America Wants to Work:
Week of Action

The Oregon AFL-CIO along with local labor leaders, workers and elected officials held two events this week to call for a renewed commitment to infrastructure investment in our state.  

On Monday a press conference was held in North Bend at the McCullough Bridge.  The bridge was built as part of a massive job creation effort 74 years ago and needs repair, but current funding only allows for half of the bridge to be restored. With proper funding, fully restoring the bridge could provide much needed jobs to the community, which has been hit hard by the recession and could use the support new jobs would bring.  Cindy Johnson, an OSEA member who has served the North Bend School District for 20 years, has seen how unemployment impacts children.   Her school’s “clothes closet”, a room where donated clothing is available to those in need, has grown to become a “clothes classroom” due to high demand.  Food is donated to families and despite budget cuts the school is trying to provide mental health services for students.  

Tuesday workers met in Medford, at Hawthorne Park where Interstate 5 rumbles along close by.  There are plans underway to expand trucking lanes on the mountain passes just north of Grants Pass – helping move commerce, preventing accidents that occur when trucks slow traffic climbing the passes, and providing family-wage jobs for the road crews working on the expansion.  Unfortunately, there is only funding available for one climbing lane and three are needed.  As Steve Fisher of Laborers local 296, who works on highway construction and hasn't had a job in the area in over a year, pointed out - the jobs building three full projects are needed too.

These events show just how important infrastructure investment is to local communities, and to our state as a whole.  It puts people back to work and reduces the poverty rate in rural areas.  It keeps food on the table and puts coats on children in the wintertime.   And it sets up our recovery.  We need to keep the pressure on politicians, especially Congressman Greg Walden whose position in leadership in the majority party gives him the ability to push aside partisanship and do what is right for our state.  Call Representative Walden at 541-389-4408 and tell him why your community needs infrastructure investment, and keep the pressure on all our elected officials to create jobs now, not cut crucial investments.

In Other News...
Find Union Made Goods Online

Believe it or not, the holidays are just around the corner.  Let’s help our economy and our brothers and sisters by supporting union made goods and union provided services this year.

Head to http://www.uniongoods.org and start searching for gift ideas, and make sure to check out the made in Oregon section.  If you don’t see a good or service listed that you know is union made, use this form and we’ll put it on the site!

Is Your Union Active?

Do you have photos of your members in action at Occupy Portland/Eugene/Ashland/Salem or at an America Wants to Work event?  We want to post them on our site!  

Send photos with a quick blurb about the event to Russell@oraflcio.org  and we’ll add your photo to our Flickr page.