Northwest labor press., January 16, 2015, Image 1

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MEETING
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Page 4
Volume 116
Number 2
January 16, 2015
Portland, Oregon
Labor-backed alliance to push bold agenda in Salem
2015 could be a
breakthrough year for
pro-worker legislation
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
Oregon’s five biggest labor organizations have
united with civil rights and community groups in
a new formal coalition to back a bold agenda in
this year’s session of the Oregon Legislature. The
coalition, known as Fair Shot for All, will cam-
paign for a big minimum wage increase, a paid
sick leave law, “ban the box” and racial profiling
laws, and legislation to create a publicly-spon-
sored retirement plan for workers.
The package is an attempt to make the most of
November 2014 electoral gains: Democrats now
have 18 of 30 seats in the state senate and 35 of 60
in the state house, so they’re in a position to do
something about worsening economic inequality.
The groups in Fair Shot for All laid out their
agenda publicly at a press conference Jan. 10, the
same day University of Oregon released a report
that shows a rapid increase in the number of low-
wage jobs in Oregon. The report, “The High Cost
of Low Wages in Oregon,” found that one fourth
of Oregon’s workforce — 412,000 workers —
are in “low-wage” occupations with a median an-
nual income of under $12 an hour. The report also
found that 197,000 working adults were receiv-
ing food stamps as of January 2014.
The Fair Shot for All coalition consists of Ore-
gon AFL-CIO, the American Federation of State,
County and Municipal Employees (Oregon AF-
SCME), United Food and Commercial Workers
(UFCW) Local 555, Oregon Education Associa-
tion, Service Employees International Union
(SEIU), PCUN, Urban League of Portland, Fam-
ily Forward Oregon, Center for Intercultural Or-
ganizing, CAUSA, Basic Rights Oregon, Planned
Parenthood Advocates of Oregon, Asian Pacific
American Network of Oregon, Oregon Action,
and the Rural Organizing Project. And each mem-
ber of the coalition is committing to helping pass
all parts of a package of five proposals that are in-
tended to counter growing inequality:
may consider at least two proposals to increase
Oregon’s minimum wage, which is currently
$9.25 an hour. One would raise it to $15 over
three years. Another would raise it to around $12.
Either way, it would represent a big increase for
more than a quarter of Oregon workers. Advo-
cates also want to repeal a state law that prevents
local jurisdictions from setting a minimum wage
higher than the statewide minimum. To show sup-
port for the campaign, the group 15 Now is or-
ganizing a rally at the Capitol Jan. 24 at noon, co-
sponsored by the Oregon AFL-CIO and over a
dozen unions. The rally will be followed by a
statewide gathering of minimum wage advocates.
MINIMUM WAGE. Oregon AFL-CIO is
playing the role of lead convener in efforts to get
a big raise for low-wage Oregonians. Lawmakers
PAID SICK DAYS. Family Forward Oregon
will spearhead a campaign for a statewide paid
sick days law. As introduced, the proposal would
go farther than the ordinances passed in Portland
and Eugene in that it would apply to all employ-
ers, and would allow workers to take up to seven
paid sick days per year. Workers would accrue the
paid sick leave at the rate of one hour for every 30
hours worked, and could use it to recover at home
from a contagious illness, for a doctors appoint-
ment, or care for a sick child. Union construction
firms would be exempt from the mandate, be-
cause they employ workers through a hiring hall
for typically short periods, and because their paid
leave benefits are administered by a labor-man-
agement trust, not by the employers themselves.
RETIREMENT SAVINGS. Employer-pro-
vided pensions are in steep decline, and around
the country SEIU is taking the lead on a proposal
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U.S. Sen. Warren tells union crowd:
‘The game is rigged’ against workers
“These families are working harder than
ever, but they can’t get ahead. Many feel
that the game is rigged against them,
and they are right. The game is rigged
against them.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen.
Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told a
large union audience that despite work-
ing harder than ever, U.S. workers
aren’t seeing the fruits of their labor.
“I see evidence everywhere of the
pounding working people are taking,”
said Warren, the keynote speaker at the
national AFL-CIO’s Raising Wages
Summit Jan. 7 in Washington, D.C.
“These families are working harder
than ever, but they can’t get ahead.
Many feel that the game is rigged
against them, and they are right. The
game is rigged against them.”
Warren blamed supply side — or
trickle down — economics for the
downslide of the American middle
class.
“When all the varnish is removed,
trickle-down just means helping the
biggest corporations and the richest
people in this country, and claiming
that those big corporations and rich
people could be counted to create an
economy that would work for every-
one else,” Warren said.
That didn’t happen.
Warren said that over the last 32
years, literally 100 percent of the
growth in the U.S. Gross Domestic
Product has gone to the top 10 percent.
“All of it,” she said.
Prior to that — from 1935 to 1980
— 90 percent of all workers — middle
class, working class, the poor — shared
70 percent of all the new income
growth, while the other 30 percent went
to the wealthiest 10 percent.
“Overall, as the economic pie got
bigger, pretty much everyone was get-
ting a little more,” Warren said. “As our
economy got richer, our families got
richer; and as our families got richer,
our country got richer. That is how we
built a great middle class in America.”
But by the early 1980s, wages had
flattened out, while expenses kept go-
ing up. The squeeze was terrible, she
said. By the early 2000s, families were
spending twice as much, adjusted for
inflation, on mortgages than they had a
generation earlier. They were spending
more on health insurance, more to send
their kids to college, and both parents
had to work, creating new expenses.
(Turn to Page 7)