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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 18, 2012)
Œlj» luly 18. 2012 ^Portiani» (Obstruer Opinion articles do not necessarily represent the views of the Portland Observer. We welcome reader essays, photos and story ideas. Submit to news@portlandobserver.com. Page 7 New Prices Effective May 1,2010 B Labor Organizing and Civil Rights Two movements with historic connections N orman H ili , and V ei . ma M lrphy H ii . i . In the U nited States, w orker rights and civil rights have a deep and historic connection. W hat is slavery, after all, if not the abuse o f w orker rights taken to its ultim ate ex trem e? A. Philip R andolph, presiden t o f the B ro th er hood o f Sleeping C ar Porters, recognized this link and, as early as the 1920s, spoke p assio n ately about the need for a black -lab o r alliance. C ivil rights activist B ayard R ustin, R an d o lp h ’s protégé and an adviser to M artin L u th er K ing, Jr., jo in e d his m entor as a forceful, early advocate for a black-labor c o a lition. The very title o f the fam ous 1963 “M arch on W ashington for Jobs a n d F r e e d o m ,” c o n c e iv e d by R andolph and organized by R ustin, reflected their black-labor p ersp ec tive. T w o years later, they founded the A. Philip R andolph Institute, to solidify the black-labor alliance. W ith prodding from R andolph, the A F L -C IO cam e to recognize the deep connection betw een labor rights and civil rights. T h e civil rights m ovem ent has m oved sim ilarly, acknow ledging organized lab o r as by far its strongest ally. In 1961, K ing spoke to this, declaring that “N e groes are alm ost entirely a w orking people. O ur needs are identical w ith la b o r’s needs: d ecent w ages, fair w orking conditions, quality ed u ca tion and h ealthcare. T h at is w hy blacks support la b o r’s dem ands and fight law s that curb labor.” T hat is w hy the labor h ater and the race b aiter is virtually alw ays a tw in-headed creature, spew ing anti-black epithets from one m outh and an ti labor propaganda from the other. A nd that is w hy, at the tim e o f K in g ’s assassination in 1968, by he w as preparing to lead a m arch in M em phis, T en n essee, in support o f black striking sanita tion w orkers. Still today, the benefits o f trade union m em bership for A frican A m ericans, w om en and H is pan ics are clear. A ccording to recent estim ates, the w ages o f black union m em bers are 31 percent h ig h er than th eir non union counterparts. T he union w age ad vantage for w om en is 34 percent; fo r L atin o ’s, it’s a w hopping 51 percent. T h ere fore, the union m o v e m e n t’s decline should be o f special concern. In the m id-1950s, about one- third o f the w orkforce belonged to unions. T o day the p roportion is 12 percent. Is this decline inevitable; the unavoidable for supporting unions, m ay not win back their jo b s fo r years, if at all. M eanw hile, their c o w orkers are frightened into abandoning the unionization. The fines for union-busting are also so m inim al that corporations have little to lose and m uch to gain by continuing their bad behavior. K ahlenberg and M arvit argue that placing the right to organize under T itle VII o f the 1964 C ivil R ights A ct offers a possible solution. T heir proposal w ould add abridgem ent o f w o rk ers’ rights to discrim ination against individuals based on race, gender, religion as a new protected category. U nder the am ended C ivil R ights A ct, pro-union w orkers could regain their jo b s w ithin days by a federal ju d g e, and em p lo y ers could face m ajor costs if found guilty o f breaking the law. An am endm ent to the Civil Rights A ct establishing the right to o rg a nize could not pass the current C o n gress. But discussion around the proposal can certainly begin now. A nd the labor and civil rights m o v e m ents, in their traditional b lack -la bor-m inority coalition, can begin acting now through cooperation w ith other m inority, reli gious and liberal organizations. N A A C P p re sid e n t B en jam in Je a lo u s an d A F L -C IO p re sid e n t R ic h a rd T ru m k a h av e e n d o rs e d th e id ea o f tre a tin g th e rig h t to o rg a n iz e as a c iv il rig h t. M o re lead ers o f the lib e ra l-la b o r a llia n ce sh o u ld b eg in a d v a n c in g th is c o n c e p t w h ile a lso w o rk in g to e le c t re p re s e n ta tiv e s, sen ato rs, an d a p re sid e n t w h o w ill tra n s la te it in to law . With prodding from Randolph, the AFL-CIO came to recognize the deep connection between labor rights and civil rights. The civil rights movement has moved similarly, acknowledging organized labor as by fa r its strongest ally. result o f globalization, w ith union jo b s going to low -w age co u n tries? A pparently not. A lthough unio n izatio n rates have declined across m ost d e v e lo p e d n a tio n s , n o w h e r e e ls e h a s d eu n io n izatio n been as pro n o u n ced o r as sus tained as in the U nited States. F ortunately, a pro v o cativ e new rem edy has recently been proposed. In W hy L ab o r O rganizing Should Be a Civil R ight, R ichard K ahlenberg and M oshe M arvit pin p o in t the reasons for U .S. L ab o r’s decline and o ffer a plausible solution. T hey observe that the N ational Labor R elations Board (N LRB ), w hich oversees m ost unionization cam paigns, * does not offer effectiv e rem edies fo r illegal c o r porate retaliation against pro-union w orkers. U nder N L R B procedures, w orkers w ho are fired Norman Hill is president emeritus o f the A. Philip Randolph Institute. Velma Hill, a form er vice president o f the American Federation o f Teachers, is also the form er civil and human rights director fo r the Service Employees Inter national Union. At the Mercy of Medical Mistakes Powerful players operate with impunity W illiam A . C ollins E stim ates vary, but every y ear an average o f 195,000 A m ericans die from m edical errors. T hese acts aren’t done on purpose — they are screw -u p s, o fte n d e a lin g w ith m edication. O th er h undreds o f thousands are annually injured. Surely, you say, W ashin g to n and the state capitals m ust be w orking feverishly to sort all this out. W rong. T he last thing hospitals, doctors, insurers, and pharm aceutical com p an ies w ant is to get this m ess sorted out. T hat w ould m ean inadequate doctors w ould lose their licenses, inattentive hospitals w ould get bad publicity, and insurers and Big P harm a w ould have to shell out som e big bucks. T o protect against such calam ities, the m ed i cal industry has w orked out an im penetrable defense. State licensing boards rarely discipline by anyone, and they m ake it painfully difficult eith er to find out w hat actions they have taken o r to file a com plaint. Insurers, in their fine print, don't let victim s sue, only arbitrate, in kangaroo settings. D octors w on't testify against one another. A nd in perhaps the cu test w rinkle o f all, hospitals, w hich autopsied around h a lf their deaths 50 years ago, now only d o five percent. T hus m edical m istakes do indeed get quietly buried. O th er research, published in H ealth A f fairs, found that one in three hospital ad m is sions results in a m edical m istake. T he grow ing use o f electronic m edical records should b less edly cu t into this avalanche o f foggy p ap er data that today receives discreet burial in office filing cabinets. M ore prying eyes should soon get to see the electronic variety. O therw ise, prospects for im p rovem ent are dim . H ealthcare in this country is, after all, largely a b usiness venture. C orporate o w n ersh ip o f h ospitals is sp read ing and non-profit hospitals each day act m ore and m ore like corporations. D octors are m ostly entrep ren eu rs w ith payrolls to m eet and rent to pay. Savvy groups o f them invest in specialized clinics, fueling our nation's chronic over testing. Big drugm akers offer incentives to doctors to p rescribe their ow n patented brands. A nd p er haps m ost im portantly, the bigger players retain fleets o f lobbyists to m ake sure that no rogue legislature cracks dow n seriously on all this w aste and error. T h ere's also the reality that in o ur society doctors are hallow ed figures. A fter all, they had to pass organic chem istry. Further, w hile the vast m ajority is ju st out to help people, they do rem ain hum an. T hey m ake m istakes, and som e suffer from avarice. All seek to avoid em barrass m ent. T hey fear law suits. In o th er w ords, in addition to A m erica's basic h ealthcare system being an expensive m ess, the system s that run, m onitor, and discipline it are also a m ess. Privilege rules and the patient is at the m ercy o f pow erful players w ho operate w ith im punity. OtherWords columnist William A. Collins is a form er state representative, and a form er mayor o f Norwalk, Conn. 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