Nov. 5-2010:NWLP
11/3/10
9:18 AM
Page 2
...Election night bittersweet for Washington unions
(From Page 1)
In the Oregon Senate, Democrats
were clinging to a 15-13 advantage, with
two races still undecided at press time.A
majority requires 16 seats.
Union Steelworker Bruce Cronk, the
Working Families Party candidate for
U.S. Senate, got 12,412 votes — 1.22
percent of the total, and the highest of
three minor party candidates. That result
of over 1 percent means the party will
continue to be certified as an official mi-
nor political party.
On statewide ballot measures, Ore-
gon voters turned back a proposal to al-
low a private developer to build a casino
in Multnomah County. Measure 75 had
support from the Oregon State Building
and Construction Trades Council.
Voters approved Measure 70, mak-
ing low-interest home loans available to
more military veterans; Measure 71, re-
quiring the Legislature to meet every
year; Measure 72, to allow the Legisla-
ture to use bonds with lower interest
rates for building projects; and Measure
76, dedicating 15 percent of lottery
funds for protecting waterways, pre-
serving natural areas and staffing state
parks.
Oregonians also passed Measure 73,
to boost the mandatory minimum sen-
tences for repeat drunken drivers and
sex offenders. The American Federation
of State, County and Municipal Em-
ployees and the Oregon Nurses Associ-
ation, as well as Dudley and Kitzhaber,
opposed Measure 73 because the in-
creased prison costs aren’t offset, so
funding will have to come from other
state services.
Measure 74, to create nonprofit med-
ical marijuana dispensaries and a pro-
ducer supply system was soundly de-
feated.
In the race for Metro president, labor-
endorsed Tom Hughes, a former mayor
of Hillsboro, led environmentalist Bob
Stacey 51 percent to 49 percent in in-
complete returns at press time.
Steven Araujo, Richard Ramirez and Everice Moro, all officers of the Oregon
School Employees Association, have mixed reaction to early election results at
the Hilton Hotel Grand Ballroom.
In Portland, voters rejected the city’s
public campaign finance system for
city-wide elected offices; the so-called
Saturday mail delivery to continue — for now
Earlier this year, the U.S. postmaster
general proposed eliminating mail de-
livery on Saturdays, but so far, Congress
isn’t going along with it.
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is a
government enterprise, but since 1970,
Congress has required it to be self-sup-
porting. The problem is: Recession and
the Internet are reducing mail volume
and thus cutting postal revenue. USPS
lost $3.7 billion last year. On top of that,
a relatively new requirement by Con-
gress that USPS “pre-fund” its retirees’
medical benefits is costing USPS over
$5 billion a year. USPS has now
amassed $41 billion in its future retiree
health fund, enough to fund retiree ben-
efits for decades.
Ending Saturday delivery was pro-
posed as a cost-cutting measure, and it
was supposed to happen at the begin-
ning of October. Postal unions fought
the proposal vigorously.
And Congress didn’t agree to it. On
Sept. 29, Congress adopted a “continu-
ing resolution” to fund the federal gov-
ernment through early December. In the
resolution, Congress didn’t approve
ending Saturday delivery, but it didn’t
help USPS out of its financial squeeze
either. Senate Republicans voted unan-
imously to block a provision that would
have deferred $4 billion of the $5.5 bil-
lion payment to future retiree health
benefits. Congress deferred the pay-
ment last year. The provision was
backed by the National Association of
Letter Carriers (NALC).
USPS made its payment Sept. 30,
and is as a result very short on cash —
less than $2 billion. And according to
the postmaster general’s current fore-
cast, USPS won’t have enough money
to make next year’s payment on Sept.
30, 2011.
Voter-Owned Elections ballot measure
had union backing.
Multnomah County voters passed
ballot measures to fund the Oregon His-
torical Society, and to allow future votes
on library funding. Both measures were
supported by the Northwest Oregon La-
bor Council.
Former Wyden aide Loretta Smith,
who had a wide range of labor endorse-
ments, won the race for Multnomah
County Commission, District 2.
In Lane County, Pat Riggs-Henson,
a retired member of AFSCME Local
2831 and former AFL-CIO Executive
Board member, lost her bid for the Lane
County Commission. She was defeated
by Springfield Mayor Sid Leiken.
Election night was bittersweet for the
Washington union movement.
In Southwest Washington’s Third
Congressional District, Republican
Jaime Herrera defeated labor-endorsed
Democrat Denny Heck for the seat va-
cated by Democrat Brian Baird.
Ballot measures supported by the
Washington State Labor Council were
rejected by voters: A measure to estab-
lish the state’s first-ever income tax on
the highest income earners was defeated
by a wide margin, and so was a meas-
ure that would have put building trades
members to work retrofitting schools.
Meanwhile, at least two initiatives
opposed by labor passed: repeal of the
soda and candy tax, and a measure that
requires a two-thirds’ majority for the
Legislature to raise taxes.
But the initiative that was most heav-
ily opposed by unions — a measure to
privatize Washington’s workers’ com-
pensation system — also failed, to the
relief of union leaders. And two ballot
measures privatizing liquor sales —
both opposed by labor — appeared
headed to defeat.
In Clark County, former AFSCME
union member Tony Golik was elected
county prosecutor, while incumbent
county clerk Sherry Parker, a former
member of Office and Professional Em-
ployees Local 11, was in a dead heat
against Scott Weber as of press time,
leading him by less than 100 votes.
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NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
NOVEMBER 5, 2010