PAGE 8 | February 20, 2015 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Oregon’s new governor, Kate Brown
With John Kitzhaber’s resigna-
tion, Oregon Secretary of State
Kate Brown becomes governor.
Like her predecessor, she has a
decades-long working relation-
ship with organized labor.
“I’ve known her since the first
day she went to the Legislature,”
said Oregon AFL-CIO President
Tom Chamberlain. Chamberlain
was a lobbyist for the Fire Fight-
ers Union when Brown entered
the Oregon House as a state rep-
resentative for Southeast Port-
land in 1991. She moved to the
Senate in 1997 and served as
Senate Majority Leader in the
2005 and 2007 sessions. She
was elected secretary of state in
2008 and 2012.
In 2007, Brown helped pass
laws allowing public employees
to unionize by majority sign-up,
granting state recognition to do-
mestic partnership, and banning
discrimination based on sexual
orientation. She also helped pass
laws giving nursing mothers the
right to unpaid breaks for ex-
pressing milk; banning golden
parachutes for top school offi-
cials; making safety a manda-
tory subject of bargaining for
firefighters; and extending un-
employment benefits to workers
locked out in labor disputes. As
secretary of state, she cracked
down on initiative petitioner
abuses, and touted the benefits
elsewhere of Oregon’s vote-by-
mail system.
“When we’ve needed her,
she’s always been there,” Cham-
berlain said. “I believe she’s got
a passion for poor folks falling
through the cracks.”
NATIONAL
Illinois new GOP governor
declares war on unions
Last fall, private equity investor
Bruce Rauner spent $27.3 mil-
lion of his own money and won
the race for Illinois governor.
Now he’s going after unions.
Rauner issued an executive or-
der blocking the collection of
“fair share” dues by public em-
ployee unions, and filed suit in
federal court seeking to have
his order declared legal. He’s
also encouraging cities and
counties in Illinois to create lo-
cal “right-to-work” zones —
passing ordinances that would
prohibit union contracts from
requiring all workers covered to
share the costs of representa-
tion. It’s a legally untested idea
that appears to run afoul of the
National Labor Relations Act.
Health Care for All rally brings hundreds to Salem
A coalition of more than 100 organizations — including many labor unions — rallied at the State Capitol
Feb. 11 where they called on Oregon lawmakers to create a single-payer health insurance system. Bills have
been introduced in previous sessions but have gone nowhere. State Sen. Mike Dembrow (D-Portland), a mem-
ber of American Federation of Teachers-Oregon, is leading the charge. Last session, lawmakers did authorize a
study on how such a system could be set up in Oregon. The study was to be funded with private money, and sup-
porters so far have raised about $50,000 of the $200,000 needed. Rallygoers on Feb. 11 called on lawmakers to
extend the deadline for the study, and have the state match the amount of private dollars raised. Dembrow also
re-introduced a bill to implement a single-payer system. SB 631, which has 27 co-sponsors, will get a hearing in
March, but it’s not expected to pass. “Thank you for sticking with this for so many years,” Dembrow told rally-
goers. “We have so much work to be done, and it’s going to be done in our neighborhoods, churches and
organizations, one on one. We have to explain to people that we are talking about a simple system here, so
that people do not fall through the cracks and are not denied coverage.” Also speaking at the rally were
Portland Democratic state representatives Barbara Smith Warner and Jennifer Williamson.
… Kitzhaber legacy
From Page 3
work initiative in exchange for
withdrawal by the union-backed
group Our Oregon of a set of ini-
tiatives to raise taxes on the
wealthy and corporations.
Kitzhaber campaigned hard for
the ill-fated Columbia River
Crossing, even calling a special
legislative session in an unsuc-
cessful attempt to get Oregon-
only funding of the I-5 replace-
ment bridge after the Washington
Legislature failed to pony up
matching funds. He also was in-
volved in numerous successful ef-
forts to win infrastructure funding
that put Oregonians to work, par-
ticularly in the building trades.
John Mohlis, executive secre-
tary-treasurer of the Oregon State
Building and Construction Trades
Council, called Kitzhaber a long-
time friend and advocate for
building trades unions, and a col-
laborator and bridge-builder in ef-
forts to get funding for infrastruc-
ture jobs.
“This is an incredibly sad way
for him to leave public life after a
career where I think he did a lot of
good,” Mohlis said.
“John Kitzhaber will ultimately
enjoy an excellent historical
legacy,” predicted Oregon AF-
SCME in a Feb. 13 statement.
“Oregon AFSCME applauds his
career, and we applaud him for
making this difficult — but correct
— decision for Oregon right now.”
“Despite recent news and de-
velopments out of the governor’s
office, Kitzhaber’s historic terms
of service and legacy of healthcare
reform and workers’ rights advo-
cacy have helped thousands across
the state,” said leaders of Service
Employees Locals 49 and 503 in
a joint statement.
State Sen. Michael Dembrow, a
longtime leader in AFT-Oregon,
said in an email to constituents
that Kitzhaber made the right de-
cision.
“His decision to step down re-
ally does help us to move on …
my preference would have been to
allow the Ethics Commission in-
vestigation to play itself out in a
thorough, objective manner be-
tween now and its March 13 dead-
line. But events clearly raced
ahead of us and compelled quicker
action. By the time the governor
announced his final decision on
Friday morning, it came as a relief
— sad, but a relief nonetheless.”