Paid sick leave could be
coming soon to Eugene
EUGENE — The City of Eugene
is considering a sick leave ordinance
modeled on the ordinance Portland
passed last year.
Eugene City Council has held sev-
eral work sessions on the concept, and
in April appointed a task force to
gather information. The task force met
May 8 for the first time and will report
back to City Council in mid-June. It
has representatives of business, and
two representatives from labor: United
Food and Commercial Workers Local
555 Staff Director Kevin Billman, and
Painters Local 1277 Business Repre-
sentative Pat Smith, who is also secre-
tary-treasurer of the Lane, Coos, Curry,
Douglas Building Trades Council.
Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy led the
kickoff meeting of the task force,
which also includes Eugene City
Council members Claire Syrett and
Alan Zelenka.
Lili Hoag, policy director for the
MAY 16, 2014
group Family Forward Oregon, said
there appears to be majority support on
Eugene City Council for an ordinance.
On April 28, about 40 Eugene resi-
dents turned out to City Council for
what she described as a “show of grat-
itude.” One worker told City Council
about his experience recovering from
surgery without the help of his wife,
who had no paid sick days. Behind
him stood eight activists holding peti-
tions from each of the eight City Coun-
cil wards. The petitions, signed by over
3,200 Eugenians, were gathered in a
door-to-door canvass by Oregon Work-
ing Families Party.
Portland Jobs with Justice
annual dinner May 31
Portland Jobs with Justice is hold-
ing its 23rd anniversary celebration
and dinner at 6 p.m. Saturday, May
31, at the Teamsters Joe Edgar Hall,
1860 NE 162nd Ave., Portland. Tick-
ets are $70 each and can be purchased
online at jwjpdx.org.
Jobs with Justice is a coalition of
labor organizations and community
groups dedicated to protecting the
rights of working people. The Port-
land chapter has 96 member organi-
zations and 5,000 individuals who
pledge to be there five times a year
for other people’s struggles.
For more information, call 503-
236-5573.
Grants Pass
firefighters
victorious
in OT ruling
Supporters of paid sick leave turn up April 28 to thank Eugene City Council
for moving forward on a City ordinance. Photo by Lisa Frack, courtesy of
Family Forward Oregon
National LERA confab expects
to draw 400 people to Portland
The Labor and Employment Rela-
tions Association (LERA) will hold its
national conference in Portland May
29-June 1 at the Hilton Portland and
Executive Towers. The event is ex-
pected to draw 400 representatives
from labor, management, government,
academics and neutrals to Portland.
The keynote luncheon speaker on
May 29 will be Dr. David Weil, newly
appointed administrator of the Wage
and Hour Division of the U.S. Depart-
ment of Labor. It will be Weil’s first
policy speech as the new head of the
agency. He was sworn in as the admin-
istrator of the Wage and Hour Division
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
on May 5. Weil is the first Senate-ap-
proved administrator since Tammy D.
McCutchen resigned in 2004, serving
in the Bush Administration from 2001
to 2004.
The theme of the conference is “Re-
newing Employment Relations for
Shared Prosperity: Research, Practice
and Policy.” It features over 70 ses-
sions. Some of the topics include: “Se-
curity, Surveillance and Implications
for Labor Relations;” “New strategies
for Low-Wage Workers?;” “What a Re-
imagined Labor Movement Means for
Employer/Employee Relations?”
LERA is an organization that pro-
vides a forum for professionals inter-
ested in all aspects of labor and em-
ployment relations to network and
share ideas. It has a local chapter in
Portland.
For more information or to register
for the conference, go to: www.LERA
web.org/66thAnnualMtgProgram, or
contact Michael Lillich at clearlyex-
pressedllc@gmail.com.
GRANTS PASS — The Oregon
Court of Appeals ruled May 7 that the
City of Grants Pass must pay back
wages and overtime to city firefighters.
In June 2011, the International As-
sociation of Fire Fighters Local 3564
petitioned the Oregon Bureau of Labor
and Industries (BOLI) for a ruling
about whether the City of Grants Pass
must include authorized vacation and
sick leave time when calculating the
overtime wages of its members.
The union filed the wage claim after
discovering state statutes that set work-
ing hours and that established a
method of computing overtime for
firefighters.
Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian
said it did, and he ordered the city to
correct up to two years of miscalcu-
lated pay for 24 firefighters. At that
time the cost was estimated to be
$30,000. (See NW Labor Press, “La-
bor commissioner sides with Fire
Fighters in overtime pay dispute,”
March 16, 2012.)
The City of Grants Pass appealed,
arguing that enactment of the Public
Employees Collective Bargaining Act
(PECBA) in 1973 created a collective
bargaining exception to the overtime
requirements cited by the union.
On May 7, the Court of Appeals up-
held BOLI’s ruling, which will result in
the payment of more than $100,000 in
back wages and overtime for the fire-
fighters.
On its Facebook page, Local 3564
called it “a big win for all Oregon fire-
fighters.”
The City of Grants Pass has 35 days
to appeal the ruling to the Oregon
Supreme Court.
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