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Editor in chief: Jack Clifford
Managing Editor: Jessica Blanchard
Newsroom: (541) 346-5511
Room 300, Erb Memorial Union
P.O. box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu
EDITORIAL EDITOR: MICHAEL J. KLECKNER opededitor@journalist.com
Wages should rise with prices
f
band “They Might Be
Giants,” minimum
wage (yee-aa!) is an ongi
ing political whipping
boy. Year in and year out,
Democrats can demand a
minimum-wage increase in
order to show their labor
roots and appear righteously
indignant to any opposition.
Republicans get to argue
against any increase and cry
about small businesses while
also representing the interests
of larger corporations, which
don’t like minimum-wage in
creases even if they can afford
them.
The Emerald editorial board,
then, was very pleased to hear
that Reps. Diane Rosenbaum,
D-Southeast Portland, and Bill
Morrisette, D-Springfield, have
introduced a minimum-wage
bill with a new outlook on the
issue. Despite being introduced
and supported so far only by
Democrats, this bill would
make an excellent law and be
gin the process of helping small
businesses cope with needed
minimum-wage increases. Stu
dents, who very often pay for
college or raise extra money by
working minimum-wage jobs,
would be especially well
served by this bill and should
get involved to help make it a
law.
The first big change offered
in HB 2786 is that the mini
mum wage would be adjusted
every year. This will help de
politicize the process by re
moving the issue from the par
tisan landscape and making it a
part of how Oregon does busi
ness. Instead of arguing about
wages every few years, law
makers could focus on more
support for small businesses.
The other paradigm shift —
and this is the important part
of the bill — is that the yearly
minimum-wage increase
would be tied to the U.S. City
Average Consumer Price In
dex, or the CPI. The CPI index
es a “market basket” of average
goods and services purchased
in urban or metropolitan areas.
Every few years, the Bureau of
Labor and Statistics surveys
more than 5,000 families to de
termine what they buy, and
then each month surveys retail
prices of about 80,000 items.
After a series of grueling math
ematical calculations, the CPI
is released.
So under the proposed law,
every September the commis
sioner of Oregon’s Bureau of
Labor and Industries would
adjust the minimum wage ex
actly the same amount that the
CPI changed. If consumer
prices increased 5 percent, so
would the minimum wage.
This is a sane, rational ap
proach to wage raises, because
it reflects how businesses are
doing and it doesn’t demand a
large percentage increase all at
one time,-which can unfairly •
Giovanni Salimena Emerald
burden small businesses.
If the CPI increases, business
es are collecting more money
for products and are ostensibly
seeing profits increase as well.
In an average sense, this bill is
ensuring that workers, as well
as businesses, enjoy the success
of the economy. It also helps as
sure working parents that they
will continue to be able to put
food on the table as the cost of
that food increases.
The possibility exists that
this increase,
however mod
erate and ra
tional, will still
hinder some
small business
es. In addition
to supporting
this minimum
wage bill, we
also feel the
Legislature
should find
some carefully
targeted tax
breaks or sup
portive incen
tives to make
sure small busi
nesses can afford
to pay workers a de
cent wage and still re
main in business. It doesn’t
make sense to improve the lot
of workers at the expense of
small businesses, which em
ploy so many of those work
ers.
Perhaps the Legislature
could explore subsidizing
some of the costs of health in
surance plans or reducing
payroll taxes for small busi
nesses. In extreme cases,
maybe some of the cost of the
minimum-wage increase
could be subsidized by the
state so that at-risk businesses
can remain financially sol
vent. There must also be other
solutions out there to help
businesses that would be
threatened by a rising mini
mum wage.
Students should be ex
cited about this minimum
wage bill. Get involved and
help make it happen. But
don’t let this bill be the end
• of the discussion. We all
need to find additional solu
tions to the minimum-wage
issue that ensure everyone is
getting a fair shake.
This editorial represents the opinion
of the Emerald editorial board. Re
sponses can be sent to
ode@oregon.uoregon.edu.
Leftfield
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Letters to the editor
Bailey is dedicated, moral
Eric Bailey is an excellent choice for
ASUO Executive. I have never known
anyone more dedicated to a school and its
student body.
From being in many meetings with Bai
ley, I know that he strives to make sure all
the voices are heard and each person is
satisfied with the outcome. One of his
chief concerns is that the process be dem
ocratic.
Bailey is one of the most friendly peo
ple that anyone could get to know here at
the University. He cares very deeply about
the many issues affecting students.
Renters’ rights are one of his top priorities.
He wants to make sure students have a say
in the implementation of a housing code.
Another major concern of Bailey’s is
safety. He wants to make sure students not
only feel safe while on campus, but also
while they are walking to and from it.
Bailey’s third major goal is to mend re
lations between the ASUO, the adminis
tration and student groups, and between
housing and Greek Life.
One other note: Eric is a man of very
strong morals that will not allow him to
participate in dirty mudslinging and
cheap political maneuvering.
I strongly support Bailey and Oliver for
ASUO Executive. Vote Bailey/Oliver Feb.
26 through March 1!
Jennifer Ames
freshman
pre-journalism
Bret and Matt
for real leadership
It has been said that specificity is a
character issue. If so, student voters
should choose Bret [Jacobson] and Matt
[Cook] in the upcoming ASUO Executive
elections because they have been the only
candidates to demonstrate such character.
Bret and Matt have already shown a pat
tern of listening to student and govern
ment concerns and by responding with
specific, unique solutions that no other
candidates are able to offer.
Bret and Matt’s plan to create an ASUO
sponsored public-relations hub to advance
the causes and awareness of various stu
dent groups is just one great example. Other
ideas include holding weekly meetings
with multicultural groups to constantly re
main updated on diversity issues and to
help solve problems, while having more
student leaders on Eugene Police Depart
ment ride-alongs to work toward their goal
of improving often strained relationships
with the police and city government.
Other candidates either won’t commit
to any specific ideas to improve the
ASUO or are incapable of the kind of
problem solving this University demands.
They keep rehashing the same old lines,
while only paying lip service to the im
portant issues of improving education, di
versity and trying to get along better with
the City Council. That’s not a representa
tive government and should not be ac
ceptable.
Please make the effort to sign onto Duck
Web to vote for Bret and Matt, so next year
the University can have real leadership
with specific ideas.
Jason Schroeder
junior
business
CORRECTION
In Thursday’s Q & A with ASUO Executive
candidates Nilda Brooklyn and joy Nair, the
names on the photographs were
inadvertently switched.
The Emerald regrets the error.