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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (March 5, 2021)
PAGE 2 | March 5, 2021 | 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. Office location: 4275 NE Halsey St., Portland, Oregon Mailing address: P.O. Box 13150, Portland, OR 97213 Phone: (503) 288-3311 Web address: http://nwlaborpress.org Editor & Manager: Michael Gutwig Senior staff reporter: Don McIntosh Office manager: Jill Lukens Printed on recycled paper, using soy-based inks, by members of Teamsters Local 747-M. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Individual subscriptions are $15 a year for union members, $23 a year for all others. Pay by credit card online at nwlaborpress.org/subscribe, or send a check to our mailing address (above) along with your name, address and union affiliation, if any. Group rates of 48 cents an issue per member —$11.52 a year— are available for 25 or more subscriptions; call 503-288-3311. CORRECTIONS: See an error? Please let us know at editor@nwlaborpress.org or by phone at 503-288-3311. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT PORTLAND, OREGON. CHANGE OF ADDRESS: If you move, let us know at nwlaborpress.org/subscriber-services or by mail at our mailing address (above). Be sure to provide your old and new addresses and the name/number of your local union. Please allow three weeks for the change to take effect. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS P.O. BOX 13150 PORTLAND, OR 97213-0150 CORRECTION Pension rescue GRANT. We incorrectly reported in our Feb. 19 issue that a COVID relief bill under consideration in Congress would rescue distressed union-sponsored multiemployer pension plans through a loan. The Butch Lewis Act of 2019 (S.2254) would have rescued the plans via a loan, but the version of pension res- cue in Section H of the House COVID relief bill takes the form of a cash grant. Hours: Mon-Sat 12-6 pm Closed Sunday ... Biden meeting From Page 1 counsel at the NLRB, she’s been working as special counsel for Communications Workers of America (CWA). Abruzzo will need to be confirmed by the Senate. Trump’s IRAP apprenticeship program sent to scrap heap Biden also took steps Feb. 17 to support the apprenticeship model of workforce training, drawing immediate applause from build- ing trades unions. First, he told labor leaders that he’ll ask the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to reinstate the Na- tional Advisory Committee on Apprenticeships. Connie Ashbrook, a member of Portland-based Elevator Con- structors Local 23 who headed up Oregon Tradeswomen Inc., had served on the advisory com- mittee for seven years when Trump took office in 2017. Up to then the 27-member group had been meeting quarterly to advise the DOL on apprenticeship is- sues. The new administration ghosted them. “There was no formal good- bye,” Ashbrook told the Labor Press. “I talked to the director of the office of apprenticeship. He A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT Feb. 28 video on the @POTUS Twitter account – https://bit.ly/3bS9V5G With Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama voting on a union, Joe Biden speaks out. “I have long said America wasn’t built by Wall Street. It was built by the middle class, and unions built the middle class. Unions put power in the hands of workers. They level the playing field. They give you a stronger voice, for your health, your safety, higher wages, said, ‘We’re just going to wait and see. You can assume you’re still a member of the committee until you hear differently.’” That was the last she heard. The DOL never called another meeting of the committee. Biden next told labor leaders he supports Rep. Bobby Scott’s National Apprenticeship Act of 2021, which would greatly in- protections from racial discrimination and sexual harassment. Unions lift up workers, both union and non-union, but especially Black and Brown workers. “I made it clear — I made it clear when I was running — that my administration’s policy would be to support unions organizing and the right to collectively bargain. I’m keeping that promise. “You should all remember, the National La- bor Relations Act didn’t just say that union crease federal funding for ap- prenticeship and pre-apprentice- ship programs, including pro- grams that help recruit women and people of color. Finally, Biden signed a new executive order rescinding the 2017 Trump executive order that had created “industry-recognized apprenticeship programs” (IRAPs). The Trump order are allowed to exist, it said that we should encourage unions. So let me be really clear: It’s not up to me to decide whether anyone should join a union. But let me be even more clear: It’s not up to an employer to decide that either. The choice to join a union is up to the workers — full stop. “Today and over the next few days and weeks workers in Alabama and all across America are voting on whether to organize a union in their workplace.” This is vitally im- portant — a vitally important choice as America grapples with the deadly pandemic, the economic crisis and the reckoning on race—what it reveals the deep economic disparities that still exist in our country. “And there should be no intimidation, no coer- cion, no threats, no anti-union propaganda. No supervisor should confront employees about their union preferences. You know, every worker should have a free and fair choice to join a union. The law guarantees that choice. And it’s your right, not that of an employer, it’s your right. No employer can take that right away. “So make your voice heard. God bless you and may God protect the workers and their families who are trying to figure out how to make it, fairly.” touted IRAPs as a new kind of apprenticeship program that could be designed and overseen solely by employers and em- ployer groups. Federal appren- ticeship laws dating back to 1937 had mandated a role for labor representatives in setting stan- dards for federally recognized Turn to Page 3
