Weekly Update: Show Up Tomorrow!

Take Action

We need help tomorrow!

Our AFGE brothers and sisters at TSA (the security agency at the airport; officers are TSOs) are hosting an open house to try to reach out to their coworkers as they gear up for a union election early next year. They're hoping that other union members can show up for a solidarity luncheon to talk to TSOs about being a member of an AFL-CIO union.

If you work at or near the airport, or know someone who does, stop by tomorrow, Thursday, between 12-2pm, at the Vancouver-Rainier room in the airport conference center (behind the foodcourt and up one floor).

Back From the Holidays Canvass

Sign up to canvass for tax fairness! You've heard from us, you've seen the ads, you might have even gotten a call or two. Now it's time to get involved. Spread the word about tax fairness!

Things are getting a little crazy as we head into the holidays, so we want you to mark this date on your calendars now - January 3rd, 1-4pm, union members and middle class Oregonians will be hitting the streets to defend critical services from the big banks and corporate interests that like paying just $10 a year in taxes.

The holidays will be over, and it's a perfect way to get back into the campaign mode. Email Graham Trainor today to let him know you'll be there!

Financial Reform: Protecting Consumers from Another Wall Street Bailout?

Consumer financial protection is divided between multiple federal and state agencies, leaving huge holes in the systems that should be protecting you from banks' and credit card companies' bad behavior. The House took a major step toward fixing the problems that led to the financial collapse last year when they passed the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 last week.

The financial institutions are pushing back hard against the Act, but the AFL-CIO is fighting not only to make sure it gets through the Senate, but to make sure it's improved before it passes.

Right now not only is the system broken, but the big banks are in the room regulating themselves. We not only need to make sure our good laws are being enforced, we need to make stronger laws, ensure there is transparency in our financial systems and get the big banks out of the reserve bank boardroom!

Middle class and union advocates in Washington D.C. are working to make this bill even stronger; stay tuned for news on how it's doing when it hits the Senate!

In Other News...

Barbara Byrd's Update from Copenhagen

In case you missed last week's Update, Secretary-Treasurer Byrd is in Copenhagen at the UN Climate Change Convention as part of the US Labor Delegation. They're working to make sure that climate change agreements are good for the world and for workers. There's too much at stake to not be at the table, especially because there are so many solutions that help create a more economically and environmentally sustainable future. Here's part of Barbara's first blog post. Check out the full post.

I'm here in Copenhagen at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, along with 40 other US unionists. Bob Baugh, Director of the AFL-CIO's Industrial Union Council, is heading up our delegation, which includes affiliate leaders from every sector we represent - leaders like Richard Ianuzzi, AFT Vice President; Mike Langford, President of the Utility Workers; Terry O'Sullivan, President of the Laborers ; Jim Hunter, Director of IBEW's Utility Division; and our own Jon Hunt, President of Amalgamated Transit Union, #757 (with Ron Heintzman, former #757 President and now International Representative).

So what are we doing here, and why is it important to Oregon's union members?

First, we want to make sure that whatever comes out of these international climate negotiations includes labor's core principles. We're here to urge, persuade, and encourage our own and other countries' delegations to incorporate these principles into the framework document they're developing:

1. We need ambitious actions to be taken on climate issues in order to prevent irrevocable harm to the planet.
2. We must ensure a just transition toward a low-carbon economy. This means making climate action a driver for sustainable economic growth that leads to decent and "green" sustainable jobs. It also means protecting vulnerable communities and workers who will be harmed by the transition away from a carbon-intense economy.
3. We are calling for substantial investment in research and development of new technologies and to train workers in new skills - these changes should be good for working people, not just investors!
4. Leaders must see labor as a crucial stakeholder in the process of climate policy-making, and unions and other community organizations should be represented at all levels of government discussion and action...

Read more at www.oraflcio.org, and check back there for more updates!