EDITORIAL
State, workers win
with pay contract
Slate and union officials claimed victory Saturday
when negotiators from the state and the Oregon Public
Employees Union came to a tentative agreement on
salary increases over the next two years.
The agreement calls for a 5 pen cnt wage increase in
July, followed by a 2 pen ent increase in l»HJ7. The agree
ment must still be ratified bv union members and the
Oregon Legislature before it becomes official.
The agreement is evidence that the workers' strike was
effective in prompting a favorable settlement to the
salan dispute. It’s highly unlikely that the st.ite would
have agreed to as large a raise if the union simply begged
and pleaded for it The strike was not essary to demon
strate the resolve of the union and show that they were
serious about wanting .1 raise and were willing to
stake their livelihoods on it. Employees who wore on
strike during the work stoppage, many of whom don't
earn large salaries to begin w ith, lost hundreds of dollars
of wages
Although the union should he given credit for stand
ing up for its beliefs, the st.ite must also he given < red it
for being willing to negotiate and to help settle the strike
It is unfortunate that a strike was needed to convince
state administrators that union workers were serious
about thoir demands, but the state eventually did work
to use budget forecasts to the benefit of state workers
a (ommendab!" action.
During the strike, it was often everyday Oregon fins
who complained about the lack of state services avail
able However, those Oregonians were the people
responsible for passing Measure 8. which mandates that
public employees contribute f> pert ent of their wages to
their pensions, last November. Citizens should have
known there would have been resistance from state
employees who were forced to give up (i percent of their
already, in some cases, meager paychcc k.s
The strike was instrumental in demonstrating to Ore
goninns that publh employees play a bigger part in their
lives than they previously knew. Whether residents need
to renew a driver's license at DMV or pay tuition at Ore
gon Hall, t hanres are that the person who assists them is
a publh employee The publh should know when pub
lic employees are hurt, the state and its services to resi
dents will suffer. The strike vividly demonstrated that
fact.
State employees serve Oregonians daily in more ways
than most i itizons realize. If anything positive can come
out of the week long work stoppage and lengthy negoti
ations, it would be that citizens are aware that public
employees are not nameless, faceless individuals who
can be 1 ountod on to give up money whenever the state
has a budget crunch. Public employees deserve to earn a
competitive salary and get respect from Oregonians
both in the Legislature and throughout the state.
because of the settlement, both the* state and many of
its workers can get back to the business of serving Ore
gonians With the settlement, everyone comes out a win
ner.
Oregon Daily
PC eon JIM tOGCMI OMCON4HOJ
T?'*? />.#••> i pifl‘H.%tS9d M. Ki, XT • -..jh f • lay sJ^rfvj \Ct*CO*
yoo* a»xl Tudiwlay and tburtday dw**rtg tumm«r by th« Ongon t>*ty tm«rM Pybu»h«nQ
Co . W"*C al lh| Unrwp»jrfy of (> ttyor* t ugorve, 0»«ycw*
*h® l ”-f .i-j ■•\teptrfKktr-fif Of th* Urvv<w*»1y *4h o*t*c<Mk at $^ta 300 O* fh*
l 'V Mp-V- --Ji! U •=’ a«>J * il o* INI AiftOl *vtl0rt Preis
Tb* £ m*w«**j <t pf*vgtita p»opo*ty I ho unMmtut r«mova) ck o** of papor* <» pfoaocutaixj
tdilor-in-Chtof Kafy Sofo
Editor ml Editor
Nvtrft Art Editor
Fr**4*oc« Editor
I’av'HJ loom
m*1 PilSiily
tor* Bottrf****!
t to*
S|XXt* Editor
Suppi#m*m* Editor
Might Editor
«**v. .4 »«*vw - n
C>v** Me'**
J Not**
RQbt* * 4 Me* ' ftl
AftOCtMl IdJIOfi: A'l'i ' • ^ fh ' A, ■ . r t»-v Mil «*«- t*l i*iv,fs
Conmumfy Co§+»n Pohbg. ><ph#» f flU'Jtiiiyt-Al’wvifrtWQft
New* Staff '.v*. ,t> A.R«) «IW a M-- ..?> . , Kf't t r.'^w»i*.^ f,
< taytt Forman M;*t Ciarlon Jo* K?v* Mterwy. Trrw* Kearney. S*orwx>n KiMufl.
k ■» *'-«v -, k i j M i ♦ ■ Mttfl M.v» M ’,•«■• Pj!» M ■ ' ! fi* I «*&*«•
Ms igoeruyt-v A •«"; Mparr Komfefcl $J'«orry Kyv*<-y ^i!4&hd Sinewed. P<fci V*n $*Me Saw*
■ S.w*w Mara S* :\c .fc*«*•'•»'■■*■■•■:•.. ' k /v ArK'-ar Av*r-..»* 11»* Zaarik
General Manager „k*ly R**js
Advertising Director M.v »*V.i. < Production Manager M new M
Advertising A o A ,v> •• A m II, • }.w, Ma . 3 0*r*g Tony f * N«ccfc# Hwrn *ts» *
If--* .*****" , Mav.-n Sa/aft Mi ‘ n. Ton* MRetaiaed! Kti&Mty W#ns*«
CMaedted linu, Mr* i\A■■* W.i -^ KyoDav i J SeSir’
D« tin button ■-**•■*' long f tKr«v H.* v** Grotaam S*nip#on
BuWn#i» ► .1?* « a'txyne --. ■ Judy Como^y
Production Or*? ,*IA ^ * ’ • • h&* uvj C< wis.- Sftawna Abete Tar*Giv1o» iVaU
M> » M -- j ‘.v »**<•■ ■ *«r Mt> ,t >3 Oi»>t • Yen
Newsroom
Butin* ft s OtHc*
346-SS11
*4*4612
DifcpJay Advertising
Classified Advertising
146-3712
146-4143
7HE AN/rARCT/C /c£ SHElP
APPEARS 7d BE 8REak'^G UP
So?
MoRf £v/PEMCE THAT GLoBAl.
wARWtib r*Ay Already 8£
uKioek wav.
frankly r
DON'T SEE HOW
/r concerns
AAE
———^
IF EVEN 107, OF 7WE A/vjrARCT/C
/CE A]£lts^ SEA LEVELS could
SfSE Z2-30 FEET
l/Eu Don't- Expect
M£ TOOO AMVm/NG
ABoi^r it.
» ‘ *9, Mfy|
mfc
r
oh pihe ^ v set /s Ported our
you ene£6V conjugation
PEOPLE HAPPV NOW?
/V£ DOK rt,QT WW/.N v
OOiS IvArtJf. GO SACK OO-v'V >
■ COMMENTARY
Strike peaceful, legal form of protest
Chns B?<uly and Matt Kertes?
ow that the Oregon I’ub
lit Employee's Union
X s| (OPKt ! strike ha-- ended,
for the time l>eing, we in the
campus community have an
opportunity to take --1011 of
what we can learn from the
workers' action Sentiment
toward the workers' actions
remains in large part shaped by
apathy and misinformation
Many are left asking. What was
this all for?"
When the strike began, the
University administration sent
memos to professors and Gradu
ate Tea< hmg f ellows to notify
them of their obligation to hold
i lasses us usual and to cross
picket lines, stating that the
strike was not against the Uni
versity The University took care
to appear like it yvas functioning
normally and thus ignored the
valuable yvork done by its work
ers The effect was to create an
atmosphere antagonistic um ard
the strikers
In reality, the University, an
agent of the state, should have
some interest in the well-being
of its workers So why did no
memoranda go out in support of
the yvorkers, encouraging profes
sors to take tune to explain or
even discuss why the workers
were, indeed, forced to go on
strike? For yvhatever reason, any
approval remained tu».it Why
did no administrators hnye the
wherewithal to thank the yvork
ers publicly for their services?
One result of the Im k of
administrative support for its
own yvorkers is that students
missed the opportunity to learn
about labor action and the OPEU
strike tn particular A strike is
meant to lie a nonviolent yvith
holding of labor to make man
agement wake up to reality and
see hosv net essary a motivated
workforce is to its operation.
Workers do not want to destroy
their employment; striking is
merely a yvay to avoid being tak
en advantage of.
A picket line is both a protest
demonstration for worker rights
and a way to guard against
replacement workers (scabs)
from betraying a legally-sanc
tioned boycott of work If
replacement workers can cross
pu ket lines and take the jobs of
pit keters. workers here in the
United States might just 11s well
dissolve their unions and sub
mit to the desires and demands
of management.
Unfortunately, in a profit-dri
ven soi iety. striking or other
wise interrupting production in
the name of people's rights can
be portrayed ns aggressive The
tjnrmld fell into the trap when
it ran the headline "Of’hl
strike comes to a peaceful
end" {Off/-.'. M;ii IS) Historical
ly, through hired thugs or provo
cation, management has been
the instigator of labor violence.
Administrations, in this case,
the State of Oregon, benefit by
making workers look like the
bullies when they are victims
So we must ask why the work
ers went on strike and why, if
anyone is upset about loss of
services, they are not the ones to
focus anger toward Two years
ago, Oregon state workers
(Of’EU is the union for this
group), agreed to delay wage
increases until the state had a
budget surplus because their
state was in financial trouble,
now they fo< •• n ft percent pav
i ut due to last year's passage of
Measure H This means that as of
July 1. state workers’ take-home
pay will revert to 19*11 levels,
while the cost of living has gone
up about 9 percent each year
Oregon now has a budget sur
plus of $550 million However,
while Measure 5 from 1990 (a
major cause of the financial
trouble) was a windfall for cor
porations in this state, at least
S150 million of the state's bud
get surplus appears to be headed
toward more breaks for corpora
tions and the state workers are
forgotten
At tiiis stage of the struggle
(which, by the way, is not just
Ol’KU's struggle but part of a
resistance to legislative attacks
on labor, including an Oregon
bill that would lower the mini
mum wage in Oregon by -10
cents per hour), workers may
feel demoralized The media
have paid more attention to
Ol’KC members' dwindling
finances than to the fundamen
tal unfairness of the state which
lias caused it In a < ountry con
sidered the bastion of world cap
italism and Business f irst', it is
not hard to understand why so
many people are ignorant of
labor organization or its impor
tance
The OPEU workers bravely
took the initiative in going on
strike We must follow their lead
by edmating ourselves and oth
ers about the struggle li we all
know the facts, we can act and
we all can benefit.
Chris Hradv is a history major
and Matt Krrtrsr is an English
major at the l 'nnrrsiti
■ LETTERS & COMMENTARY POLICY
The Oregon Daily Emerald welcomes letters and common
taries from the public concerning topics of interest to the Uni
versity community.
Letters to the editor must he limited to no more than 250
words, legible, signed and the identification of tin; writer must
l>e verified when the letter ts submitted.
Commentaries should be between 600 and MOO words, legi
ble, signed and the identification of the writer must lie verified
when the commentary is submitted.
The Emerald reserves the right to edit any letter for length or
style.