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
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place. Lake Powell is only about
3 Years @ 0%
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ÀRZLQWKHXSSHU&RORUDGR5LY-
er and other waterways in the
state, Colorado state climatol-
ogist Nolan Doesken said, but
the snow season is only about
half over and the picture could
change quickly.
“We haven’t gotten so much
snow that we’re assured of an
average or above-average run-
off,” Doesken said. “It could
turn on us.”
The El Nino weather pattern
is likely a factor in the healthy
snowpack so far this winter,
Doesken said. “There’s clearly
EHHQDPXFKEHWWHUÀRZRI3D-
FL¿F PRLVWXUH WKLV \HDU WKDQ LQ
the last few (years) in terms of
the midwinter time period, and
that’s sort of consistent with El
Nino,” he said.
5 Years @ 0.9%
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