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December 6, 2019 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
NORTHWEST
LABOR
PRESS
Office location:
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Mailing address:
P.O. Box 13150, Portland, OR 97213
Phone: (503) 288-3311
Web address:
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Editor & Manager: Michael Gutwig
Senior staff reporter: Don McIntosh
Office manager: Jill Lukens
From Page 1
ery employers that are union-
ized and pay higher wages and
benefits. Portland-based Local
114 represents bakery workers
at Franz, Kroger, Safeway and
Bimbo/Oroweat, as well as bak-
ery department workers at local
grocery stores. At Franz, bakers
make $25.18 an hour plus bene-
fits under the union contract; at
Grand Central, bakers top out at
$18.37 an hour.
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laid off workers were rehired at
other locations. Wisnor went on
to get a job enforcing labor laws
at the Oregon Bureau of Labor
and Industries (BOLI).
Now, Grand Central has an-
other chance to make good on
its brand-claim of being a busi-
ness as a force for good — by
recognizing the union, or stand-
ing aside while workers make
that decision on their own.
At press time, the company
had declined to voluntarily rec-
ognize the union, and a union
election is scheduled for Dec.
12.
laws, which are unfortunately improve conditions for work-
called “right-to-work” laws. And ing people? A few years ago a
Democrats have increasingly lot of people were saying labor
really seems dead in
seen themselves as
the water. And then
the party of lawyers
out of nowhere in
and doctors and engi-
early 2018 came the
neers and Hollywood
West Virginia teach-
and Wall Street. In
ers strike, which was
this insane political
huge, and then the
system we have
Oklahoma teacher
where politicians
strike, and Arizona,
have to chase after
and LA. And all of a
donors, there are
sudden labor is on
huge incentives to fo-
cus more on Wall Beaten Down, Worked Up the front page and
leading the TV news,
Street hedge fund By Steven Greenhouse
and people are feel-
managers than steel
Alfred A. Knopf, 2019
ing excited about la-
workers in Pittsburgh
or Walmart workers who make bor. Success begets more suc-
cess. I think the teacher strike
$27,000 a year.
What do you think holds the help lead to the big Stop and
most promise for restoring the Shop strike in New England.
power of organized labor to And the teachers strikes really
opened peoples eyes. What’s
great about the teacher strikes is
they weren’t just about raising
teacher pay but about helping
improve education. Bargaining
for the common good I think is
really important. Unions see that
they’re not as strong as they
once were. It’s good for them to
develop partnerships with com-
munity groups and environmen-
talists. And we seen that with the
Fight for 15 too: It’s like,
“We’re not the unions of old that
cared only about helping our
members. We are unions that are
trying to lift up all of society.” I
think that’s really helping open
peoples’ eyes about the opportu-
nity unions present and how
they can lift millions of workers
and overall communities.
...Grand Central Bakery
(International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X)
Established in 1900 in Portland, Oregon as a voice of the la-
bor movement. Published on a semi-monthly basis on the
first and third Fridays of each month by the Oregon Labor
Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non-profit mutual benefit corpo-
ration owned by 20 unions and councils including the Ore-
gon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in
Oregon and Southwest Washington.
attempts by workers to exercise
their rights. In 2013, Grand Cen-
tral reinstated cafe worker Ryan
Wisnor to settle an NLRB
charge that it had fired him for
complaining about safety,
wages, and staffing on behalf of
co-workers. Later, when Wisnor
and coworkers at the same loca-
tion began a campaign to join
Laborers Local 483, Grand Cen-
tral closed the cafe months
ahead of schedule. Co-owner
Piper Davis told the Labor Press
at the time that the closure was
unrelated to the union cam-
paign. But none of the cafe’s
...Greenhouse
From Page 1
States, a lot of corporations see
unions as the enemy. Then
there’s the big increase in service
sector employment. Beauty par-
lors and nail salons and restau-
rants are generally harder to
unionize. A fourth reason is that
unions have too often been
asleep at the wheel and done far
too little unionizing.
Why have Democratic politi-
cians been such fair weather
friends, and Republicans ever
more dedicated enemies? Re-
publicans have been very focused
on trying to cripple unions, as we
saw with Scott walker in Wiscon-
sin with all these anti-union-fee
Will Grand Central fight the
union campaign? Calls and
emails from the Labor Press
went unreturned. The company
goes to great effort to tout itself
as an ethical enterprise, and last
year paid to become a “Certified
B Corporation” a designation
that supposedly commits it to
use its profits to make a positive
impact for its employees, com-
munities, and the environment.
But the company didn’t roll
out the welcome mat in previous