TO THE EDITOR
tached to it, which was confusing because at
that same meeting it was mandatory I sign pa-
pers allowing union dues to be removed from
my paychecks.
When I eventually was able to obtain a
copy of the Lane County Public Works Local
626 Contract, it stated that the “extra help”
were “not eligible and qualified for any rights
or benefits under the agreement.” While the
Local has collected thousands of dollars in
union dues from us hapless part-timers
through the years, the carrot/stick that has
kept us in line has been the mantra that, yes,
there are no rights or benefits, but the union
negotiates on behalf of the part-timer’s wages
each contract period. My discussions with
union reps, Lane County Human Resources
and Public Works have resulted in no docu-
mentation supporting this.
But even if there was some truth to that
small crumb at the table, an extra help
worker, averaging 10 hours a week, pays the
same dues as a 40-hour a week worker; that
full-time worker has a union behind it negoti-
ating for wages, vacation, health coverage,
sick leave, retirement, grievance rights, etc.
The inequity of what these two workers actu-
ally receive in benefits should be offset by a
pro-rated amount of union dues for the part-
timer. Of course, the fairest thing would be
for Lane County to immediately extricate it-
self from this pact they have with Local 626
to deprive their most vulnerable workers of a
fairer share to their measly gross wages.
Robert Berman
Elmira
SAFE CLIMATE ACT
The Bush administration’s proposal to list
polar bears as a threatened species as a result
of global warming is a welcome, though late,
indication that at least some in
the Bush administration are
awakening to the threat posed by
global warming.
But polar bears are not the
proverbial canaries in the coal
mine, the early warning signs
alerting us to danger. The early
warning signs arrived long ago.
We’ve now reached the point at
which we must take urgent action if we are to
prevent the worst effects of global warming.
The good news is that champions in
Congress have already started to show the
way. Rep. Henry Waxman (Calif.) has intro-
duced the Safe Climate Act, science-based
legislation that would reduce global warming
pollution to levels that would prevent the
worst effects of global warming.
With their habitat literally melting be-
neath their feet, polar bears are the latest but
surely not the last to pay the price, unless we
get serious about cutting global warming pol-
lution now. I urge Rep. Peter DeFazio to
cosponsor the Safe Climate Act, to make sure
the climate is safe not just for polar bears, but
for people too.
Tia Wooldridge
Eugene
STATE OF THE UNION
The President is asking for more troops to
be deployed in Iraq at a time when a large
portion of Americans are getting very uneasy
about our people being killed there and no
real end in sight. Many of us still remember
Vietnam and what those heroes went through,
there and then when they came home. That
won’t happen this time.
All of the steps that the President is taking
now should have been done right after the
Iraqi government fell and Saddam was in
custody, with the focus being on supporting
the Iraqi people’s elected government to gov-
ern, providing the security for ALL those
who are supporting the rebuilding efforts, but
most important, supporting the Iraqis to get
employment and businesses open.
More troops are so that when insurgency is
run out of a a town, the town will have security
so that the insurgents won’t return, but where
was the strategy when they first moved against
insurgents? The new Democratic Republic
promises to make things right, but where were
they all of these years? It doesn’t take a major-
ity to make national news, just a representative
voice.
Do you write to your representatives in
local, state, and federal government? Do they
respond to your questions and feelings about
what they could do for the PEOPLE? If not,
then you are allowing the opinions of others
to write laws for you. And when I feel that
those reps are not representing me, I do what
I have the right to do: I vote for someone else.
Stop bitching about what “they” do and
take responsibility for
the vote you cast. All
Americans need to get
off of their obese, trans
fatty, high fructose
corn syrupy butts and
start doing something
about it before we are
nothing but a nation of
service employees,
working for foreign manufacturing and pro-
duction.
Fred Marsico
Corvallis
PSYCHOSIS CONFIRMED
The Bush administration continues down
its bloody road to Perdition, and it is a road
littered with every sort of vile debris. Now
our commander-in-chief chides himself a bit
about personal responsibility for killing more
Americans than bin Laden, plus a few hun-
dred thousand Iraqis, while escalating his
personal psycho-drama with more Americans
thrown into the bloody maw.
JANUARY 18, 2007 5