Labor in vanguard of Bush protesters

Using several e-mail networks, local labor activists were able with less than 72-hours∞ notice to mobilize union supporters to protest a Jan. 5 Portland appearance by President George W. Bush.

The president∞s three-hour visit was intended to build support for a set of corporate tax giveaways that the union movement vigorously opposes.

Summoned by the Oregon AFL-CIO, the Northwest Oregon Labor Council and Portland Jobs With Justice, as many as 100 union supporters braved icy winds outside East Portland∞s Parkrose High School to show opposition to the giveaways, which Bush touts as an øeconomic stimulusÓ plan.

The union contingent was joined by environmentalists, anti-war activists, and other Bush critics resulting in a crowd estimated at 500. About 100 supporters of Bush were likewise present.

A handful of union members also took part in an earlier Bush-visit protest outside a northeast Portland help center for the unemployed. Elliot Zais, deputy chief steward of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3336, appeared there as part of a fur-coat-wearing satirical group known as øBillionaires for Bush.Ó

A detailed analysis of the Bush proposal by the AFL-CIO refutes the notion that it would provide any economic stimulus at all, because most of the $202 billion in additional tax breaks would go to corporations, without any incentive to reinvest the windfall or create jobs.
øBush∞s economic proposal is not going to help Oregon∞s unemployed,Ó said AFL-CIO Regional Director Jean Eilers. øIt doesn∞t stimulate the economy and it could even hurt Oregon.Ó

Because of its high unemployment rate, Oregon already qualified, in January, for the additional 13 weeks of unemployment insurance benefits that the Bush proposal would grant some states. And because Oregon∞s corporate income tax is linked to the amount of federal tax corporations pay, the Bush tax cut proposal would add $169 million to the current $750 million shortfall the state is facing, the Oregon AFL-CIO calculates.

Oregon∞s highest-in-the-nation unemployment is the reason Bush chose the state to showcase his concern for the plight of the jobless. As of December, 7.5 percent of Oregon workers ‹ 125,400 people ‹ were officially unemployed, with about 73,000 collecting unemployment insurance checks that average $250 a week.

Bush made no attempt to greet the unemployed workers protesting outside Parkrose High School as his 17-vehicle motorcade sped by. Inside, he told the hand-picked crowd:ûøIf you want to get your way out of a recession, you provide tax relief fi and yet, some in Washington, D.C., are talking about getting rid of the tax cuts.Ó

Bush several times said Congress should øput politics aside and do what∞s best for the American people.Ó

But playing politics is exactly what Bush and the Republican congressional leadership stand accused of by labor leaders. They say ideologues in the Republican Party are using the economic and security crisis to push the same anti-government, tax-cuts-for-the-rich agenda they were pushing before the economy sank.

Meanwhile, a Democrat-sponsored economic stimulus package that contained increased funds for unemployment insurance was defeated in the Senate in a procedural vote engineered by the minority Republican leadership.

A real economic stimulus package, argues Oregon AFL-CIO President Tim Nesbitt, would provide increased and extended unemployment benefits, which would be spent quickly by jobless workers, thereby stimulating the economy. During the 1990-1991 recession, Congress approved four separate extensions of unemployment benefits, all of which were signed by Bush∞s father, George H.W. Bush.

Tax cuts, on the other hand, not only would reduce economy‹stimulating government spending on infrastructure and public needs, but they likely wouldn∞t even take effect until after the recession had ended, union officials said. A corporate tax cut would only stimulate the economy if it is tied to rehiring workers. The Bush cut does not.

The AFL-CIO is also calling for direct cash assistance for unemployed workers to meet their health insurance needs, and for increased federal assistance to the states, which are facing substantially increased demand for public services.

© Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc.