Some Union News & Headlines For November 30, 2023

On this date in labor history Mother Jones died in 1930 and the anti-WTO march was held in Seattle in 1999. I know that we have some readers who were in Seattle for the 1999 demonstration, so a special thanks goes out to them today.

Photo taken from the Oregon AFL-CIO

The Oregon AFL-CIO listed the following in the Oregon Labor Dispatch under today's date:

Rally with SEIU Local 503 Members at Portland State University
Tomorrow: Friday, December 1, Urban Plaza, SW Mill St in Portland at noon
SEIU Local 503 members are rallying at PSU to show they are united, strong, and fighting for the fair contract they deserve. Join with them to send a strong message to PSU administration!

University of Oregon Labor Center Collective Bargaining Institute
December 3-8, University Place Hotel, Portland Oregon
Want to be ready for your next round of bargaining? Join union leaders from around the state at the Labor Education and Research Center's Collective Bargaining Institute. In this hands-on program, participants learn all the fundamentals of effective negotiations -- from drafting proposals and contract costing, to managing the bargaining team and finding a settlement. Scholarships are available! Click here for more details and to register online.

81st Annual Children’s Holiday Party - Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter
December 9, 9:00am -12:00pm, Ken Allen AFSCME Labor Canter, 1400 Tandem Ave NE in Salem
Join the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter for a free and fun-filled event with cookies, crafts, gift bags, live music and the one and only Caesar the No Drama Llama.

The Labor Market: Flea Market and Maker Fair
December 9-10, Goldsmith Blocks Building, 412 NW Couch in Portland, 10:00am - 6:00pm
Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind film worker flea market and maker fair! The Labor Market will feature original works of art, handcrafts and other creative products made by film workers, and a flea market where treasures you’ve seen on the screen in locally filmed tv shows and movies could be waiting to be discovered. All sales of goods go directly to the Union member-vendor. The market will have live music, entertainment, raffles, and special guest Santa Claus.

The following graphic comes from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE). IATSE is one of many unions that, along with the AFL-CIO, are marking Native American Heritage Month. 

PCUN, Oregon's farmworker union, is reporting the following today:

Thanksgiving is a time to express gratitude for the hardworking people who harvest and process our foods, often under dangerous conditions and usually for a very low wage. According to the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS), around 2.4 million farmworkers labor on US farms and ranches, and about 71% of farmworkers who work in crop production are immigrants. At least half, or 1.2 million farmworkers, are undocumented, which creates many barriers for families in the United States when it comes to accessing services that are critical for the well-being of our communities. One of the best ways to thank a farmworker is to support pathways to legalization and citizenship for the hands that feed America, in addition to supporting the collective bargaining rights of farmworkers.

We at the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter strongly encourage you to go to PCUN's website and support PCUN as you are able to.

Photo from KPIC

In other news...

* Labor's Community Service Agency has issued an appeal for support for union families over the holidays. Part of the solidarity appeal reads as follows:

We are humbly asking you to make a donation today, so collectively, we can provide holiday resources to our union families and create a memorable holiday season during a difficult time. We cannot continue our program without your financial support, as it is a crucial part of the work we do. Can we again rely on you to assist working families during the holiday season? Because harm to one brother or sister is harm to all of us.

Our message: Please help out if you can. Remember the old adage to give 'til it hurts and then 'til it feels good.

* The National Domestic Workers Alliance is gathering stories from people who have had to stay home because of issues with childcare. Collecting these stories is an important part of their campaign, but the Alliance is working on many other issues as well. Please go to their page and submit your story, but also consider joining in their December 11 Zoom event with Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su.

* The Oregon Center for Public Policy has a new plan out to build economic justice in Oregon. This means raising incomes, building workers' power, changing the tax system and much more. Can you get space on your union meeting or Chapter or Council agenda to discuss their plan and perhaps have a speaker from the Center?

* The Communications Workers of America is reporting a string of union organizing victories. According to the union, "Over the past month, workers have joined CWA at Education Week and Rising for Justice (Washington-Baltimore NewsGuild, TNG-CWA Local 32035), The Guardian and Journal Pioneer newspapers (CWA Canada Local 30130), Legal Services of Eastern Missouri (United Media Guild, TNG-CWA Local 36047), Google Help (Alphabet Workers Union-CWA Local 9009), and Wisconsin Watch (Milwaukee Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA Local 34051)." This short list does not include Wells Fargo workers at two bank branches in Albuquerque, NM, and Bethel, AL. who filed for the bank’s first-ever union elections on Monday.

* Trader Joe's United, the union seeking to represent workers at Trader Joe's, is working on a campaign to end junk fees and hold greedy corporations accountable to consumers. This campaign potentially affects most workers and deserves everyone's support. Also, please check in with the union as you consider your holiday shopping options.

* Starbucks Workers United is claiming a victory after their recent strike. The union says that "Our Red Cup Rebellion, where more than 5,000 Starbucks workers went on strike, has already landed a major victory - the ability for workers to pause mobile orders during especially busy rushes."

They need our help spreading the word on social media.

* A great learning and activating opportunity here: Minnesota unions and their community partners are gearing up for an unprecedented wave of potential strikes and community actions with a deadline of the first week of March 2024. This date likely coincides with similar potential action here in Oregon. Representing tens of thousands of workers with contracts expiring and other deadlines at that time, labor and allied organizations are working together to align their demands and narratives to win at the bargaining table and push politicians at city hall and the state capitol. We have much to learn from this organizing.

Join Bargaining for The Common Good, In These Times, The Center for Innovation in Worker Organization, CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, The Action Center on Race and The Economy, The Kalmanovitz Initiative, Workday Magazine and other partners on Tuesday, January 9th, 2024: at 3:00 PM (PST) for a webinar featuring representative labor and community leaders from across the movement. The talk will be about going on the offensive and winning. Go to Bargaining for the Common Good to register for the event.

Photo from the UAW

* An article by Julia Conley posted on Common Dreams yesterday under the headline "UAW Launches Largest Union Organizing Drive in US History" indicates that the United Auto Workers has been taking lots of calls from workers employed in non-union auto plants and parts suppliers since setting the contracts with the Big Three auto companies and feels confident that it can lead a new wave of mass organizing now. This union push will have to have two sides to it---organizing workers in the plants and taking on politics---because many of the plants are in "right to work states" and the union will face strong opposition from Republican office holders. Conley quotes the union's president as saying, "You don't have to worry about how you're gonna pay your rent or feed your family while the company makes billions. A better life is out there. It starts with you—UAW."

The AFL-CIO meanwhile announced that "After 11 weeks on strike, the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) reached a tentative agreement on Tuesday with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network (BCN). The contract includes the reduction of wage progression from 22 years to five, significant general wage increases, a $6,500 ratification bonus for Blue Cross Blue Shield workers, a $5,000 ratification bonus for BCN workers, inflation protection bonuses of $1,000 each year of the contract and protections against outsourcing. Members will remain on strike during the ratification process."

Photo from the UAW

Photo from the AFL-CIO's Daily Brief of 

November 30, 2023 and a UAW press release

Solidarity & News From Unions And Friends

 

The photo above comes from the National Union of Healthcare Workers website. These are some of the California hospice workers who are coming into the union in large numbers there. Read about them here.

Marion-Polk-Yamhill Solidarity & Fun: Our Labor Chapter will be participating in the Salem parade this coming Friday evening, December 1st, and you and your friends and family are invited to participate. Please bring your union gear. We are going to meet near the intersection of State and Court streets in Salem at around 5:45 PM. We will be giving out some toys, distributing some treats, waving at the crowd and having a good time. I think that the route is a bit less than one mile, but don't hold me to that. Good times!

Second, our annual holiday party will be held on Saturday, December 9, starting at 9:00 AM and going to noon. We will be at the Ken Allen AFSCME union hall located at 1400 Tandem Ave., NE in Salem. There will be great music, activities for kids, Caesar The No Drama Llama, storytelling, gift bags, and snacks. There will also be a table for folks who want to organize a union or join a union associate membership program. The holiday party will be more fun.

SEIU Local 503, OPEU higher ed workers at WOU and PSU: At our last Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter meeting we heard a report from a union activist at WOU. Negotiations for a new union contract in our state's higher ed system are not going well. We supported a call to rally in support of the union at WOU at noon on Friday, December 15. If you can attend, please do so. The union has since posted a November 17 update on negotiations here.

Portland Jobs with Justice reports this from Portland State University:

Classified workers have started contract negotiations with administration at the seven Oregon public universities. These workers keep students fed, facilities and infrastructure cleaned and maintained, and so much more. Like so many other workers, classified staff are barely keeping up, choosing which bills to pay, and watching the value of their paychecks erode while the new PSU president is paid more than half-a-million dollars per year (plus a $96,000 yearly housing allowance). Community members and other allies are encouraged to join SEIU 503 workers for a rally to demand a fair contract for the people who make PSU work.

Where: PSU Urban Plaza, 1819 SW 5th Ave., Portland, OR 97201
When: Friday, December 1st, 12-1 pm

Photo taken from a PBS 2021 story about the Teamsters

 at Amazon.

Amazon's legal troubles continue. Read about one fight in Washington State here and one in Canada here. Meanwhile, workers at Starbucks continue to organize despite great pressure from the company. See this story. 

Starbucks Workers United

Doctors are organizing. Jacobin magazine has a great article on doctors in Minnesota and Wisconsin who are organizing a union of physicians. Another effort is underway in Oregon, California and Washington State with the Union of American Physicians and Dentists.

Are you TRAPped? Are you one of the hundreds of thousands of "bank workers, salespeople, dog groomers, police officers, aestheticians, firefighters, mechanics, nurses, federal employees, electricians, roofers, social workers, paramedics, truckers, mortgage brokers, teachers and metal polishers" and others working under a "stay or pay" contract clause, often also known as a training-repayment-agreement provision (TRAP), that charges you if you leave your job? The Sunday New York Times Magazine of November 26, 2023 carried a long article by Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein on these oppressive agreements and that's where the incomplete list of occupations where workers are TRAPped comes from. It's possible that as many as one-third of U.S. workers work under such agreements and are forced to either work on jobs where they face burnout, poor safety conditions, harassment and low pay or pay employers and collection agencies what can amount to large penalty payments if they leave their jobs. This is what happens when unions lose power. Towards Justice may be able to help if you're a victim of TRAPping.  

Union holiday shopping: If you are doing holiday shopping, check out Union Plus before you get deep into spending money. It really will save you money. If you or the people you're shopping for are readers, the University of Illinois Press is having a holiday sale. They publish some of the best labor history books in the United States. International Publishers is also having a holiday sale and they have some great labor offerings. I recommend reading William Z. Foster's American Trade Unionism. Use coupon code IP@100 when you check out.

Some Upcoming Events & Labor Solidarity News

Important event announcement: The Labor Solidarity Project will be hosting an outstanding event this Thursday, November 30, at 6:00 PM (PST) featuring Dr. Diana Johnson, discussing her work on multiracial coalition building in Seattle during the final decades of the 20th century. Dr. Johnson is Associate Professor of History and Ethnic Studies and the Chair of the Ethnic Studies Department at California State University, San Bernardino. She received her MA and PhD from the University of California Davis and specializes in the history of race and ethnicity in the United States, political activism, and oral history. She recently published her first monograph, Seattle in Coalition: Multiracial Alliances, Labor Politics, and Transnational Activism in the Pacific Northwest, 1970-1999 with the University of North Carolina Press in 2023. This work chronicles the history of Black, Native American, Chicanx, and Asian American labor and political activists stemming from Seattle. More specifically, she examines how activists built coalitions across ethnic, regional and international lines, challenging racial inequalities, capitalist labor systems, and globalization. At Cal State San Bernardino, Dr. Johnson primarily teaches courses in systemic racism, immigration in America, and racial activism during the 1960s and 1970s. The Zoom link is https://washington.zoom.us/j/93515461794

Also:

From the Marion County Democrats located at

 245 High Street NE in Salem.

AND:

IATSE Local 488 will host a film worker flea market and maker fair in Portland’s Old Town District to benefit film crews who are still recovering from the strike. It will feature items used in local TV and movie productions, plus original art and crafts made by IATSE Local 488 members. It is open to the general public and will include live entertainment, raffles, and special guests. 

Read more here.
Vendor sign up here.
December 9-10 from 10am - 6pm
Goldsmith Blocks Building (412 NW Couch St)

AND:

Don't forget to order your 2024 labor history calendar from the Pacific Northwest Labor History Association!

Some Labor Solidarity News

AFL-CIO: The Oregon Labor Dispatch of November 17, 2023 has a link to a press release issued by AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler on November 16 applauding "President Biden’s announcement today of the Presidential Memorandum on Advancing Worker Empowerment, Rights, and High Labor Standards Globally, a framework that will reshape how U.S. government agencies conduct international diplomacy by putting workers’ rights and standards at the center." The press release argues that this is a "game changer for workers in the U.S. and around the world" and says that "We need a global economy that puts working people at the center, and we look forward to collaborating with the Biden administration to implement and execute the strategy with our partners and allies at home and abroad."

A report in In These Times claims that the AFL-CIO recently intervened to "squash" a resolution passed by the Olympia, Washington-based Thurston-Lewis-Mason Central Labor Council (TLM CLC) supporting a ceasefire in Palestine/Israel .

From The Northwest Labor Press

An article in the Pacific Northwest Labor Press dated November 16, 2023 meanwhile highlighted remarks made by Hannah Winchester, political action committee co-chair at Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, at a Portland rally supporting a ceasefire. The article noted that "Over a dozen local unions have also signed on to a labor letter calling for a ceasefire, including the Oregon Education Association and Portland Association of Teachers."

Oregon AFL-CIO: Please visit the Oregon AFL-CIO blog and read the Oregon Labor Dispatch to keep up with what the Oregon AFL-CIO is doing. The strike map on the blog shows no strikes currently underway in Oregon, but it is important to keep an eye on this. An October 31 post on the blog predicted more strikes in Oregon as the Auto Workers moved to settle their contracts with the Big Three automakers. Another post on that date provided links to the State Federation's Legislative Scorecard and to the Federation's overview of the last Oregon legislative session and highlighted officeholders and politicians who the Federation regards as friends of working people. This is important reading, so please take a look.

The November 17, 2023 Labor Dispatch report provides a list of short labor news items and action items. The list includes an invitation to our upcoming holiday party (December 9, 9:00am -12:00pm, Ken Allen AFSCME Labor Canter, 1400 Tandem Ave NE in Salem), an announcement concerning the  University of Oregon Labor Center Collective Bargaining Institute to be held on December 3-8, at the University Place Hotel in Portland, and a solidarity action supporting Multnomah County dentists. "The dentists stand united, asking for the opportunity to provide patients meaningful care, in an environment that allows enough time to do the work," says the post.

Alphabet Workers Union: A group of Google contractors, some of whom have worked on Search and Google’s artificial intelligence chatbot Bard, have voted to unionize. A news report claims that "Following the filing for unionization, the group, which included 120 writers, graphic designers and coordinators, among others, were told more than half the team would be laid off, according to the Alphabet Workers Union, which alleged the layoffs were an act of retaliation." See this article for details. The Alphabet Workers Union frequently works with the Communication Workers of America. 

Communications Workers of America: An interesting article in The New Republic highlights bank workers who are opting to organize with CWA.

CWA's Call Center Workers United are on strike at Maximus, or were the last I heard. This is an important strike given the needs to organize call center workers and take on racism and the conditions that divide these workers. Please go to the website, get on their email alert list and follow through with the light asks that the union is putting out.

Steelworkers (USW): The Fall 2023 USW@Work publication ran two very important articles. One article on two-tier wage systems put it well when saying that "Unscrupulous employers often look for ways to divide union members, whether by age or job classification or other factors, and multi-tiered wage and benefit systems can play into bosses’ hands by helping them to serve that purpose." The article also said that "Success in eliminating tiers has come from workplaces large and small, improving lives and building solidarity for thousands of members. In the paper industry, one of the largest employers of USW members, workers achieved a series of strong contracts that cut tier systems, including in the union’s master agreement with International Paper, and Local 1013 and Local 1853 at Georgia Pacific."

From USW@Work

Another inspiring article in the United Steelworkers publication covered the recent USW International Women's Conference. Amanda Buda, a delegate of Local 412 at the University of Guelph in Ontario, is quoted in the article as saying, "There are a lot of people here that are in the same boat and in very similar situations. If I have any advice, it's that you don't know what you don't know. It’s always best if you have any type of question to reach out and ask a current union member how they did it, because there's always an answer and information that will benefit you in the long run.”

From USW@Work

Trade Unions for Energy Democracy: Trade Unions for Energy Democracy (TUED) recently issued an important report on developments in Argentina that will likely affect global privatization and the fight to hold on to public services and resources in many countries, including the U.S. There is much talk in TUED and elsewhere about a Global Green New Deal. We should become familiar with these ideas because they are affecting us, our work and our unions.  

Photo from UE News 

United Electrical Workers Research and Education Fund (UEWREF): The UEWREF and the United Electrical Workers proudly reported winning $6.5 million in bonuses for Durham, North Carolina city workers as part of their on-going organizing in the South and in workplaces with majority-Black workers. The Durham victory was won through direct action on the job in a right-to-work and racist environment. UEWREF is in need to funds to keep the ball rolling, so please contribute if you can.  

Unions by the numbers and some news on pensions

Photo from In These Times

Yesterday's New York Times had two interesting articles on unions and labor. One was Kurtis Lee's "55 Years Ago, Tragedy in Memphis Transformed Labor Movement" and the other was Martha C. White's "Renewed Interest in a Rare Employee Benefit." I'm going to take some numbers and concepts from those articles that I think give a good picture of what's going on in our labor movement and the world of work.

* Black workers now have the highest union membership rate of any racial or ethnic group.

* Black union workers make less than their white counterparts---$1022 a week on average compared with $1246 for white workers.

* The union membership rate of U.S. workers was 10.1 percent in 2022, down from 20.1 percent in 1983.

* Through the first 10 months of this year 492,300 workers went on strike---more than three times as many workers in the same period last year.

The Times highlighted these steps forward: strikes won a large pay increase and a $25 hour minimum wage at Kaiser Permanente in California, the Writers Guild of America won a 12.5 percent increase, the actors' union SAG-AFTRA won a 7 percent increase in the first year of their contract, and the Auto Workers won a 25 percent increase over the next four and half years.

The Times did not mention the details of the Teamsters victory at UPS. This included

* Historic wage increases. Existing full- and part-time UPS Teamsters will get $2.75 more per hour in 2023. Over the length of the contract, wage increases will total $7.50 per hour.

*.Existing part-timers will be raised to no less than $21 per hour immediately, and part-time seniority workers earning more under a market rate adjustment will still receive all new general wage increases.

* General wage increases for part-time workers will be double the amount obtained in the previous UPS Teamsters contract — and existing part-time workers will receive a 48 percent average total wage increase over the next five years.

* Wage increases for full-timers will keep UPS Teamsters the highest paid delivery drivers in the nation, improving their average top rate to $49 per hour.

* Current UPS Teamsters working part-time will receive longevity wage increases of up to $1.50 per hour on top of new hourly raises, compounding their earnings.

* New part-time hires at UPS will start at $21 per hour and advance to $23 per hour.

* All UPS Teamster drivers classified as 22.4s will be reclassified immediately to Regular Package Car Drivers and placed into seniority, ending the unfair two-tier wage system at UPS.

* Safety and health protections, including vehicle air conditioning and cargo ventilation. UPS will equip in-cab A/C in all larger delivery vehicles, sprinter vans, and package cars purchased after Jan. 1, 2024. Two fans, heat exhaust shields, and air induction vents in the cargo compartments will be retrofitted into all cars.

* All UPS Teamsters will receive Martin Luther King Day as a full holiday for the first time.

* No more forced overtime on Teamster drivers’ days off. Drivers will keep one of two workweek schedules and cannot be forced into overtime on scheduled off-days.

* UPS Teamster part-timers will have priority to perform all seasonal support work using their own vehicles with a locked-in eight-hour guarantee. For the first time, seasonal work will be contained to five weeks only from November-December.

* The creation of 7,500 new full-time Teamster jobs at UPS and the fulfillment of 22,500 open positions, establishing more opportunities through the life of the agreement for part-timers to transition to full-time work.

The facts cited above are taken from an August press release issued by the Teamsters. Getting back to the articles in The Times, an article on pensions noted that the Auto Workers could not force the auto makers to reopen defined-benefit pension plans for workers hired after late 2007 and went on to say that "Only about one in 10 Americans working in the private sector today participates in a defined-benefit plan, while roughly half contribute to 401(k)-type, defined-contribution plans, which are funded with their pretax dollars and, in many cases, employer contributions."

The White article also stated the following:

* The number of job seekers looking for employment with pensions has increased greatly over the past three years, and the numbers of employers offering some kind of pension or 401(k) plan is increasing as well. That said, unions are having  difficult time organizing in the service sector, among logistics workers, and where workers are regarded as freelancers or as self-employed and where benefits, including any kind of retirement security benefits, are rare unless a union is present.

Photo taken from the IBT website

* More than four out five millennials working in the public sector in 2020 cited pensions as the key reason for keeping their jobs. 

The article on pensions also sounded a warning. IBM is regarded as "a benefits bellwether in corporate America," the article said. The company was among the first to offer a 401(k) in 1983, and from that point 401(k) plans began to displace defined benefit plans even where unions represented workers. A 1971 court ruling held that employers no longer had to bargain with unions over retiree benefits if a union raised the issue during contract negotiations and unions could no longer strike if employers refused to bargain over union demands presented on behalf of retired workers. Millions of private sector workers held on to their union-negotiated defined benefit pension plans after the 1971 ruling, but after IBM and a few other large employers went to 401(k) plans in the early 1980s all defined benefit plans were at risk.

Now IBM is creating a "retirement benefit account" system. The company will "eliminate matching contributions. Instead, it will contribute 5 percent of each worker's pay into a defined-benefit instrument...This retirement benefit account...differs from traditional defined-benefit pensions in that its structure is that of a cash-balance account." The company will allow workers to earn credit each year that will "typically (be) a percentage of their salary plus an interest rate pegged to a benchmark like a particular Treasury yield."

Union members will object that this is unfair. The IBM workers are not unionized and the company is not negotiating this change in benefits. IBM's power in the marketplace means that this retirement benefit account system will likely spread and replace 401(k) plans in non-union workplaces and put pressure on union-negotiated plans to change. A non-union corporation effectively has a vote on my retirement security. I see additional problem here because workers covered by this new plan now have an immediate self-interest in higher interest rates whether that is good policy in the long run or not and because these plans may undermine the wage increases that we are able to negotiate and will make organizing in the service sector and among freelancers more difficult. It seems that it gives encouragement to employers to grant wage increase but cut back or remove benefits. 

Photo taken from TribLIVE.com

This post is based on the articles cited above that appeared in The New York Times of Sunday, November 26, 2023; the Teamsters press release of August 22, 2023; and an entry by Richard M. Bank titled "Protecting Retired Workers from Inflation: Collective Bargaining for Retiree Benefits for Retiree Benefits" in the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform (14 U. MICH. J. L. REFORM 205, 1981). The opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of the MPYCLC or the Oregon AFL-CIO,

How We Do And Don't Do Politics: Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates At The United Electrical Workers Convention

 
Note from Bob Rossi:

This post does not reflect the opinions of the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter (MPYCLC) or the Oregon AFL-CIO.

I think that Sister Davis Gates gave a strong and generally correct speech to the recent convention of the United Electrical Workers (UE). Given that union's history of engagement with progressive issues and its recent growth in numbers and influence, the UE members present were geared up for what the Chicago Teachers Union President had to say. It should matter to all of us that much of what she had to say is being proven true in practice. She isn't making anything up in her speech. And I think that if our labor movement wants to hold on to members and succeed in contract campaigns and politics we have to listen carefully to what is being said here and change course.

Here are some of my takeaways:

1. We let the political parties choose our candidates rather than asserting ourselves way too much of the time. Candidates show up, ask for endorsement, we usually go through a difficult endorsement process, and if we endorse them we spend some time trying to bring them up to speed on our issues while they're busy running for office. Full labor unity behind particular candidates is not always in place, and endorsements and unity do not always guarantee votes. We sometimes run in circles for money, endorsements and votes while trying to bring candidates closer to us, and we may not fully succeed in either attempt. When the not-fully-informed-and-committed candidate wins but doesn't follow through on our issues as we hoped they would we're disappointed or angry, but if you step back and look at how the process works over time you can see why this happens so often.  

2. The Oregon Labor Candidate School and the Labor Education and Research Center and whatever programs unions may have in place to encourage union members to run for public office are invaluable. No union member or union supporter should run for office without taking the trainings and classes offered. More than that, these training opportunities graft people in to networks and expose participants to big-picture politics and complex questions that potential candidates should be working with before they run.

That said, trainings are not substitutes for organizing, building movements, producing the people and energy that movements need, creating street heat and winning in negotiations, and defining victories. Sister Davis Gates is saying that movement building is the priority and that you won't understand and exercise power until you have built a militant labor movement that is not afraid of striking. That movement will create activists, organizers and leaders and our candidates and the energy needed to get them over the top should come from the movement and its alliances with community activists and organizers. The money and endorsements will probably come later and after institutions learn that you're serious and committed and capable. See this article and this article.

3. We're putting the cart before the horse by not being about movement building, thinking that we have to choose between candidates who do not come from our ranks, trying to bring candidates along who do not know us and our issues, thinking about winning elections as being about money (and not people power), thinking about people power as something to mobilize every two years or four years (instead of it being about constant organizing and militancy at the grassroots), and supporting candidates who have not been tested in workplace actions, strikes and contract negotiations.

4. Our labor political scorecards are valuable tools. They tell us how a politician has voted on labor issues. I think that the problem here is that as political polarization deepens it gets harder to define what "liberal," "centrist," "conservative" and "progressive" mean in real terms. What is a "labor issue" today and how do we define victories when we're up against the wall and too quick to compromise? The Republican party has moved so far to the far-right so quickly that a politician or program that used to be considered conservative now might look like liberal and a progressive politician or program gets defined as being anti-Republican and left at that. Like many other working-class people, I'm both repelled by the anti-worker and hard-hearted Republicans, who tell me that I don't deserve what I have earned and are taking aim at my rights, and by the weak liberals and progressives who excuse austerity and don't defend public services and many of the gains labor has made over the last ninety years. And we in labor are often playing a weak defense.

Our Upcoming Children's Holiday Party