NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | February 5 , 2016 | PAGE 11
Hillsboro School Board opposes minimum wage hike
The Hillsboro School Board on
Jan. 12 voted 4-3 to oppose rais-
ing Oregon’s minimum wage to
either $13.50 or $15 per hour.
Two initiative petitions to
raise the minimum wage are
gathering signatures for the No-
vember ballot — one to $13.50
and the other to $15. And Gov.
Kate Brown recently announced
her own plan to raise the mini-
mum wage. Her plan will be
brought up for debate during the
2016 legislative session that be-
gan this month.
Voting in favor of the school
board taking the position to op-
pose the minimum wage in-
crease were board members
Glenn Miller, Erik Seligman,
Wayne Clift, and Monte Akers.
Voting against were Lisa
Allen, Kim Strelchun and Ja-
neen Sollman. Allen, who is in
her first term on the board, was
endorsed by the Northwest Ore-
gon Labor Council.
The Portland Tribune re-
ported that school superintend-
ent Mike Scott admonished
board members about taking a
position on the issue. Scott said
50 percent of the families the
school district serves live below
the poverty level. Additionally,
he said, there are district em-
ployees who earn less than
$13.50 an hour.
“I don’t know if that’s a posi-
tion a school board should be
taking. There’s a sensitivity
around it,” he said.
On Jan. 26, a group of union
members and activists from 15
Now Oregon held a rally and
press conference at the school
district administration offices
prior to a regularly scheduled
school board meeting.
“This vote was taken despite
the fact that half of the students
in the Hillsboro School District
live below the poverty line.
Forty percent of the district’s
students are Latino, and 60 per-
cent of Latino workers make
less than $15 per hour,” a press
release stated. “None of the
school board members live in
poverty. None are Latino.”
... SOU settlement
In a press statement, SOU
said: “Though SOU disagreed
with BOLI’s conclusion that ad-
ditional wages were owed on
the project, due to the time and
cost of litigating the dispute, the
SOU administration concluded
that it was in the best interest of
all involved to mutually resolve
the dispute. SOU is looking for-
ward to moving on from the is-
sue and continuing to serve our
students and community.”
Labor Commissioner Brad
Avakian told Oregon Public
Broadcasting, “when we do an
investigation, we investigate
both the government agency
and the contractor to make sure
the law is being followed.
There’s a responsibility of both
the contractors and the govern-
ment body to ensure that work-
ers are being paid the amount of
money that they’re due.”
Avakian said contractors and
public agencies will often check
with the agency before initiating
a project, to see if it falls under
the state’s prevailing wage laws.
“It’s unfortunate that did not
happen in this case, which is
what led to the investigation and
now the settlement,” Avakian
told OPB. “But, that said, we’re
very pleased that Southern Ore-
From Page 10
$1 million — BOLI is contacting
each worker to secure individual
releases of claims so that it can
collect and distribute the addi-
tional payments. BOLI antici-
pates that all workers will receive
payment by May.
The settlement agreement re-
leases SOU, ACC, Adroit and
all other parties from future
wage claims, while admitting no
wrongdoing or liability on the
disputed wages.
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