pAgE 4 | November 16, 2018 | NorTHWEST LAbor prESS
... A night of wins for working people
From Page 2
ENd bAN oN rENT coNTroL? No
Amid one of the worst affordable housing
crises in the country, California
Proposition 10 would have repealed a
1995 state law banning local rent control
ordinances. But it went down to defeat
62 to 38 percent after landlords and
realtors spent $74 million opposing it,
three times as much as supporters spent.
Blackstone Group, the world's largest real
estate management firm, led the
opposition, spending more than $5.5
million. In the same election, voters
approved Proposition 1, which authorizes
the state to borrow $4 billion on the bond
market to construct an estimated 50,000
units of low-income housing.
LImIT dIALySIS cLINIc
proFITEErINg? No The SEIU Healthcare
Workers West union has been fighting for
years to unionize two major dialysis
chains in California, DaVita and Fresenius
Medical Care North America. This year,
the union authored California Proposition
8 to limit dialysis corporate revenues to
15 percent more than they spend on
patient care. SEIU and its allies raised
$18.9 million, but dialysis companies
raised $111.0 million. Voters rejected it 62
to 38 percent.
TAKE AWAy pArAmEdIcS’ rIgHT To
rEST brEAKS? SUrE After the California
Supreme Court ruled that security officers
had to be given duty-free meal and rest
breaks like other workers, ambulance
giant AMR financed California Proposition
11 to allow ambulance providers to
require workers to remain on call during
paid breaks. AMR spent $35 million; labor
organizations, including the state AFL-
CIO, opposed it. It passed 59 to 41
percent.
To TAcKLE HomELESSNESS, TAX bIg
compANIES Voters in San Francisco
approved Proposition C by 60 percent,
increasing taxes on big companies by
$300 million to double the budget for
housing and services for homeless
people. The measure imposes a 0.5
percent gross receipts tax on corporate
revenues above $50 million.
ImprovE coNdITIoNS For HoTEL
WorKErS? yES ANd yES In Oakland,
voters approved Measure Z by 75 percent.
For large hotels, it sets a $15 minimum
wage, limits housecleaner workload, and
requires that staff have a panic button to
protect against sexual assault. And in
Anaheim, businesses that have received
city tax breaks will have to increase the
minimum wage they pay employees —
to $15 starting in January, rising to $18
an hour by 2022. Led by UNITE HERE
Local 11, unions representing Disney
workers collected the signatures needed
to put the measure on the ballot. Disney
fought hard against it, but a narrow
majority of Anaheim voters decided it’s
time the company raised its wages.
HI, IT’S GOVERNOR KATE BROWN:
When Oregon Governor Kate Brown
visited Oregon AFL-CIO headquarters
Oct. 23 and was shown the federation’s
computer-assisted text and phone
bank system, she wanted to try it out
herself. It worked great … though it
was unclear if the voters phone banked
by the governor believed it was really
her! Fortunately, her calls were only an
infinitesimal part of a massive political
effort coordinated by the Oregon AFL-
CIO. Union staff and volunteers —
aided by 26 paid canvassers —
knocked on 110,000 doors, contacted
over 210,000 voters by phone and text
message, sent 400,000 pieces of mail,
and talked with more than 5,000 union
construction workers at work sites. As
polls closed Nov. 6, the AFL-CIO hosted
orEgoN ELEcTIoN
HIgHLIgHTS
orEgoN rE-ELEcTEd ALL 5 coNgrES-
SIoNAL INcUmbENTS. NoW 4 oF THEm
WILL bE IN THE mAJorITy Former AF-
SCME member Jamie McLeod Skinner
came closer to beating Republican Greg
Walden than any Democrat in the 22 years
since he first ran. But she was still a long
way from winning Oregon’s heavily-Re-
publican 2nd Congressional District, which
spans all of Oregon east of the Cascades.
When the dust settled, the union-backed
Democrat McLeod Skinner got 40 percent
of the vote, compared to 57 percent for
Walden. Oregon’s four other incumbents
— Earl Blumenauer, Suzanne Bonam-
ici, Peter DeFazio, and Kurt Schrader —
all won easily. All Democrats, they’ll now
have a greater chance to enact legislation
once their party takes control the House in
January. Longtime infrastructure advocate
Peter DeFazio is likely to chair the House
Transportation and Infrastructure Commit-
tee, a great spot from which to pressure
President Trump to get serious about the
$1 trillion infrastructure pledge he made
during the 2016 presidential campaign.
FoUr morE yEArS For govErNor
KATE broWN As Oregon union officers
and activists gathered on election night
to watch results come in, no worry was
greater than the thought that Oregon
Gov. Kate Brown could lose re-election in
what was thought to be a close race
against Bend Republican Knute Buehler.
It had become the most expensive
political contest in Oregon history, and
unions had worked very hard to turn out
volunteers on her behalf. That’s because
Brown had signed major legislation
raising the minimum wage, mandating
paid sick leave and funding
transportation infrastructure, while
Buehler voted against all those and
campaigned on replacing public
employee pensions with a 401(k). In the
end, it wasn’t that close: Brown got 50
percent of the vote, and Buehler got 44
percent.
dEmocrATS WIN THE LoNg-
SoUgHT LEgISLATIvE SUpEr-
mAJorITy Oregon Democrats picked up
three seats in the state house and one in
the state senate. Come January they’ll
have a 38 to 22 House supermajority and
a 18 to 12 Senate supermajority — and
that means potentially the ability to pass
major revenue reform for the first time in
more than two decades. In Oregon,
businesses pay the lowest overall taxes of
any state in the country. That’s probably
because of a 1996 ballot measure that
requires a 3/5 legislative supermajority to
raise taxes of any kind. Now, Democrats
have more than 3/5, thanks to the four
pickups: Senate District 3 (Ashland/
Medford), where Democrat Jeff Golden
outpolled Republican Jessica Gomez;
House District 37 (West Linn), where
union nurse Rachel Prusak beat
incumbent Republican Julie Parrish;
House District 26 (Sherwood), where
high school Spanish teacher Courtney
Neron unseated incumbent Republican
real estate lawyer Rep. Rich Vial; and
House District 52 (Hood River), where
social worker Anna Williams outpolled
Republican incumbent Jeffrey Helfrich.
bETTEr LUcK NEXT TImE For UNIoN
mEmbEr cANdIdATES? Winning with
52 percent, Prusak was the lone success
story of the four Oregon union members
who ran for the first time for the state
Legislature this year, all Democrats. In
Senate District 13 (Keizer), OSEA Local 17
president Sarah Grider, an educational
assistant at Newberg High School, got 44
percent of the vote in her challenge to
incumbent Republican Kim Thatcher. In
House District 7 (Roseburg), AFSCME
2831 member Kristy Inskip — who was
inspired to run after going on strike in
Lane County —got 39 percent of the
vote in her challenge to Republican
incumbent Cedric Hayden. And in House
District 19 (Salem) IBEW Local 280
electrician Mike Ellison got 47 percent of
the vote in his challenge of Republican
incumbent Denyc Boles.
a celebration, and President Tom Cham-
berlain honored those that led the way:
▪ Operating Engineers Local 701 for its
outstanding commitment to the AFL-CIO
electoral campaign
▪ IBEW Local 48 organizer Eric Hayes, for
coordinating the AFL-CIO’s work site flier
campaign — and Columbia Pacific Building
Trades Council, Oregon Building Trades Council,
Sheet Metal Local 16, and Cement Masons Local
555 for leading the way in supporting the
campaign.
▪ Oregon State Fire Fighters, who turned out
the most volunteers
▪ OSEA and AFT-Oregon for releasing staff to
help with get-out-the-vote efforts.
▪ UFCW Local 555 for releasing staff and
providing professional printing services.
mETro ANd coUNTy rAcES
METRO Metro voters passed, by 58 percent, a
$652.8 million bond to building affordable
housing region-wide. They also elected
Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries
legislative director Christine Lewis as
the new councilor for Metro District 2.
Facing Lake Oswego City Council member
Joe Buck, Lewis had the support of all but
a few unions in the race.
CLACKAMAS COUNTY Scandal-plagued
incumbent County Clerk Sherry Hall
defeated a union-backed challenge by
Pamela White, 52 percent to 48 percent.
COLUMBIA COUNTY Union-endorsed
incumbent commissioner Henry
Heimuller was easily re-elected with 63
percent of the vote.
LANE COUNTY With East Lane County
candidate Heather Buch winning 56
percent of the vote, union activists in Lane
County celebrated the take-back of the
Lane County Commission — one year
after a union-hostile majority provoked a
strike by county workers. Buch’s win,
following the May primary win of union-
backed candidate Joe Berney, means a
pro-union 3-2 majority will now preside
at a County Commission that four years
ago passed ordinances to undermine and
overrule a City of Eugene paid sick leave
ordinance.
MARION COUNTY Union-backed
Shelaswau Crier failed in her bid to unseat
incumbent Republican commissioner
Kevin Cameron, a former state rep.
MULTNOMAH COUNTY Union-endorsed
candidate Jennifer McGuirk won her
race for Multnomah County auditor with
57 percent of the vote. And in a rare
contested judicial race, union-endorsed
incumbent Multnomah County Circuit
Court Judge Ben Souede got 67 percent
against challenger Bob Callahan.
WASHINGTON COUNTY Current Metro
Council member Kathryn Harrington,
with broad union support, won 67 percent
in her race against Bob Terry for
Washington County Chair.
YAMHILL COUNTY Backed by SEIU and
UFCW, marijuana farmer Casey Kulla
defeated (56 to 44) incumbent Yamhill
County Commissioner Stan Primozich, a
financial advisor backed by county
Republicans.
cITy rAcES
GLADSTONE NW Oregon Labor Council-
endorsed Tammy Stempel was elected
mayor, and Matt Tracy won his race for
city council.
GRESHAM For Gresham City Council races,
labor-endorsed incumbent Mario
Palmero won easily in a field of six, but
former Jobs with Justice board member
Eddy Morales lost narrowly to incumbent
Kirk French.
HILLSBORO Union-backed incumbents
Kyle Allen and Olivia Alcaire won re-
election to Hillsboro City Council. Allen is a
former union member and Working
America canvasser. Both were endorsed by
the NW Oregon Labor Council.
LAKE OSWEGO Eight candidates faced off
for three city council positions, and two
out of the four union-endorsed candidates
won election: incumbent Jackie Manz
and Bambuza restaurant chain owner
Daniel Nguyen.
MILWAUKIE Mark Gamba, with support
from the NW Oregon Labor Council, was
elected mayor.
PORTLAND In the race for the seat held by
City Commissioner Dan Saltzman, unions
split over who to back: Public sector
unions backed Jo Ann Hardesty while
building trades unions and the NW
Oregon Labor Council backed Loretta
Smith. In the end, Hardesty won with 62
percent of the vote. Voters also approved
the Clean Energy Jobs ballot measure by
65 percent. The measure was endorsed by
the Columbia Pacific Building Trades
Council. It will tax the biggest companies
doing business in Portland and use the
proceeds to fund local conservation and
renewable energy projects.
TIGARD Jason Snider, with support from
the NW Oregon Labor Council, was
elected mayor.
