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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 15, 2008)
LaborDay-08 (15-28):NWLP 8/12/08 8:41 AM Page 18 Radical Women National Conference Persistent Power of Socialist Feminism The October 3-6, 2008 San Francisco, Women’s Building M Registration: $15/day, $7.50 low income Contact 206-722-6057 • www.RadicalWomen.org Oregon unions oppose slew of Sizemore-sponsored measures Oregon voters will see 12 measures on their mail-in ballots this fall: eight citizen initiatives and four legislative referrals. The four referrals (Measures 54 through 57) are likely to get labor sup- port, but all but one of the initiatives are opposed by organized labor. Unions have not yet taken a position on Measure 65, which would change the primary election. But unions and other opponents of the measures have formed a group — Defend Oregon — to oppose Measures 58 through 64. The measures are sponsored by long- time labor adversaries, including Bill Sizemore; several of the proposals have been rejected by voters before. As he has in previous years, Size- more appears to have written the measures specifically to tie up the re- sources of his adversaries. Some measures will be fought especially hard by public school teachers, others by all public employees, and one is sure to galvanize building trades union members. A pair of crime-related measures sponsored by Kevin Mannix also is being opposed by organized la- bor. What follows is a summary of the measures. M EASURE 58: Prohibits teaching public school students in a language other than English for more than two years. Oregon has about 74,000 K-12 public school students learning Eng- lish as a second language. Most are taught in classes where the language instruction takes place in English — until they are assessed as proficient in English. But some get tutors in their own language to keep them from falling behind their peers in subjects like math and science. And it’s up to local districts whether to offer classes in other languages. In some cases, classes are offered in foreign lan- guages both to help native speakers keep up and to help non-native speak- ers gain proficiency in a foreign lan- guage. Current Oregon law requires International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO Affiliated Locals Willamette Lodge No. 63, Mt. Hood Lodge No. 1005, Beaver Lodge No. 1432 and Legendary Lodge No. 2911 “Without Labor, Nothing Prospers” (Sophocles) Wishing you a safe and relaxing Labor Day C EMENT M ASONS L OCAL 555 “Building Our Future” 12812 NE Marx Street, Portland, Oregon 503-232-9341 PAGE 18 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS that all such programs be justified by research. Sizemore has no background in education, and has never taught public schools, but his measure would do away with much of that, mandating a two-year limit for instruction in any foreign language except when native English speakers are the ones being in- structed. Similar measures have passed in California and Arizona. Oregon Ed- ucation Association spokesperson Becca Uherbelau said Oregon teachers oppose the measure as an uninformed intrusion into educational practice, and an unfunded mandate that takes away local control of schools. Arizona school administrators estimate the re- quirement there is costing $2,741 extra per student per year. Based partly on that figure, the official explanatory statement that will accompany Meas- ure 58 on the Oregon ballot estimates the measure could cost $203 to $253 million a year extra — for extra teach- ing staff needed to meet the federal No Child Left Behind requirement that all students make satisfactory progress. M EASURE 59: Creates an unlim- ited deduction for federal income taxes on individual taxpayers’ Oregon in- come tax returns. When you fill out your state income tax return, you get to reduce the amount of taxable in- come you report to the state by the amount of federal income tax you paid — up to a limit that’s currently $5,500. That limit doesn’t affect most Oregon taxpayers, because only 28 percent are paying more than that amount of fed- eral income tax. So removing the limit benefits only those higher-income tax- payers. Chuck Sheketoff of the Ore- gon Center for Public Policy estimates half the tax savings from this measure would go to the top 1 percent. And it’s expected this ballot measure would re- duce revenues to the State of Oregon by $360 million the first year, $1 bil- lion the second year, and $1.3 billion after that. That’s a hit of 9 percent of the state’s general fund, and it would rise over time. Unlike the feds, states can’t borrow money, so revenue cuts would either need to be matched with new taxes elsewhere or cuts in spend- ing. The state spends 54 percent of its (Turn to Page 19) 8-Hour Day, Paid Sick Leave, HigherWages, Health Insurance, Over- time Pay, Pensions, Safer Working Conditions, Paid Holidays, Job Security, Sev- erance Pay, PaidVacations, Maternity Leave The preceding were brought to you by the men and women of organized labor, who won these benefits at the bargaining table and set the standard for all working Americans. AUGUST 15, 2008
