EDITORIAL
Workers shouldn’t
be giving up rights
To sue or not to sue. That’s not even a question any
more for several laid-off Trojan nuclear plant workers.
Portland General Electric, which owns the defunct
Trojan, is requiring workers to sign away their rights to
sue the company in exchange for receiving their sever
ance pay.
PGE says it's acting to "protect the utility" from greedy
employees. The company says it has gone to great
lengths 10 provide sup
port and retraining for
workers who will be
laid off because of the
plant's closure, and it
doesn't want them com
ing back for more.
Workers are asked to
sign a contract waiving
their rights to sue under
10 state and federal
laws, including the Civ
il Rights Act of 1991.
the Americans with
History has
demonstrated the
importance of
protecting workers*
rights, and those
protections were
hard-fought for and
long in coming
Disabilities Act. tho fair Labor atanaaras aci ana mo
Older Workers Benefit Protection Act, to name a few.
In return for signing, workers will receive pay for four
weeks, plus another four weeks for every year at PGE.
The issue begs the question — if PGE has done noth
ing wrong, what is it afraid off Certainly, tho utility has
an interest in protecting itself from groundless lawsuits,
especially in today's litigation-happy society.
But is it necessary to require workers to give up their
rights without cause? Probably not. Should workers dis
cover. some years down the road, that they had been
made ill by radiation exposure, or were the victims of
unfair labor practices, they would have no recourse —
regardless of the justification of their claim.
Whether the release is legally binding is unclear. More
than likely, il is intended to dupe workers into believing
they have no right to suu. thereby lessoning tho number
of potential lawsuits.
The contract urges workers to seek the advice of a
lawyer before signing, gives them 45 days to consider the
offer and allows them to change their mind within sev
en days of signing.
It is difficult to suggest a worker forego receiving sev
erance pay to protect some right that may or may not
ever be invoked, particularly when that worker is now
unemployed and may lie supporting a family. That lump
sum of cash is going to look awfully appealing when
compared with some abstract legal mumbo jumbo.
But that abstract legal mumbo jumbo is there for a rea
son. History has demonstrated the importance of pro
tecting workers' rights, anti thoso protections wore hard
fought for and long in coming.
Are they worth severance pay to give up? That's a
question each individual will have to answer himself
or herself. Should PGE be asking its workers to make that
choice? If it wore truly devoted to the rights and well
being of its employees, the answer would be "no."
Oregon Daily
Emerald
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LETTERS
Mistreatment
The Oregon Citizens Alliance
develops clever arguments to
justify its agenda against homo
sexual citizens. Voters may
again l*e forced to put aside oth
er pressing matters to evaluate
arguments that keep our state's
people divided and its resources
drained.
One CX:A rationalization is
that homosexuals should never
gain protected class status
because the choice of sexual
behavior is not legitimate
grounds for minority classifica
tion Fortunately, it's not that
simple.
People who consider them
selves Christian engage in Chris
tian behavior. People are some
times discriminated against and
forced to hide — or are even
killed for Christian behavior.
Such persecution is wrong
Our country has laws to pro
tect personal religious affiliation
choices and prohibits persecu
tion of anyone based on reli
gious preferences People are
not born Christian It appears
Christians may not meet the
tXIA definition of a "legitimate
minority.”
Homosexuals may or may not
have homosexual relationships,
but criinu statistics show they
are persecuted and sometimes
killed for being homosexual.
Whether you think sexual orien
tation is a choice or not is irrele
vant It is fair und right to
address, in law. such blatant
persecution against a category of
people.
Women can hardly be consid
ered a minority in terms of pop
ulation numbers. Yet so far the
OCA hasn't said that women
should not be protected from
unfair treatment because they
may not be a "legitimate minor
ity.”
We should all be able to agree
that persecution is wrong and
must be prohibited — however a
group of law-abiding citizens
subjected to mistreatment is
defined
Ron Schlittter
Journalism
Pedestrian nuts
Warning to fellow bike riders:
You probably already know this,
but if you don't, i heed you
warning — pedestrians who
saunter in and about 13th
Avenue between Kincaid and
University streets are nuts. They
apparently enjoy the sound of
skidding bikes bearing down on
them and bikers narrowly miss
ing or directly smacking them
(resulting usually in obscenities,
embarrassment, broken bones or
bikes, etc.).
Sometimes the foolish pedes
trians think it is the sole respon
sibility of the bikers fb avoid
collisions. Granted, it is kind of
fun to weave in and out of
pedestrians who flinch after
you've passed them, but nobody
likes aixidents.
I think the University should
provide walking students with
well-worked crosswalks and
enforce their use. Please, they've
got sidewalks, and now the
fruitcakes want the streets. Keep
the campus friendly and ovoid
the bloodshed
Reagan White
Asian Studies
No stickers
The EMU needs your help.
This past week, the building has
been covered with stickers that
stridently support the rights of
gay, lesbian and bisexual indi
viduals
Individually and profession
ally. I aspire to have the entire
EMU accepted as a safe zone for
celebrating diversity. Asa facil
ity serving the entire University
community — supporting many
different organizations and
employing hundreds of individ
uals — it may be unrealistic to
expect that my aspiration will
be universally accepted.
The process of changing indi
vidual attitudes of intolerance
must not stop. It will always lw
a struggle of Finding the correct
methods of addressing acts of
hatred with opportunities to
change both behavior and the
attitudes that allow the behavior
to occur.
The covering of windows,
doors, walls and floor of the
EMU with adhesive stickers is
not the best way to change atti
tudes. As 1 walked through the
EMU removing the stickers, I
heard more comments focusing
on the methodology of placing
the stickers than on the stickers'
message. Clearly the stickers did
not change the attitudes
My request is a simple one.
To all individuals who feel that
diversity and inclusiveness
must be actively supported, who
feel acts of intolerance must be
challenged, please understand
that the method of advancing
those beliefs should not include
defacing public property.
It is rny hope that your energy
be directed at creating an envi
ronment of positive change and
that you perceive the EMU as
supporting those positive
efforts.
Dusty Miller
EMU Director
No expulsion
I was extremely angered by
the article regarding Steven I-al
ibertv's alleged assault by the
accused Todd Pendexter (ODE,
Feb. 11).
! was especially piqued by
Sarah Ross' demand that Pen
dexter lie expelled from the Uni
versity because of his alleged
assault, saying that his actions
will not he tolerated "by the
University, nor by the larger
community.”
A student should not be
expelled for an alleged assault to
a non-University student. If the
issue angers Ross and others,
why not suggest an awareness
raising workshop that Pendexter
could attend and learn from?
Because I know of no student
who's been expelled for reasons
other than poor academic status,
does this mean that rape and
other more violent and serious
crimes (i.e. breaking the win
dows at the Federal Building)
are tolerated by the University
and the Eugene community?
However, it doesn't seem that
it's the University's position or
decision of whether to expel a
student. Expulsion sends the
message to Pendexter (and oth
ers) that there is no hope for
education to prevent such
assaults from occurring again,
Sections 19A and 19B of the
student conduct code specifical
ly say the harassment be "on
University property or at Uni
versity-sponsored or supervised
activities." The "assault”
occurred at 13th Avenue and
Mill Street, considerably off
campus. The University cannot
sanction off-campus harass
ment.
Yes. I think what happened
was wrong. But expulsion isn't
the answer. Two wrongs never
make a right.
Jennifer Horton
Journalism