Northwest Labor Press: February 3, 2006

February 3, 2006 Volume 107 Number 3 News
		Independent union challenges ATU 757 at ambulance unit In the next month, 532 American Medical Response ambulance workers in the Portland metro area will have a choice to make: Stay with the local union that has represented them for nearly two decades, or leave to join a startup union headquartered in Sacramento, California. Left: Paramedic Doug Weinrick says he favors the incumbent
AFL-CIO backs Oregon ballot measure to make big employers pay for health care The Oregon AFL-CIO filed a ballot initiative Jan. 27 that would require Oregon employers with more than 4,500 workers to spend at least 9 percent of their payroll on employee health insurance. Union drive at Lottery in limbo A group of workers at the Oregon Lottery Commission has been campaigning to unionize with Service Employees International Union Local 503 — the biggest of the unions representing employees of the State of Oregon. The Lottery is one of the few large state agencies that is still nonunion. Union card is still a worker’s best investment Forget the lottery or stock market. Carrying a union card is still the best investment a worker can make, according to the latest figures released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Analysis Think again A regular column by Tim Nesbitt The Working Families Party rewrites the script for pro-worker politics We may have found a new answer to the question, "What's the matter with Kansas?"