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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (June 21, 2019)
PAGE 6 | June 21, 2019 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS Who’s on our side? By Tom Chamberlain Oregon AFL-CIO President We must not forget Oregon Democrats’ betrayal on PERS The best thing about being president of the Oregon AFL-CIO — with less than 100 days until the end of my term — is that I can now say whatever I want, when- ever I want. For example, in the past, I felt limited in the ways I held legislative De- mocrats accountable. There is a tendency to soften one’s criticism, understanding that there is always a next session and an- other legislative agenda. Holding legisla- tive leadership accountable with state- ments that are too harsh could impact future legislative agendas. I am sorry to say: There are too few Republicans that we can count on to help move our agenda, making the Democrats the only game in town for labor issues. I don’t believe in exclusive support of political parties. Organized labor should support those who support workers, and hold those accountable who side with a corporate capitalist agenda at the expense of workers. But there was a wrong and a betrayal done to Oregon workers in 2019 that is so heinous it would be wrong to look the other way for the sake of future agendas. The corporate capitalist agenda was on full display during the 2019 Oregon Leg- islature. It started with passage of the Stu- dent Success Act, which promises to in- crease much needed funding to Oregon schools by $1 billion per year. Oregon corporations will pay for the increase through a gross receipts tax. In 2016, Ore- gon corporations paid the lowest corpo- rate taxes in the nation. The Student Suc- cess Act will do little to change that, since a portion of the tax is being passed through to consumers. I commend the Oregon Legislature for increasing K-12 funding. It is high time that Oregon corporations begin paying their fair share for Oregon services, and I Workers at Fred Meyer and Safeway take strike votes Thousands of workers in the Portland metro area are taking part in a series of strike author- ization votes at Fred Meyer, QFC, Safeway and Albertsons. The votes are taking place de- partment by department, and started with meat department workers May 20-23, followed by grocery workers June 10-12 and Fred Meyer central check- out cashiers June 18-20. Fred Meyer workers in non-food de- partments like apparel will vote June 25-27. The results won’t be publicly announced until all groups have voted. Bargaining between Local hope this is the first step in achieving that the governor’s office did not dissuade goal. them from fulfilling their promises to Since 2008, Oregon corporations have Oregon workers. pounded the drum on their perception that The 31 House Democrats and the 13 PERS provides overly generous retire- Senate Democrats who voted for the leg- ment benefits and funding. PERS is cur- islation, along with the governor, broke rently funded at 80%. Translation: If their promises to Oregon workers. I have every active PERS member were to retire reams of candidate questionnaires from today, Oregon would be $27 billion short. union-endorsed House and Senate candi- This shortfall is a result of the 2008 stock dates who promised not to cut PERS ben- market crash and has little to do with Tier efits. The governor promised as well. To 3 members who make up go back on that prom- just over 60% of current ise undermines their active public employees. credibility with the Oregon unions should These employees receive unions who endorsed not base their endorse- a much smaller benefit them. Worse yet, such ments on promises made than previous retirees. action undermines the by House and Senate The PERS Tier 3 payroll very credibility of our cost is 8%. Such legacy political programs. members who are fast costs shouldn’t be the re- Our members spent to break those promises sponsibility of workers, their hard-earned when it is convenient. but treated as an Oregon money and dedicated Rather, we must support debt that needs to be countless volunteer candidates based on paid. hours electing De- their demonstrated Oregon corporations mocrats that they involved with the pas- trusted to fulfill the performance. sage of the Student Suc- commitments they cess Act exacted a price made to them through for their support. Senate the endorsement pro- Bill 1049 will result in a loss of between cess. These candidates sought our en- 7 to 12.5% in workers’ individual retire- dorsements! ment accounts, according to the PERS The Oregon Senate and House leader- agency. SB 1049 does little to nothing to- ship kept in question exactly when SB ward paying down the PERS unfunded li- 1049 would be up for a vote until the last ability. Tier 3 recipients already receive minute. This blatant political manipula- the lowest retirement benefits in PERS, tion of the legislative process intentionally and the only thing SB 1040 ensures is that prevented workers from witnessing the Tier 3 will see even lower benefits in the betrayal. Then, the legislative handwring- ing and excuses for the vote came like an future. The bill passed both the House and avalanche. Excuses ranged from: “We Senate by one vote. Seven House Democ- stopped the Nesbitt PERS initiative, rats and five Senate Democrats stood with which would have been worse,” to one Oregon workers and voted against SB senator actually saying: “You really didn’t 1049. Pressure from their leadership and believe us, did you?” 555 and the multi-employer coalition passed the one-year mark June 19, and Aug. 5 will mark one year since the most recent set of contracts between the union and grocery employ- ers expired. The two sides re- main far apart on wages, health insurance and other proposals. Veterans nursing home workers stay union Workers at a nursing home for veterans in The Dalles, Ore- gon, voted June 10 by 60 to 37 to remain unionized with the United Steelworkers (USW). That meant defeat for an effort to dump the union that repre- sents 170 workers at non-profit Veterans Care Centers of Ore- gon. The vote on “decertifica- tion” came just weeks after workers there — both union and nonunion — voted to ap- prove a new three-year union contract that raises wages 15%. It’s highly unusual for workers who aren’t members of a union to be allowed to vote on a col- lective bargaining agreement, but USW representative Jim Kilborn explained that USW agreed in light of the nursing home agreeing, for the first time, that all workers would pay union dues as a condition of employment, a provision known as union security. For the record, the Nesbitt PERS ini- tiative, which takes an axe to PERS ben- efits, is still active and on course to be on the 2020 ballot. It should not be lost on anyone that while corporations were at the table hav- ing input into the Student Success Act, Oregon public sector unions were not in- vited to have input into the governor’s PERS proposal, or the House and Senate proposals. The PERS reforms of 2005 and 2013 both included the leadership of pub- lic sector unions. This begs the question: Why would the governor and legislative leadership totally silence the voice of workers in this process? If it wasn’t for the PERS betrayal, many would view the 2019 Oregon leg- islative session as the most successful in a decade. The SB 1049 betrayal becomes the focal point because unions and our members worked hard and spent their hard-earned dollars based on promises made during the campaign season. Mem- bers ask: How can we elect a governor, achieve super majorities in the House and Senate, and still public employee unions weren’t even invited to the table in PERS reform? Oregon unions should not base their endorsements on promises made by House and Senate members who are fast to break those promises when it is con- venient. Rather, we must support candi- dates based on their demonstrated per- formance. There must be an analysis made for those union-endorsed candidates who faced the greatest odds in crowded pri- maries and are only in the Legislature due to the hard work of our members. We must not forget. The Oregon AFL-CIO is a 138,000-member-strong federation of labor unions. ...Little Big Union From Page 1 tional Safety and Health Admin- istration (OSHA). Union supporter Cameron Crowell says there’s been a day- to-day campaign in stores, with managers taking down union posters, and labor relations con- sultants meeting one-on-one with workers. Still, even though the union election is taking place at the company’s initiative, Crowell thinks there’s a good chance the union will prevail. “We’re fairly confident the people are on our side,” Crowell told the Labor Press. “All man- agement has been doing is stoke fear and division. All we can do is provide mutual aid and be there for one another, and try and im- prove one another’s lives. That’s a message that resonates much better than fear and division.” YOU CAN HELP For the youthful workforce at Little Big Burger, this is a first encounter with the idea of a union. Now would be a great time to drop by to get a burger, fries, and shake — and give moral support and en- couragement to the workers.
