AFL-CIO 'Gets Back to Middle Class' at Convention (AUDIO)

Oregonian on New Roster of Elected Officers.

Salem-News.com

(PITTSBURGH, Penn. ONS) - Oregon union members attending the AFL-CIO national convention this week say they are ready to tackle two big issues by year's end: health care reform and passage of the Employee Free Choice Act (legislation that would make it easier for workers to join or form labor unions).

The group has a new national president, Richard Trumka. He's urging union locals to get back to their grassroots, according to Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain.

"We're going to do a better job about connecting to the middle class - not just to workers - to make them understand the importance of union movements. We have found that 90 percent of Oregonians identify themselves with the middle class, but they don't understand how unique the American middle class truly is."

Trumka is a somewhat controversial figure, having led the United Mine Workers through a period of violence and strikes in the 1980s and '90s, but he has been an AFL-CIO officer for the past 14 years and ran unopposed.

An Oregonian, Liz Schuler, is the new national secretary-treasurer. Chamberlain says Schuler represents new, younger workers that the labor movement is attracting.

When the convention's over, Chamberlain says, affordable health care comes first. Then the union will turn its attention to changing labor laws.

"We've just done polling in Oregon. We found that 80 percent of Oregonians believe there needs to be labor law reform. We're going to tie into that. Thank goodness, our Congressional delegation - all but one - supports the passage of labor law reform in this country."

At the convention, members also voted to support creating green jobs and strengthening regional labor councils.

Special thanks to Oregon News Service
Reporter: Chris Thomas