Tuesday, 07 September 2010 14:50

MaryBe McMillan

As we approach the massive One Nation Working Together march on Oct. 2, MaryBe McMillan, secretary-treasurer of the North Carolina State AFL-CIO, says the road to an economy that works for all must first come through the South.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. realized the only way to win freedom for people of color everywhere was to win it first in the most difficult place—the segregated South. Union leaders must also direct their attention and resources to the South, where union membership is small and violent anti-union tactics are widespread.

In her Point of View column on the AFL-CIO website, McMillan says:  

 The southern United States is the center for exploitation of workers of all colors.  Employees in the South have the lowest wages, the fewest worker protections and the least union representation. And nowhere are the harmful effects of globalization and flawed trade deals more evident than in the South.  

She cites her hometown of Hickory, N.C., as an example. Thousands of jobs in the textile and furniture industries have been lost there, mainly because of bad U.S. deals, but workers aren’t rushing to join unions. Because unions have not invested in organizing her neighbors, the only voices they hear are conservative talk-radio hosts and the local Chamber of Commerce. No wonder workers end up voting for anti-worker conservative lawmakers, which hurts every one.

She points out that when unions do pay attention to the South, we can win, citing the election of Kay Hagan, a pro-worker senator from N.C. in 2008, followed by the successful effort by workers to form a union at the world’s largest pork slaughterhouse in  Tar Heel , N.C. She says:

During the 1963 march, Dr. King outlined his dream of racial equality. I too have a dream—a dream that one day, even in North Carolina, the least unionized state in the country, all workers will have good jobs and the freedom to organize and bargain collectively.

Read McMillan’s full column, “Workers Who Win The South Change The Nation” here.

Tuesday, 07 September 2010 14:50

Oregon gubernatorial candidate John Kitzhaber and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka at Oregon “Jobs” town hall meeting.

Elana Guiney, Communications and Research director for the Oregon AFL-CIO, sends this report on the start of the Labor 2010 campaign season in Oregon.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka kicked off the Labor 2010 campaign season in Oregon this week with two full days of events, including a town hall meeting on jobs, with more than 500 union members from across Oregon. The crowd filled the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) hall in Portland and spilled into overflow seating in the parking lot.

Trumka was joined by Oregon gubernatorial candidate John Kitzhaber, who has spent his career working for Oregonians as an emergency room doctor, as an elected official and through programs to help expand health care to all Oregonians while bringing down costs.

Both Trumka and Kitzhaber laid out their priorities—bringing back manufacturing jobs; stopping the demonization of our hardworking public employees, teachers and front-line workers; prioritizing policies that help us all get ahead; and electing working family candidates.

Three Oregonians whose lives have been directly affected by the recession told their stories.

Nick, a United Steelworkers (USW) member, was out of work for eight months before getting called back recently. The father of three said that finding a way to support his family for those months was daunting in a community that has lost more than 600 manufacturing jobs and no living wage jobs to replace them.

He told the crowd that he was at the town hall meeting because earlier he had been asked to recruit one of his out-of-work union brothers or sisters to tell their story. But knowing how hard it was to live that story every day, he said he didn’t have the heart to ask one of his friends to share that pain in front of an audience.

He said that more than 200 workers at his plant—which once employed nearly 350 people—still didn’t have jobs. A nearby paper mill shut down and 250 workers lost their jobs and he said it does not appear likely the mill will reopen anytime soon.

Jonni, a member of the Electrical Workers (IBEW), has worked just two months in the past year and a half.  She is dealing with a multi-generational crisis. She and her husband are the sole supporters of her mother-in-law and her children, one just out of college and two in college who are struggling to find work. Everyone needs more help. But without her paycheck, her husband has had to take on a second job just to make ends meet.

She says that along with the financial toll the recession has taken, the emotional toll of not being able to work has hit hard.

You can’t help but ask “will I ever get a job? Can I still do my trade if I do find a job, after all those months without practicing it? What else can I do?” No matter how confident you are, these things run through your mind.

Sue, a child care worker with Child Care Providers Together/AFSCME, told the meeting that cuts in child care funding have a triple impact—on the low-income families, their children and the child care workers. When help for low-income families with kids is cut, they often must choose between losing one parent’s income in order to stay home or leave their kids home alone. She said that children are left without the crucial socialization skills and early education that quality child care provides. Also child care providers lose clients, lose income and see their families pushed to the brink as well.

After answering questions from the workers and others, Trumka told the crowd that we could get ahead, and bring back jobs, and create an economy that works for everyone—but only if we make jobs our number one priority in this country.

He pointed to Oregon Iron Works, which he had toured with other union leaders earlier that day, as an example of the manufacturing revival that is needed on a bigger scale.

The company prioritizes keeping its manufacturing right here in America, including supporting other American companies by trying to keep as much of their supply chain in the United States as possible. It is on the cutting edge of green energy technologies and mass-transit manufacturing.

These projects will create cycles of innovation and creation to spur additional private investments, technological advances, and spin-off businesses. This is how you rebuild an economy.

Just as importantly, he said, the firm works well with its all-union workforce and values being able to provide benefits for their workers and a fair wage for a hard day’s work.

What I’m talking about are real jobs for you, a future for your family.

Trumka closed the evening by telling the crowd the first step in prioritizing jobs in the country is making jobs the top priority in the November elections.

We need a strong showing everywhere—clear call for progress. And let me tell you why: Because if we win these elections on Nov. 2, it’ll strengthen us to fight on Nov. 3, and the next day, and the day after that, for the jobs we need, for the economy we need.

People who want a better economy have to understand: If Oregon and America are going to create new jobs with rising wages, stable benefits, and promising futures, we’ve got to work for it. And I know you will.