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Street Roots • Nov 11-17, 2016
CHAMBERLAIN, from page 4
electricians union, that have really embraced
this changing environment as it relates to solar
and wind and improved grids, and really being
on the forefront of th a t
If you go out to IBEW 48, they have a solar-
powered building, and they’ve really trained
their apprentices to have the skills to meet this
new industry, so it just depends on the union.
Emily Green: About three years ago, the
national AFL-CIO reversed its stance on
undocumented immigrants, who some labor
organizations have traditionally seen as a threat
to jobs, and instead has launched a campaign in
support of immigration reform. Why is the AFL-
CIO sticking its neck out to support workers that
might be undercutting wages?
T.C.: First of all, I don’t believe they
undercut wages. If
you look at the
data, it proves the
opposite. If you
"The labor movement is more
look at Social
than fast representing workers,
it's a social movement. It should Security, for
example, here you
be a vehicle for change."
have
TOM CHAMBERLAIM,
undocumented
OREGON AFL-CtO PRESIDENT
workers who can’t
collect Social
Security, who go
to work every day,
pay into a system, they will never get a benefit.
We at the Oregon AFL-CIO believe that all
workers, whether you are documented or not,
have rights.
CAUSA, which is the largest immigrants’
rights group in the state, is housed in this .
office. We have a v ery strong relationship w ith
them.
It’s really easy, after watching the (first)
presidential debate, to see why Donald Trump
has some appeal.
If you don’t know undocumented workers, if
they’re just faces in a crowd, it’s really easy to
villainize them.
But if you go to a CAUSA or PCUN rally and
a speaker comes out and they’re a mother
who’s being deported and her kids and her
American husband are in the audience - that
changes you.
If you’re a human being, you have to
sympathize with those folks, and the bottom
line is, NAFTA was one of the drivers that
destroyed the collective farm in Mexico - that
undermined their economy. We did that, and
we have a responsibility to those folks.
Anybody who tells you they wouldn’t flee a
place where they can’t earn a living for their
kids to find a better life, they are crazy,
because I think that every human being would
do th a t I feel pretty strongly about this issue.
E.G.: The decline of unions has, in part, been
tied to the decline in wages of even nonunion
workers. Is this a dynamic you’ve seen reflected in
Portland?
T.C.: Yes, absolutely. If you go back to the
late ’70s and ’80s, when our proportion of the
workforce that belonged to unions was high -
in Oregon it was around 33 percent - what was
negotiated in contracts was given to everyone,
because people wanted to be competitive.
But now as our density has shrunk, in
Oregon, we’re one of the highest states - our
union density is 17 to 18 percent - but it’s not
high enough to impact non-union workers.
What you’re seeing is the rise of legislative
benefits - sick days, minimum wage,
retirement - things we passed last legislative
News
session, and business chafed at that.
But business can’t have it both ways. They
can’t say, “No we don’t want a union,” and then
say, “We’re going to oppose this legislation
because it adds to our co st”
Folks need a safety net. Folks need a
minimum standard of living and a minimum of
benefits to maintain their livelihood.
You’re either going to do that legislatively, or
you’re going to change the laws that were put
into effect in 1935 (the National Labor
Relations Act of 1935 established most workers
have the right to organize a union) that have
not really been changed since then, except for
in 1947 (Labor-Management Act of 1947, which
union leaders called a “slave labor” bill, made
significant revisions to the 1935 legislation).
You can’t keep workers with outmoded laws,
where the employer can come in and have one-
on-one meetings and tell you, “If you join a
union, you’ll be fired” or “If you join a union,
we’re going to offshore this company” or “If
you join a union, our profits will go down, and
we’ll close the doors.”
This country needs to be about the people,
not corporations, and we have an unbalanced
system.
I think what Americans have lost sight of is
that there is an equation here. The business
owner puts up capital; that’s his or her
investment in the company. The worker’s
investment is probably, to me, more valuable,
because it’s their time. It’s pieces of their lives
that they could have been doing other things.
That has value, too.
Since the decline of the labor movement, we
no longer have the collective voice we once
had.
E.G.: What industries in Portland would you
say are most staunchly opposed to labor union?
T.C.: You name i t I’ll tell you right now,
there is not a business owner today that if you
walked in and say, “We’want a union,” that
they’re going say, “Oh great! Come on down!”
The first thing the owner is going to say, if
they’re a small business, is “What’d I do
wrong?” If it’s a big business, it’s usually, “I’m
losing control,” and there’s a fight
We tried to organize a facility that had 300
workers, they spoke seven different languages,
and probably 65 percent of those workers had
signed cards saying they wanted to join a
union.
And the facility brought in a union buster
who was an attorney from Chicago, had one-on-
one meetings, actually gave people gift
certificates to Starbucks if they came in and sat
down and talked to them. Most of these folks
were here on visas, and he told them, “If you
join a union, and you went home, you won’t
have a job to come back to.” In other words,
you couldn’t come back to the United States.
On the day of the election, the floor
supervisor, who happened to speak the
language of those seven different groups,
escorted, one by one, those workers to the
voting booth, talking to them all the way.
Do we have oppositions to unions in this
city? Yeah, we do. We lost that election by the
way. When people are scared, it takes great
courage to join a union.
E.G.: Can you tell me what facility that was?
T.C.: I can’t It happened last spring. It was
one of the most horrendous things I’ve ever
seen.
Editor’s note: Chamberlain’s description of
events is consistent with Northwest Labor Press
Page 5
reports of union-busting activities at Portland
SpecialtyCakifig m Gresham earlier this year.
The bakery “makes pretzels, cakes, donuts,
bagels and muffins for Starbucks, Jamba Juice,
Walmart, Costco and Winco for wages of around
$10 an hour,”Don McIntosh reported in the
union-supported newspaper.
A class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of seven
workers by the Northwest Workers Justice Project
in August claims the bakery required workers to
work more than 13 hours in a 24-hour period and
systematically failed to pay overtime.
E.G.: Are these union-busting tactics pretty
typical of your experience?
T.C.: It’s very typical, the tactics that are
used. There is always a reliance on fear to stop
an organizing drive, but I’ve never seen
anything quite
like this.
E.G.: It seems
like Burgerville
has been
successful. Do
you know what
they did that
enabled them to
form a union?
T.C.: Well,
they haven’t
actually formed
a (traditional)
union. Whait
PHO TO
they asked
Burgerville to do
is recognize card check, (which means the
majority of the workers have signed cards
indicating intent to join a union). Burgerville, a
month ago, is starting to have one-on-one
meetings With their workers, so it’s going down
the same path.
BY D IE G O D IA Z
E.G.: You said the AFL-CIO has played a big
role in the housing crisis, and you are doing
something rather interesting with your office. Can
you talk a little bit about that?
T.C.: What we are planning on doing is
tearing down this facility. We have a pretty big
chunk of land, eight-tenths of an acre. And
we’re going to tear down this and build
somewhere between 100 and 120 units of low-
income housing - right here on this spot.
The busiest bus line in the city is right there
on Powell, so there is a lot of convenience
here. We’re not that far from downtown
Portland, so it has a lot of benefit The labor
movement is more than just representing
workers, it’s a social movement. It should be a
vehicle for change.
Our goal is not only to create low-income
housing, but to create a child care facility so
that folks in the neighborhood and folks who
live here have the opportunity to have child
care close to where they live, but to really
make it something special.
That’s the goal - what I’m learning is, a lot
of my pipe dreams are being shot down
because it comes down to what can you afford,
but it’s still on the table.
E.G.: What are AFL-CIO and Oregon Strong
Voice’s legislative priorities for next session?
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T.C.: Fair scheduling is a high priority for us.
Family leave is a big priority for us. The
transportation package is crucial.
Because of the trade agreements, we live in
a very competitive world and we rely on getting
goods and services and people to work. If we
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See CHAMBERLAIN, page 10