Northwest labor press., April 05, 2013, Page 4, Image 4

Don’t rely on politicians, Avakian tells union retirees
The Oregon Alliance for Retired
Americans (ORARA) held its 10th an-
nual convention March 9 in Portland.
ORARA is a constituency group of the
AFL-CIO.
Delegates elected Scott Blau of the
National Association of Letter Carriers
as president; Linda Delucia of Service
Employees International Union (SEIU),
1st vice president; Barney Gorter of
SEIU, 2nd vice president; Jim Gerhardt
of AFSCME, treasurer; Leanna Hakala
of the Oregon School Employees Asso-
ciation, secretary; Jim Davis, board
member-at-large; and Grady Storms of
Communications Workers of America,
Roz Geise of SEIU, and member-at-
large Ron Rogers, trustees.
Delegates passed several resolu-
tions, including: support of six-day de-
livery for the Postal Service; to undo
the Citizens United (corporations are
people) court decision; to close unnec-
essary tax loopholes for the wealthy
and corporations; to strengthen truth-
in-advertising laws for senior-oriented
ads; and to correct flaws in voting pro-
cedures that make it more difficult for
citizens to vote.
Keynote speaker, Labor Commis-
sioner Brad Avakian, talked about the
future of organized labor. He expressed
optimism that unions will survive, but
said, “it’s going to take some work.”
Avakian said with today’s political
system so totally dependent on money,
unions shouldn’t count on politicians
for help. “Stay in touch with politi-
cians, build relationships with them,
and use them — but never rely on
them,” he said.
Avakian said when the labor move-
ment was booming in the 1850s and
early 20th century, “It didn’t boom be-
cause politicians did things, it boomed
because workers understood the im-
portance; workers did it. Workers or-
ganized. Workers went to worksites
and said ‘join the union, because this is
how you’re going to get a living wage.’
It wasn’t some U.S. senator or state
representative that went to the worksite
and said ‘let’s all get together and even
the playing field in the workplace.’ It
was workers and unions that did it, and
if that is ever going to be that way again
in this country, it’s going to be because
you do it.”
Avakian challenged retirees to stay
close to their union locals and to re-
mind union leaders how important it is
to organize new workers.
“Union membership is down across
the country, and frankly, it’s because
unions are not out there organizing like
they used to organize,” he said.
Bob Pearson (photo above left), a delegate to the Oregon Alliance for Retired Americans convention, asks a question
of the keynote speaker, Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian. The annual gathering was held March 9 in Portland.
State Rep. Michael Dembrow re-
ported on progress of his Health Care
for All Oregonians bill in the Oregon
Legislature. He said it will need the
support of large numbers of Oregoni-
ans in order to pass. For now, he en-
couraged support for a bipartisan bill to
study and compare future costs of three
types of health coverage for Oregon.
Dembrow received pushback from
several delegates about potential
changes to the PERS retirement system
that could lower benefits to average re-
cipients.
...Portland workers will have sick leave
(From Page 1)
and checkout people have to be sick for
three days before they can use the sick
days that they already earned [in their
union contract],” Fritz said.
Fritz said she would support a sick
leave ordinance. But she didn’t offer to
lead it, at first. The coalition would need
to demonstrate public support.
The campaign kicked into its public
phase in the summer of 2012, and each
component of the coalition had a spe-
cial role to play.
The Oregon AFL-CIO deployed the
door-to-door canvass operation of its
community affiliate, Working America.
The labor-backed Oregon Working
Families Party joined that effort, joined
by a dozen student interns from the
Oregon Bus Project’s Politicorps pro-
gram. The allied field operation spent a
good portion of the summer and fall
talking to Portlanders about the sick
days ordinance. All told, they knocked
on 40,000 doors, generated 3,000 letters
and 1,400 signatures on a petition in
support of the ordinance. A later round
of calls to the petition signers generated
1,300 live phone calls to City Council,
says Oregon Working Families Party
state director Steve Hughes.
In August, UFCW commissioned a
poll that showed 60 percent of Portland
voters in favor of a law guaranteeing all
workers in Portland a minimum num-
ber of paid sick days, and 15 percent
opposed. Local 555 — Oregon’s largest
private sector union — also threw its
PAGE 4
weight behind Fritz’ re-election, met re-
peatedly with commissioners, and then
mobilized members to tell their stories
at public hearings.
Other unions lent support behind the
scenes, and met with commissioners to
press for the ordinance.
The breakthrough occurred Oct. 27
at a mayoral candidates forum spon-
sored by the Latino civil rights group
CAUSA. Fritz showed up and made a
surprise announcement: She would
work with other City Council members
to pass a paid sick days ordinance.
CAUSA was an energetic member of
the coalition, and with good reason: It’s
estimated that nearly three-fifths of
Latino workers lack paid sick days.
Latino workers are concentrated in low-
wage service sector jobs. CAUSA began
running Spanish language radio ads, and
filled City Hall chambers several times
with supporters of paid sick leave.
Meanwhile, a pair of local business
groups, the Main Street Alliance and
VOIS (Voice for Oregon Innovation and
Sustainability), organized support within
the business community and marshaled
dozens of business owners to testify in
support of a sick leave mandate. That
undermined the ability of the Portland
Business Alliance, which opposed the
ordinance, to argue that the business
community was united against it.
In the end, when it came time to vote
March 13, all five City Council mem-
bers thanked the coalition and lauded the
measure’s importance, with Fritz calling
it “a historic moment for human rights.”
“I think this is a simple question,”
said newly-elected Mayor Charlie
Hales. “We should, when we act, do
justice whenever we can. This is justice.
This is the right thing to do.”
How the ordinance works
Under the Portland ordinance, em-
ployees accrue one hour of sick leave for
every 30 hours they work, and can use
up to 40 hours a year. The leave can be
used for diagnosis, care, or treatment of
the employee or their family member’s
illness, injury or health condition, in-
cluding pregnancy, childbirth, postpar-
tum care, preventive medical care, and
mental illness. Leave can be used to
cover all of a shift, such as when an em-
ployee is sick, or just part, as in the case
of a doctor’s appointment. At employers
with six or more employees, the leave is
paid, based on the employee’s base
wage. The leave will be unpaid at em-
ployers with five or fewer employees.
Workers can’t use the leave during
the first 90 calendar days of employ-
ment.
For absences of more than three con-
secutive days, employers are allowed to
require documentation, such as a note
from a health care provider or a signed
personal statement. But if an employer
requires a note from a health care
provider, the employer has to pay any
part of the cost of such verification if it’s
not covered by insurance. On the other
hand, if employers suspect abuse of sick
time, and can show a pattern such as re-
peated use of unscheduled sick time on
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
or adjacent to weekends, holidays, or
vacation, then they can require an em-
ployee to pay the cost of verification.
Employers may not retaliate against
employees for using sick leave.
Nor may they require employees to
search for or find a replacement worker
as a condition using sick time, or to
work an alternate shift to make up for
using sick time. But employers may al-
low employees to trade shifts in lieu of
using sick time.
Employers don’t have to develop
new policies or benefits if existing sick
time or paid time off policies can be
used in the same way, as long as the
benefits are as good as or better than
those in the ordinance.
Further details will be worked out by
the City attorney’s office by Aug. 31.
Membership to the Oregon Alliance
for Retired Americans is $10 a year.
The group meets the second Thursday
each month in the board room of La-
bor’s Community Service Agency,
1125 SE Madison, Portland. For more
information, call 503-464-6062.
that workers in Medford do not,” Fritz
said.
One measure is Senate Bill 801,
sponsored by state senators Diane
Rosenbaum and Elizabeth Steiner Hay-
ward. The other is House Bill 3390,
sponsored by Democrats Michael Dem-
brow and Alissa Keny-Guyer.
A hearing on HB 3390 was sched-
uled for April 3 (after this issue went to
press.) The measure is very similar to
the Portland ordinance, except it would-
n’t apply to businesses with fewer than
six employees. It would also require 56
hours (seven days) a year of sick leave,
compared to 40 hours in the Portland or-
dinance.
Taking it statewide
At the final hearing before the vote,
several state legislators told Portland
City Council that passing the Portland
ordinance would greatly increase their
chances of passing paid sick leave
statewide.
Now an attempt to do that is under
way, backed by the same coalition that
pushed the Portland measure. And at
the direction of City Council, the City’s
own lobbyists will also be pushing the
Legislature to pass the law. Fritz her-
self has been lobbying lawmakers, and
said the proposal is getting a lot of sup-
port.
“[The feeling is] it’s not fair for
workers in Portland to have a benefit
APRIL 5, 2013