Oregon Democrats support Wisconsin public employee unions & attack President Reagan

The Democratic Party of Oregon adopted a resolution this month supporting the public employee unions in Wisconsin. The resolution was also critical of the Republican Party, claiming “the Republican Party has sided with corporate power against America’s working people”. They single out President Reagan for criticism on his handling of the 1982 Air Traffic Controller’s illegal strike: “most egregiously with President Reagan’s assault against the Air Traffic Controllers union in 1982”.

The resolution goes on to condemn Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker for declaring “open war on Wisconsin’s unions and their established collective bargaining rights”, and it condemns “Tea Party Governors” in other states for “mounting similar attacks against the unions”.

Resolution 2011-049: On Supporting Unions

Sponsored by: Dean Byers, Chair, Douglas County Democrats and Sara Byers
Approved: 03/06/2011

A RESOLUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF OREGON

WHEREAS, the right of collective bargaining is the backbone of union strength in the United States, the “or else” against the power of  employers to fire workers who are unwilling to work for low wages and in unsafe conditions, and

WHEREAS, the 8-hour work day, the 40-hour work week, weekends off,  worker’s compensation and collective bargaining itself all began in Wisconsin, and

WHEREAS, the wages, benefits and safe working conditions negotiated by unions have translated into equal benefits for non-union workers as well as union workers and their families, and

WHEREAS, for over one hundred years the Democratic Party has been the staunch ally of labor unions and the working people in the United States, and

WHEREAS, the Republican Party has sided with corporate power against America’s working people, beginning with the Taft Hartley Act in 1947, and most egregiously with President Reagan’s assault against the Air Traffic Controllers union in 1982, and

WHEREAS, most recently, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has declared open war on Wisconsin’s unions and their established collective bargaining rights, and

WHEREAS, the fourteen Wisconsin Democratic senators have refused to return to give the Wisconsin Senate the quorum to pass the bill that would strip collective bargaining from the state’s public workers unions, and

WHEREAS, Tea Party Governors in Ohio, Iowa, Indiana, Idaho, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Oklahoma are mounting similar attacks against the unions, and

WHEREAS, unions are the only counter balance against the unlimited corporate political spending unleashed by the Roberts Supreme Court’s “Citizens United v. FEC” ruling,

NOW THEREFORE, THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF OREGON RESOLVES AS FOLLOWS:

1. We affirm our solidarity with the Wisconsin State Senators (the “Wisconsin 14”) in standing up to Governor Walker’s blatant attack on Wisconsin’s unions.

2. We further affirm our support for Oregon’s unions and their collective bargaining rights.

3. We call on our State Democratic Party and county Democratic Party Central Committees to assert their support of unions and their collective bargaining rights.

Resolution written by Sara Byers.

Resolution submitted by Dean Byers, Chair, Douglas County Democratic Party.

ADOPTED by the Democratic Party of Oregon on the sixth day of March 2011.