Contents:

1. Support Efforts to End Racial Profiling in Portland

2. Democratic Leadership Sells Out to White House, Pushes Major NAFTA
Expansion!

3. Oregonian profiled Workers Marquez Brothers Northwest Inc. on Strike and the Oregon AFL-CIO’s three “Restoring the Freedom to Organize”



 

Jobs with Justice was there in October and January at the City Council’s hearings on Racial Profiling.  A committee has been formed to put an end to racial profiling.    This Wednesday  The Mayor will present his vision for the end of racial profiling.  The Committee is developing a work plan on how to reach its goal. We must continue to keep the pressure on until there is real change.  Come  show your support for the end of racial profiling in the city of Portland!



 

Last night, Democratic House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Ways and 
Means Committee Chairman Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) and Senate Finance 
Committee Chairman Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) joined with the Bush White 
House to announce a totally unacceptable "deal" to pass more 
NAFTA-style trade agreements with Peru and Panama.

This agreement will, if approved, most likely lead to the passage of 
trade deals with Colombia, South Korea as well as "Fast Track Trade 
Promotion Authority" for President "Mr. Danger" Bush.

The text of the "deal" has yet to be released. While improving some 
labor and environmental protections, the bill appears to maintain the 
same agribiz-friendly provisions that will force millions of campesinos 
in Latin America off their land.

Labor, community organizations, and even most House Democrats were 
sidelined from participating in the negotiations.

Worst yet, it appears that our very own congressman Earl Blumenauer and 
Senator Ron Wyden may vote for these awful deals.

Please see the Public Citizen action alert for a more in depth analysis:
http://action.citizen.org/content.jsp?
content_KEY=2659&t=BlankTemplate.dwt

TAKE ACTION NOW: Call your representative and Senators

Our message: "NO MORE NAFTAs. This 'deal' is a swindle."

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (202) 225-4811/ (503) 231-2300

Senator Ron Wyden at (503) 326-7525

Senator Gordon Smith at (503) 326-3386.


If you live outside of Blumenauer's district, call your representative:
Rep. Darlene Hooley......... (202) 225-5711/ (503) 557-1324
Rep. David Wu.....................(202) 225-0855/ (800) 422-4003
Rep. Peter Defazio..............(202) 225-6416/ (541) 465-6732
Rep. Greg Walden..............(202)225-6730/ (541)776-4646


---
Portland Central America Solidarity Committee (PCASC)
and Cross Border Labor Organizing Council (CBLOC)
311 N. Ivy St., Portland, Oregon 97227
Tel: 503-236-7916    E-mail: info@pcasc.net
www.pcasc.net



Brothers and Sisters:

Today the Oregonian profiled the Oregon AFL-CIO’s three “Restoring the Freedom to Organize” bills in an article on the front page of the business section. I am sending it to you below in this email message, but I strongly encourage you to find a copy of today’s Oregonian and share it with your members. The placement is great, and it is largely on message.

After you read this article below, or if you already know about the issue, please respond by doing any or all of the following:
 
    * Click on this Oregon AFL-CIO action alert to send a quick letter to your state Senator: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/RestoreFreedom
 
    * Call your State Senator today at 1-800-332-2313 to urge him or her to restore the freedom to organize by passing HB 2891, HB 2892, and HB 2893. (Before you call your senator, you can open this page at our web site if you want help with your message: http://www.oraflcio.org/cgi-bin/display.cgi?page=FreedomToForm )
 
    * Email this message to other union supporters.

Together we are working hard for Oregon’s working families. Thanks for all of your hard work and support!

In solidarity,


Tom Chamberlain



 

 

Friday, May 11, 2007

BRENT HUNSBERGER

The Oregonian

Union organizers say they entered a Mexican food distributor's offices late last week with fistfuls of cards signed by 29 of 36 workers pledging to organize.

Three days later, Marquez Brothers Northwest Inc. fired its lead account specialist, Jose Campos, organizers say.

Thursday morning, two dozen workers walked off the job, leaving loads of food on the docks in Northeast Portland. They claimed Marquez illegally fired Campos for his pro-union stand and refused to recognize their wish to unionize. Company officials declined to comment.

The skirmish, a blip on the labor front, illustrated how unions are increasingly abandoning the federal election union-forming process for the so-called card-check method.

Now, they're going a step further. Energized by Democrats' control of Congress and the Oregon Legislature, labor leaders are pushing for laws that would make card checks the norm, curb union-busting tactics and, they hope, reverse their declines.

Although President Bush stands in the way at the national level, a handful of pro-union measures in Oregon have better chances of passing, mostly because Gov. Ted Kulongoski supports them.

But the laws have raised employers' concern about their fairness and their impact on office communications -- even on the Legislature's opening prayer.

Bush has threatened to veto the Employee Free Choice Act, pending in the U.S. Senate, which would require union recognition if more than half of a workplace's employees sign authorization cards. The bill also would impose higher penalties for employers violating labor laws through strong-arm tactics such as firings. The House passed the measure, but its fate in the Senate remains unclear.

Oregon legislators are considering a bill that would extend the same "majority sign-up" rights to public employees. Another would bar private employers from spending tax dollars fighting union causes. A third, the Worker Freedom Act, would prohibit private and public employers from punishing workers who refuse to attend meetings about politics and religion.

Having passed the House, all three await Senate action.

Critics of the majority card-check proposals call them un-democratic because they do away with a secret election process while opening workers to more union intimidation.

"This card-check bill flies in the face of traditional labor law," said Grover Simmons of the Independent Adult Foster Home Association, whose members are targets of a card-check campaign by Service Employee International Union Local 503.

Union supporters counter that employers enjoy much more power and can threaten and fire pro-union employees with little fear of government penalty. They say government-overseen union elections are fraught with delays and loopholes that make elections unfair.

"If these kinds of elections were held in any other country, we'd routinely condemn them as anti-democratic," said Richard Beetle of the Laborers' International Union, who's trying to organize Marquez workers.

Federal and state labor law currently allows unions to organize through "card checks," provided employers voluntarily recognize a union.

The majority card-check bill in the Legislature would apply only to public employees, who already are nearly half organized. In Oregon, union membership has declined from 39 percent to 14 percent since 1964. But 48 percent of public employees are union members, a rate that has held steady since 1983, Labor Department figures compiled by Trinity University show.

Other bills pending in the Legislature would apply to public and private employers.

At a Senate hearing Wednesday, lobbyists representing health care, agriculture and restaurant industries testified against the Worker Freedom Act. They said it could violate free-speech protections, put a hush on routine office communication and subject workers to more one-on-one meetings, where no witnesses are present.

Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain told legislators he'd agree to waive the bill's application to religious meetings after the Legislative Counsel's office issued an opinion that the bill might cause the Legislature to limit its opening prayer.

A half-dozen adult foster home operators told lawmakers to reject the card-check bill, saying union organizers had repeatedly visited their homes, identified themselves as "state" workers and misled them into signing authorization cards.

"This type of soliciting is hugely intimidating to our providers," said Ana Campean, operator of a home in West Linn.

SEIU political organizer Joe Schaeffer said he couldn't address such complaints but said the union was aware of an "organized disinformation campaign." Many adult foster care operators, he said, are organizing to lobby for higher federal Medicaid reimbursements.

On Thursday, Marquez workers stood outside warehouses on Northeast Airport Way, waiving signs that read, "Unfair Labor Practice. Bring Jose Back!"

Campos said Marquez, which makes and distributes El Mexicano-brand cheese, fired him a day after he met with a company attorney and acknowledged support for the union.

"They wanted to scare the rest of the employees," said Carrie Craig, a co-worker.

Workers say they want to unionize because Marquez shorts workers overtime hours and commissions and deliberately gives poor performance reviews to avoid raises.

Alma Herrera, an order clerk at the company, said she supports majority card-check legislation because, had it already been approved, "we wouldn't have to go through all this."

"I'd rather be working," Herrera said. "I love my job. It's just that I've been mistreated."

Brent Hunsberger: 503-221-8359; brenthunsberger@ news.oregonian.com, blog.oregonlive.com/atwork


©2007 The Oregonian

 

 

Tom Chamberlain

President

Oregon AFL-CIO

503-585-6320



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