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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (March 16, 2007)
Senate votes to restore safety bargaining SALEM — The Oregon Senate voted March 7 to restore public safety officers’ ability to negotiate on safety and staffing issues in their union con- tracts. Senate Bill 400 passed by a vote of 16-13. Two Democrats — Joanne Verger and Betsy Johnson — and one independent — Avel Gordly — joined all the Senate Republicans in opposing the bill. SB 400 restores the ability of fire- fighters, police and corrections officers to negotiate on safety, equipment and staffing issues when bargaining con- tracts. That right was stripped from them in 1995 by a Republican-controlled Legislature. The Oregon AFL-CIO hailed the vote as a major victory this session. “This is a top priority for us and several Oregon unions,” said Tom Chamberlain, president of the state labor federation. “Nobody has earned the right to talk about safety issues more than the Ore- gonians who put their lives on the line to keep the rest of us safe,” said State Sen. Kate Brown (D-Portland), who co- sponsored the bill with State Sen. Floyd Prozanski (D-Eugene). “This legislation allows our firefighters and police to dis- cuss their own safety at the bargaining table.” The issue is important, Chamberlain said, because safety employees are pro- hibited by Oregon law from striking. Previous to a change in the law in 1995, employees were allowed to negotiate on safety issues. The bill now moves on to the Oregon House of Representatives. The AFL- CIO is asking union members to call their lawmakers and urge them to sup- port SB 400. The phone number to reach lawmakers is 503-986-1000. JOBS Plus on the radar of GOP lawmaker SALEM — Some Republican law- makers are trying to resurrect Oregon’s JOBS Plus program, which died a quiet death June 30, 2005. JOBS Plus, the brainchild of Kla- math Falls conservative Dick Wendt, used unemployment insurance funds to pay employers to hire the unemployed. Unions opposed the program, saying unemployment insurance was meant as a support for workers, not as a subsidy to employers. JOBS Plus was the result of a six- county welfare-to-work pilot project approved by Oregon voters in 1990. But it required federal approval to di- vert funds from other programs. As worked out by the Legislature, the JOBS Plus program had 10 years to prove itself. Its backers tried to reautho- rize it in the 2005 legislative session, but opposition from the governor, and the fact that it couldn’t get a hearing in Democrat-run Senate, doomed the bill. Still, Klamath Falls State Sen. Doug Whitsett pledged to give it another go this year, and the Oregon AFL-CIO is tracking the bill to make sure it doesn’t go anywhere. In a letter to House Speaker Jeff Merkley, Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain explained why labor opposes the bill: “JOBS Plus is sup- posed to limit its subsidies to newly- created jobs, but appears to subsidize jobs that would otherwise be created by market forces.” That ends up displacing other work- ers, Chamberlain argued, as when JOBS Plus placements filled temporary jobs when Cirque de Soleil came to Portland in 2004. ‘Union Yes’ race car driver looking for more sponsors “Union Yes” drag racer Greg Hindman of Boring, Oregon, is looking for spon- sors for the 2007 sea- son. A member of Plumbers and Fitters Local 290, Hindman has been racing his 1992 Grand Prix in the National Hot Rod Association Top Comp division for the past three years. Union locals, building trades councils and state and regional labor federa- tions have been some of Hindman’s sponsors. His goal is to go national, but he needs more sponsors to do it. He has been invited to bring his race car to the National AFL-CIO Building and Construc- tion Trades Department Legislative Conference March 25-28 in Washington, D.C. There, he will be able to show off the car and his Union Yes program to leaders of national unions. The invite was short notice, and the cost to transport the vehicle is steep — about $12,000. Hindman is looking for financial assistance to help pay for the trip. He must leave Portland on March 19 or 20, so time is of the essence. Union locals, union vendors, money managers and other union supporters are encouraged to donate, and to possibly sponsor Hindman for the ‘07 season. Last year, Hindman held “Union Solidarity” days at race tracks in Arizona and Idaho. He’s planning a similar event in July at the Woodburn Drag Strip in Oregon. “The car creates a lot of buzz at the track, especially in the right-to-work states like Idaho,” Hindman said. “With all these locals, councils and vendors working together towards one message, ‘Union Yes,’ this program is a power- ful advertising tool. We are able to reach many more people than any one of us could do alone.” Contact Hindman at 503-260-5593 or 503-740-8806. Karl Bik, Co-Chairman Cement Masons Trust Funds for Northern California The bank of labor has on-the-job experience in Taft-Hartley trust fund management supports you with an expert labor team and one easy point of contact offers investment solutions to build and protect your hard-earned funds gives workers the benefit of customized health and retirement plans has worked on behalf of unions for more than 50 years. Invest in you ® Labor Management Trust Services Stephen Heady, Vice President, (503) 450-1270 Louis Nagy, Vice President, (206) 587-3627 Labor Management Deposit Services Diane Williams, Senior Vice President & Manager, (213) 236-5085 John Mendoza, Vice President & Relationship Manager, (415) 705-7112 Visit us at unionbank.com MARCH 16, 2007 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS ©2007 Union Bank of California, N.A. Member FDIC PAGE 5
