NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS |
preferred hire for women and minority-
owned workers and contractors; higher
rebates are available for developers that
sign project labor agreements or
community workforce agreements.
Infrastructure spending Lawmakers
approved a two-year, $4.9 billion capital
construction budget and a $10 billion
transportation budget. Capital
expenditures include $1.04 billion for
K–12 school construction; $175 million
for affordable housing projects; and $95
million for sewer, drinking water, solid
waste, street, and storm water projects.
SOCIAL JUSTICE
Legalize affirmative action Citizen
initiative I-1000, unanimously endorsed
at the Washington State Labor Council’s
COPE Convention, effectively overturns I-
200, a ban on affirmative action in state
contracting, education and hiring that
voters passed in 1998. Under I-1000,
the state will now be allowed to use
affirmative action policies to address
discrimination or underrepresentation so
long as those policies don’t rely on
quotas or constitute preferential
treatment. However, I-1000 opponents
say they will gather signatures on a
referendum to put the issue on the
November 2019 ballot.
More notice in cases of eviction
Washington lawmakers changed the
Residential-Landlord Tenant Act to
require that landlords give 14 days
notice prior to eviction. The current
requirement is three days.
May 3, 2019 | PAGE 3
WILL VANCOUVER DEMOCRAT
MONICA STONIER BE THE
NEXT HOUSE SPEAKER? De-
mocrat Frank Chopp , above at
the podium, announced late in
the session that he’ll be stepping
down after 20 years as House
Speaker. House Democrats will
choose a new speaker in July.
West Vancouver state rep Monica
Stonier of House District 49, a
strong labor ally, is one of four
state representatives who are vy-
ing to succeed Chopp.
Better luck next time?
Not all union-backed bills made
it to the finish line. Here are
some that didn’t pass the Wash-
ington Legislature this year
Universal health care SB 5822 would
have created a work group — with
representatives from labor leaders
knowledgeable about Taft-Hartley health
trusts — to make recommendations for
a system of publicly funded, privately
delivered health care for all Washington
state residents. The bill passed in the state
senate, but died in a house committee.
Capital gains tax House Democrats
proposed a 9.9 percent “extraordinary
profits” tax on the sale of stocks and
bonds when profits are over $200,000,
but couldn’t find enough support for it.
Fair scheduling Modeled after an
ordinance recently approved in Seattle,
HB 1491 would have required large fast-
food, coffee, restaurant and retail chains
to provide workers advance notice of
schedules and give part-time workers
access to additional hours. The proposal
got hearings, but didn’t pass this time.
Crackdown on worker
misclassification Employees who are
wrongly classified as independent
contractors can be cheated out of
minimum wage protections, overtime
pay, unemployment insurance, and
workers’ compensation coverage if they
are injured at work. SB 5513 would have
created one clear test to determine who is
truly an independent contractor so that
the rules are the same for the minimum
wage, prevailing wage, workers’
compensation, and unemployment
insurance, which currently use differing
tests to answer the question.
Contractor accountability HB 1521
would have adopted performance
metrics and accountability measures for
all public contracts.
Safer railroad staffing Past rail disasters
involving trains hauling hazardous
materials would have been prevented
had more than one worker been assigned
to the train. HB 1841 would have ended
single-member crews for hazardous
material trains. It passed the House, 72-
24, but failed to get a Senate vote.
LERC faces drastic budget cut
The union training and research
center is slated for a 45% cut
University of Oregon is propos-
ing a devastating 45 percent
budget cut to the only program
on campus that’s focused on or-
ganized labor. Labor Education
and Research Center (LERC),
which celebrated its 40th an-
niversary a year and a half ago,
learned on April 8 of plans to cut
its annual budget by $488,000.
With six faculty, five support
staff, and office space in Eugene
and Portland, LERC is a small
corner within the giant university,
focused on providing training and
research to Oregon unions. Over
the years, thousands of union
stewards and officers have taken
part in LERC-sponsored events
like the Collective Bargaining In-
stitute, the AFL-CIO Summer
School, and the Public Employ-
ment Relations Conference.
The LERC cuts are part of a
package of cuts to UO programs
that serve the public. Others on
the chopping block include the
university art and natural history
museums and the university-
sponsored Oregon Bach Festival.
“We were totally blindsided
by this,” said LERC director
Bob Bussel. “LERC really is the
one place in the university fo-
cused on working class needs
and concerns.”
LERC supporters are appeal-
ing to Provost Jayanth Banavar
and University of Oregon Presi-
dent Michael Schill to recon-
sider. On April 24, the UO fac-
ulty senate passed a resolution
calling on the university to re-
think its plan for disproportion-
ate cuts to the public-facing pro-
grams and instead distribute any
cuts more equitably across all
units. Supporters also created a
web site, SaveLERC.com, where
people can find sample emails
and sign an online petition.
Bussel said if the cuts are ap-
proved, they would take effect
July 1 and be implemented over
the next two years.