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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 5, 2010)
Feb. 5, 2010:NWLP 2/2/10 9:47 AM Page 3 ...Oregon AFL-CIO launches Good Jobs Now! campaign (From Page 1) ergy economy, toward a first-rate infra- structure, can we expect to have a real economic recovery. “The stimulus recovery effort, it’s a good first step, but more needs to be done,” Juntunen continued. “And it shouldn’t be a system that creates 10 layers of contracting schemes that gives money to everyone except the workers who are actually out there doing the work.” Jones was one of seven City plan- ners in her department to lose their job. She said two have found work — one took a 30 percent pay cut at a temp job that ends in June. The other, who was desperate for health insurance because he and his wife were expecting a baby, took a 50 percent pay cut, also for a temp job ending in June. Jones has taken several classes through WorkSource Oregon to try to obtain funding for skills upgrade courses, but has been stymied from fill- ing out the skills upgrade form because it requires a person to include two job announcements in need of a worker with the missing skill set. “When there are no job announce- ments, it becomes impossible to meet this requirement,” she said. Santos said that since losing her home and car, she has found it difficult to find work anywhere because prospective employers look at appli- cants’ credit histories. Car insurance is the same, with insurers jacking up pre- miums if drivers have poor credit. FEBRUARY 5, 2010 Oregon State Rep. Lisa Kotek (left) listens to story of unemployed Laborer’s apprentice Rachel Santos during a “Good Jobs Now” roundtable discussion Jan. 19 sponsored by the Oregon AFL-CIO. A half-dozen jobless union members described to area politicians the problems they are facing without jobs. The AFL-CIO is lobbying Congress and local lawmakers to devote more resources to create jobs over the short-term. “I’ve never been in an accident. I’ve always paid my bills on time. I’ve had no issues at all until work went away,” she said. After listening to their stories, Rep. Kotek said the agenda for the Oregon Legislature’s February special session “is all about jobs. We have a limited set of tools, but we’re looking at ways to get monies out into the economy. Hav- ing another jobs package from the fed- eral government will be extremely helpful.” Kotek said she and State Sen. Diane Rosenbaum will introduce a bill to end employers’ use of credit histories when hiring. The Job Applicant Fairness Act would restrict employers’ access to a job applicant’s credit report, with lim- ited exceptions; give workers a fair chance to get hired based on qualifica- tions not credit history; and preserve NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS employers’ right to check criminal records and all other job-related refer- ence checks. Labor Commissioner Avakian praised labor’s five-point plan. “The AFL-CIO plan is smart to say you’ve got to extend unemployment insurance and other benefits for a longer period of time, because we’re not going to have a fast solution. It’s an impossibility.” Avakian blamed two decades of “complete disinvestment” by federal and state governments both in job train- ing and education. “We’ve passed things like NAFTA that gives an incentive to ship jobs overseas so (workers) don’t have as many options here. We don’t fund our job training and our public education programs. We’ve eliminated shop classes from our schools. There’s a se- ries of things we’ve done for almost 20 years now that put folks like you — when you lose a job — in a position that you really don’t have other places to turn because the jobs just aren’t there. And now we’re doing everything we can to play catch up.” Avakian said stimulus-backed job training programs that have developed since the recession hit will benefit Ore- gon and the U.S. in the long term. “But it makes it much more difficult in the short term to find all of you jobs when we need them now,” he said. Chamberlain said private industry won’t be able to create jobs quickly enough to put folks back to work, which is why government has to devote more resources to productivity-enhanc- ing investments. “We need to put people back to work doing real work — tutoring kids, working in woods — real jobs with real pay needs to be part of the recovery plan,” he said. The AFL-CIO is encouraging all union members and their families to write or call their state and congres- sional representatives and ask them to support jobs programs. In Congress, the Jobs for Main Street Act, HR 2847, has been passed by the House and is awaiting action in the Senate. The bill would do most of the things the AFL-CIO has called for, although not for the length of time union officials would like to see. For in- stance, HR 2847 would extend CO- BRA health insurance and unemploy- ment insurance for six months. The AFL-CIO plan calls for a 12-month ex- tension. Chamberlain said most of the funds in the bill have already been appropri- ated — as they are left over bank bailout (TARP) funds and not new debt. PAGE 3
