Republican-labor liason? !
Very feasible, says labor lobbyist
By TOM WOLFE
Of the Emerald
Do Republican candidates and
labor lobbies make strange bed
fellows?
Not necessarily, according to
Irv Fletcher, executive secretary
of the Lane County Labor Council.
Fletcher cited Lane County
Labor endorsements of Republi
cans Sen. George Wingard and
Rep. Mary Burrows, both of
Eugene as examples of current
labor/Republican romances,
when he spoke before the Rubi
con Society Thursday.
“We don’t demand complete
fidelity,” Fletcher explained. “But
when an occasional affair with the
other side turns into something
more, we start wondering.”
To attract and retain labor sup
port, Fletcher said a candidate
must remain sympathetic with
labor on such issues as unemp
loyment and workmen’s compen
sation, minimum wage require
ments, collective bargaining and
increased state support for school
funding.
There’s no reason that person
can’t be a Republican, said
Fletcher.
The lobby recognized the his
tory of labor allying itself with
Democratic candidates, a tradi
tion he traced to the New Deal
days of Franklin Roosevelt.
He and Rubicon members also
noted that times and issues have
changed since those days making
Republican-labor alliances more
feasible.
University Prof. Paul Holbo, his
tory, said these alliances might
grow as working people’s social
vaiues come nearer those sup
ported by Republicans.
Other Rubicon members said
“overwhelming” economic needs
Balanced budget is
good news for voter
By LARRY MAGDER
Of the Emerald
It’s good news for taxpayers this
year. They will not be faced with
the decision of whether to give
additional funds to the county's
budget. Higher-than-expected re
venues from federal timber sales
enabled the county to pass a
budget last month which would
not require more than a six per
cent hike in property taxes, ac
cording to Wanda Henson,
member of the county’s budget
committee. Any raise in property
taxes of more than six percent has
to be approved by Lane County
voters.
Commissioner Archie Wein
stein opposed the adoption of the
budget. He said there were a
number of items in the budget he
was against, but he specifically
objected to an increase in the
county’s Lane Council of Gov
ernments dues, and the perpetua
tion of property taxes as a source
of county revenues.
Henson said after the budget
was initially formulated, the com
mittee decided to make a two per
cent across-the-board reduction
in departmental budgets. Wein
stein was in favor of a 10 percent
reduction.
Henson said it was unusual for
the county to be deliberating on a
budget in December. She said the
county formulated the budget in
two phases last year because the
amount of funds from Oregon and
California timber sales was not
known until mid-October. She
also said two new commissioners
and new budget committee mem
bers slowed up the process.
This year will be different, she
said. "We now have a process fig
ured out by which we think we can
have a budget by July 1 taking into
account different possible levels
of timber funds,” she said.
Approximately 62 percent of the
county’s revenues will come from
the federal government due to
timber sales, grants, contracts
and revenue sharing. Ten percent
will be acquired from state con
tracts and revenue sharing and 27
percent will come from local
sources including property taxes
and voter-approval levies and
bond issues.
The approved budget allocates
37 percent of the revenue for
human services, 28 percent to en
vironmental services, 15 percent
to law enforcement and judicial
services and 20 percent to gen
era! government and manage
ment services.
organized labor challenged during
and immediately following the
Depression had largely disap
peared because of advances al
ready made by labor.
Fletcher admitted that the per
centage of union members in the
overall workforce has been
“slowly descending’’ since the
1950s. He attributed some of the
loss to disappearing distinctions
between social, moral and
economic issues.
An example is the bottle bill the
Legislature passed without labor
endorsement in 1972. It’s not that
labor wanted litter along the high
ways, Fletcher explained. “We
opposed the bill because it made
no provision for relocation or re
training of displaced bottle indus
try workers.”
“On the other hand, we did sup
port raising minimum wage levels
although few trade union people
directly benefited from it,” said
Fletcher The lobbyist admitted
that trade union members could
expect indirect benefits as pay
scales are adjusted upward to ac
comodate new minimum levels.
State and local labor endorse
ments are made only with a two
thirds recommendation from rep
resentative bodies. While en
dorsements occasionally appear
during primaries, they are nor
mally restricted to final elections,
said Fletcher.
Donations from labor may be
given at that time, he said, but the
money must be donated and not
collected from union members.
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