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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (June 5, 2020)
SERVING ORGANIZED LABOR IN OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON SINCE 1900 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS VOLUME 121, NUMBER 11 IN THIS ISSUE UNEMPLOYMENT WHILE YOU’RE STILL ON THE JOB Anti-layoff program helps 10,000+ local unionists | Page 6 WINS AND LOSSES IN THE OREGON PRIMARY Shemia wins for SOS, but Tootie’s back in the Clack | Page 7 Meeting Notices p.4 Hood River Distillery strike p.5 PORTLAND, OREGON JUNE 5, 2020 Plasterers uncover wage theft AFL-CIO sues OSHA By Don McIntosh Unpaid overtime, skipped rest breaks, illegal charges to workers for housing, and violation of the requirement to pay prevailing wage: All that tumbled out when union representatives from the Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons International Association (OPCMIA) talked to employees of nonunion plaster subcontractor ODP Systems who worked on a luxury apartment construction project in Eugene last year. What happened next is the latest exam- ple of building trades unions standing up for workers in gen- eral—not only their members— when they police abuses in the construction industry. OPCMIA representatives gathered evidence and turned it over to the federal government for enforcement. On April 22, after an investiga- tion by the U.S. Department of Labor, general contractor Essex General Construction paid $88,000 to settle charges of wage theft for five workers who A federal lawsuit seeks to force OSHA to issue rules to protect workers from COVID-19. Thanks to a federally guaranteed loan (and the labor of undocumented work- ers who were cheated by their employer) Eugene residents can enjoy “unri- valed luxury” in 600-sq-foot 1BR apartments that rent for $1,625 a month. worked on the project from March to December 2019, and deducted the amount from final payments owed to ODP. ODP—based in Sherwood and named for its owner Oscar D. Palacios—got the Eugene job af- ter underbidding union-signatory bidder Western Partitions Inc. by at least 20% on the million-dollar plus subcontract, according to Western Partitions plaster depart- ment manager Mitch Rask. Start- ing in March 2019, ODP directed a crew of 9 to 12 workers to apply interior plaster and exterior Turn to Page 2 They asked nicely. They peti- tioned. Now they’re suing. COVID-19 has caused more deaths among workers in a shorter time than any other health emergency in the Occu- pational Safety and Health Ad- ministration’s (OSHA) 50-year existence. Health care workers, meat packers, transit workers, grocery workers, and others are at heightened risk. Yet OSHA hasn’t required employers to take any specific action to pro- tect them, instead issuing non- binding “voluntary” guidance. As early as March 6, the AFL-CIO and 23 national unions asked OSHA for an emergency temporary rule to protect workers from COVID- 19. Crickets. Exasperated by April 28, federation President Rich Trumka wrote to U.S. La- Unions react as nation explodes in protest Witness video of the slow-mo- tion murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police May 25 pro- voked immediate horrified reac- tions worldwide, and led to days of protests and riots in dozens of American cities. In Minneapolis and St. Paul, half a dozen local unions issued statements calling for justice for George Floyd. The Minneapolis Federation of Teachers called on the school district to cut ties with the police department, and asked members to wear black on June 1. The head of the Minneapolis po- lice union fanned the flames, however, calling Floyd a violent criminal and promising the union would defend the four officers fired for his death, including the three who held him down and the fourth who asphyxiated him. In New York City, when po- lice loaded commandeered city buses with handcuffed protest- ers facing mass arrest, bus driv- ers refused to transport them, with the backing of their union, At a May 31 protest in Washington DC against the police killing of George Floyd, some protesters painted graffiti and broke windows as they moved through the streets. At the national headquarters of the AFL-CIO, windows were smashed and a fire started in the lobby. It’s not clear that the vandals knew what the building was, as other nearby office buildings were simi- larly damaged. The fire was extin- guished, and the lobby’s massive 1955 glass mosaic “Labor is Life” by celebrated muralist Lumen Winter was spared damage. Transport Workers Local 100. “TWU Local 100 bus opera- tors do not work for the NYPD,” the union said in a May 29 state- ment. “We transport the working families of NYC. All TWU Oper- ators should refuse to transport ar- rested protestors.” As protests spread, many na- tional unions issued statements, and so did the national AFL-CIO labor federation. “Racism plays an insidious role in the daily lives of all working people of color,” declared national AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka May 28. “This is a labor issue because it is a workplace is- sue. It is a community issue, and unions are the community.” Trumka issued a longer state- ment June 1 after some protesters trashed the AFL-CIO headquar- ters lobby in Washington, D.C.: “I watched the video of George Floyd pleading for his life under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer. No person of con- science can hear Floyd’s cries for help and not understand that something is deeply wrong in America. … We must and will continue to fight for reforms in bor Secretary Eugene Scalia, saying OSHA had failed to meet its obligation to protect workers and calling the govern- ment’s response “delinquent, delayed, disorganized, chaotic and totally inadequate.” Scalia wrote back, saying a new rule isn’t necessary be- cause existing rules and guid- ance are more valuable and al- low employers flexibility. On May 18, the AFL-CIO filed suit in U.S. Court of Ap- peals seeking a court order that OSHA issue an emergency temporary rule within 30 days. Unions have asked OSHA for that before, such as during the 2005 avian flu pandemic. In 2009, unions petitioned OSHA seeking a permanent standard governing occupational expo- sure to infectious diseases. Obama’s OSHA initiated rule- making but never completed it, and the Trump Administration abandoned it after taking office in 2017. policing and to address issues of racial and economic inequality. “We categorically reject those on the fringes who are engaging in violence and destroying prop- erty. Attacks like the one on the AFL-CIO headquarters are senseless, disgraceful and only play into the hands of those who have oppressed workers of color for generations and detract from the peaceful, passionate protest- ers who are rightly bringing is- sues of racism to the forefront. “But in the end, the labor movement is not a building. We are a living collection of work- ing people who will never stop fighting for economic, social and racial justice. We are united un- equivocally against the forces of hate who seek to divide this na- tion for their own personal and political gain at our expense. “We will clean up the glass, sweep away the ashes and keep doing our part to bring a better day out of this hour of darkness and despair.”
