Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current, January 05, 2007, Image 8

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Northwest labor press., January 05, 2007, Page 8, Image 8

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Newspaper Page Text...Election results have Oregon labor thinking big in ’07 (From Page 2) backing. • Raise the corporate minimum tax. Two-thirds of corporations doing business in Oregon pay just $10 a year in income tax because they are able to show no profit on the books. Kulon- goski proposes to increase that mini- mum to a sliding scale of $250 to sev- Swanson, Thomas &Coon ATTORNEYS AT LAW Since 1981 James Coon Jacqueline Jacobson Ray Thomas Kimberly Tucker Margaret Weddell Cynthia F. Newton Tip of the week: If your Social Security claim is denied, don’t give up! Most claims are granted at the Administrative Law Judge hearing level. We represent people on all types of injury and disease related claims. n Workers’ Compensation n Construction Injuries n Personal Injury/Product Liability n Death Claims n Asbestos/Mesothelioma n Social Security Disability We provide straight answers at no cost on any of the above areas of law. CALL US or VISIT OUR WEB SITE ( 503) 228-5222 http://www.stc-law.com eral thousand, depending on the size of the company. • End the corporate kicker. Oregon has a unique law whereby if income tax revenue exceeds what the state economist predicts, the difference is refunded to taxpayers, including many out-of-state corporations. Kulongoski is proposing to keep the corporate in- come tax “kicker” and use it to create a rainy day fund for when revenues are lower than predicted. • Raise the cigarette tax. Kulon- goski proposes to raise the cigarette tax to the level paid in neighboring Washington, dedicating the proceeds to fund health care for Oregon chil- dren. • Roll back wasteful tax loopholes. SEIU wants lawmakers to re-examine tax breaks passed by past legislatures. If the breaks didn’t accomplish the purposes their backers claimed, like creating new jobs, then the breaks would be eliminated, returning mil- lions of dollars to public coffers. • Offer amnesty to corporate tax cheats, and increase penalties on those who don’t come forward. For companies that have used off-shore tax havens and other legally murky loop- holes, SEIU wants Oregon to offer them a chance to come clean and pay up, or else face stiffer penalties if found in violation of the law. F IXING H EALTH C ARE • Tighten the screws on insurers. A labor-backed proposal would make health insurers justify premium in- creases before a public commission. • Bulk up bulk buying. Kulongoski is proposing to open the state’s pre- scription drug purchasing pool to small businesses. • Rein in hospital overbuilding. To avoid costly and duplicative overbuild- ing, labor wants to see a strengthened requirement that hospitals demonstrate 7LUHG RI :RUNLQJ LQ 3$,1" 0RVW,QVXUDQFH 3ODQV$FFHSWHG 3 528'/< 6 (59,1* 3 257/$1' : 25.(56 ) 25 2 9(5 < ($56 PAGE 8 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS a community need before building new facilities. • Shine a light on hospital pricing. Unions will be looking to support some method for patients to compare prices and outcomes between hospi- tals. O THER I DEAS • Roll back privatization. Are Ore- gon taxpayers getting ripped off by lo- cal versions of Halliburton? SEIU wants the Joint Ways and Means Com- mittee to scrutinize contracts to make sure the work couldn’t be done cheaper and better in-house. • Open up the political system to third parties. To eliminate the “spoiler” dilemma, the union-backed Working Families Party of Oregon will be pushing for a “fusion” bill, which would allow third parties to use their ballot line to endorse major party candidates. • OLCC bill. United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555 will lobby for an Oregon Liquor Control Commission bill that would de-crimi- nalize the unintentional sale of alcohol to minors by grocery clerks. • Expand the scope of public em- ployee union contracts. To do some- thing about the problem of mandatory overtime, SEIU wants to add safety and staffing levels to the list of “mandatory subjects of bargaining.” • Prohibit transit workers from striking. Amalgamated Transit Union will be pushing to get transit workers added to the list of public workers pro- hibited from striking. At first glance, that seems odd: Why would a union seek to give up the right to strike? The answer: For public workers who can't strike, the law requires binding arbitra- tion to settle contract disagreements between labor and management. In theory, arbitrators impose the most reasonable of the two positions. %HHVRQ &KLURSUDFWLF KHOSVEULQJWKH UHOLHI\RXQHHG 7UHDWPHQWIRUSDLQGXHWR RYHUXVHDQGUHSHWLWLYHPRWLRQ &KLURSUDFWLFDGMXVWPHQWV 7UHDWPHQWIRUDFFLGHQWDQG VSRUWVUHODWHGLQMXULHV 5HKDELOLWDWLRQH[HUFLVHV 7KHUDSHXWLFPDVVDJH ,QWHUQDOGLDJQRVLVDQGWUHDWPHQW /DEWHVWVDQG[UD\V 'U'DQ%HHVRQ&KLURSUDFWRU 6(7KLUWHHQWK$YHLQ6HOOZRRG &$// JANUARY 5, 2007