AFL-CIO endorses Kamala Harris for president

The following post is a summary issued by the Metro Washington Council, AFL-CIO:

Following a vote of its Executive Council, the AFL-CIO on Tuesday unanimously endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president in the 2024 election.

“From day one, Vice President Kamala Harris has been a true partner in leading the most pro-labor administration in history,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said in a statement. “At every step in her distinguished career in public office, she’s proven herself a principled and tenacious fighter for working people and a visionary leader we can count on."

In addition, many of the international unions of Metropolitan Washington Council's Affiliates have also endorsed Harris, including AFGE, AFSCME, AFT, APWU, ATU, CWA, IATSE, IBEW, IFPTE, IUPAT, NNU, and SEIU.

The AFL-CIO press release reads as follows:

July 22, 2024

WASHINGTON—Following a vote of its Executive Council, which represents 60 unions and 12.5 million workers, today the AFL-CIO unanimously endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president in the 2024 election.

“From day one, Vice President Kamala Harris has been a true partner in leading the most pro-labor administration in history,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. “At every step in her distinguished career in public office, she’s proven herself a principled and tenacious fighter for working people and a visionary leader we can count on. From taking on Wall Street and corporate greed to leading efforts to expand affordable child care and support vulnerable workers, she’s shown time and again that she’s on our side. With Kamala Harris in the White House, together we’ll continue to build on the powerful legacy of the Biden-Harris administration to create good union jobs, grow the labor movement and make our economy work for all of us.”

As vice president, Harris: Played a critical role in rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, investing in good-paying union jobs, bringing manufacturing back to America, lowering prescription drug costs and raising wages

Saved the pensions of more than 1 million union workers and retirees

Led the administration’s efforts to increase access to affordable child care and expand the child tax credit

Championed worker organizing and chaired the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, where she championed for new worker organizing and training to create pathways to good union jobs

Stood with striking writers

Other highlights of Harris’ record in support of workers include the following:As a U.S. senator, she fought to expand labor protections and fair wages for agricultural and domestic workers and walked the picket line with International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) workers. She was a vigorous advocate for workers’ freedom to form or join a union, including strongly supporting the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act to reform broken labor legislation that stacks the deck against workers.

As attorney general of California, she cracked down on corporate greed, took on the big banks after the 2008 financial crisis to deliver relief for struggling homeowners and protected the most vulnerable workers by tackling wage theft and other corporate crimes.

“The AFL-CIO is proud of our early and steadfast support for the Biden-Harris administration, and now we’ll ratchet up our mass mobilization of union workers to elect Vice President Harris as president,” Shuler continued. “Like Harris, the labor movement doesn’t back down—and we’ll never shy away from a tough fight when the future of workers and unions is on the line. Together, we will defeat Donald Trump, J.D. Vance and their devastating anti-worker Project 2025 agenda in November.”

Contact: Steve Smith, 202-637-5018

More Wins For Workers & Our Families

Source: Fight For Progress

 

Union Canvassing for Sarah Finger McDonald--Saturday, April 27 in Corvallis

 

Come join the Oregon Nurses Association and the American Federation of Teachers to canvass for Sarah Finger McDonald. See below for details.

Union Canvassing to help elect Sarah Finger McDonald

Saturday, April 27

Lilly City Park

Corvallis

The Oregon AFL-CIO has endorsed the following candidates for the 2024 Primary Election:

To date, the Oregon AFL-CIO has endorsed the following candidates for the 2024 Primary Election: 

FEDERAL
Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici for CD-1
Congresswoman Val Hoyle for CD-4
Congresswoman Andrea Salinas for CD-6

STATEWIDE
House Speaker Dan Rayfield for Attorney General

STATE SENATE
State Senator Kate Lieber for SD 14
State Senator Wlnsvey Campos for SD 18
State Senator Kathleen Taylor for SD 21
State Senator Khanh Pham for SD 23
State Senator Chris Gorsek for SD 25
Anthony Broadman for SD 27

STATE HOUSE
State Rep. Pam Marsh for HD 5
Lisa Fragala for HD 8
State Rep. David Gomberg for HD 10
State Rep. Nancy Nathanson for HD 13
Lesley Munoz for HD 22
State Rep. Ben Bowman for HD 25
State Rep. Courtney Neron for HD 26
State Rep. Ken Helm for HD 27
State Rep. Dacia Grayber for HD 28
State Rep. Susan McLain for HD 29
State Rep. Nathan Sosa for HD 30
State Rep. Lisa Reynolds for HD 34
State Rep. Farrah Chaichi for HD 35
April Dobson for HD 39
State Rep. Tawna Sanchez for HD 43
State Rep. Travis Nelson for HD 44
State Rep. Thuy Tran for HD 45
Willy Chotzen for HD 46
State Rep. Zach Hudson for HD 49
State Rep. Ricki Ruiz for HD 50
State Rep. Emerson Levy for HD 53
State Rep. Jason Kropf for HD 54
State Rep. Greg Smith for HD 57

Please go here for additional information.

AFSCME Local 2067/ City of Salem has announced three endorsements in Salem City Council races

AFSCME Local 2067, the union representing most City of Salem workers, has made the following endorsements in our Salem City Council races:

* Mayor - Chris Hoy
* Ward 5 - Dr. Irvin Brown
* Ward 7 - Vanessa Nordyke

Local 2067 focuses on the local elections that most impact their members: City Council and City Mayor. I believe that the Local conducted eleven candidate interviews before making their endorsements. These interviews and endorsements come as the Local is going into difficult contract negotiations. We urge everyone to support Local 2067 in their efforts to win a strong and fair contract.

Oregon AFSCME Weighs In With Legislative News & Endorsements

Now that Oregon's special legislative session has concluded we will see more analysis from unions on the session and more endorsements coming out. We will try to capture and post endorsements for races in our area and for certain state races from as many unions as we can. A post for a candidate here does imply support for that candidate from the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter or the Oregon AFL-CIO unless noted here or in another post.

Oregon Legislature Passes Historic Investment in Public Safety Workforce

From Oregon AFSCME:

Salem, Oregon - Oregon's 82nd Legislative Assembly passed HB 4045, the Public Safety Workforce Stabilization Act, an historic investment in Oregon's public safety workers.. HB 4045 received overwhelming bipartisan, bicameral support, marking a significant step forward in prioritizing the dedicated workers who serve on the front lines of public safety by allowing them to retire with enhanced benefits.

HB 4045 creates a new "Hazardous" category within the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) for 911 operators as well as nurses and physicians at Oregon State Hospital (OSH) who are members of the Tier 3, Oregon Public Service Retirement Plan (OPSRP). The Public Safety Workforce Stabilization Act also allows all OSPRP members in the Police & Fire category to retire five years earlier with full benefits, changing the retirement age from 60 to 55. This change impacts thousands of workers at the Stabilization and Crisis Unit (SACU) and Department of Corrections (DOC) who day in and day out, experience heightened levels of stress and injuries due to the high levels of physical demand.

"This bill is a game-changer for public safety workers across Oregon. By recognizing the unique challenges and hazards faced by public safety workers, HB 4045 sends a clear message of appreciation for the indispensable contributions 911 operators make to our communities. This change will also make the field more attractive to prospective employees at a time when public safety agencies across the state are facing staffing crises” said Fred Yungbluth, 911 Operator in Clackamas County and President of Oregon AFSCME

"The passage of HB 4045 is what happens when workers who have been physically and mentally drained by harsh working conditions come together and fight for change,” said Joe Baessler, Executive Director for Oregon AFSCME. “Today, we celebrate this policy change that will start to positively impact the lives of thousands of workers who selflessly dedicate themselves to protecting and serving our communities," added Baessler.

With its passage through the Oregon Legislature, HB 4045 now advances to the desk of Governor Kotek, where it is expected to be signed into law.

PCUN Requests Solidarity On Two Important Issues

The following comes from a longer email from PCUN (Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste).

Oregon Worker Relief

The Oregon legislature has the opportunity to help vulnerable community members stay in their homes, keep farmworkers safe and stable during extreme heat waves and wildfire smoke, and provide no-cost immigration legal services.

Contact your legislator to support these critical funding requests HERE.

Oregon Worker Relief has been a lifeline for immigrant Oregonians through programs including the Climate Change Fund, the Home Fund, Universal Representation, and more. Our community-led approach has helped over 93,000 immigrant Oregonians through emergency relief for farmworkers who face dangerous working conditions from extreme heat and wildfire smoke, rent assistance to keep families housed, no-cost immigration legal services, and more. That is why we are asking you to urge your legislators to support Oregon Worker Relief and allow such vital work to continue.

Employment Related Day Care

We need to send a strong message to our state's leaders to use their positions' power to advocate for a budget that will meet the needs of families struggling to afford child care in this economy.

Use this link to send a message to state leaders to fund child care now.

"Oregon labor is still strike ready," says Oregon AFL-CIO President Graham Trainor. I hope so, but...

Our Oregon AFL-CIO President Graham Trainor had a prescient opinion piece published in The  Northwest Labor Press under the date of February 19, 2024. The piece is forward-looking in the immediate sense that it anticipated the strike at PeaceHealth, classified staff at the Salem-Keizer School District winning a tentative argreement without striking, the tentaive agreement reached covering state higher ed classified workers, and some other union-won victories. It is also forward looking in the sense that it forecasts widespread interest by working-class people in what unions are doing in our state and in the sense that the article is a kind of preliminary report-back from the first-ever Oregon Strike School. The school was one of a few experimental efforts held around the United States intended to help build capacity for organizing and winning strikes, and as such it demonstrates that we're reaching a new stage in Organized Labor. I am going to repost Brother Trainor's piece in its entirety below and provide a few additional comments of my own below that.

Oregon labor is still strike ready

By GRAHAM TRAINOR, Oregon AFL-CIO president

On January 27, over 100 trade unionists gathered for the first-ever Oregon Strike School, a day-long training focused on building stronger and more effective contract campaigns and powerful strike threats throughout Oregon labor. With attendees from over 30 different unions from across Oregon’s economy, it was clear that our movement isn’t satisfied with the history-making action of 2023. In fact, based on the energy and the focus at Strike School, and what we continue to see in the first few months of 2024, last year’s labor action was just the beginning.

In my article last month, I highlighted how strikes and collective action reached incredible heights in 2023. We saw double the number of workers who went on strike in 2022, the highest seen in over a decade. And countless other groups of workers built powerful, strategic, and credible strike threats as well, winning big before needing to strike.

Just over the last 12-18 months, we’ve seen nurses and health care workers win big using a multi-faceted strategy including legislative victories, strike threats, and powerful and well-timed strikes, all with a backdrop of constant new organizing. We’ve seen public service workers and woodworkers win big by using their most powerful weapon. We’ve seen autoworkers wage an inspirational campaign that not only won a game-changing contract, but has been the spark for new organizing throughout the automobile industry and supply chain. We’ve seen building trades unions build some of the most credible strike threats that I’ve seen in my career, and winning big because of it. We’ve seen actors and writers around the country take on powerful corporations and CEOs, spotlighting the real fears and concerns about artificial intelligence disrupting their industry and undermining their jobs. We’ve seen hundreds of thousands of package delivery and warehouse workers leverage their collective power in Oregon and across the country to win a historic agreement at UPS. At the end of 2023, we saw the first teachers’ strike in Portland’s history drawing national attention to the need for more robust funding for public education and achieving the schools our children deserve. Last month, we saw graduate employees at the University of Oregon use the threat of a well-organized strike to win a historic contract. And right now we’re seeing more healthcare professionals say “enough is enough” in Lane County, walking the line for a fair contract and higher education workers across the state holding practice pickets as their contract campaign heats up.

This brief summary showcases something really important. Strikes — and well-organized, credible strike threats — work. They win life-changing contracts.

Amidst this excitement and momentum, we must never lose sight of just how unfair and imbalanced the economy is as the working class continues to be squeezed by inflation, the lack of affordable housing, the student debt crisis, all while facing hostility and backlash from the multi-billion dollar union-busting industry every time we try to organize unions. Understandably, working people are looking to see who’s fighting for them, who’s on their side.

And when they see the labor movement consistently in the streets, in state legislatures, and at bargaining tables holding the line for our shared values, it comes as no surprise that we’re seeing historic union favorability statistics and nine out of 10 young people supporting our movement.

This is our time to push back with every ounce of our being on the rigged economic system and win what’s ours from the wealth our labor creates. This is the moment to strategize, to dig deep, and to build the strongest contract campaigns our movement has ever seen. And as we do that, it won’t just be our movement that is better for it. The working class and our democracy will be better for it as well. See you on the picket line!

And here is my take on Brother Trainor's article:

As I said above, this is a forward-looking article on several counts. I hope that there will be more Strike Schools coming and that they will help unite union members across union and geographic lines, and across racial, gender, and social and political lines as well. It is good to hear labor leaders speak plainly about a "working-class" and not limit themselves and our movement to talk about a middle-class and the even more vague "working families." There is a strong opening here to continue building labor-community coalitions not only on the basis of temporary shared interests, but on long-term shared interests as well. I hope that the logic expressed here will help build towards a win for the working-class in November and for either a revitalized all-people's and grassroots-driven Democratic Party or a new political formation that better expresses progressive and working-class-led needs. Please see this and this for updates on Oregon AFL-CIO endorsements in key legislative races. 

Now, I have been on strike many times, though only one of those strikes was completely union-authorized, and I have participated in scores of other strikes over the past fifty-two years. There was often a thin or porous line separating union-led and community-supported or community-initiated strikes in the coalfields when I was a younger person, and if you had relatives or friends or neighbors on strike then you hit the picket lines with them. This often resulted in arrests and in getting fired, but it was always worth the trouble. There were people in my generation---I was one of them---who came to idealize striking.And there were union members---my father was one of them---who reactively took pride in never having voted for a union contract. We looked tough and we talked tough, but I have come to realize over the years that many of the most "strike-happy" folks do not make good union builders and organizers.

Harlan County, Kentucky mine workers organizing.

The context that prevails today is very different than what we saw in the 1970s, when part of the labor movement was still on the offensive from the late 1960s, and it is also quite different than what was taking place from the early 1980s to around the turn of the cenrury, when we took some heavy defeats, went on the defense, and often shot ourselves in our feet and blew off most of our toes. It took the Battle of Seattle (1999), Occupy (2011), Black Lives Matter (2013), the George Floyd protests (2020), and other social movements to begin to push unions in the right direction. This coincided with a strengthened and new push to organize from within labor, a combination of restive union members pushing and some union leaders being willing and able to listen and act. And after twenty-five or thirty years we still don't have the critical numbers of activists and union members needed to successfully turn the tide in our favor. The AFL-CIO set a goal at one point of organizing and gaining one million new union members, but our magic number needs to be closer to ten or eleven million.

With all of the above in mind, then, I think a great deal about how the pieces might fight together to win over ten or eleven million people to becoming union members and how to inculcate disciplne, solidarity, and building leadership in a society that stresses individualism and seems to be tearing at the seams, a country that seems closer to civil war right now than it does to class conflict and far from reinventing itself as a capable democracy. Truth be told, we're not going to bring in critical numbers of people and still maintain our leadershiop and the way we do things. Union members and leadership need to choose within the conundrum which side we're on. 

I'm encouraged to read Brother Trainor writing that "Amidst this excitement and momentum, we must never lose sight of just how unfair and imbalanced the economy is..." and

And when they see the labor movement consistently in the streets, in state legislatures, and at bargaining tables holding the line for our shared values, it comes as no surprise that we’re seeing historic union favorability statistics and nine out of 10 young people supporting our movement.

Brother Trainor ends on exactly the right note when he says "This is our time to push back with every ounce of our being on the rigged economic system and win what’s ours from the wealth our labor creates."

It's in finding the balance between a "labor movement consistently in the streets" and in the "state legislatures, and at bargaining tables" where some of our biggest difficulties and contradictions set in. In practical terms, I think, this means a very different way of formulating our demands. Can we figure out how to put forward demands that represent our communities as well as union members? Can we get to Project Labor Agreements without giving up the right to strike? Can we build union density in the service and logistics industries and still win more than the minimum and dues check-off? Can we find new ways of working with seniority that keeps recently-hired women and people of color working in majority-male and majority-white workplaces when there are layoffs?

Continuing on, I believe that the way we do politics now is backwards. We chase candidates who are in the system, we compare scorecards, and we work through PACs to support them. I want to suggest that we instead test people within our movements and allow ourselves to be tested as well---and strikes can be a primary means of doing this---and see who emerges as leaders over time and make them our candidates. The money for campaigns will then likely flow from the movements, but the funds needed may be less because at that point we're building people power at the base. Here is Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates speaking to the points I'm making here:

My last point in responding to Brother Trainor's post may sound pessimistic, but I want to put it forward as a real concern. Strikes need to be militant, lively, fully inclusive, realistic, and disciplined in order to win. We should all be in the habit of striking or protesting regularly, if only to hone our skills. Shawn Fain, the President of the United Auto Workers union, is arguing for what might effectively be a general or mass strike on May Day of 2028. That will take heavy and structured mass organizing to accomplish, and I don't know if the AFL-CIO unions have that in them or not. But beyond that, we need to think through what our fall-back will be when striking doesn't work and when we hit the outer limits of militancy. Strikes will not change the balance of power or bring in the millions of people we need by themselves. I can imagine large numbers of union members missing out on understanding the differences between tactics and strategies and getting more caught up in the means (striking) than in the ends (our goals) and our hoped-for forward movement becomiong a backward step. What then? How do we save those moments from becoming defeats and work them into continuing the work that must be done?  

The views expressed here by the author are not those of the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter or the Oregon AFL-CIO.

"Right-To-Work" is taking some hard hits. What does that mean?

 The AFL-CIO reported yesterday that

Top Cut:
The New Hampshire House of Representatives on Thursday voted down H.B. 1377—this legislative session’s attempt to pass “right to work”—by a margin of 212–168.

Why It Matters:
In a clear display of how New Hampshire residents feel about these legislative attacks on workers’ rights, more than 1,400 members of the public testified or signed on to register their position on the bill over two days of testimony, and only about 50 were in support of the right to work. The House postponed the entire topic for the rest of 2024.

New Hampshire AFL-CIO President Glenn Brackett said in a statement, “While out-of-state billionaires and D.C. lobbyists continue to enlist legislators to introduce identical bills, year in and year out, our elected representatives of both political parties have voted to defeat them. That is what happened today. It happened because the people of New Hampshire, and the members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, know what we know, that ‘Right-to-Work’ is STILL wrong for New Hampshire.”

The same AFL-CIO report mentioned the following:

Top Cut:
Georgia union members and leaders spent Thursday morning lobbying state House of Representatives members against S.B. 362, a bill that would prohibit employers receiving state economic development incentives from voluntarily recognizing employee unions.

Why It Matters:
The bill, which is championed by Gov. Brian Kemp, is similar to a law passed in Tennessee last May and a cookie-cutter piece of legislation drafted by corporate lobbying group American Legislative Exchange Council. Alabama and South Carolina also have passed related laws. But, despite these coordinated special interest attacks on workers across the South, Georgia teachers, electricians, painters, glaziers, film crew members, public college employees and other workers across industries showed up in full force to push back and urge lawmakers to do the right thing in the state.

This followed a February 14 report by the AFL-CIO that said the following:

Top Cut:Michigan officially got rid of “right to work” on Tuesday, making it the first state in nearly 60 years to repeal the law.

Why It Matters:
Originally enacted in 2012 by then-Gov. Rick Snyder, after the bill was passed during a lame-duck session of the Legislature, the repeal of right to work is a huge step to expand and protect workers’ rights in Michigan. Tuesday also saw multiple other pro-worker pieces of legislation signed into law, thanks to the democratic trifecta in Lansing, including restorations of prevailing wage and organizing rights for graduate student research assistants.

There was some worthy press coverage of the real of "right-to-work" in Michigan. PBS did a good story. That story says in part that

Michigan had the nation’s seventh-highest percentage of unionized workers when the “right-to-work” law was enacted in 2012, but that dropped to 11th in 2022. Over the past decade, union membership in Michigan has fallen by 2.6 percentage points as overall U.S. union membership has been falling steadily for decades, reaching an all-time low last year of 10.1%.

Michigan becomes the first state in 58 years to repeal a “right-to-work” law, with Indiana repealing its in 1965 before Republicans there restored it in 2012. In 2017, Missouri’s Republican Legislature approved a “right-to-work” law, but it was blocked from going into effect before voter’s overwhelmingly rejected it the next year.

In total, 26 states now have “right-to-work” laws in place. There were massive protests in Indiana and Wisconsin in recent years after those legislatures voted to curb union rights.

“If we want to make Michigan a place where people want to come and raise a family and build their careers for the long haul, it is critical that we have got these strong workplace protections,“ Ron Bieber, president of the Michigan State AFL-CIO, said. “By standing up and taking their power back, at the ballot box and in the workplace, workers have made it clear Michigan is and always will be the beating heart of the modern American labor movement.”

Truthout and the Economic Policy Institute also carried good coverage. The New Republic carried a strong analysis of what's wrong with "right-to-work" in the first place. 

Many of us will read the headlines and think that we are being told what we already know or will feel justified in our long-standing opposition to "right-to-work" and leave it at that. Perhaps this is why there is so little coverage of what happened in Michigan and New Hampshire and what is happening in states like Georgia and Tennessee even in the progressive press. But I think that there is a deeper story here.

The strikes and near-strikes of 2023 have to find an expression in politics, and I think that that is what we are seeing taking place in muted form in some states and nationally right now. We have young and progressive pro-labor candidates stepping up and pro-worker legislation being moved from the grassroots in many places. These trends ae one key part of defeating the Republican agenda in November and each victory along the way helps build momentum for other new wins. It's true that workers and union members are more driven by issues than we are inspired by either political party, but it's also true that it's Democrats---and particularly young, progressive and women of color Democrats----who are leading on our issues right now. The Squad looks more like The Troop this week, and might look like The Battalion soon if if this trend continues.

Significant numbers of union members understand what is going on. The United Electrical Workers' (UE) report on their union's recent General Excutive Board meeting contains the following:

In his Political Action Report, President Rosen noted that close UE ally Congresswoman Summer Lee (D-PA), along with many other of the most pro-worker members of Congress, are under attack by deep-pocketed right-wing forces and will be facing well-funded opponents in their primaries this spring. Congressman Chuy Garcia (D-IL), another close UE ally, may also be facing a similar primary challenge. UE will be issuing a leaflet to make sure members know about Lee’s record of standing up for workers.

GEB members also discussed the dilemma that will face workers in the fall, as they will be forced to choose between the disappointing incumbent, Joe Biden, or Donald Trump, who has vowed to use the government to punish his perceived enemies if he is returned to office.

 

Photo from UE.

Many union members understand the complex moment we're in but some don't. One of my fears is that our closest political friends won't receive the support from us that they deserve in the names of what seems expedient or practical. Another is that the counter-attack from the right will hit hard and turn our world upside down. And there is the pernicious racism and sexism that has historically divided us at key moments in the past and still threatens our unity. Every nay-sayer and defeatist seemsto be gettig the press coverage and seems to picking up the mic these days, and they're doing lots of damage. 

Where are you standing in relation to this? Are you keeping your hands on the plow and your eyes on the prize or are you somewhere else? Here's a reminder about we're headed if we have everyone on our side keeping focused on our goals.

Photo from The New Republic

The opinions expressed above belong solely to the author and are not those of the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter or the Oregon AFL-CIO.

Two views on Oregon's 2024 legislative session so far

Our first take on Oregon's 2024 legislative session comes from the Northwest Workers Justice Project (NWJP). NWJP modestly describes their work in the following terms:

NWJP protects workplace dignity by supporting the efforts of low-wage, immigrant and contingent workers to improve wages and working conditions and to eliminate imbalances in power that lead to inequity.

In fact, NWJP does much more and meets their goals and does movement-building. They show up when and where it makes a difference and they ae a more-than-competent progressive voice for worker rights. I am not partial to non-profits, but NWJP is a winning exception. Please support them with a contribution today. Their legislative update says:

We are in an even-numbered year, so that means a short session at the Oregon Legislature. The 35-day session kicked off on February 5th. As most of you probably know, the focus is on housing and Measure 110 (related to drug decriminalization.) Very few bills related to workers were introduced, and even fewer are moving forward on the tight timeline of the short session. We submitted testimony regarding a bad bill that would have undermined Oregon’s strong Pay Equity Law by creating a vague “business necessity” exception. We supported the Oregon AFL-CIO’s successful effort to stop this bad bill from becoming law. NWJP is focused on supporting efforts to fund a number of programs that our client community needs: the Climate Change Fund, the Home Fund and Universal Representation. These funds are part of the larger Oregon Worker Relief Fund, which advocates created during the pandemic to help undocumented Oregonians survive when workplaces were shuttered. The Climate Change Fund grew out of the rulemaking on extreme heat and wildfire smoke. Advocates realized that Oregonians who do not qualify for unemployment insurance, including undocumented workers, need a way to be paid when they have to miss work due to climate emergencies. We are asking for $9 million to replenish this fund. The Home Fund provides financial relief to immigrant Oregonians at risk of eviction and homelessness. NWJP hears from workers every week who are at risk of eviction or who have recently been evicted. We are asking for $6 million for this fund, which is a drop in the bucket of what is needed during our current housing crisis. Finally, Universal Representation (U-Rep) is the idea that all immigrant Oregonians need legal support during immigration proceedings. Studies make clear that immigrants without legal counsel are more likely to be deported. Oregon passed U-Rep in 2022, but the current funding does not meet the great need for this support. The request is $7.5 million. Please send an email as soon as possible to your elected representatives in support of these important budget requests through PCUN’s action alert here. Our second legislative update comes from Oregon AFL-CIO President Graham Trainor. The strength of this report is that it demonstrates how so much of our labor political work is about the nuts-and-bolts of policies that affect our daily lives as workers, things that we often forget until we or someone close to us says, "Hey, I need that!" This is why I keep paying dues to three unions and donating to our poitical action funds. Please join me in doing that. In a press release dated February 23 Brother Trainor offered the following: The 2024 Oregon Legislature is moving at a rapid pace, with many of Oregon Labor’s priority bills moving out of committee, into the budget committee, and onto the floor for votes. We’re excited to see bills defending healthcare workers, education workers, and public employees among many others get closer to becoming law, as well as our priority bill to ensure labor standards are a part of all offshore wind development. With only a few weeks left in this 35-day session, unions and worker advocates are working diligently to ensure as many of our priorities pass as possible before the gavel falls. Here’s an overview of where Oregon Labor legislative priorities are at this point in the short session: HB 4080: Offshore Wind - Strong Labor Standards and Roadmap Directive Led by the Oregon AFL-CIO and a priority of a number of our affiliates, HB 4080 ensures that if and when Offshore Wind Development comes to Oregon, there are strong labor standards required. Oregon has a few opportunities to influence the process to develop Offshore Wind development in federal waters. In addition to strong labor standards like apprenticeship utilization, prevailing wage and living wages and family supporting healthcare, the bill also includes a robust roadmap process to support engagement between offshore wind developers and impacted organizations, communities and tribes. The bill passed on a party-line vote out of the House Business and Labor Committee. SB 1552: Supporting All Education Workers A priority of OSEA, this education omnibus makes important technical fixes to support workers in K-12, higher ed, early learning and redefines educators to finally include classified instead of just teachers. This bill passed unanimously out of the Senate Education committee. SB 1594: Behavioral Health Worker Safety SB 1594 is a priority of Oregon AFSCME to require behavioral health safety plans and include minimum staffing levels and protocols for addressing safety risks at these facilities. These adjustments will help keep clinicians safe and reduce burnout. Furthermore, funding for apprenticeships and training programs will provide more students with the knowledge they need to be successful as clinicians. This bill passed unanimously out of the Senate Health Care committee. SB 1595: Debt Collection Reform Led by a coalition of unions and consumer advocates, SB 1595 offers protections for families and ensures that they can meet their basic needs while facing debt by increasing the amount of take-home pay protected from court seizure or garnishment, protecting the first $2,500 in an individual’s bank account, and increasing the value of a home protected from seizure. These adjustments will offer some stability for working people in times of extreme stress, and better allow them to take care of themselves and their families. The bill passed on a party-line vote in the Senate Labor and Business committee and unanimously in the Senate Finance and Revenue committee. SB 1578: Healthcare Interpreter Portal A priority of Oregon AFSCME, SB 1578 creates a portal for health care interpreters to help streamline the process and give these workers much better wages and benefits, while also improving patient outcomes. This bill passed on a party line vote out of the Senate Health Care committee. HB 4006: Equity for Construction Workers & Contractors A priority of the Ironworkers, HB 4006 requires a contracting agency to accept from contractors surety bonds in lieu of retainage for construction projects and public improvement contracts. This will help ensure that historically and currently marginalized contractors and workers have a fair shot at getting ahead. After a unanimous vote in the House Business and Labor Committee, the bill passed unanimously on the House floor. HB 4045: PERS “High Risk” Tier HB 4045 is a priority of the Firefighter and Oregon AFSCME to help over 3,200 public safety workers qualify for improved retirement benefits. The bill includes state hospital workers and 911 operators into PERS and lowers the retirement age for firefighters. The bill passed unanimously out of the House Emergency Management General Government committee and in the Ways and Means subcommittee. HB 4050: Pay Equity Subversion (opposition) Brought by Oregon Business and Industries, HB 4050 would have subverted Oregon's pay equity law which ensures that women, people of color, and other workers from protected classes are not paid unfairly. We successfully made sure that this bill in its current form does not move forward this session. HB 4077: Incident Reporting Access in Schools A priority of OSEA, HB 4077 takes a massive step toward ensuring education workers feel safe at work and is the next common-sense bill for OSEA’s Work Shouldn’t Hurt campaign. The bill increases access to incident forms after a worker is injured on the job by making an online form that can be completed on a smart phone and computer. This bill passed unanimously out of the House Education committee. HB 4085: Immigration Legal Assistance HB 4085 provides grants to help individuals and families afford immigration legal assistance. In Oregon, we know our communities are most successful when we all feel safe, respected and welcomed. Proactive affirmative immigration legal services will create pathways to citizenship and provide safety, security and stability for our immigrant and refugee communities. This bill passed unanimously out of the House Early Childhood and Human Services Committee. HB 4088: Addressing Violence Against Healthcare Workers HB 4088 creates a pilot program to address and prevent hospital workplace violence and make assaults on hospital workers a Class C felony. This is a priority of ONA, AFSCME and other unions representing healthcare workers. This bill passed nearly unanimously in the House Judiciary Committee. HB 4112: Clean Energy Tech Supply Chain HB 4112 has the potential to make Oregon a regional leader in clean tech manufacturing while promoting good high skilled manufacturing jobs through state procurement preference. This is a priority of the Blue Green Alliance and a number of Building Trades affiliates. This bill passed out of the House Climate, Energy and Environment Committee on a bipartisan vote. HB 4124 & SB 1582: Post-Pandemic Funding for the Arts HB 4124 and SB 1582 allocate funding to help cultural and arts programs who are struggling to bounce back after the pandemic. As union workers at many of these facilities, this is a priority of IATSE and AFM among others. These bills passed nearly unanimously out of the House Economic Development committee and Senate Business and Labor committee. HB 4125: Adjunct Faculty Trend Study Bill AFT-Oregon's priority bill, HB 4125 funds a report on higher education workforce to understand trends and information on the quality of the jobs and governance systems nationwide. This bill passed nearly unanimously out of the House Higher Education Committee. HB 4130: Protecting Against Corporate Control of Healthcare HB 4130 protects against corporatization by closing the LLC/LLP loophole in our current laws. HB4130 also bans non-competes, non-disparagement clauses, and stock transfer restriction agreements to bolster physician independence. These changes will strengthen Oregon’s existing protections against corporate control of healthcare. By doing so, our state will be preventing increased healthcare corporatization and keep healthcare costs low for Oregonians. After a bipartisan vote in the House Health Care committee, it also received a bipartisan vote on the House floor. HB 4158: Expanding Child Care Capacity for Home-Based Providers, Small Centers, and Rural Areas A Fair Shot for All priority, the bill helps fund childcare infrastructure to provide financial assistance grants to child care providers. The bill passed nearly unanimously out of the House Early Childhood committee. Thank you for everything you do to build power for working people! If you have any questions about legislative priorities or how the Oregon AFL-CIO can support your union’s priorities in Salem, please contact Catie Theisen, our Political and Legislative Director. In Solidarity, Graham Trainor President, Oregon AFL-CIO He/Him/His

“The question on the ballot is whether we save democracy in the United States of America or do we go to a dictatorship?” says the president of CBTU

The People's World on-line publication is highlighting remarks made by the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists president Terry Melvin at the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Legislative Conference held in Washington, D.C. on Monday of this week. It is quite significant that AFGE chose the CBTU president as the keynote speaker.

The People's World article bears some careful reading and consideration. The article says in part:

“The 2024 election is about the soul of this nation,” Melvin, said.

“The question on the ballot is whether we save democracy in the United States of America or do we go to a dictatorship?”

“Racism, white supremacy, and xenophobia are all taking us back to pre-civil rights days,” warned Melvin...Melvin’s latest example of Trump’s stranglehold on the Republicans—and, in turn, on the republic—was the recent bipartisan “deal” on immigration which senators of both parties reached, and which gave in to most GOP demands for strong anti-migrant measures.

“And then one on the Republican side, Trump said ‘Don’t sign (actually vote for) for that bill.’ And the Republicans turned around. The House Republicans called it dead on arrival.”...Melvin said that the way to beat Trump and other anti-worker Republicans is to emphasize Biden’s pro-worker record, point out that Republican-named Supreme Court justices and congressional Republicans stymied many of his plans, and to register increasing numbers of people of color to vote, get them to do so and ensure their ballots are counted.

The article points out that the dominant trend at the union conference was critical of the "Republican’s anti-union, anti-federal worker track record during Trump’s 2017-21 reign" and highlighted the disaster that "would occur for federal workers and all workers if Trump returns to the White House next January 20."

CBTU President Terry Melvin, keynoting CBTU’s 2023 Convention, called 

out thedanger of a 'racist, anti-democratic America' that wants to see Black

 and Brown people 'eradicated from stories about America’s less than perfect 

self.' | via Machinists Union and the People's World.

The views expressed in this post are not necessarily those of the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter or the Oregon AFL-CIO.

Support the striking PeaceHealth home health and hospice nurses!

Photo from Timothy Welp

I participated in the rally and strike picketline held by the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) last Saturday at PeaceHealth in Eugene. It was a great opening event for the strike. The home health and hospice nurses at PeaceHealth came to the action with strong public and political support that was evident during the rally. A February 8 program that ran on Oregon Public Broadcasting helped give the workers credibility and boost support for them. 

It was quite helpful and inspiring to hear State Representative Travis Nelson, State Senator (and candidate for Secretary of State) James Manning, local political and community leaders, a representative from Senator Merkley's office, and  Congresswoman Val Hoyle speak in support of the strike and the union. State Representative Nelson has a particular understanding of the issues involved given that he once worked for the company and is a nurse as well as a valued political leader. State Senator Manning is a hometown hero and leader for good reason and never fails to be on the picketlines and at the rallies when asked to be there. Congresswoman Hoyle held a sign proclaiming "People Over Profits" while she spoke, and by holding that sign she demonstrated the relative strength of a coalition that I hope can win this strike and others and help carry us through to a victory at the polls in November.

There were nurses from other ONA-represented units, Teamsters, AFSCME members, members of other unions, and socialists present with the ONA strikers on Saturday. I attended as an active member of the National Writers Union, an associate member of the United Mine Workers, and as an active participant in the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter. The local political and communitity leaders who spoke testified to the progressive and forward-looking nature of that forward-looking coalition that we are all a part of.

All of that said, it was the nurses and their ability to lead on the picketline that kept things together and moving forward on Saturday. They spoke with urgency and soul. Please go to the Oregon Nurses Association Facebook page and see the video posted on February 10 to hear the speeches and see the ONA members in action.

I understand that strikes and rallies are abstract to people until they show up and participate in them, and for that reason we need union members to lead and be disciplined and carry a message that speaks directly to people who have not been previously engaged. This is how we begin to make positive change and good trouble. I believe that active ONA members will gree with me here. The union certainly embodies that spirit, and that was made clear to all last Saturday and on the February 8 radio program.  

The national AFL-CIO has spotlighted the strike in a helpful Daily Brief post today. That post gives a very helpful summary of the ssues that led to the strike and says the following:

The 14-day strike began Saturday and comes after months of negotiations following the expiration of the nurses’ previous contract in April 2023. Historically, these nurses have received equal pay compared to their counterparts at PeaceHealth hospital, but management’s latest proposal offers a lower compensation to home care and hospice nurses than those working in the hospital.

While PeaceHealth's corporate executives received multimillion-dollar wage increases during the pandemic, they continue to refuse to offer home care nurses fair wages and a contract that addresses record turnover and job vacancies.

“We are not asking for more, we are not asking for special treatment, we just want equality. The way it has always been,” said ONA member and hospice nurse Heather Herbert.

Photo from the AFL-CIO Daily Brief.

  

The AFL-CIO post also has a link to a petition for union and strike supporters. A version of that petition is here. Please sign! ONA is doing a great job on the picketlines and the workers will welcome your active suppoprt. 

Let's do Black History Month in Oregon the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists' way!

The Oregon Chapter of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) has organized a series of important educational forums to take us through Black History Month. There is something for all of us here, so please participate and take what you learn into building a stronger and more inclusive and active labor movement.

Please see this great article by Tina Turner-Morfitt regarding CBTU and William "Bill" Lucy to get started.  

Join CBTU and members of other organizations on these dates through February:

** https://us06web.zoom.us/s/5383642165?omn=86773370721#success

Thursday 2/1/2024 CBTU Under 40 podcast w William Lucy
live interview with Brother Oluwadamini Melvin 6pm **

Thursday 2/8/2024 Relevance of Black Voices in Politics
Moderated 6:30 pm **

Thursday 2/15/2024 Health Care Oregon Style
Moderated 6:30 pm **

Thursday 2/22/2024 Labor History Workshop
(face to face) Oregon AFL-CIO 3645 SE 32nd Ave PDX
6:30pm

Thursday 2/29/2024 Movie Night/moderated discussion 7-9 pm
(face to face)/SEIU Local 503 525 NE Oregon PDX 7-9
pm

And remember:

At 4:30 pm on this day in 1960, Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Joseph McNeill, and Franklin McCain, all students at A&T University, sat down at a segregated lunch counter in a Greensboro Woolworth's store, ordered coffee, and stayed in their seats, despite being refused service, until the store closed. 5 days later, over 500 students filled that store and others in downtown Greensboro. From there the sit-ins spread across the state and across the South, transforming the Civil Rights movement.