PAGE 2 | October 2, 2020 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
NORTHWEST
LABOR
PRESS
(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.
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Mailing address:
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Editor & Manager: Michael Gutwig
Associate editor: Don McIntosh
Office manager: Jill Lukens
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NOVEMBER 2020 GENERAL ELECTION
Joe Biden’s promises to labor
On Labor Day, about 3,400
people watched a live conversa-
tion hosted on Facebook by the
national AFL-CIO in which
Biden responded to videotaped
questions from union members.
A Trump campaign Twitter ac-
count pointed out afterward that
it seemed like Biden was read-
ing the responses from a
teleprompter. But scripted or
not, the promises were real, and
they track the pledges outlined
at JoeBiden.com. Altogether,
they’re the most pro-labor cam-
paign planks of any Democratic
presidential nominee in genera-
tions. Biden is endorsed by
every major national union, in-
cluding the national AFL-CIO
and all its affiliates. If he wins,
they’ll work to hold him to the
following promises:
■ Support the Protecting the Right to
Organize (PRO) Act. Passed by the
House this year, but killed in the Senate,
it’s the biggest pro-worker labor law
reform in over 80 years. It provides
tougher penalties when employers fire
union supporters, ends employers’ ability
to delay union elections, bars employers
from holding “captive audience” anti-
union meetings, requires greater
disclosure when employers hire union-
busting consultants, implements binding
Former vice president Joe Biden met with AFL-CIO president Rich Trumka Labor Day for a live online discussion.
arbitration for first contracts when union
and employers can’t reach agreement,
bans permanent replacement of strikers,
allows unions to wage secondary
boycotts, and eliminates so-called “right-
to-work” laws that prohibit union
contracts that require workers to share a
union’s costs.
■ Support the Public Service Freedom
to Negotiate Act. It would guarantee a
minimum level of union rights for public
employees at the state and local levels.
■ Promote union organizing. He
proposes to create a cabinet-level
working group, with representatives from
labor, to focus on promoting union
organizing and collective bargaining.
■ Support the Butch Lewis Act to
rescue failing union pensions. About
a million workers are in union pensions
that are failing through no fault of their
own. A bill to loan them money passed
the House last year but died in the
Senate.
■ Increase the federal minimum
wage to $15 an hour.
■ Bar companies from bidding on
federal contracts if they break the
law to fight unions.
■ Support legislation to extend union
rights to farmworkers, domestic
workers, and independent
contractors.
■ Restore federal worker union rights
that Trump eliminated by
executive order.
WATCH THE BIDEN AFL-CIO
LIVESTREAM
https://bit.ly/36e2swB