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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (May 17, 2019)
SERVING ORGANIZED LABOR IN OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON SINCE 1900 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS VOLUME 120, NUMBER 10 IN THIS ISSUE LOCAL 483 FIGHTS REC CENTER LAYOFFS The mayor’s proposed budget would close Portland rec centers. | Page 2 NEW SEASONS PAID A UNIONBUSTER $336,000 And may have illegally delayed reporting. | Page 8 Meeting Notices p.4 Unionization elections p.7 PORTLAND, OREGON MAY 17, 2019 May 21 Special Election Endorsements of the NW Oregon Labor Council CENTENNIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT School Board, Position 7, At-Large : A MANDA S CHROEDER DAVID DOUGLAS SCHOOL DISTRICT School Board, Position 4 : S AHAR Y ARJANI M URANOVIC GRESHAM-BARLOW SCHOOL DISTRICT School Board, Position 7, At-Large : A MANDA O ROZCO -B EACH MT HOOD COMMUNITY COLLEGE Board of Directors, Position 6, At-Large : C OURTNEY H ELSTEIN PORTLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE Board of Directors, Zone 3 : M ICHAEL S ONNLEITNER Board of Directors, Zone 7 : A LEX D IAZ R IOS PORTLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS School Board, Zone 2 : M ICHELLE D E P ASS School Board, Zone 7 : E ILIDH L OWERY REYNOLDS SCHOOL DISTRICT School Board, Position 5 : Y ESENIA D ELGADO School Board, Position 7 : R ICKI R UIZ TUALATIN HILLS PARKS & REC Board of Directors, Position 4 : H EIDI E DWARDS TUALATIN VALLEY FIRE & RESCUE DISTRICT SUPPORT M EASURE 34-286 B OND R ENEWAL Renews local option levy for fire and emergency medical services. Ballots must be submitted by 8 p.m. on May 21, 2019 Authorized by the Northwest Oregon Labor Council, 9955 SE Washington, St., Suite 305, Portland, OR 97216 An estimated 25,000 teachers, parents and students rallied at Waterfront Park and marched through downtown Portland. Oregon teachers walk out for funding More than 20,000 Oregon teachers took part in a one-day walkout May 8 to demand better school funding. Joined by par- ents and students, they rallied 25,000-strong in Portland, 3,000-strong in Salem, 2,000- strong in Bend, and 1,100- strong in Eugene. Smaller ac- tions were held in Albany, Woodburn, Corvallis, North Bend, Coos Bay, and elsewhere. In Newberg and some Eastern Oregon districts, instead of walkouts teachers held “walk- ins” in which they gathered wearing red t-shirts for a rally before the school day. In at least 25 school districts, schools were closed for all or part of the day. It’s illegal in Oregon for public employees to strike while a col- lective bargaining agreement is in force, so Oregon Education Association called it a “day of action” not a strike. The day of action was meant to support House Bill 3427, which will raise $1 billion a year for school funding through a 0.57 percent gross receipts tax on Oregon businesses with more than $1 million a year in sales. Known as the Student Success Act, it passed the Ore- gon House by 37 to 21 on May 1, and the Oregon Senate by 18 to 11 on May 13. Half the funds raised will go to lower class sizes, lengthen the school year, and improve graduation rates, reading levels and attendance; about 20 percent will fund early childhood learning programs; and about 30 percent will fund career and technical education programs and free school meals for low-income students. PERS once again under attack By Don McIntosh In the State Capitol it’s once again open season on Oregon’s Public Employee Retirement System (PERS). This time around, public employee unions are facing a kind of “good-cop, bad-cop” scenario. The “good cops” are Gov. Kate Brown and Democratic House and Senate leaders Tina Kotek and Peter Courtney, who propose to cut public employee compensation and divert those resources to fund employer obligations to the pension system. The “bad cops” are former governor Ted Kulon- goski and former union leader Tim Nesbitt, who along with former Republican state senator Chris Telfer have filed five prospective ballot measures on PERS that would cause much greater harm to public employ- ees. What all of them have in common is a conviction that Oregon must reduce its public employee retirement benefits. But a coalition of public em- ployee unions plans to fight the cuts in the Capitol and in the courts if need be. The Kotek-Courtney proposal House Speaker Tina Kotek and Senate President Peter Courtney presented their proposal on May 10: to divert part of the salaries of all current public employees starting July 1, 2021, and use those funds to build up the as- sets that the PERS system will later need to pay benefits. The diversion would be 2.5 percent of salary for public employees who entered the PERS system before 2004 (known as Tier 1 and Tier 2 members), and 0.75 percent for those hired 2004 and after. Public employees cur- rently contribute 6 percent of their salary toward an Individual Turn to Page 3
