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About Capital press. (Salem, OR) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 2016)
January 22, 2016 CapitalPress.com 3 E. Oregon farmers, businesses oppose wage hike plans By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press SALEM — Forty-six peo- ple from Malheur County, half of them involved with agricul- ture, traveled 400 miles across icy roads Jan. 14 to Salem to tell Oregon lawmakers that increasing the state’s mini- mum wage would devastate Eastern Oregon’s economy. The group, which wore “Any raise equals lost jobs” stickers on their backs, were heavily outnumbered by sup- porters of the various propos- DOV WR VLJQL¿FDQWO\ UDLVH WKH state’s minimum wage, who loudly chanted, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, poverty wages have got to go” as they entered the Cap- itol. After arriving in Salem following an eight-hour bus ride, the Eastern Oregon con- tingent was told they could not carry their picket signs to counter-demonstrate at a rally held on the Capitol steps in support of a minimum wage increase. They were told that state police decided there was a KLJK ULVN RI D FRQÀLFW RF- curring and were concerned about their safety. But members of the Re- publican minority party Gordon Friedman/Statesman-Journal via AP Sean Ellis/Capital Press Malheur County residents hold signs opposing the various proposals that would raise Oregon’s minimum wage Jan. 14 on the steps at the back of the state’s Capitol. Forty-six farmers, business owners and others traveled 400 miles to make their voices heard. praised them for making the trip and told them their pres- ence at the statehouse was a loud message. Though outnumbered, tes- timony during a three-hour public hearing on the issue was split between supporters and opponents because committee members gave preference to people who had traveled more than 100 miles. The group traveled by char- ter bus and headed back to On- tario after the meeting to com- plete its 800-mile round trip. An audience member wears a sticker on his back opposing wage increases during a public hearing on proposals to raise the minimum wage at the Oregon Capitol in Salem. the Malheur County residents told legislators that increasing the state’s minimum wage any “Coming from 400 miles amount would result in busi- away and spending (more than nesses and jobs moving to a day) getting here and back is Idaho. unbelievably powerful,” said They reminded them that Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario, Oregon’s minimum wage of who helped organize the event $9.25 is already $2 higher than along with farm industry lead- Idaho’s rate of $7.25 and Mal- ers. heur County borders Idaho. “I can’t tell you how im- Owyhee Produce General portant it was for you to have Manager Shay Myers said that come here today,” said Sen. if Oregon increases its min- Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day. “The imum wage, it will force his ¿JKW\RXDUHPDNLQJWRGD\LV onion packing facility to auto- WKH ¿JKW WKDW PD\ EH WKH NH\ mate or move to Idaho. Either skirmish in this whole (issue).” option kills Oregon jobs, he During public testimony, added. As an example, he said that increasing Oregon’s minimum wage to $13.50 would increase Owyhee Produce’s overall costs by 10 percent, while the company’s margin is only 8 percent, Myers said. If it comes down to stay- ing in business, “There’s real- ly only one decision for us to make,” he said. “And if we’re going to stay in business, it’s either automate or move to Idaho.” Tim Newton, who has worked for Peterson Farms in Nyssa for 26 years, said a lot of businesses would move to the Idaho side if the minimum wage goes up. “What we’re hearing is that the majority of the onion sheds (in the area) will be moving to the Idaho side because of the difference in the minimum wage,” he said. Nyssa farmer Paul Skeen and others asked the state to leave Malheur County out of any minimum wage increase because farmers and business- es there compete directly with their Idaho counterparts. “Carve us out (of any in- crease) and save our jobs,” he said. “You’re going to ruin us if you don’t.” The Malheur County con- tingent included several small business owners, who said that if agriculture suffers because of a minimum wage increase, they will suffer also. If the minimum wage in- creases, “our onion shippers will move to Idaho,” said John Kirby, a hardware business owner. “It’s not a threat, it’s a promise; they will move to Idaho.” Oregon Gov. Kate Brown defended her minimum wage proposal, which she released while the Eastern Oregon group was en route. It would raise the minimum wage outside the Portland area by $1 in 2017 and gradually increase it to $13.50 by 2022. The Portland area minimum wage would be set at 15 per- cent above the statewide rate and would increase to $15.52 by 2022. Phasing in the increase over several years will pro- vide “a glide path for Oregon businesses to plan and prepare for the increase,” said Brown, who added that a single parent in Oregon would have to work 72 hours a week or make $16.61 an hour to afford the state’s average monthly cost of $864 for a two-bedroom apartment. By DAN ELLIOTT Associated Press DENVER — Snowpack in the mountains that feeds the Colorado River is slightly above the long-term average this winter — welcome news in the drought-stricken South- west. But water and weather ex- perts said Tuesday it’s too early to predict how deep the snow will get or how much of it will make its way into the river and on to Lake Powell in Utah and Arizona, one of two major res- ervoirs on the Colorado. “We are cautiously opti- mistic, but nature has a way of doing what it wants,” said Chris Watt, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Reclama- tion, which manages the water in Lake Powell. The Colorado River serves about 40 million people and 6,300 square miles of farmland in Arizona, California, Colora- do, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Mexico is also entitled to a share of the water. Lake Powell, behind the 580-foot-high Glen Canyon Dam, has a key role in regulat- ing and distributing the river. Some people worry there won’t be enough water in the river to go around in the future because of protracted drought, climate change and unrealis- tic estimates about how much ZDWHU ZDV DYDLODEOH LQ WKH ¿UVW place. 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