Oregon Unions Step Up to Help Laid-Off Workers

The AFL-CIO meeting is today, 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., at the Central Electrical Training Center, Tangent, Oregon.

Salem-News.com

(TANGENT, Ore.) - Oregon's labor union locals say they want to do more to help their members and others in their communities who have been laid off.

AFL-CIO leaders from around the state are meeting today to trade ideas and information, such as how to file for unemployment insurance and what emergency resources exist for people who need rent money or food. Barbara Byrd, Oregon AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer, says they also realize some needs are longer-term.

"Some of these men and women work in industries that may not come back. In those cases, how do they figure out where jobs will be in the future, and then how do they get the training they need for those jobs? That sort of longer-term support is necessary, too."

Byrd says the union also has been working in Salem, supporting legislation to expand unemployment and health care benefits to more Oregonians, and keeping an eye on where the federal stimulus money is going that is supposed to be creating more jobs - and job training - for the state.

Byrd adds that a union hall can serve as a resource center for a town or neighborhood, to keep laid-off workers from feeling isolated and getting discouraged.

"One of the things we hope to do is encourage laid-off members to come back to the union hall to get together socially with each other, have conversations about where the jobs are and their retraining experiences, and plug in on a volunteer basis to activities their locals are doing in the community - so they feel helpful and needed."

The AFL-CIO meeting is today, 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., at the Central Electrical Training Center, Tangent, Ore. (in Linn County). It is cosponsored by the University of Oregon Labor Education & Research Center.