PAGE 2 | October 16, 2020 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
NORTHWEST
LABOR
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LCSA fundraiser
under way
The holidays are just around the
corner and Labor’s Community
Service Agency (LCSA) is plan-
ning an innovative drive-thru
Presents from Partners event this
year, with a goal of serving 900
kids (up from 300 last year), some
of whom have been impacted by
COVID-19 or wildfires. LCSA
also wants to distribute $15,000 in
gift cards to families that attend.
The gift cards can be used for hol-
iday gifts in lieu of the thousands
of toys kids typically pick from.
But to pull it off takes money.
LCSA is now accepting donations
from locals, councils, individuals,
vendors, and businesses. All cards
are welcomed — Fred Meyer
union-represented cards are highly
encouraged!
You can mail or drop off gift
cards to LCSA at 9955 SE Wash-
ington St, #301, Portland, OR,
97216.
If you wish to ship toys instead,
please send them to Sheet Metal
Local 16 at 2379 NE 178th Ave.,
Portland, OR, 97230.
The deadline for donations is
December 7.
For more information, call 503-
231-4962.
NOVEMBER 2020 GENERAL ELECTION
Platforms show parties increasingly divided on unions
The parties today are far apart on labor policy.
By Don McIntosh
It wasn’t always this way, but today the two
major political parties in the United States
are highly polarized—for and against
unions.
The Republican Party, particularly at the
national level, has increasingly become ex-
plicitly anti-union. At this year’s Republi-
can National Convention, former Wisconsin
governor Scott Walker was given the honor
of nominating Mike Pence as vice president.
[Walker’s claim to fame: stripping his
state’s public employees of collective bar-
gaining rights.] The convention also gave a
coveted speaking spot to anti-union teacher
Rebecca Friedrichs. Friedrichs’ lawsuit
against her union was a precursor to Janus
v AFSCME, the 2018 Supreme Court deci-
sion that barred any requirement that public
employees pay union dues.
“Unions are subverting our republic,”
Friedrichs said at the Republican conven-
tion. “They undermine educational excel-
lence, morality, law, and order.”
The Republican party didn’t adopt a new
platform at this year’s convention, on the ra-
tionale that too few delegates could take part
in its crafting, but instead re-adopted its
2016 platform, which contains two refer-
ences to “union bosses” (and 10 references
to President Obama.) Here’s some of the
Republican Party’s official agenda:
cONvENTiON uNiON-BASHiNg At the 2020 Re-
publican Convention, anti-union teacher Rebecca
Friedrichs was given a convention spot to attack
unions, saying they deprive workers of their voices.
“President Trump,” Friedrichs said, “he’s breaking
the unions’ grip on our schools.”
■ Pass a national “right-to-work” law, banning any requirement
that union-represented workers pay dues.
■ Repeal the Davis-Bacon law, which requires that the prevailing
wage be paid on federal construction projects.
■ Eliminate the right of airport TSA workers to unionize.
■ Declare that minimum wage should be handled at the state
and local level (even as Republican-led states have barred local
jurisdictions from passing minimum wage.)
Meanwhile, there are signs that Democrats
are returning to more robust pro-union
stances. The 90-page official 2020 Demo-
cratic Party platform actually leads with its
workers rights proposals, and is the most pro-
union in recent memory. Some highlights:
■ Prioritize passing the PRO Act. The Act, which passed the
House this year, makes it easier and faster for workers to
unionize and get a first contract, cracks down on employers
who fire union supporters, bars employers from holding
“captive audience” anti-union meetings, bans permanent
replacement of strikers and restores the right to secondary
boycotts, repeals so-called “right-to-work” laws, and extends
union rights to domestic workers and farmworkers.
■ Double the federal minimum wage to $15/hour by 2026.
■ Legislate paid sick days and 12 weeks of paid family and
medical leave for all workers, so new parents can recover from
childbirth and bond with new children, and take time when
they or loved ones are seriously ill.
■ Increase funding and staffing at the Department of Labor to
aggressively enforce wage, hour, health, and safety rules, and
increase funding to the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission and increase its authority to initiate directed
investigations into civil rights violations
■ Extend minimum wage and overtime protections to gig and
platform workers.
■ Guarantee a minimum level of collective bargaining rights for
state and local public-sector employees.
■ Make massive federal infrastructure investments, including
modernizing highways, roads, bridges, and airports; high-
speed rail; rural broadband; and clean energy, clean
transportation, and advanced manufacturing.
■ Pass a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United,
and eliminate all private financing from federal elections.
SEE THE COMPLETE PLATFORMS
Democratic https://bit.ly/2I4kyXO
Republican https://bit.ly/3ntYUMV