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Who’s On Our Side?
By Tom Chamberlain
O
regonians in the 1st Congres-
sional District (CD 1) have re-
ceived their ballots in the Oregon
special election, which the whole
country is watching. This is the first
congressional election of 2012, and
the pundits have already claimed
that the results will set the tone for
the year.
I hope that they’re correct. Here’s
why:
First, Oregonians vote in higher
numbers than average. If we want a
pro-worker Congress who will stand
up to corporations and help us cre-
ate more jobs, working people must
vote. I know I can count on union
members in CD 1 to vote. But it’s
up to all of us to talk to our friends
and family in Northwest Oregon
and make sure they turn their ballots
in before Jan. 31.
Second, the two major-party can-
didates in our election give us a
clear choice between an irresponsi-
ble business owner, and a consumer-
advocate who has stood up for
workers’ rights and working people
for her entire career.
There’s still a lot of work to be
done and ballots to be cast before
we’ll know the winner. But I hope
that every election this year focuses
on the important economic issues
that we’ve seen the candidates talk
about in CD 1.
When you pay attention to those
issues, there’s a clear winner for
union members in Oregon.
Suzanne Bonamici started her
career standing up to predatory
lenders’ illegal practices — and she
won. She first got involved in Ore-
gon politics as a citizen activist,
calling for better investment in our
schools. And in her three terms in
the Oregon Legislature she has been
a tireless advocate for workers’
rights, a strong education system for
our kids, and for keeping in line the
same predatory lenders and finan-
cial institutions who she took to
court at the start of her career.
Most importantly, though,
Suzanne is committed to a job cre-
ation plan that puts working people
and small business owners first.
Rob Cornilles, her main oppo-
nent, says his primary qualification
is his time as a business owner in
Oregon. But if he plans to run Con-
gress like he ran his business, we’re
all in for hard times. Rob claims
he’s created 60 jobs in Oregon.
That’s true, in that he’s employed a
total of 60 people over 16 years.
Currently, his company doesn’t even
own building space. And during
those 16 years Cornilles has had to
pay a settlement to past trainees
who claimed they’d been treated as
employees, working hundreds of
hours without ever being paid; he
has had staff forget to pay the com-
pany’s share of payroll taxes for em-
ployees; and he recently let his busi-
ness registration lapse for over a
year.
Let’s prove the pundits right.
This month, let’s show the country
that in Oregon we vote — all of us.
And that in Oregon a commitment
to middle class families and work-
ing people matters. Let’s elect
Suzanne Bonamici with an over-
whelming victory, and tell the rest
of the state — and the country —
that in November it’ll be their turn
to send pro-worker representatives
to Congress.
Suzanne Bonamici has been on
our side her whole career. Let’s
send her to Washington, D.C., and
see what it’s like to have a strong
congresswoman on our side.
Tom Chamberlain is president of
the Oregon AFL-CIO.
New contract: Two-year pay freeze for
1,200 Portland Public Schools support staff
Support workers at Portland Public
Schools (PPS) will get no wage in-
crease or cost-of-living adjustment in
a new two-year contract between the
school district and Portland Federation
of School Professionals (PFSP) Local
111. With the cost of living rising just
over 2 percent a year, the 1,200 work-
ers are likely to fall behind economi-
cally. They’ll also have to pay more out
of pocket for health insurance. The dis-
trict agreed to increase its monthly
health insurance contribution by $50 in
2013, to $1,026 a month. But costs for
the district’s self-insured health trust
are expected to increase more than that
amount — and that’s after a reduction
in benefits.
“Our members are just thankful to
STAT OF THE WEEK
Since 2000, says a new GMI re-
search group study, 21 U.S. CEOs have
pocketed severance packages worth
over $100 million. The chief executives
averaged only 13 years with the com-
panies they exited.
F ROM T OO M UCH ,
AN ONLINE WEEKLY PUBLICATION OF
THE I NSTITUTE FOR P OLICY S TUDIES
PAGE 6
have jobs,” said PFSP President Be-
linda Reagan. “Our group has been so
hard hit by layoffs.”
PFSP numbered 1,400 several years
ago, but 130 members were laid off in
summer 2010, and 60 in summer 2011,
in what Reagan, a former library assis-
tant at Fernwood Middle School, de-
scribed as an annual ordeal of “un-as-
signments.”
“We’re seeing clerical workers,
some of whom have been with the dis-
trict 25 years, laid off,” Reagan said,
“and that’s very frightening for people.”
The tentative agreement was an-
nounced Jan. 9, after nearly a year of
bargaining. It covers the 2011-12 and
2012-13 school years. Members voted
to approve the contract Jan. 11, and the
school board will ratify it at a later
date.
PPS Superintendent Carole Smith,
in the district’s press statement, said
the contract is “grounded in the reality
that we all must make sacrifices in or-
der to maintain the maximum number
of staff in our schools who support stu-
dents.”
PFSP — formerly known as Port-
land Federation of Teachers and Clas-
sified Employees, is an affiliate of the
American Federation of Teachers. The
union represents PPS workers in about
60 occupational classifications, the
most numerous of which are paraedu-
cators (450 employees) and school
clerical staff. Paraeducators — special
education teacher assistants — are paid
$14.04 to $19.45 an hour.
The new contract is retroactive to
July 1, 2011. The previous four-year
agreement contained some cost-of-liv-
ing increases and some step increases.
Step increases — which reward work-
ers for longevity as they move up a pay
scale — used to be automatic, but now
must be bargained for.
Still, Reagan said, district negotia-
tor Brock Logan bargained fairly. Non-
represented employees have had no
raises either, including PPS Superin-
tendent Smith, who has had no raise
since she began in 2007, though she
does make $190,000 a year. Logan, a
former negotiator for AFSCME Coun-
cil 2 in Washington, went to work as
PPS’ director of labor relations in
March 2010. Having little to offer in
economic issues, the district agreed to
some union proposals that don’t have
an economic impact, including rules
that give workers more vacation time
sooner than they do now.
Reagan said members are likely to
demand pay increases in the next con-
tract.
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JANUARY 21, 2012