NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | January 17, 2020 | PAGE 5
Boise Cascade busts Carpenters
Union campaign in Medford
Martin Luther King Jr.’s
unfinished labor
A union campaign among 375
workers at a pair of southern Ore-
gon plywood mills ended in a
crushing union election defeat.
The Dec. 20 vote, which came af-
ter Boise Cascade fired half a
dozen outspoken union support-
ers, was 61 in favor of unionizing,
and 279 against. More than half
of the workers had signed union
authorization cards as of Nov. 25,
when the union asked the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board
(NLRB) to hold an election.
Pacific Northwest Regional
We honor and celebrate Martin
Luther King Jr. the third Mon-
day every January, but the ver-
sion of King we hear most about
has been sanitized, white-
washed. We hear a lot about
King the dreamer, King the in-
tegrationist, King the civil rights
icon.
Too often neglected is the
King who hungered for eco-
nomic justice, who stood with
black workers in union strug-
gles, who called for a massive
government jobs program. That
King, in the final days of his life,
was organizing a Poor People’s
Movement — to march on
Washington, D.C., and set up a
tent city there until the govern-
ment got serious about ending
poverty. That King was the tar-
get of dismissive newspaper ed-
itorials and surveillance by a
paranoid FBI.
Even when we hear about the
1963 March on Washington —
at which he made the “I Have A
Dream” speech — it’s too often
forgotten what they were
marching for. The march — the
largest demonstration in U.S.
history up to that point —
wasn’t just for an end to racial
discrimination. It was the
“March on Washington for Jobs
and Freedom.” Not just free-
dom, but jobs. Not just an end to
racial discrimination in housing,
but a guarantee of decent hous-
Council of Carpenters has filed
at least eight separate charges
with the NLRB challenging the
firings and other alleged viola-
tions of federal labor law, such
as supervisors asking workers
how they’d vote.
The company fought the
union effort even though about
one fifth of Boise Cascade em-
ployees are union-represented.
Nine collective bargaining
agreements cover roughly 1,350
Boise Cascade workers.
The union campaign at Boise
Cascade’s plywood mill in
Medford and its laminated ve-
neer lumber mill in White City
was begun by the Carpenters In-
dustrial Council, a nationwide
union representing workers in
plywood mills and cabinet man-
ufacturing. Last April, locals of
the council were merged into re-
gional councils of the Carpen-
ters Union. For the Pacific
Northwest Regional Council of
Carpenters, that meant over
4,000 new members in 13 locals
in six states.
... Among Oregon Dems, Schrader is lone holdout
From Page 1
thus avoiding any real account-
ability for union busting,” the
state labor federation said in a
statement.
A recent study by the Eco-
nomic Policy Institute found
employers were violating fed-
eral law in roughly 42% of all
union election campaigns, with
20% involving a charge that a
worker was “illegally fired” for
union activity. Additionally, in
nearly a third of all union elec-
tions, employers were charged
with “illegally coercing, threat-
ening, or retaliating against
workers for supporting a union.”
These numbers only repre-
sent elections supervised by the
National Labor Relations
Board.
“Corporations and anti-union
special interest groups will con-
tinue to exploit loopholes in our
outdated labor laws to keep
workers from standing together
in strength. We have a chance to
fix this problem, but Rep.
Schrader does not seem to see it
that way,” Trainor said.
The Oregon AFL-CIO is ask-
ing members to call Schrader’s
district offices at 503-588-9100
(Salem) and 503-557-1324
(Oregon City) and tell his staff
that you want him to co-sponsor
or support the PRO Act, (H.R.
2474) so that more working
people have the opportunity to
join a union.
Schrader is up for election
this year. He is being challenged
in the Democratic primary by
Milwaukie Mayor Mark
Gamba. The 5th District covers
Lincoln, Marion, Polk, Tillam-
ook and portions of Benton,
Clackamas and Multnomah
counties.
ing for all Americans. Not just
an end to racial discrimination
in employment, but an increase
in the minimum wage to $2-an-
hour — which would be over
$17 in today’s dollars. Not just
an end to voting restrictions, but
a comprehensive program to
train and employ all unem-
ployed Americans.
Those were King’s goals in
1963, and they remained his
goals in 1968 when he was as-
sassinated. Too many of them
today remain undone.
So this MLK Day, let’s not
congratulate ourselves on all
that he and we achieved. Let’s
take up his unfinished labor.
Let’s demand that government
intervene to reverse growing
economic inequality.
“We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really does-
n't matter with me now, because I've been to the moun-
taintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to
live a long life; longevity has its place. But I’m not con-
cerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And
He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve
looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not
get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that
we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So I’m
happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not
fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the
coming of the Lord.”
— Martin Luther King, Jr., in Memphis in
support of striking public-sector workers,
the day before his assassination
“UNIONS HAVE BEEN THE ONLY POWERFUL
AND EFFECTIVE VOICE WORKING PEOPLE
HAVE EVER HAD IN THE HISTORY OF THIS
COUNTRY.”
— BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN