By Portland City Council
Do-Not-Buy Walmart policy extended
Portland City Council voted unani-
mously Dec. 17 to keep Walmart on its
“Do-Not-Buy” list — because of its la-
bor abuses, tax avoidance, and un-
healthy market dominance.
In 2013, Commissioner Steve
Novick learned that the City’s asset
portfolio included Walmart bonds, and
in October 2013 he led passage of a
resolution calling on the City to divest.
Under that ordinance, when $10
million in Walmart securities matured
in May 2014, the City sold them and
did not reinvest in the company. The
City still owns $27 million in Walmart
bonds, all of which will mature by
April 2016. The Dec. 17 Council vote
extends the original resolution through
the end of 2015.
The original resolution also author-
ized a five-member volunteer citizen
committee to devise a socially respon-
sible investments policy. That commit-
tee delivered a report to the City in Au-
gust 2014. Service Employees Local 49
political director Felisa Hagins was the
voice of organized labor on the com-
mittee, and Bernie Bottomly of the
Portland Business Alliance was the
voice of organized business (though he
only came to one meeting). The com-
mittee recommended that the City form
Minimum wage inches up in 2015
The minimum wage in Oregon and
Washington inched up 15 cents an hour
on Jan. 1. Oregon’s minimum wage is
now $9.25 an hour, and Washington’s is
$9.47 — the highest in the nation. The
increases are the result of state laws that
tie the minimum wage to inflation.
Washington’s minimum wage ap-
plies to workers in both agriculture and
non-agricultural jobs, though 14- and
15-year olds may be paid 85 percent of
the minimum ($8.05).
JANUARY 2, 2015
In the new year, the minimum wage
increased in 19 other states. In Alaska,
Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota,
voters approved ballot measures to in-
crease the minimum wage. In Con-
necticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachu-
setts, Rhode Island, Vermont and West
Virginia, legislators approved the wage
increases. Twenty-nine states and the
District of Columbia now have mini-
mum wages higher than the federal
minimum of $7.25 an hour.
a permanent, standing public commit-
tee to advise the City on socially re-
sponsible investment policies. A second
resolution passed Dec. 17 does that.
The resolution declares that City
Council has an ethical obligation to
avoid adding to its portfolio any securi-
ties issued by corporations that damage
the environment and health, engage in
abusive labor practices, violate corpo-
rate ethical and governance standards,
engage in extreme tax avoidance, or ex-
ercise such a level of market domi-
nance as to disrupt normal competitive
market forces.
For now, Walmart is the only com-
pany on the City’s “Corporate Securi-
ties Do Not Buy List.” As spelled out
in the ordinance, that’s because the
company’s “business model exerts con-
siderable downward pressure on wages
throughout the retail sector and the
broader economy,” and because “Wal-
mart’s anti-union posture has dimin-
ished the exercise of workers’ rights.”
Among other evidence, the resolu-
tion cites 39 complaints issued against
the company by the National Labor Re-
lations Board between 2000 and 2005,
for illegal firings, disciplinary action
and discrimination against union sup-
porters. The complete resolution is
available at http://bit.ly/1r3YOfE .
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140
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