NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | October 18, 2019 | PAGE 7
Who’s on our side?
By Graham Trainor Oregon AFL-CIO President
Thank you,
Now let’s get to work!
I am humbled and honored to serve Oregon workers as
your new president of the Oregon AFL-CIO. From the
bottom of my heart, thank you for your confidence, sup-
port, and solidarity as we fight for a fairer and more just
economy that lifts up ALL workers.
Tom and Barbara set the bar high for our movement,
ensuring the Oregon AFL-CIO was in a strong position to
help lead the fights for workers of the future and support
the fights of our affiliate unions and their members as well.
They did that throughout their careers with grit, determi-
nation, and an unwavering commitment to justice. Oregon
workers are far better off thanks to their leadership, and I
am eternally grateful.
It’s hard for me to think of a time in my career that is
more exciting to be a part of the Union Movement. Despite
the endless challenges facing working people within the
rigged economic system we are all fighting, the opportu-
nities for building working class power and solidarity are
also endless. Just take a moment and look around at the
breadth of collective action we’re seeing and, more im-
portantly, the results.
Look at the over 20,000 retail workers and members of
UFCW Local 555 who put it all on the line for fairness,
dignity, and respect... and won. They not only won a fair
settlement that reflects the hard work and value they bring
to their employers, they won on addressing the gender pay
gap that has been increasingly prevalent in their industry.
Look at the nearly 7,000 workers at Oregon Health and
Science University who mobilized thousands of allies and
community members in their fight for a fair and equitable
contract... and won. These members of AFSCME Local
328 have helped make OHSU the incredible institution
that it is, and their settlement ensures their hard and im-
portant work is valued.
Look at the thousands of university workers and Kaiser
Permanente workers who all demanded respect and dig-
nity in their contracts... and won.
Look through your newsfeed and you’ll see examples
of workers in every corner of our country and in every sec-
tor of our nation’s economy — from General Motors
plants, to hotel chains, to Mack Truck factories, workers
who are fed up and doing something about it.
If pushed to the brink, these workers are willing to
strike. The mainstream media would have you believe that
workers carelessly vote to strike and do so with reckless
abandon. However, workers on a UAW picket line are re-
ceiving just $275 per week while the strike lasts. That
doesn’t cut it. It doesn’t pay the bills, yet they are holding
strong and fighting for something larger than themselves.
Our movement is one of the working class, a bold and
inclusive movement that fights for any worker, no matter
who they love or where they were born, and we are win-
ning. It gives me so much hope for the future of our united
workers’ movement.
Keep fighting! See you in the streets.
The Oregon AFL-CIO is a 138,000-member-strong federation of labor
unions.
...Byrd retires
From Page 3
and to deal with the budget
shortfall, had made secretary-
treasurer an unpaid position.
Byrd, with a flexible academic
job and wide familiarity within
union leaders at all levels, agreed
to step in. It was the first time a
woman had held the office.
At the Oregon AFL-CIO,
Byrd became a persistent advo-
cate that organized labor engage
with environmental groups —
to ensure that when environ-
mental legislation passes, it ben-
efits, and doesn’t harm, Oregon
workers. In 2007 she helped set
up an Oregon chapter of the
Apollo Alliance, a labor-envi-
ronmental coalition, which later
merged into the similar Blue-
Green Alliance. In 2009 she
took part in the United Nations
climate summit in Copenhagen.
And for years she worked be-
hind the scenes to make sure la-
bor was in the room when cli-
mate policy was being discussed
by elected leaders. The culmina-
tion of that work was in this
year’s “cap-and-invest” bill,
which contains stronger labor
standards than any other legisla-
tion in the nation. The bill failed,
but could come up again next
year.
Byrd also made women’s em-
powerment a priority. In 2017
she helped form the group Ore-
gon Women Labor Leaders. It
started with informal get-togeth-
ers of female union activists.
Talking about difficulties they
faced, like not being listened to
by their male union counter-
parts, they found they weren’t
alone. National AFL-CIO secre-
tary-treasurer Liz Shuler came
to Oregon for their first official
meeting. This year, the group
waged its first full-on campaign,
with well-attended public ac-
tions to pressure Fred Meyer to
address a gender pay gap.
Though Byrd is now doubly
retired, she says she isn’t gone
yet. She’ll teach a few more
classes at LERC, and hopes to
stay involved with labor envi-
ronmental work.
The seeds she planted —
skilling up union leaders and en-
couraging labor to fight for
green jobs and gender equality
— will bear fruit for years to
come.
OSEA won’t support
legislators who voted
for PERS reduction bill
The Oregon School Employees
Association’s (OSEA) Board of
Directors voted unanimously
Oct. 4, not to endorse any legis-
lator in the 2020 election cycle
who voted to support Senate Bill
1049 in the last session of the
Oregon Legislature.
SB 1049 made changes to the
Public Employees Retirement
System (PERS), some of which
resulted in dramatic reductions to
the pensions that public employ-
ees will receive.
“PERS is a benefit that was
promised to public employees,
including OSEA members,” said
OSEA President Lisa Gourley.
“Many candidates campaigned
on guarantees to protect our pen-
sions during the 2018 election,
only to vote to cut those same
pensions the following spring.
We rely on those pensions, and
we will not forget this.”
OSEA represents about
20,000 public and private em-
ployees working in Oregon
school districts, community col-
leges, education service districts,
Head Start agencies, libraries,
and park and recreation districts.
OSEA is part of Keep Ore-
gon’s Promise, a coalition of or-
ganizations that is suing the state
over portions of SB 1049, which
are considered an unconstitu-
tional breach of contract.
Earlier, Oregon AFSCME and
the Oregon AFL-CIO took action
to restrict contributions and sup-
port for legislators who voted for
SB 1049. AFSCME represents
26,000 public employees.