Last-minute highway funding
bill still leaves labor grumbling
WASHINGTON, D.C — Con-
gress’ last-minute passage of a $10.9
billion bill to fund highway, bridge and
mass transit projects through May 2015
left union leaders grumbling. That’s be-
cause the lawmakers did nothing to
solve the permanent problems of the
Highway Trust Fund, whose gas tax
revenues ordinarily fuel the projects.
The fund was running out of money,
thus threatening to idle 700,000 con-
struction workers.
Lawmakers found the funds else-
where, thus “kicking the commuter
down the road” before leaving Aug.1
for their month-long recess.
At press time, the bill was still wait-
ing for President Obama’s signature.
He is expected to sign it.
The short-term funding bill was
drafted by the Republican-controlled
House, and relies heavily ($6.4 billion)
on a budget gimmick known as “pen-
sion smoothing.” The provision allows
companies to cut back on their pension
contributions. It is considered a “rev-
enue-raiser” because contributions that
employers make to their pension plans
are not taxed by the federal government
until the benefits are paid to workers.
By allowing companies to contribute
less to their plans, the federal govern-
ment calculates it will collect more rev-
enue — either from the anticipated in-
crease in company revenue, or from
workers in the form of higher wages.
According to a survey by Pensions
and Investments, the largest 100 U.S.
defined benefit pension plans already
were underfunded to the tune of $122.3
billion in 2013.
Wesley Smyth, vice president and
senior accounting analyst at Moody’s,
told CNBC that the legislation created
a $51 billion corporate piggy bank. “In
effect, it allows companies to borrow
cash from their pension plans,” he said.
The Hill newspaper reported that af-
ter the House rejected a bipartisan pro-
posal from the Democratic-controlled
Senate, senators held their noses and
voted 81-13 for the bill.
[The $8.1 billion Senate bill also re-
sorted to pension smoothing, but to a
lesser extent. Senators also sought to
shorten the length of the extension to
December.]
Senate Finance Committee Chair-
man Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said the
House action was clear that it was “our
way or no highway.” If the Senate had-
n’t acted, the Highway Trust Fund
would have gone bankrupt during the
August recess.
Laborers Union President Terry O’-
Sullivan laid the blame on the GOP
House, both for waiting until the last
minute on the fix and on its refusal to
approve a long-term highway bill.
“Sadly, some Washington politi-
cians want to stick their heads in the
sand, avoid this debate as long as pos-
sible, and continue to pretend the sta-
tus quo is acceptable.”
Amalgamated Transit Union Presi-
dent Larry Hanley extended the blame
to both chambers, calling the short-
PAGE 26
term fix an “ongoing game of kick the
commuter down the road.”
The AFL-CIO Executive Council
was similarly disgusted in a statement
it issued on July 30.
“Political gridlock has turned the
United States from the nation that led
every major advance in public eco-
nomic development — in rail and tran-
sit, roads, sewers, utilities, aviation,
shipping and so much more — into a
nation that can’t find the will to lead in
the 21st century,” it said.
“People want and deserve leader-
ship that will take the steps necessary
to keep the nation strong and to ensure
the foundation for our economy is
sound. This leadership must begin by
rebuilding the infrastructure that thrust
the United States into the modern era
but now is out of date and falling
apart.”
Non-partisan studies calculate the
U.S. must spend $3.6 trillion by 2020
to bring roads, bridges, subways and
buses into good condition.
The federal gas tax of 18.4 cents per
gallon hasn’t been raised since 1993. If
the tax had just kept pace with inflation
it would be at 29 cents a gallon today.
National transportation and construc-
tion unions have endorsed a bipartisan
proposal that would raise the federal
gas tax by 6 cents in each of the next
two years. After that, increases would
be indexed to inflation.
The proposal won’t get through the
current House.
“The House leadership doesn’t have
an agenda — and they couldn’t pass
one if they did, because their caucus is
so divided,” said AFL-CIO Legislative
Director Bill Samuel. He called the
113th Congress the least-productive
Congress in history.
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.),
a senior member of the House Trans-
portation & Infrastructure Committee,
told Reuters that the Republican exten-
sion bill would discourage Congress
from passing a multi-year transport
funding plan until next year.
“We’ll limp along until next May
and there’ll be incredible uncertainty
about the next construction season,”
DeFazio said. “There won’t be major
new projects planned.”
Last month DeFazio introduced a
long-term funding bill that would re-
peal the federal gas tax and replace it
with a modest tax on a barrel of oil.
H.R. 4848 would raise more than $100
billion, enough to fund highway and
transit programs for the next six years,
thereby creating and saving hundreds
of thousands of jobs.
All of Oregon’s and Washington’s
Congressional delegations — with the
exception of U.S. Rep. Earl Blume-
nauer (D-Ore.) and U.S. Rep. Jim Mc-
Dermott (D-Wash.), voted in favor of
the bill to extend highway funding.
Who’s On Our Side?
By Tom Chamberlain
On Aug. 9, a canvass was held to
gather signatures on the City of Port-
land Fair Chance for All petition. Fair
Chance, also known as Ban the Box,
would prohibit employers and land-
lords in the City of Portland from re-
quiring applicants to reveal on an ini-
tial application form if they have
been arrested or convicted of a crime.
This question is used as a means to
whittle down an applicant pool, ef-
fectively making the job of the
screeners easier. But the effect of
such a practice is that ex-offenders
are excluded from housing and em-
ployment, increasing the likelihood
of once again being intertwined in
the criminal justice system. A place
to live and a steady job are proven to
reduce recidivism.
Twelve states and over 60 local ju-
risdictions have implemented a Fair
Chance policy. In Minneapolis, the
implementation of a Fair Chance pol-
icy resulted in a 54 percent increase
in job applicants getting called back
for interviews. It’s clear to me that
these policies work.
The City of Portland and Mult-
nomah County have implemented a
Fair Chance policy for their hiring
practices. Implementing a program
for everyone who works in Portland
is the next logical step, and hopefully,
Portland City Council will pass a
broader Fair Chance policy this fall.
At a recent community event
about Fair Chance, I sat next to a
woman in her 50s who had a previ-
ous conviction on her record. She’s a
mother who for over 10 years has
been trying to break into the job mar-
ket. In a few words, she captured the
essence of the Fair Chance move-
ment: “When a child misbehaves, the
parent will use discipline as a means
to correct behavior. If a timeout or re-
strictions of activities correct the be-
havior, the matter is ended and the
parent doesn’t continue to discipline
the child. But with ex-offenders who
serve their sentences and want to re-
build their lives, being denied a job
or housing is a cycle of discipline that
has no end.”
It’s important to understand what
Fair Chance policies will not do. Fair
Chance does not stop a landlord or
employer from conducting back-
ground checks, nor does it deny the
right to hire who they deem to be the
most qualified. Fair Chance doesn’t
supersede state and federal laws that
excluded some ex-offenders from
certain types of employment.
The canvass was in North Port-
land, and it was inspiring on several
levels. Fair Chance is a righteous is-
sue, and providing information face
to face with the citizens of Portland
gains support and expands the dis-
cussion. The canvassers were from
the Urban League, The Bus Project,
Oregon Action, and from a variety of
local unions.
What we saw Aug. 9 was another
step toward rebuilding the progres-
sive movement by community organ-
izations and unions working together
toward a common goal. It harkens
back to the waning days of the 19th
Century and the early days of the
20th Century, where activists work-
ing outside the political system built
grass-roots support, which over-
whelmed the political system and
forced great changes like the 8-hour
day, women’s voting rights, Social
Security, child labor laws, workplace
safety, Medicare and Medicaid.
These wins, which are now crucial
parts of our society, were all achieved
by a diverse group of organizations
who fought together to achieve great
things.
I’m proud to see Oregon’s unions
standing with our community part-
ners as we fight together with the no-
ble hope of accomplishing great
things. Learn more and get involved
in A Fair Chance for All by visiting
www.fairchanceforall.com.
Tom Chamberlain is president of
the Oregon AFL-CIO.
(Editor’s Note: Press Associates Inc.
contributed to this report.)
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
AUGUST 15, 2014