity very carefully. The Aanus McFadden Twitter account had only one follower, Roy Vragina, and Vragina had only one fol- lower as well: an account named “Frengle” with a picture of … Patrick Frengle, an OHSU finan- cial analyst and member of the management bargaining team. The McFadden and Vragina ac- counts were both created in Oc- tober 2012. And McFadden, Vragina and Frengle followed identical accounts, including po- litical prognosticator Nate Silver and comic Sarah Silverman. Miller and Local 328’s other social media volunteers dis- cussed with their union staff reps what to do about it. They de- cided to watch and wait, and document the behavior with screenshots. Turn to Page 31
