PAGE 2 | January 15, 2016 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
...Wanted: A mayor for the 99 percent?
NORTHWEST
LABOR
PRESS
From Page 1
(International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X)
Established in 1900 in Portland, Oregon as a voice of the la-
bor movement. Published on a semi-monthly basis on the
first and third Fridays of each month by the Oregon Labor
Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non-profit mutual benefit corpo-
ration owned by 20 unions and councils including the Ore-
gon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in
Oregon and Southwest Washington.
Office location:
4275 NE Halsey St., Portland, Oregon
Mailing address:
P.O. Box 13150, Portland, OR 97213
Phone: (503) 288-3311
Web address:
http://nwlaborpress.org
Editor: Michael Gutwig
Associate editor: Don McIntosh
Office manager: Cheri Rice
Printed on recycled paper, using soy-based
inks, by members of Teamsters Local 747-M.
SUBSCRIPTIONS: Individual subscriptions are
$13.75 per year for union members, $20 a year
for all others. Send a check for that amount,
indicating mailing address and union affilia-
tion, to P.O. Box 13150, Portland, OR 97213.
For 25 or more subscriptions, group rates of
$9.60 a year per person are available to
trade union organizations. Call 503-288-3311
for details.
CORRECTIONS: See an error? Please let us
know at editor@nwlaborpress.org or by
phone at 503-288-3311.
PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID
AT PORTLAND, OREGON.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS NOTICE: Three weeks
are required for a change of address. When or-
dering a change, please give your old and
new addresses and the name and number of
your local union.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
P.O. BOX 13150
PORTLAND, OR 97213-0150
Broadway Floral
for the BEST flowers call
503-288-5537
1638 NE Broadway, Portland
140
Low Prices!
Mon-Fri 9-6, Sat 9:30-5:30, Sun 12-6
public-sector union members,
he says even on a county com-
missioner’s salary he couldn’t
afford a house in the inner
Southeast Portland neighbor-
hood he grew up in. Instead, he
and his wife live in a $375,900
ranch house in Multnomah Vil-
lage. Wheeler, in contrast, was
born into a family of Oregon
timber barons that stretches
back to the state’s founding. He
lives in a $1.25 million 4,000-
square-foot home in the South-
west Hills, and his personal
wealth enabled him and his wife
to contribute $270,000 to his
past campaigns for chair and
treasurer.
Bailey says he won’t accept
individual campaign contribu-
tions larger than $250. Wheeler
is not limiting campaign contri-
butions, and had to wrap up our
interview in order to make
fundraising calls.
In our interview, Wheeler
copped to being a member of
the 1 percent, but said people
can judge him based on his
record: As county chair, he used
executive orders to implement
transgender health benefits and
to “ban the box” in order to give
ex-offenders a fairer shot at em-
MAY THE BEST CANDIDATE WIN
Northwest Oregon Labor Council sponsors a debate
JULES BAILEY
When: 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 25
Where: IBEW Local 48 union hall
15937 NE Airport Way, Portland
Who: Mayoral candidates Jules Bailey
and Ted Wheeler, in front of an audience
of union members
Rules: 5-minute introductions, 1-
minute responses to questions, 30-
second rebuttals, and 3-minute closing
remarks. Call the Labor Council at 503-
235-9444 to suggest questions.
ployment. And as treasurer,
Wheeler supported a bond-
funded endowment to help with
state college tuition — a pro-
posal that was conceived by the
union-backed Oregon Working
Families Party — though voters
rejected the confusingly-titled
and thinly-supported ballot
measure that was needed to im-
plement it. Wheeler also helped
develop and pass a program that
will help up to 400,000 private-
sector workers save for retire-
ment when it launches next year.
[Service Employees Interna-
tional Union, the union that pro-
posed it, credits Bailey for the
legislation’s passage in the
House.]
TED WHEELER
Relationship with city
workers: City labor relations
will most likely improve under
Wheeler or Bailey. For years,
Portland’s mayor and City
Council have stood aside while
city attorneys and HR managers
assumed combative postures to-
ward city employee unions. The
result: Bad blood, drawn-out
contract negotiations, and con-
tract violations that resulted in
big-dollar losses when unions
won in arbitration. Wheeler and
Bailey say that will come to an
end when they’re mayor:
They’ll take charge of HR and
will be more hands-on with la-
bor. Union relations were frac-
tious with the county too — be-
fore Wheeler took over. AF-
SCME credits him for creating
a much more respectful and col-
laborative relationship, which
continued under Chair Deb
Kafoury.
Public employee retiree
benefits: As treasurer, Wheeler
came out early sounding the
alarm over PERS difficulty re-
covering from investment
losses, and he called for cutting
retiree cost-of-living increases
to reduce the unfunded liability.
When Kitzhaber later pushed
that proposal, public employee
unions fought hard against it,
and warned the cuts would be
struck down by the state
Supreme Court. As state rep,
Bailey voted against the PERS
cuts; an Oregonian newspaper
editorial said the electorate
should remember his vote. In
the end, the cuts were struck
down, as the unions predicted.
Wheeler now says that was the
right decision. PERS invest-
ments have rebounded some-
what in recent years under his
oversight, and Wheeler has put
the message out that the system
is no longer in crisis.
Trade agreements: Mayors
have no say over NAFTA-style
Turn to Page 5