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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 3, 2016)
PAGE 2 | December 2, 2016 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS ...Housing state of emergency 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 & Manager: 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 $14 a year for union members, $22 a year for all others. Pay by credit card online at nwlaborpress.org/subscribe, or send a check to our mailing address (above) along with your name, address and union affiliation, if any. Group rates of $10.08 a year per person are available for 25 or more subscriptions; 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: If you move, let us know at nwlaborpress.org/subscriber-services or by mail at our mailing address (above). Be sure to provide your old and new addresses and the name/number of your local union. Please allow three weeks for the change to take effect. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS P.O. BOX 13150 PORTLAND, OR 97213-0150 PLEASE SHOW OUR ADVERTISERS YOU APPRECIATE THEIR SUPPORT FOR THIS LABOR MOVEMENT NEWSPAPER! Paula It’s not enough, says the union-backed group Portland Tenants United. “No one facing a $500 rent increase is going to say, ‘Thank God for the housing bond,’” says Lewis & Clark College in- structor Margot Black, who helped found the group. At a Nov. 18 press conference outside City Hall, Portland Ten- ants United called on City Council to enact rent control. As practiced in other U.S. cities, rent control limits rent increases to a certain maximum, such as the overall rate of inflation. Rent control is by far the most potent tool to stop runaway rent in- creases, but the Oregon Legisla- ture, at the request of the land- lord lobby, enacted legislation in 1985 prohibiting Oregon cities from enacting rent control ordi- nances. Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek (D-Portland) said she’ll seek to overturn that pro- hibition next year. But Portland Tenants United says the city doesn’t have to wait. The state law banning rent control provides a temporary exception in the event of a natu- ral or man-made disaster that Laid-off Daimler Machinist Local 1005 member Mike McLaren had his rent increased from $600 to $1,100 from one month to the next. Rent increases like that are be- coming commonplace in Portland. At Labor’s Commu- nity Service Agency, outreach specialist Eryn Byram says over the last year she’s seen the almost complete disap- pearance of any Portland-area rental housing under $1,000 a month. From mid-2015 to mid-2016, LCSA’s tem- porary hardship assistance program helped 87 union members with money for rent or security deposits. materially eliminates a signifi- cant portion of housing. Black says Airbnb, which may have taken more than 1,000 units off the long-term rental market, is such a disaster, and that it has materially eliminated housing. So it’s calling for the city to enact an emergency rent freeze — and a moratorium on “no cause” evictions. Steve Goldberg — a retired longtime labor lawyer now as- sisting Portland Tenants United — says there is legal precedent that would support the city’s right to take action on a rent freeze. City Commissioner-elect Chloe Eudaly, who defeated in- cumbent Steve Novick, will be the only renter on City Council when she takes office in Janu- ary. And her rent has risen 60 percent in the last four years. At the Portland Tenants United press conference, Eudaly said it was her landlord’s rent increase that made her get active politi- cally. “I support the call for an emergency rent freeze, whether that requires an act of municipal disobedience or not,” Eudaly said. “I argue that the cost of not acting is much greater than any legal penalties we may face.” Oregon AFL-CIO political director Graham Trainor says housing affordability was one of the top issues legislative candi- dates heard on voters’ doorsteps this election cycle, so lawmak- ers know they must do some- thing about the crisis. The AFL-CIO will be work- ing as part of the Stable Homes for Oregon Families Coalition on two solutions: an end to no- cause evictions, and removal of the prohibition on rent control. NATIONAL Strike at O’Hare airport and around the country At the world’s fourth-busiest airport, about 500 airplane cabin cleaners, baggage han- dlers, janitors and wheelchair attendants took part in a one- day strike Nov. 29, calling for a $15 hourly wage, a union, and better work conditions. The workers aren’t officially union-represented but are seeking to be represented by Service Employees Local 1. Their jobs used to be union- represented and better paid, but in 2011, then-newly- elected Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel contracted out air- port service work, which meant the loss of 320 union jobs at O’Hare. Now most of the workers are paid $10 to $11 an hour at firms like Prospect Airport Services and AirScrub Inc., and some make as little as $8.25 an hour, Illi- nois’ minimum wage. SEIU has alleged unsafe working conditions and wage theft in complaints to OSHA and the U.S. Department of Labor. SEIU-sponsored Fight for $15 campaign also held soli- darity protests at 18 other air- ports, and demonstrations at more than 300 McDonald’s restaurants across the country.
