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May/June 2011

This year the AFT-Oregon Convention was held in Bend, Oregon. There were 10 elected delegates to the convention: David Rives (RC), Michael Cannarella (PCCFFAP Labor Rep), Frank Goulard (SY), Heather Dittmore (SY), Jaime Rodrigeus (WC), Caralee Angell (SY, RC), Michael Morrow (SY), Minoo Marashi (SE), Ed DeGrauw (SY), Al Cordle (SY), Mandy Ellertson (RC), and (not pictured) Peter Seaman (SY).

The delegates represented the Federation on the issues we face as faculty and academic professionals in Oregon. Those issues include AFT dues and elections to the AFT-Oregon Executive Council. The Faculty representing us on the AFT-Oregon Executive Council include Ed DeGrauw and David Rives. Congrats Ed on being elected to the AFT-Oregon Executive Council, and David Rives, for his re-election as President!

PCCFFAP was a winner at the Awards Banquet, receiving the "Membership Achievement Award" for membership growth during 2010, and the "Political Action Advocacy Award" for the highest numerical increase in voluntary individual contributors for 2010. Minoo Marashi and Caralee Angell accepted the awards on behalf of the Federation! Congrats!

New Media + Identity Management
By Matt Stockton

I am who you think I am. More accurately, I am who I think you think I am. As the previous statement illustrates, our notions of identity our not nearly as stable as our pragmatic brains would like us to believe. This philosophical/psychological concept of meta-cognition is not new. What is relatively new though is the heightened degree to which we have to depend on it in this day and age of social networking and electronic correspondence.

In a biological sense, our identity is forged through our behavior. As such, our engagement with online technology has undeniably affected how we behave. One could make the case that at a personal level we have become habituated, if not addicted, to the rewards of watching others watching us. Every little email, text, and "like" comment triggers a satisfying drip of dopamine that attempts to quench our desire for self-worth. Behavior often adjusts to start depending on these means of ego gratification such that it becomes difficult to distance ourselves from them. Pushing this further, technology has evolved to essentially keep us wired in regardless of whether or not we're at work or at home. A portable morphine drip at the touch of a button. The immediate ramification of this is that our work is never left entirely at the office.

Beyond the biological, the Internet exists as a vast social watershed for the various streams that comprise our sense of self; these being our private, public, and professional identities. Keeping these aspects of our lives segregated has been traditionally easier whereas now, it seems, we have to invest more attention to defining and defending these boundaries. Many of us are already familiar with the learning curve that comes with managing student relationships in the age of social networking, but it is also regularly spilling into matters of politics. Our private, public, and professional identities have become publically enmeshed to the extent that it has become increasingly difficult to differentiate our actions as faculty and academic professionals from our actions as private citizens.

As more public scrutiny is politically drummed up to challenge the role of unions in education, there will be an increasing need to manage our collective and individual identities in addressing these challenges. An explicit example of this need stems from the resistance to Wisconsin's governor Scott Walker attempting to strip public unions of their right to collectively bargain. In retaliation, the Republican Party of Wisconsin made an open records request to access University of Wisconsin history professor William Cronon's emails to scan for any signs of his misusing state funded resources. More locally, the current stand-off at Mt. Hood Community College between faculty and their anti-union administration has devolved into a public relations game. This has led members of the Mt. Hood Faculty Association to start a blog (www.be-informed.net) to better inform the public of their current bargaining situation.

The reality is that our identity as both an organization and a collection of individuals will ultimately be dictated by the ways we choose to professionally and personally use the media to define the issues that impact us and our society. There is a need to be increasingly mindful and deliberate in how we choose to express ourselves through these mediums and it is hoped that we can do this in a manner that will further promote a society that values equity, integrity, and illumination.

April 5th 2011
Federation Colleagues:

A slight change from our Monday Memo, demanded by significant events unfolding as we speak. So many issues to cover these days, but I want to keep these missives as brief as possible, so two important items (below). Quickly: Ed Degrauw is keeping you updated on bargaining (next session is Friday), and next week I'll detail important information that came out of last weekend's AFT Higher Ed conference. Later this week you'll get a message from Minoo Marashi about the Federation's recommendations for the PCC Board election's three zones (May 17), and what you can do to help our choices join the Board. Additionally, it appears that our faculty brothers and sisters at Mt. Hood CC will have a strike vote tomorrow, after 15 months of unsuccessful bargaining. You can check this at http://www.be-informed.net/, and we'll keep you informed if they do go out (always a last resort, but sometimes necessary) and need our support.

For now, here's how 'politics' directly impacts PCC:

First, it appears increasingly likely, by the minute, that the crazies in Congress, some of whom believe they were elected to "shut down government," may just do that—this Friday. If the budget battle isn't resolved, even temporarily with a 'continuing resolution,' federal government shuts down. People go home. No one gets paid. No checks get written.

How does this affect us? It means no Pell grant checks, or Stafford loan checks, get written, and PCC is expecting about $40 million worth of those, next week, to keep our doors open. Management is working hard to find ways for 'most' financial aid funds to be disbursed, but this—at best—will create hardships, clearly for Financial Aid (my department), but even more for thousands of students. Many of you know that federal support for higher ed will be reduced over the next few years, and with costs going up our students will find it harder and harder to attend college. This is obviously an ongoing crisis, which could be brought to a sudden, stunning head this Friday. This is much more than a few talking heads on TV—this will directly impact tens of millions of Americans, low-income, elderly, young children, college students. We'll keep you updated.

Second, and related to this, you've been receiving information from Minoo about the wave of national pushback by working people against the corporate assault on the middle class.

Yesterday's 43rd anniversary of Martin Luther King's assassination saw gatherings nationwide, including 300-400 at Portland's Director's Park downtown (in awful weather), honoring Dr. King and his tireless efforts for working people—he was killed in Memphis preparing to march for decent wages for sanitation workers, wages that some politicians today are attempting to cut.

Wear BLUE tomorrow! AFT Week of Action(April 6th 2011)

AFT President Randi Weingarten gave a rousing speech to attendees at the AFT Higher Ed conference last weekend in Philadelphia. She took on the right-wing corporate assault on working people (I'll get a link to the speech), and yesterday sent out this email:

"We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality."—the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Those words are as true today as they were when Martin Luther King Jr. said them. What affects one of us—affects all of us. And when basic rights are denied to any member of a community, the entire community is weakened.

American families are struggling, but instead of creating jobs, politicians are using our real economic problems as an excuse to take away the rights of hard-working Americans. These politicians want to weaken the voice of middle-class Americans who already have sacrificed—even though it won't do anything for deficits—while protecting their corporate campaign backers with massive tax giveaways that cost us billions. These politicians want to turn back the clock on rights King died fighting for, but Americans see right through them and are joining together as a community to defend the American dream.

Tens of thousands of people signed the AFT's We Are One pledge to stand together, side by side with our allies, to make sure the voices of workers are not silenced and the American dream is not destroyed. Now, we turn that pledge into action. The "We Are One" Week of Action has begun. A full list of ideas for activities can be found at go.aft.org/actions.

Right now, you can:
Find an event near you. More than 1,000 events are planned nationwide, from candlelight vigils to "walk-ins," from rallies to teach-ins. Go to local.we-r-1.org.
Tell your story. Visit the AFT's Facebook page, and tell us why the union is important to you.
Support the fights. Help workers in Wisconsin and across the country by donating to the America Votes Labor Unity Fund. Go to www.saveworkers.org.
Show your solidarity on Wednesday, April 6. Wear your union T-shirt or a blue shirt, and send snapshots to AFTphotos@gmail.com.

Don't let the politicians turn back the clock. Stand with us and take action. We are one.!"
Time to act.
In unity,
Michael M.

By Scott Dionne
Writing Instructor, Sylvania
March 2010

In a 1937 Gallup poll, 70% of the American people favored labor unions. By 2010, in a Pew Research poll, that number had fallen to 41% percent. In 1958, according to the Department of Labor, 35% of Americans in the private sector belonged to labor unions. Today, less than 7% of private sector employees belong to unions. The 2010 Pew poll also reported that over 60% of Americans today think that unions have too much power.

James Surowiecki, in his article "The State of the Union" (The New Yorker, 17 January 2011), explains that the reason for the latest populist backlash against unions is due to the recession. In really bad times, such as a depression, people seek solidarity, which explains the formation of labor unions in America during the 1930s (as well as their popularity). But when times are "merely" bad, such as in a recession, people tend to seek a scapegoat to rationalize their troubles. Olivia Mitchell, an economist at Wharton, identifies "pension envy" as one of the main grievances against the unions. From the outside looking in, our benefits can seem excessive. While unionized employees may have what seems like a decent "Toyota" health care plan, to the unemployed worker, union members' health care benefits may look more like "Cadillac plans."

Lately we've witnessed a ramped up attack on labor unions. Former Minnesota governor, Tim Pawlenty, for example, has called public employee unions "exploiters." Sarah Palin has referred to labor leaders as "thugs." And the newly elected governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, has taken the war against unions to an unprecedented level of combat.

America's most popular TV news source, FoxNews, is a den of anti-unionism. Their talking heads hold irrational grudges against organized labor. Glenn Beck, during an interview with an author, accused union leaders of being racists. (Citing an article written by Frederick Douglass as his evidence!). He then proceeded to lump communists, Marxists, revolutionaries, and unions together as an international cabal of racists. Sean Hannity, who evidently slept during his college class on logical fallacies, at his own website poses the question: "Why are unions so bad?" FoxNews's business anchor, Neil Cavuto, is openly anti-union. With no fear of a return punch, America's # 1 news source never misses an opportunity to take on-the-air jabs at labor. With so many people watching, this starts to feel like getting beat up.
But we're not on the canvas yet. Governor Walker's extremist attack on his state's public employee unions seems to be backfiring and may actually result in improving public perception of labor unions. (Who, after all, does not feel some sense of civic pride at the sight of all those firefighters and police officers protesting out on the streets of Madison?) And all this irrational union-bashing going on in the media and at Tea Party rallies may eventually have an irking effect on people. It's only a matter of time before people figure out that the millionaire talking head on the billionaire Rupert Murdoch's FoxNews who is bashing the salaried AFL volunteer is not exactly a fair fight.

And then there's Starbucks Union, a nation-wide association of Starbucks employees who are unionizing. To date, seven stores have managed to join the Industrial Workers of the World, and membership is currently on the rise. With 16,858 stores in over 50 countries, a unionized Starbucks would certainly do much to turn around that dismal 7% I cited at the beginning of this piece.

Some day the anti-union bashing will stop. People like Neil Cavuto will not always have the media traction they currently have in our media. Who knows…maybe some day Cavuto will crack open a book and serendipitously encounter the following quote:

"All that harms labor is treason to America."

-Abraham Lincoln

As you can imagine, being in the Oregon Legislature right now is pretty challenging, both because of the daunting budgetary challenges and the new reality of a 30 Democrats-30 Republicans split in the House. As I try to find my way through these treacherous shoals, I find myself relying on the values and the strategies that I developed over my many years working with the Federation, as well as my work as a classroom teacher.

One of the motivations that led me to run for office was to work on behalf of healthcare reform, and again much of that was due to my experiences with the Federation. We see up close and every day the effects of having a health care system where your ability to get decent coverage is tied to whether you're working full-time or part-time. Every time we sit down to bargain a contract we see the way that the rising cost of health insurance coverage is eating up more of the compensation pie. And the instability never seems to end. We at PCC have been able to do some great things over the years—controlling premium increases for people with families, creating benefit coverage for those working more than half-time and reimbursement for those working less than half-time and reimbursement for those working less than half-time. But it was clear that many of the needed changes were beyond the ability of a single college or union local.

So when I entered the Legislature the first thing I did was sponsor HB2557, which allowed "freeway-flyer" part-time faculty at the community colleges and universities to aggregate their work at various institutions to be eligible to get into the OEBB or PEBB insurance pools. Getting that passed—ultimately with fairly strong bipartisan support—was a great thing, giving many individuals access to first-class insurance, and I'm very proud of that. But for many part-timers its value is limited, since we couldn't come up with additional state dollars to put into supporting those benefits. Unless a part-timer is working at a school that has a pot of money set aside to help pay those premiums (PCC and a few others do), the cost of the premium is still entirely on the back of the underpaid part-time employee. It was a step in the right direction, but only a step.

The same goes for the larger healthcare reform legislation that was passed at the state and federal levels. I was fortunate to be part of the Oregon House Healthcare Committee last session when some really important legislation was developed and passed. We passed the Healthy Kids Act, extending coverage to all of Oregon's uninsured children, a really remarkable achievement given the economic circumstances. If things stay on track (which is up in the air right now), an insurance exchange for individuals and small businesses is coming, and perhaps even some kind of public option for Oregon. Lots of improvements in healthcare delivery are in the works.

But again, even with the reforms underway in Oregon and at the federal level, there remain many problems, including the following:

-First, there will still be people who will be left out, and that's going to continue to drive up the cost of coverage for the rest of us.

-Second, for most people insurance is still going to be tied to employment. So if you lose your job, change your job, or drop below full-time at your job, you're going to have to change your coverage or even worse--you're going to lose your coverage entirely.

-Third, for the most part our system will still rely on private insurance companies, who charge very high administrative fees, and whose primary interest is their own profits.

At best, what we're going to continue to have is a patchwork system. There's a real danger that people are going to fall through the cracks, middle-class families are going to pay more, and small businesses are going to continue to be hammered.

Fortunately, one of the best things that federal health insurance reform did was open the door to further experimentation by the states. Thanks in large part to work done by Senator Wyden, states can try out their own solutions, as long as they are expanding access to quality healthcare to more people more affordably.

I believe that in the long run the best solution to the three problems that I mentioned above will be a "single payer" system. This would be a system like Medicare, but extended to all. Most industrialized countries have some variation on it. Everyone would pay into the system in a progressive manner, and it would relieve the burden on Oregon's small businesses. Initial projections show that we could create a system that in total would cost no more than we are currently paying as individuals, businesses, and the state—but everyone would be covered, would have access to quality care by the provider of their choice, and the rise in costs could be contained. It would eliminate the incentive for employers to keep employees at part-time, and it would help solve the state's long-term fiscal difficulties.

I would like to see Oregon taking steps to move in this direction. So I've partnered with a coalition of single payer advocates--Health Care for All Oregon, Physicians for a National Health Program, Jobs with Justice, and the Oregon League of Women Voters—to develop The Affordable Health Care for All Oregonians Act for the 2011 legislative session. To see the concepts behind the bill, you can go to repmichaeldembrow.com . Senator Chip Shields has committed to introduce the bill on the Senate side, and a number of my legislative colleagues have indicated interest in co-sponsoring.

Obviously, passing single-payer legislation is a long-term project and is going to require an enormous amount of effort, organizing, and education. But I'm convinced that it's where we need to be in the long run. Again, bringing this back to our experience with the Federation, we know that significant change doesn't happen overnight. It's the result of dogged, committed, creative individuals working together because they want to make this a better place.

Please let me know if you're willing to help.

Yours,
Michael Dembrow

For more information about the FACE campaign, read our Call to Action.

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