NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS |
March 3, 2017 | PAGE 9
Guest Opinion
By Tim Nesbitt
Two perspectives on PERS: From the kitchen
table and from the bargaining table
Soon after former Gov. John Kitzhaber final-
ized legislation in 2013 that came to be known
as the “grand bargain,” he commented, more
wearily than triumphantly, that he was “done”
with overhauling the Oregon Public Employ-
ees Retirement System (PERS). Two years
later, the Oregon Supreme Court invalidated
most of Kitzhaber’s pension reforms, and it is
now painfully clear that PERS is not done
with us.
By “us” I mean all Oregonians, those in our
schools and those who rely on public services
to lead productive lives — all of us. But public
employees and their unions are in a uniquely
difficult place among us now that the PERS
problem looms as an obstacle to improving
public services and a threat to their personal
financial futures.
So let’s try to understand this problem from
two perspectives — from the kitchen table and
the bargaining table.
At our kitchen tables, PERS represents an
enormous opportunity cost. Projected in-
creases to keep the PERS pension plan solvent
will consume all of the revenue dividends
from an expanding economy that could other-
wise go to improve our schools, keep health
care affordable and expand our public infra-
structure. Doing nothing to address PERS’
claims on future budgets will not only perpet-
uate fiscal crises, it will erode confidence in
government when, in the midst of a growing
economy, our elected leaders are forced to re-
duce services.
At public employee bargaining tables,
PERS represents an unfair claim on their fu-
tures. At most, those now working are respon-
sible for less than a third of the unpaid bills in
the pension system. The remaining legacy
costs are the greater problem. To shift these
costs to the payrolls of current workers is un-
justified, especially if it forces them to accept
substandard retirement benefits in the future.
How do we square these conflicting reali-
ties? We can start by recognizing that doing
nothing does not leave us in status quo. In-
stead, it will invite a cascade of adverse im-
pacts — from shorter school years and larger
class sizes to salary freezes and staffing reduc-
tions at all levels of government. To avoid that
future, we have to act on PERS reform and,
yes, on tax reform.
We can make a strong case for increased
tax support from business, but we also need
to tie proposals for more revenue to doing
more for our people. Tax reform that chases a
growing PERS deficit will fail to meet that
goal and fail to pass muster with the voters.
I have outlined approaches to PERS reform
that take cues from what a number of private
sector unions did to recapitalize their pension
funds following the 2008 recession. These ap-
proaches can maintain adequate retirement
benefits in the future and need not affect any
employee’s paycheck. (I offered an overview
of these ideas in the Jan. 27 Portland Business
Journal).
If we want to be done with PERS, we will
have to find new ways to put the system on a
sound financial footing, connect that effort to
securing increased tax support from the busi-
ness community and take charge of shaping a
future that will otherwise set back our hopes
for a better Oregon.
Tim Nesbitt, a former executive director of the SEIU Oregon
State Council, served as Oregon AFL-CIO president from
1999-2005 and as deputy and chief of staff to Gov. Ted Ku-
longoski from 2006-2011. He now works on the PERS issue
as a political consultant for the Oregon Business Council, but
did not receive compensation for this column.
Open Forum
To the Editor:
President Trump’s executive
orders on immigration are just
wrong.
The Northwest Oregon La-
bor Council believes all people
deserve dignity and respect.
The executive orders of the
Trump Administration have
caused fear and hardship for
immigrants and refugees in
Oregon and throughout the
United States with no consider-
ation of humanitarian concerns.
Based on the wording of the
executive order, a criminal
could include someone who is
charged with, but not actually
convicted of, a crime and is
therefore subject to being de-
ported under the new enforce-
ment priorities.
As Governor Brown said
during a recent press confer-
ence, “President Trump’s order
does not reflect values en-
shrined in the U.S. Constitution
or the principles we stand for as
Oregonians.”
President Trump’s divisive
and intolerant policies have
caused widespread chaos and
confusion to the immigrant,
refugee communities and all
working people and families.
The Northwest Oregon La-
bor Council embraces Ore-
gon’s diverse communities and,
therefore, we support the posi-
tion taken by the City of Port-
land, Multnomah County, and
the governor to provide safe
harbor to those attempting to
build a better life for them-
selves and their family here in
Oregon.
Executive Secretary-Treasurer
Bob Tackett on behalf of the
NW Oregon Labor Council
Executive Board
Portland
WHO’S THAT SHAKING THE GOVERNOR’S HAND? Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad
signed legislation Feb. 17 that ends all meaningful collective barganing rights
for public employees. The private signing ceremony was closed to the press
but not to Drew Klein, above. Klein is state director of the anti-union group
Americans for Prosperity, funded by the billionaire Koch brothers.
...Unions attacked
From Page 1
checks. Finally, public employ-
ees will be required to re-certify
that they want to be in a union
with each new contract, and to
continue to be union-repre-
sented, an outright majority of
workers in a bargaining unit
would have to vote for the
union, not just a majority of
those who show up to vote.
In case there was any doubt
as to who inspired the union-
killing legislation, on Feb. 13,
Scott Walker delivered a pep
talk to 29 Iowa Senate Republi-
cans in a 10-minute Skype con-
ference call.
The bill exempted police and
firefighters from some of the
changes, but many of them
showed up in uniform and ral-
lied alongside the hundreds of
protesters who flooded the
Capitol rotunda in a show of op-
position. More than 1,100 peo-
ple registered to speak in oppo-
sition to the bill, while only
about two dozen registered in
support.
On Feb. 16 the bill passed the
Iowa House 53 to 47 and the
Iowa Senate 29-21. Not a single
Democrat voted in favor, though
six Republicans voted against it.
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R)
signed it into law the very next
day, and the law takes effect im-
mediately.
The signing took place in a
private ceremony, closed to the
press, but open to the head of
Iowa chapter of a group that lob-
bied for the bill — Americans
for Prosperity, funded by the bil-
lionaire Koch brothers.
Having all-but-destroyed
public employee union rights
that have been in place since
1974, Gov. Branstad isn’t plan-
ning to stick around: He’s Pres-
ident Donald Trump’s nominee
for ambassador to China.
AFSCME, which represents
40,000 Iowa public employees,
has filed a lawsuit seeking to
stop the law.
‘Right-to-work’ defeated in
New Hampshire
This year’s rising tide of
“right-to-work” laws stopped
when it reached New Hamp-
shire. Kentucky and Missouri
passed the anti-union laws,
which bar any requirement to
pay union dues. But the effort
failed in New Hampshire for the
second time in two years. It
passed the Senate, but failed
200-177 in the state’s massive
House of Representatives. Every
Democrat voted against it, and
so did 32 Republicans. Republi-
can Gov. Chris Sununu had de-
clared the legislation a priority.
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