Oral History with Margaret Butler - Oregon Historical Society
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All images courtesy of Margaret Butler
Oral History
with Margaret Butler
Advocate for Workers’ Rights and Jobs with Justice
OREGON VOICES
by Laurie Mercier, with Margaret Butler
DURING THE LATE 1980s, Marga- real wages plummeted in relation
ret Butler and a handful of labor activ- to purchasing power, and the profits
ists held a series of informal meetings from productivity steadily shifted to
to discuss how they might build an the top 1 percent, widening income
MARGARET BUTLER stands between Anne Sweet (left) and Rachel Noble (right) at the
action-based workers’ rights move- inequality. Since the 1930 s, union
Summer Institute for Union Women (SIUW) in 1994. University labor education programs
ment in Portland, Oregon. Frustrated power had been relatively success- affiliated with the United Association for Labor Education (UALE) started SIUW in 1980.
by the inability of traditional unions to ful in achieving gains for White male Since the late 1990s, SIUW has been hosted by UALE institutions in the West as well as
effectively challenge rising threats to workers, but growing conservative by the British Columbia Federation of Labour.
worker power, they were attracted to political power weakened labor
new labor-community alliances, includ- laws and enforcement, automation
ing Jobs with Justice (JwJ). In 1987, ten reduced the number of union jobs,
national unions had come together to global trade agreements and capital omy, and diversify labor leadership. The Service Employees Interna-
form Jobs with Justice, which labor flight moved jobs to where cheaper Witnessing setbacks within her own tional Union (SEIU) Justice for Janitors
studies scholar Andy Banks describes labor was available, and union com- union, the Communications Workers campaign, which launched in 1986
as “the labor movement’s most ambi- placency all contributed to decreases of America (CWA), Butler recognized and enjoyed a major success in Los
tious and comprehensive attempt at in union power. 3 Union membership that bolder methods of organizing Angeles by the end of the decade,
community unionism.” 1 Community fell from a peak of almost 35 percent were needed. She gravitated to what provided new models of organizing
unionism, which sought to engage of nonagricultural employment in 1953 is today called “social justice union- that included civil disobedience
workers beyond the workplace with to 20 percent in 1983, and industries ism,” which combined trade union and public pressure on vulnerable
broader labor, civic, and social con- that had a high concentration of union goals of mobilizing rank-and-file targets — in this case, commercial
cerns to advance the needs of all work- members before the 1980s, such as workers with community goals for landlords who outsourced janitorial
ing families, had been practiced by transportation and manufacturing, the “common good.”5 Steeped in civil work to cleaning companies — and
some unions in earlier decades.2 But suffered dramatic declines.4 rights and other social movements of empowered Latina low-wage work-
by the 1980s, unions were struggling to Margaret Butler was part of a gen- the 1960s and 1970s, the “New Labor ers. 7 In 1995 , AFL-CIO (American
deliver gains and address a changing eration of labor activists who devel- Movement” of the 1980s and 1990s Federation of Labor–Congress of
economic, political, and legal context. oped innovative strategies to confront sought to expand labor and social Industrial Organization) members
The challenges were many. this new environment, embrace new rights to non-unionized and low-wage chose the “New Voice” electoral slate
Despite rising worker productivity, workers in the growing service econ- workers and workers of color.6 to lead the nation’s labor movement,
80 OHQ vol. 123, no. 1 © 2022 Oregon Historical Society Mercier, Oral History with Margaret Butler 81director in 2013, Butler helped shape Today, Portland JwJ describes
what remains an important labor-com- itself as a “labor-community organiz-
munity coalition in Portland. ing hub” and includes over one hun-
Butler’s oral history interview is dred labor, faith, community, and stu-
significant in explaining the creation dent organizations that come together
and evolution of a strong local chap- to support workers’ rights. Like other
ter of JwJ that reflected new labor social justice and labor groups in the
initiatives during the late twentieth twenty-first century, JwJ has become
and early twenty-first centuries. The more inclusive of the variety of work-
organization experimented with new ers who live in the region, especially
tactics and expanded its reach to those most marginalized by the econ-
affect local and state government omy, including Black, Indigenous, and
policies and participate in actions that People of Color (BIPOC) and Lesbian,
supported workers. What happened in Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and
JOBS WITH JUSTICE (JwJ) MARCHERS protest Austin CableVision’s unfair labor
practices, likely at a February 1992 JwJ annual conference.
Portland helps explain the persistence Queer (LGBTQ) people, immigrants,
of local and national coalitions; at and women, and it has diversified its
its peak, JwJ counted over forty-five leadership structure. It still considers
chapters across the country. The as its basic building block “a pledge
including President John Sweeney, in unions with a majority female mem- Portland chapter played a pivotal from individuals to turn out to support
who articulated plans for revitaliz- bership (such as Butler’s CWA), only 12 role by initiating projects that other other people’s struggles at least five
ing and diversifying unions. At age percent of officer and executive board coalitions adopted, shaping strategies times a year.”15 Current Portland JwJ
forty-six, Richard Trumka became the positions were held by women by at the national level, and influencing executive director Jill Pham, who
youngest person ever to serve as the 2000.11 Nevertheless, Butler and some the city’s and region’s economic and describes herself as “a queer woman
federation’s Secretary Treasurer, and other women advanced within their social justice activism from the late of color” and a “child of refugees,”
Linda Chavez-Thompson, as execu- locals and joined national organizing 1980s to the present. commented on the value of JwJ’s
tive vice-president, became the first teams.12 Butler believed that workers Until now, little has been written ability to blend traditional and newer
woman of color to hold a high-ranking held the power to change society for about JwJ.13 Archival records and oral labor issues: “What keeps me around
position in the organization.8 the better and was enthusiastic about history collections about the orga- is the tenacity of the organization.
While the “union advantage,” the organizing potential of JwJ, which nization are few, and historians are We don’t stray from the more spicier
which shrinks the pay gap between linked unions and community groups only beginning to examine this recent topics within community organizing,
male and female workers, encour- through their shared goals. With history. Having studied history in col- like the police accountability cam-
aged women’s growing participation support from CWA, she became an lege and worked in a library, Butler paign . . . that I value the most about
in unions, women held few union lead- active organizer of the Portland JwJ knew the value of the JwJ records and our coalition work. Also, that we con-
ership roles during the 1990s.9 Faced coalition, which she and others for- photographs and initiated their pres- tinue to show up for workers time and
with the “double day,” or the extra mally organized in April 1991, joining ervation and donation, on behalf of time again.”16
shift that most women workers had several other cities with established JwJ, to the Oregon Historical Society Recent worker actions on the
to put in with their unpaid domestic chapters. After sixteen years as a com- (OHS) in 2018. In developing an exhi- heels of the COVID- 19 pandemic
labors at home, few women had time mitted rank-and-file activist and paid bition on the history of Portland JwJ, signal to many labor observers and
available to volunteer for union work. labor organizer for CWA, in April 1996, on display at OHS from February 11 media pundits that another “new
White men who dominated unions, Butler became the first paid organizer, through May 15, 2022, Butler provided labor movement” is brewing, sug-
furthermore, rarely invited women to lead staff person, and later director key advice and solicited donations gesting a more optimistic future than
climb the ranks of leadership.10 Even of Portland JwJ. Until she retired as and materials.14 what Butler and labor activists faced
82 OHQ vol. 123, no. 1 Mercier, Oral History with Margaret Butler 83during the late 1980s. Many business Selections from the interview are pre-
leaders bemoan or express surprise sented here in block quotes or uncited
at the audacity of workers who quit quotes within the text, and ellipses
their jobs, strike, or attempt to orga- indicate portions that have been cut or
nize key workplaces such as Amazon rearranged for space and narrative flow.
and Starbucks. Locally, the success I summarize Butler’s background and
of Burgerville workers to unionize — then turn to quotes from her oral history
represented by the Industrial Workers that describe her work organizing and
of the World (IWW), the iconic militant leading the Portland JwJ coalition.
union of Pacific Northwest loggers in
the early twentieth century and now BUTLER’S PASSION for workers’
popular among younger workers — rights emerged in the context of
has set a new standard as the first to her Portland upbringing and 1970s
win a contract for low-wage fast-food activism. Born in 1957 to Ken Butler
workers. Recent polls indicate that and Rusty Butler, both White and
almost 70 percent of Americans and both librarians with liberal politics,
almost 80 percent of workers ages she grew up in a lower-middle-class
18 to 34 have a positive opinion of neighborhood in Southeast Portland.
unions.17 The decades-long efforts of At age four, her twin sister became
JwJ to build community coalitions, to ill, her father struggled with depres-
think globally and act locally, and to sion, and her mother became ill
support low-wage workers still repre- after her younger sister was born.
sent successful strategies to build a Butler remembered: “That’s the time
“new” labor movement. I became the one who didn’t need
Butler’s reminiscences about her anything and the one who took care
decades of work on behalf of workers’ of other people and thought of other
rights are documented in a series of people.” Her mother instilled in her
interviews conducted during summer the importance of racial justice as she
2018, created in collaboration with grew up in a segregated city known
interviewer Madeline Bisgyer for the for its racism, and her mother mod-
Oregon Labor Oral History Program eled resisting sexism in the Episcopal
(OLOHP). The interviews provide an Church by insisting that girls could
important examination of the tremen- become acolytes. By the time Butler
dous challenges facing workers and entered Lewis & Clark College in
their unions in the late twentieth and Portland, she knew that she wanted
early twenty-first centuries and the to do something “useful and good.”
strategically creative ways in which they Like many cities and campuses in the
responded.18 Butler’s more extensive 1970 s, Portland and Lewis & Clark
OLOHP life-history interview, deposited were brimming with new radical ideas
with OHS, provides more details about and feminist and social justice groups IN SPRING 1982, Margaret Butler and Doug Urner, a union electrician, attend a protest
her experiences and insights from a that attracted Butler, who decided to calling out Georgia Pacific, Weyerhauser, and others for concession bargaining and plant
forty-year career as a labor activist. become a history major. closings.
84 OHQ vol. 123, no. 1 Mercier, Oral History with Margaret Butler 85In 1977, Butler took a year off from and they helped educate her about
college and worked as a clerk at the politics more broadly. She became
Multnomah County Central Library, active in the Portland Tenants Union
which raised her consciousness about and the Oregon Coalition Against
worker injustices and the power of the Draft. Admitting that, as “a shy
collective action. She joined a staff person,” she did not believe she con-
organizing committee, which decided tributed much to these groups, she
to form an independent union to nonetheless became more committed
address issues of low pay, lack of to principles of group action. And, like
respect, and loss of long-held perks. many student activists at the time,
According to Butler, the workers she became less interested in formal
won their election in April 1978 and classes and earning “A” grades than
formed the Multnomah County Library in working for urgent local causes.
Union.19 She recalled their enthusi- After graduating from college in
asm: “It was great — two-thirds of the 1980, Butler sought a job where she
staff would show up to meetings.” could work with a larger union. She
This participatory ethos and camara- was hired as a switchboard operator for
derie influenced her commitment to Pacific Northwest Bell and immediately MARGARET BUTLER and Rich Peppers stand among protesters at the August 1991
worker-centered unionism and would became involved in CWA. Although it Solidarity Day March in Washington, D.C.
remain with her as a model for work- felt “scary,” she discovered a peer-coun-
place organizing. seling (also known as co-counseling)
That same year, Butler spent a network, which helped her become
semester abroad in Kenya, which also more confident about engaging with As a result of these experiences, she because so many women worked in
influenced her desire to focus her life and speaking in front of others.21 But- remembered: “I really wanted my life communications. At the same time,
on social justice. Her experiences ler attended her first co-counseling to be about ending that, making sure however, telecommunications and
there helped her understand how class at age twenty-three and found nobody had to be oppressed at work. other industries were increasingly
policies driven by U.S.-led global the practice helped her to stand up to That’s what I was thinking about that first replacing workers with technology.
institutions extracted wealth from management, become a shop stew- year at the phone company.” Impressed with Butler’s leadership and
and impoverished former colonized ard, and do anti-racism work at the Butler worked as an operator for organizing skills, Larry Cohen, national
nations in the global South. After phone company. That training in co- ten years and became increasingly organizing director of CWA (and later
returning to Portland in February 1979, counseling “has been and still is very active in the union. She served as president), asked her to join national
she wanted to “help build African useful to me,” she reflected, noting that organizing committee chair, a chief staff to help organize union campaigns
socialism,” but more local issues soon she does not “believe we’ll be able to steward, and an area vice-president. in a fourteen-state district, including
drew her attention. She resumed her have the society we want unless people In 1989, she led the member mobiliza- Washington, Oregon, North Dakota,
studies at Lewis & Clark, returned to work [through their fears].” Although she tion effort to prepare for bargaining a and Utah. After she finished her local’s
the library in a flexible, part-time job liked working with people in her new contract. In 1990, she ran for and was contract campaign in fall 1992, Butler
as switchboard operator, and became job and in the union, the work was hard. elected CWA Local 7901 Executive Vice continued her leave from the phone
active again with the library staff asso- As an operator, “you had to average President, a full-time, paid position company to become a full-time CWA
ciation, helping build its independent about 19 seconds a call in Directory overseeing the shop steward structure organizer.23
union and gain a contract.20 Many of Assistance. It was very boring and had and grievance process. Unlike many Butler considered Cohen one
her library union colleagues were conflicting job demands — give excel- unions at the time, CWA made space of her primary mentors, who had “a
involved in other social movements, lent service and do it very quickly.”22 for and supported women officers vision of a lot of things . . . the CWA
86 OHQ vol. 123, no. 1 Mercier, Oral History with Margaret Butler 87triangle was mobilization on one side unions, while speakers from labor, organizing committee tried to get the We wanted people to represent organi-
[one-on-one organizing inside the community, and faith groups called for AFL to support a] volunteer and retiree zations as much as possible, but we just
organizer training project. . . . [But some invited everybody who was organizing
union], organizing new workers on livable wages, solidarity among work-
unions] were very suspicious about or wanted to organize or wanted to do
the other, and political and community ers, the end to corporate conspiracies how their money would be spent and something real in the labor movement to
action through Jobs with Justice coa- to hold down wages, and jobs with whether their members would get any come. And we had about fifteen people
litions was on the third side.”24 In the justice.28 Butler remembered that over benefit from it. It was very interesting. representing different organizations,
mid-1980s, Cohen reminded political a thousand people participated in the So our frustration with that process led and then when situations came up, we
leaders concerned about loss of jobs us to form the Jobs with Justice chapter turned people out for them, and that’s
rally and about three hundred signed
as well. mostly what we were doing. In the earli-
due to capital flight, automation, and pledge cards. But she saw that a lot of est days, the first actions we did were a
deindustrialization that the country money had been spent on one rally, Butler and the AFL-CIO organizing Jobs with Justice healthcare action day
needed not only jobs but “jobs with and “then nobody did anything with committee activists discussed how in — I think it was [June] ’91 — and then
justice,” and, as he recalled, “the name the pledge cards.” She described how they might form a coalition that would we had one in ’92 a year later. . . . There
stuck.”25 The AFL-CIO joined CWA and was a national ambulance drive, where
the event, and lack of follow up by the serve as a rapid-action network to
they collected all these ballots support-
others in calling for the formation of a state labor federation, helped catalyze mobilize workers. She convinced ing single payer [universal healthcare]
national network of local coalitions to the formation of a local JwJ chapter: the CWA national office to provide and drove them across the country in
fight for labor rights, primarily through some assistance, and in 1991 , the ambulances. We did an event with the
I remember being at the [rally] debrief
“I’ll Be There” pledges, where workers union assigned one of its telephone ambulance, filled it up with ballots and
meeting afterwards and saying some-
and supporters showed up five times sent it out across. We wrapped the Blue
thing about wanting to make it real, but company technicians, Harold Brook-
Cross/Blue Shield building in red tape
a year for someone else’s struggle.26 the AFL wasn’t doing anything about it. ins, to help. As Butler recalled, at [to dramatize the inefficiency of private
The Oregon AFL-CIO understood At the same time . . . we had been meet- the same time, some members of insurers]. . . . .
the appeal of JwJ in addressing the ing as the Oregon AFL-CIO organizing the multi-racial Portland Rainbow So we had a steering committee
committee for a while. The AFL-CIO had made up of people from different orga-
sudden loss of unionized jobs, espe- Coalition, including Jamie Partridge
put one penny of each person’s per cap- nizations who made decisions about
cially in Oregon’s timber industry, ita [dues] payments towards an orga- and Bob Gross, were also working
what we were going to turn people
which was closing Oregon mills and nizing fund, so there was this money, to mobilize labor groups.29 Together, out for. . . . Besides healthcare, we did
shedding thousands of positions. maybe $10,000 a year . . . that was they launched Portland JwJ. “People support for an organizing campaign
Competition from southern and Cana- supposed to go to organizing. Well, they wanted to set up Jobs with Justices to that Lorene [Scheer] was running for the
dian forests, falling wood-products spent the money on “Union YES” bill- Teamsters [Local 206]. . . . They had this
figure out a way to make use of all the
boards [and had a booth at] the Oregon organizing campaign at the Resort at
prices, demand from Japan for whole pledgers and get them out for actions,
State Fair. So those of us on the organiz- the Mountain. They weren’t successful
(rather than sawed) logs, exhaustion ing committee really wanted to spend that was really it. There was nothing
but they did a whole bunch of actions
of private timber lands, and new envi- it on something that would actually about organizational structure or pressuring the Portland [Oregon] Visi-
ronmental regulations on federal lands help unions organize. This is how I met anything. . . . So, we created the least tors Association [POVA], pressuring the
devastated many Northwest timber Rich [Peppers, with SEIU] and Lorene amount of structure we could have.” resort. One of them that I remember that
Scheer [then with Amalgamated Cloth- we did was a golf-in [laughs] and some
communities and local unions.27 On In its first years, Portland JwJ focused
ing and Textile Workers Union]. . . . We people signed up to play really slow golf
June 8, 1988, the state labor federation all had a similar vision of wanting the on supporting local labor actions and
and interfere with the resort.
staged a rally in downtown Portland Oregon AFL-CIO to actually support “common good” campaigns — what
to draw visibility to the jobs crisis, pro- organizing, because what was going historian Joseph McCartin has called The mostly Latino workers at the
vide a forum for workers to tell their on all through the 1980s was this huge “efforts to fuse the interests of union resort had voted to unionize but did
stories, and sign up people on pledge decline in union membership, and we and community” — through publicly not yet have a contract, and to help
thought that was terrible. . . . [the other]
cards to call them out for particular visible and creative protests. 30 But- pressure management, JwJ and the
thing, in the late 1980s I was building
labor actions. A wide range of union this whole mobilization structure inside ler described how the group made union recruited “bad golfers” to play
members and supporters attended, the CWA, because I thought that was a decisions about actions to initiate or on a sunny Saturday when other
carrying signs in support of various really good idea too! [Laughs]. . . . [The support: golfers would likely complain. JwJ
88 OHQ vol. 123, no. 1 Mercier, Oral History with Margaret Butler 89Sociologist Ruth Milkman argues, how- [Portland JwJ] did a sit-in at the NLRB
ever, by the late twentieth century, the offices. . . . We planned this action and
NLRB had become a “cruel charade” as had about 100 people come and only
two of us had signed up to get arrested
employers learned to manipulate the
at the time, me and Rick Ball, who was
system to stymie union campaigns.34 an organizer for SEIU 49. But when the
In 1993, labor activists responded by time came, and the police came . . . nine
organizing the National Day of Action people got arrested, including my friend
for Labor Law Reform and protesting Anne Sweet, who [laughs] had been
at NLRB offices around the country. telling me for weeks ahead of time, ‘I’m
not going to get arrested . . . you don’t
They demanded “real penalties for
know what they do to Black people in
law-breaking employers, and majority jail.’ I said, ‘Don’t get arrested. That’s
sign-up recognition” — that is, union fine, just come to the rally’ . . . [laughs]
recognition when a majority of work- but when they asked her to leave, [she]
ers voted for a union in a fair election said ‘no!’ She got so into it.
without employer interference.35 But- While pregnant in 1994, Butler was
ler described her experiences with
working on a CWA campaign in Seattle
the labor board and the JwJ protest
and participating in JwJ protests when
actions, where she and a few others
in Portland. After the CWA victory in
MARGARET BUTLER stands with Anne Sweet (right) and an unknown person at a benefit were arrested for refusing to leave
walk for the Cascade AIDS project, which took place sometime between 1986 and 1990.
Seattle, she returned home, just before
the lobby of Portland’s KOIN building:
her daughter Lorene Anne Butler was
The NLRB was so bad. . . . In Medford, born and in time to join JwJ actions to
we [the CWA] filed for the [Trend College] support United Food and Commercial
election with the NLRB [in November Workers (UFCW) strikers at Fred Meyer
1992] with something like 75 percent
also helped organize a protest — with [International Brotherhood of] Teamsters grocery stores who were demanding
support . . . and they were just going
balloons and rock music — in front [Local] 206 was trying to create a one- to preserve the principle of seniority
to wait on it. And the employer was
of POVA.31 Butler described how she on-one structure.32 . . . .There was some
[putting pressure on individual workers]. and the right for senior employees to
encouragement . . . to get back to the
and other JwJ activists believed such So, in January [1993] we got our hear- maintain full-time schedules.37
basics of really talking to every member
creative actions could bring attention ing. . . . Then they wanted briefs. So, I
about what was going on. . . . I think we J with J had this whole group of people
to workers’ issues in ways that unions had to write a brief, and with no lawyer,
thought we were making a difference, from the labor movement who wanted
but Monica Smith who was a labor
had failed to do: pretty much from the beginning. . . . We to help [with the strike]. . . . I remember
lawyer in town got contracted to help
wanted to be bigger so we could make Amy Steer was the Organizing Director
We wanted to build the organizing me. . . . So, we turned in our briefs. Then
more of a [difference]. at [SEIU] 503 and she and others came
model. Too many unions were stuck the NLRB said ‘we didn’t get enough
in servicing and being junior lawyers. information in the hearing. We have to do up with this idea of doing a can and
Many union activists and labor
We wanted to spread the gospel of another hearing.’ So, the delays were just bottle return. This was before they had
scholars believe that, by the 1980s, the terrible, and we lost the election by one [returns] outside . . . we had this can
organizing and mobilizing members
and creating a strong labor movement. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) vote on April Fool’s Day. It was terrible. and bottle return day and took up all of
At the time we started the Jobs with had become ineffectual and often That was in ’93. That was my learning this space . . . and time talking to peo-
Justice chapter, that wasn’t necessarily hampered union organizing, elections, campaign. . . . It just made me mad, that ple . . . everyone went across the picket
that popular yet. Now most people will things are so stacked against workers. It line to return their cans and bottles to
and bargaining.33 The NLRB never pro-
at least pay lip service to those other was just so unfair. Those people should give the scabs [workers not supporting
tected farmworkers or domestic work- have had a union. . . .36 the strike] a bad time. [laughs]
ideas, even if they don’t implement them.
In ’89, when I was doing the mobilization ers, but it had once been the protector In 1993, there was the National It was really fun to be at home without
work [for CWA]. . . . only Tom Leedham at of workers in many other industries. As Day of Action for Labor Law Reform. any [CWA] campaigns hanging over me,
90 OHQ vol. 123, no. 1 Mercier, Oral History with Margaret Butler 91[to] clean up paperwork and work with J also asked unions for office space, and that didn’t happen until later because People would say, ‘oh, we just learned
with J while I waited for my baby to come. AFSCME decided to donate it to us. . . .39 we were getting so many requests that so much’ from us. Part of it was us trying
I was over at the picket line a lot, over We were putting together this job we decided . . . the requesting organi- to bring people along. And even when
at the [Fred Meyer] store. It was really description to hire somebody for J with zations . . . needed to do more than just they didn’t agree all the way, that was
fun. Then I took a 9-month [unpaid] baby J. I thought, “I don’t want to be on the show up and say will you do this. . . . We fine. We worked hard on that, talking to
leave. Lorene was born in November of road all the time” [and working 70 hrs had [to consider]: How will this action people and bringing them along.
’94 and I did some J with J stuff while I per week for CWA]. But I could work with help build Jobs with Justice? Will it get us Eventually we set up a process for
was off.38 Jobs with Justice part-time and I could be new pledges? Will it get us new money? dealing with controversial issues, which I
at home. I could do the work I loved and How will it help J with J?. . . think is still being used, where we would
Butler’s relief at staying home for a still do the lean-in counseling [co-coun- We tried to do as many things as we send a mailing to all our member organi-
period and working on a local cam- seling]. I could still exercise and have were asked to do as we could. There zations ahead of time, warning them that
paign made her reconsider continuing friends, not just be a mom and a union wasn’t a direct connection between what in the next month the steering committee
organizer and that’s all. I just thought we did and funding. . . . [We were] sup- would be talking about it. Then inviting
a life of travel and long hours as a
Jobs with Justice fit my skill set better porting other people to make a thousand them to come and talking to people
national union organizer. She returned than doing campaign after campaign on flowers bloom, because people loved ahead of time. So, we got the Firefight-
to CWA in the fall of 1995, and like other the road. . . . I was trying to think about getting to do what they wanted to do ers and some of the more conservative
women in the labor movement, found what made sense for my life. It was hard. under the banner of Jobs with Justice. unions who usually abstained when it
that combining union organizing work I did feel torn in half, especially when I So, we tried a bunch of different things. was something they didn’t feel like their
was [away from my daughter]. . . . So, I members could necessarily support. The
with parenting was challenging and Throughout the interview, Butler
applied for the job. I don’t know who else Teamsters too sometimes. . . . We did a
exhausting. Her husband Rich Peppers they interviewed but I was hired. acknowledged conflict within the bunch of work on police accountability.
was SEIU political director, so he also movement and stressed how she and It was stretching the definition of work-
worked long hours and was often With two paid organizers hired — Butler ers’ rights. . . . We were always figuring
the organization kept focused on the
away in Salem. At the same time, JwJ in April 1996 and Nancy Haque in Janu- out how we could help people move
primary goals of building relationships
was planning to raise funds to move ary 1997 — JwJ expanded its networks as much as we could together. It didn’t
to strengthen the larger movement
and actions. The coalition became always work. . . .
from an all-volunteer coalition to hire for workers’ rights, regardless of
more involved in local and state But the unions generally liked our
staff and expand its outreach. She differences in personalities, political participation in things. With some orga-
explained the JwJ transition and how activities, and its capacity stretched.
orientations, strategic perspectives, nizations, there was a lot of pulling
she was hired in April 1996 to become Butler described how leaders devel- teeth. With others, they gave a lot of
and identities. She felt that she brought
its first paid organizer: oped JwJ’s organizational structure money anyway. SEIU always asked for
some skills, based on her years of
and made decisions about whether to a lot, lots of support. . . . There was still
We decided to take ourselves more organizing and co-counseling, to help a bunch of more conservative unions —
support different campaigns.
seriously, coming out of the UFCW build these relationships and “lead us you know, the building trades just didn’t
strike at Fred Meyer. Really, that was The Steering Committee became . . . all into handling conflicts well,” empha- like us from the beginning. . . . We even-
it. We felt like we had played a critical the member organizations of Jobs with sizing to rivals that they were allies in tually got the Carpenters engaged in a
role, and we should be more than just a Justice, plus six people elected at-large the larger struggle. pretty big way. We built better relation-
loose network of people. . . . It was the so that there was community representa- ships with a lot of [the trades], including
end of ’95 that we had a meeting and tion from people who weren’t necessarily Somebody once said that we were the the electrical workers. But the electrical
we decided to move to the next level in any organization. The Steering Com- conscience of the labor movement. We workers . . . because their strategy was
of organization. We went to the unions mittee met every month and voted on certainly have helped build real soli- to work with the employers, they never
and asked for money . . . asked them which actions to support, at which level darity, I would say. There are all sorts joined Jobs with Justice. [Most of the
to make regular contributions to Jobs of support. Eventually we worked out a of ways that we’ve thought about that challenges were] about the politics.
with Justice. And they said ‘yes.’ It was whole process, where people needed to strategically. . . . If we did a full mobili- Making sure we were thoughtful and
easier than we thought it was going to fill out a form ahead of time, and explain zation, eventually we came up with this didn’t piss off or set ourselves up as an
be! We also decided to set up a monthly how it built the movement, what they process of, we would send a postcard alternate labor council. The [Northwest
sustainer program. That was our name were willing to do to support the action to everyone on the list. So we would Oregon] Labor Council didn’t like us that
for it. [laughs] It made me laugh when or other people, how it fought racism, have to do a mailing party . . . we would much anyway. But I was always really
other [organizations] started using it. We and we had a whole set of questions. But invite [unions] and some lefty radicals. careful about relationships.
92 OHQ vol. 123, no. 1 Mercier, Oral History with Margaret Butler 93Rights Committee, supported VOZ we did so much. They provided money
Workers Education Project and work- to have a coordinator. . . . But most of
ers’ center, and joined local campaigns the petition’s signatures were gathered
by volunteers. . . . Leslie Kochan, who
for police accountability.44 helped organize her union at AFSCME, in
Butler emphasized, “I wanted the DEQ . . . got a grant for Jobs with Justice
work on racism to be primary. We were and we got funding to do economics
always trying to make Jobs with Justice education around the minimum wage
not so White, which was a struggle campaign [in 1996]. We did all of these
trainings for petitioners. That helped set
all the time, maintaining relationships
the context for them.
with a few people of color in the labor
movement, bringing them in, and Oregon voters approved Measure
building the organization were really 36 in November 1996 , raising the
what I was focused on.” Beginning in statewide minimum wage to $6.50 an
1995, Portland JwJ launched a major hour. Together with thirty-five labor,
effort to support low-wage workers, religious, and community groups, JwJ
including many workers of color, by also successfully convinced the city
increasing Oregon’s and Multnomah of Portland, in 1996, and Multnomah
County’s minimum wage. Together County, in 1998, to raise the minimum
IN LATE OCTOBER 1996, documentary filmmaker Michael Moore attended a Jobs
with the Rainbow Coalition and state wage for service contractors, requiring
with Justice rally in Portland, Oregon, in support of raising the state’s minimum wage.
labor unions, JwJ mobilized its con- contractors to raise wages and provide
Here, protesters gather in the Rose Quarter after first stopping at Tony Roma’s restaurant.
stituencies to participate in trainings benefits for its low-wage workers,
and educational forums, collect and including janitors, security guards, and
deliver petitions, pressure the state parking attendants — positions often
legislature, and directly appeal to vot- held by workers of color.46
Along with strengthening ties to struggled to attract people of color. ers to raise the state’s minimum wage By 1999, Portland JwJ was con-
the organized labor community, Butler Harold Brookins, a JwJ co-founder sidered a vital supporter of labor and
through the initiative process.
and JwJ activists made fighting racism and Black CWA activist, noted that “the social justice struggles, so it was no
a primary activity. The formation of fact is, there are not many people of The Rainbow Coalition was a member
surprise that Powell’s Books workers
Portland JwJ in 1991 included in its organization of J with J, [and] it . . . spear-
color in Northwest unions,” and JwJ —who had no previous union expe-
headed building a living wage coalition.
Statement of Purpose that, in addition and CWA often had to reach out to rience — turned to the coalition for
Living wage campaigns were just starting
to pledging to defend workers’ rights “national folks” to provide anti-racist up. . . . We had a Living Wage lobby day assistance in establishing workplace
and supporting each other’s struggles, trainers.42 As historian Nikki Mandell [at the state capitol]. . . . There were representation. The Powell’s Books
the organization would “focus on observes, this anti-racism agenda was about five or six bills that we were lob-
campaign involved a broad communi-
abuse of civil rights and the struggles bying for.45 None of them got a hearing.
“both inward- and outward-looking.”43 ty-labor coalition that helped workers
of exploited workers and their com- Avel Gordly was the [state represen-
In addition to providing trainings for tative] that was carrying the minimum organize the first union at the world’s
munities, especially people of color, White staff and members and recruiting largest independent bookseller and
wage bill and she felt very strongly and
immigrants and women.” 40 Butler people of color to meaningful roles really mad at the Republicans who held showcased JwJ’s ability to employ a
indicated that as JwJ grew, “we tried in the organization, JwJ actively sup- the legislature, I think they were running variety of tactics and turn out large
to deal with structural racism within both chambers at the time, [and] wouldn’t
ported the struggles of Black, Latinx, groups of people to support workers.47
JwJ and had lots of trainings . . . and even give it a hearing. We decided to do
and immigrant workers. It worked on an initiative petition to raise the minimum About the same time, the Portland coa-
tried to put communities of color at minimum-wage and immigrant-rights lition formed the Workers’ Rights Board
wage in 1996. The unions got on board
the center.”41 Still, the organization campaigns, formed an Immigrant and they took it over in some ways, but (WRB), based on an idea that had been
94 OHQ vol. 123, no. 1 Mercier, Oral History with Margaret Butler 95spreading across the national JwJ net- campaign [that I was] really proud of. I
work. WRBs consisted of community could tell it made an ongoing difference
leaders who could be called on to hear in our community. The workers at Powell’s
decided to organize . . . in 1999. They con-
and bring attention to worker testimony
tacted us and we helped them go union
when negotiations broke down. shopping. They met with several different
Union activists credit the events unions and decided they wanted to go
of May Day 2000, International Long- with the [ILWU] because the Longshore
shore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) would let them have their own local. And
muscle, and the JwJ Workers’ Rights the Longshore has a huge democratic
tradition. So that’s what they decided.
Board hearing as turning the tide for
I think they did the organizing in ’99
the Powell’s union’s efforts to bargain into 2000. Then the contract campaign
a contract.48 Portland activists involved was 2000 on. So, we did a bunch of
with the 1999 World Trade Organiza- actions, inside and outside the [Powell’s]
tion (WTO) protests in Seattle decided store for many months. It was really fun.
to revive the tradition of recognizing Mary Winzig was the President of the
[ILWU] Local [5]. . . . She was a really
May Day (May 1) as International Work-
awesome leader. The organizing cam-
ers’ Day. Since 1889, that holiday had paign, they won a close vote. There
honored workers worldwide, except was at least one person fired. [Owner]
in the United States, by commemo- Michael Powell sent out a bunch of anti-
rating radicals convicted and hung union stuff to the workers. . . . Through-
out the contract campaign, he had been AT THE JULY 2000 JwJ annual meeting, Mary Winzig, then president of the ILWU Local
for a bombing that killed some police
saying that there would never be a 5 (left) stands with Margaret Butler just after hearing the news that workers bargained a
in Chicago during a demonstration
closed shop at his store, that it was a civil union contract at Powell’s bookstore in Portland.
demanding the eight-hour workday. rights issue, that people would not be
Activist groups who planned the May forced to pay [union] dues. He was going
Day march and five hundred ILWU to have an open shop. He was not going
delegates gathering for their annual to have a union security clause in the We waited and waited and waited. wants to meet with some Workers’ Rights
contract. Well, this was unacceptable to Michael Powell never had cops come. Board people. So, Marty Hart-Landsberg
convention in Portland all decided to
the union. So, that was an issue. Wages Anyway, it was quite something. So, all of and Diane and Diane and somebody
support an action by the union’s Local these things had been tried to pressure else from the hearing panel . . . go to
and benefits were issues. So we decided
5 in front of Powell’s Books. Before this would be the first hearing of the Powell’s to settle the contract. . . . We this meeting with Michael Powell. At that
the May Day marchers could reach Portland area Workers’ Rights Board. . . . had done so many things and Michael meeting, he basically said he wanted to
the bookstore, police beat, arrested, It was May Day [2000] . . . the year Powell never called the police on us, get a contract. And he said he knew that
or dispersed them. 49 The police that the cops tear-gassed and beat peo- no matter how long we were in the any contract that was settled was going
ple and broke up the demonstration. We store, [laughs] because he didn’t want to include a union security clause. . . . We
declined to halt the hundreds of ILWU
had a May Day march that was focused that publicity outside the store. . . . The were at the National J with J conference
demonstrators who made their way to Workers’ Rights Board wrote [Powell] a in [July 2000] Massachusetts, I think,
on different workers’ rights issues, includ-
Powell’s for a dramatic rally, replete ing health [care] and immigrant rights. letter and said, ‘We would like to meet when it was settled. Mary Winzig was
with giant puppets; three days later, Ramon Ramirez from the [Pineros y Cam- with you to talk about it.’ [Powell said] there, too. I remember just screaming!
Longshore workers and others in the pesinos Unidos del Noroeste, or PCUN] ‘No, it’s not your business. We are going I was just so excited. That was really
labor movement returned for a “Hands Farmworkers spoke.51. . . . There were all to settle at the bargaining table. No, I great, yeah. And we had to fight again,
of these kids and families and they [the won’t come to the hearing.’ So the day of the next contract, as well. By the third
Around Powell’s” action.50
police] sprayed tear gas at everybody. the hearing, he calls Diane Linn, who was contract, Michael Powell was saying,
When I saw you had a question about They hardly gave them any notice. I had on the [Multnomah] County Commission “I don’t want anyone inside the store
a particular [memorable] campaign, it left because I was going to Powell’s to do and Workers’ Rights Board, and Diane or outside the store. I want to get this
was definitely the Powell’s Bookstore a sit-in inside. Rosenbaum [WRB chair] and says he settled.”
96 OHQ vol. 123, no. 1 Mercier, Oral History with Margaret Butler 97Butler recalled that JwJ had many threatened to sue Jobs with Justice
victories during the 2000s, but they [for using the “Grinch” as the theme].
It was really a fun idea. It came from
were often fleeting, due to the mobil-
some other [JwJ] coalition. It started 2009 “SCROOGE OF THE YEAR”
ity of capital and employers’ ability Carole Smith, Superintendent of Portland Public Schools
and then it spread through the network.
to resist union efforts, de-unionize, or Every December, we would have a party
shut down altogether. Butler recalled where we elected the worst boss of the
In the cold of December as Christmas drew near
some of the important campaigns year and we presented them with the
during those years, both wins and Grinch or the Scrooge of the Year Award. In Portland’s great schools a Grinch did appear
I always wrote a Dr. Seuss poem for the Removed from the classrooms’ daily triumphs and pain
losses, including a long strike by
presentation. . . . .
United Auto Workers that eventually The way it worked was you paid
Somewhere deep inside her she lost sight of the main
ended with management closing the for votes [for Scrooge of the Year]. You Ways in which schools reached their goals and do their work
plant in Tigard; the success of the bought a ticket to the party for fifteen That’s through excellent teachers who never shirk
Parry Center for Children’s organiz- bucks and you got fifteen votes with it.
Then you could buy more votes at the Increases in class size and stress and state testing
ing campaign; and the unsuccessful
party. And if a union really wanted [its Will work at a fast pace with so little resting
campaign to organize workers at
nominee] to win, it would come in with a Yet this Grinch has offered longer hours and furloughs
Providence Health System. Alongside big check and bought all the votes. So
those campaigns, JwJ was continu- we said, ‘Corporate style democracy, Teachers have said no to what you propose
ing its community support work and the more money you have the more We call on this Grinch to let your heart grow
establishing important traditions. votes you get!’ [laughs] It was very fun.
Honor your workers and not just for show
We raised two to three thousand dol-
In 2006 . . . there was another May Day lars every time. Then every “nominee” Think of the teachers who day after day
march . . . that was the Day Without an for Scrooge or Grinch of the Year had Work with our children, don’t send them away
Immigrant march. . . . We were involved an opportunity to do a skit at the party
in the planning of it. We helped lead Without a fair contract, let’s settle this quick
or make a presentation to try and get
it. . . . [U.S. Rep. Jim] Sensenbrenner votes. Some of those were hilarious and The election in January will be here in a tick
had a bill in Congress that would have really good. That still goes on. Then we We should work together and put First things first
come down really hard on anyone who had an annual dinner every year and a
supported undocumented people in any Contract now then the ballot or things will get worse.
Salsa Party every year in September. We
way. So, the whole immigrant community did a silent auction with that and raised In the past loyal teachers have been key to winning
was up, and all over the country there about three thousand dollars with that These measures which set all our heads to spinning
were huge marches, and in Portland as well. That was fun. Those were the
there were 40,000 people, and it was the traditions. Teachers have phonebanked and canvassed each time
biggest, most amazing thing. . . . Made sure schools are supported fought for each dime.
I was really pleased with all of the Much of JwJ’s work happened in
Let’s settle the contract and all stand united
things we were able to accomplish. And committees, which members formed to
the ways in which we used solidarity to Working together we’d sure be delighted
work in coalition with other social jus-
help educate people and help them get To make sure each supporter gets out in the field
tice groups and to focus on important
a broader view of what we were fighting
and what we were up against. I think we issues, such as healthcare, racial jus- Standing together what power we wield.
did a good job of that as well. We did tice, and climate. The Immigrant Rights We call on the school board and Superintendent
it through social events [such as] our Committee worked on campaigns and Support the teachers and get this breach mended
annual dinner. . . . It was great. We would supported the VOZ Workers Education
do a slideshow of all the stuff we had Let’s see your heart grow as you bargain this week
Project and workers’ center.52 Butler
done and fun we had had. . . . The fair contract now that our dear teachers seek.
We had things we did every year. The was particularly proud of helping initi-
fundraisers every year . . . became the ate the Faith Labor Committee in 2003, — Poem by Margaret Butler
Scrooge party after Dr. Seuss’s estate to expand and deepen relationships
98 OHQ vol. 123, no. 1 Mercier, Oral History with Margaret Butler 99with faith communities and involve action together out of it. . . . There were the time’. . . . When Wisconsin [protests Professors (AAUP) Oregon in October
them more in the work of JwJ. Those two or three follow-up things that hap- over Gov. Scott Walker’s attempts to 2014. AAUP attracted her because it
pened but it didn’t work the way that we curb unions] happened, we did three was organizing both unions and asso-
relationships also drew JwJ, and the
hoped it would work. . . . What we were solidarity rallies with Wisconsin. We
labor movement more broadly, into ciations — that is, it was developing
hoping to do was to be able to break were so excited that there was this huge
faith justice struggles, which included out of the thousand people or so that thing going on and that they were get- chapters at universities and colleges
the issue of wage theft, the church- we could mobilize and be able to take ting solidarity from all over the world. It that did not have union recognition in
based Sanctuary Movement that to the streets in a much bigger way. One seemed really exciting. Then ‘Occupy’ order to build worker power, some-
supported immigrant workers, and of the things that came out of it, that was [nationwide Wall Street protests over thing she believed needed to be a
good, was what we call the Portland economic inequality], too. All of these
the ongoing work of the Albina Min- priority in the labor movement. She
Rising Project, [a project promoting good things, we put a lot of energy into doing
isterial Alliance Coalition for Justice jobs, a strong public sector, and healthy stuff with [Portland] Occupy.
retired in May 2017 and has remained
and Police Reform.53 “I really do think communities] which I’m sure is still going active in worker and climate justice
it made a difference in that we really on . . . 54 MADELINE BISGYER: How do you movements in Portland.
had a set of faith leaders that we could The key [to mobilizing] was having a feel about how those things sort of Margaret Butler’s reminiscences
group of leaders who were connected to ended up? are important for understanding how
go to. I think doing the faith labor work,
each other, and trusted each other, and
they felt it was more of a two-way street Well, we did not succeed in doing what
she became a labor activist and leader
could make decisions to move. . . . We
than just asking them to serve on the were able to move pretty quickly when we had wanted to do, and that was not as well as how a key social justice
Workers’ Rights Board here and be a we needed to. There were times when so great. . . . But I would get up at the J organization addressed the economic
faith person there.” something would come up and I would with J dinners and say things like, ‘the challenges of the late twentieth and
[say] ‘Oh no, there is no way we can do unjust system we are a part of works early twenty-first centuries. Her words
The 2008 economic crisis pre- to keep people separated. So every
that. We have ten things we are already reveal that as an organizer — in a job
sented even greater challenges to the doing. NO. NO. NO.’ Then somebody time we stand up for each other, we
labor movement. Because of its net- take a step towards a better society, notorious for burning out even the
would convince me that we have to.
works and relationships, JwJ was able [laughs] That if we don’t do this, it won’t because capitalism wants us to be most committed people — she kept
to respond quickly, if not successfully, happen, and somebody needs to be out just workers and consumers and when her “eyes on the prize” and found joy
there in public about this. I remember we build these relationships and take in the relationships she formed and the
to the moment. Butler recalled both
quite often, especially with Jobs with action together, we are transforming actions she took to improve workers’
enormous possibilities that the crisis Justice, where you have so many things something there.’ And it got bigger every
lives.55 Portland JwJ influenced local
presented and frustrations about the going on at the same time, it’s easy to year. So, yeah, that was good. We can’t
measure our victories only by the out- and regional workplace struggles and
limits of coalition work and reflected feel like we were overwhelmed, we’re
stretched too thin . . . and we needed comes because everything is temporary politics as well as a national move-
on how she measured success.
to focus more, but things would happen and easily taken away. So, you have to ment that linked labor and community
In 2008, when things happened fast and where you just have to do it. I sort of measure your success by how many groups in coalition. Both successes and
there was the [federal] bailout going felt that way when the United Students pledgers, how many people are turning setbacks marked these years, but as
through, we did actions right away. Against Sweatshops came to us with out, how many organizations, and what
Butler emphasized, “we can’t measure
Basically our message was, ‘Why are the Nike hearing. ‘No. We really can’t are you building.
you bailing [bankers] out? You should be add this to the plan. Here it is, a month
our victories only by the outcomes.” She
putting more money towards the people away, and you want us to do this?’ They In 2011, which marked the twentieth hinted that the struggles sow the seeds
hurt by this whole thing. Where’s our said they would do all of the work — yes anniversary of Portland JwJ, Butler for potential change in the future, some-
bailout?’. . . We did an economic crisis and no — but it was completely worth began thinking about transitioning to thing difficult to measure in the present.
town hall in January of 2009. . . . What doing. It was a really good thing to do other work and opening space for new In reflecting on the accomplishments
we were doing was giving people a and . . . we were really bad at getting
leadership. She helped the coalition and disappointments of JwJ, and on the
frame for this economic crisis we were media attention — and that one got lots
in. We had 850 people who came to it. of media attention because it was Nike. through some rough transitions and lack of democracy and income inequal-
We were trying to get a common sort So we did all these things to try and then was hired as Executive Director of ities that accompany capitalism’s power
of understanding and commitment to build bigger. We kept thinking, ‘now is the American Association of University and persistence, Butler concluded that
100 OHQ vol. 123, no. 1 Mercier, Oral History with Margaret Butler 101You can also read
