UNIONS RALLY
FOR RIGHTS IN OREGON
Hundreds of union members rallied outside the state Capitol on Monday, March 7,
concerned about Oregon’s public workers and the preservation of collective bargaining
rights.
“Our message today is, ‘Don’t balance the budget on the back of public employees,’”
said Tom Chamberlin, president of Oregon’s American Federation of Labor and Congress
of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), which sponsored the rally.
“Our movement is on the move, and we have captured the imagination of the American
public,” he said. “We haven’t done that in a long time.”
Waving signs and shouting in unison, demonstrators demanded laborers’ rights in
Oregon to be upheld. They also declared solidarity with union workers in Wisconsin, whose
abilities to negotiate pensions and healthcare benefits have recently come under siege.
Gov. John Kitzhaber assured the crowd that Oregon would not be taking any cues from
Wisconsin as the state attempts to tackle overspending.
“I have made it clear that I’m going to ask our public employees to make some
concessions to help us through these tough fiscal times,” he said. “But those concessions
will be made across a bargaining table, through our collective bargaining process and with
mutual respect.”
As Oregonians await the release of a new two-year budget, Kitzhaber announced plans
for greater and more innovative job creation in the future. He promised to protect the
interest of unions, but asked for help in passing legislation to revamp Oregon’s health-care
system.
“Because the biggest drag on economic and job creation isn’t taxes. It’s the cost of
health care.”
Sean McGarvey, secretary treasurer of the Building and Construction Trades
Department, described negotiation as fundamental to any business transaction in any state.
“Workers deserve collective bargaining rights,” he said. “Our brothers and sisters don’t
ask for me any more or any less that what is provided to every other entity that does
business with a state, city, county or town.”
Among the rally’s attendants were members of the Oregon Economic Council, Oregon
Tradeswoman Inc., small business owners and several local unions.
Although the more than 700 union members at the rally represented a diverse collection
of trades, from teachers to construction workers to mail carriers, each person’s jacket bore
a horizontal sticker: “We are One.” — Deborah Bloom
NEWS BRIEFS
The charter amendment specified that
the program would be entirely supported
by fees based on the amount of chemicals
used. But efforts to kill the TRTK law by
the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce
and Hynix allies in the courts and the
Legislature led to separating the fee
structure from the amount of toxics used.
The Legislature and courts forced the city
to decrease fees charged to Hynix by 90
percent and double the fees charged
smaller companies. — Alan Pittman
BILLS TARGET
LAND USE
PLANNING
Opponents of Oregon land use planning
are pushing several bills in the 2011
Legislature that would undermine citizen
access to land-use appeals and restrict
citizen involvement in land-use decisions,
according to Onward Oregon, www.
OnwardOregon.org
• HB 2181 would make citizens who
appeal local land use decisions to the Land
Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) liable for
attorney fees of the prevailing party if they
lose their case. Current law only holds
opponents liable for attorney fees if their
case is determined to be frivolous.
• HB 2182 limits opponents to a land use
decision to either adjacent landowners or
those who can pay a large deposit to bring a
case before LUBA. “Farmers leasing land,
a common circumstance throughout
Oregon, will likely not be able to appeal
decisions that affect their farming
operations, and local advocacy groups with
limited funds will likely not be able to raise
the necessary deposit to do so, either,”
according to Onward Oregon.
• HB 2610, requested by the Oregon
Home Builders Association, limits LUBA
appeals for housing and industrial land use
decisions within an urban growth boundary,
and for aggregate mining anywhere, to
individuals who either own, rent, or lease
property within 1,000 feet, or can show
their property would be adversely affected
by $5,000 or more.
Initial public hearings have already been
held on these bills. Track them at http://
wkly.ws/11e or contact your state
representative.
In other Legislative enviro news, SB
536, which would ban plastic checkout
bags and promote reusable bags, has already
had its first public hearing. The farm-to-
school bill, HB 2800, was scheduled for a
hearing March 9 in the House Committee
on Agriculture and Natural Resources. SB
695, which would ban toxic BPA from baby
bottles, sippy cups, reusable water bottles
and infant formula cans, will have its first
hearing before the Senate Environment and
Natural Resources Committee at 3 pm
Tuesday, March 15. — Ted Taylor
GROW GROW
GADGET
GREEN GANJA
What do you do when growing your
green is not green enough and costs too
much green? Growers can use a variety of
light sources to provide their plants with
the light they need to green their weed, and
they can take advantage of lower costs
from more efficient lighting. With more
than 12,000 patients in the Oregon Medical
Marijuana Program (OMMP), using less
electricity for marijuana growth helps the
environment, too.
According to one grower in the OMMP,
who asked to be called “Scott” for the sake
of privacy, growing medical marijuana
with light emitting diodes (LEDs) isn’t
very common yet, because the lights don’t
have “enough penetrating power” unless
slant
• Out-of-state interests don’t often pay attention to
Eugene politics. But the newly empowered Tea Party is out
for blood, particularly now that Strong Schools Eugene
has kicked off its campaign to pass a temporary city
income tax to support two Eugene school districts (see
www.StrongSchoolsEugene.org).
Jeff Lozar is the Lane County leader of Americans for
Prosperity (AFP), the advocacy wing of the ultra-right-
wing Koch brothers of New York. Lozar and his Tea Party
buddies are calling the local tax for schools “a ridiculous
idea,” and saying “Eugene looks to raise taxes for
something that’s not even its responsibility” (see http://
wkly.ws/11d). The local AFP is in lock-step with the national
group which opposes unions, health care reform, stimulus
funding, green jobs, mass transit, concerns for climate
change and other environmental issues. The local AFP
opposes the West Eugene EmX, but supports the lawsuit
against progressive county commissioners.
The AFP had a national budget of $40 million in 2010,
which is not a lot of money, but we suspect a chunk of
AFP’s 2011 budget will be directed against the Eugene
school tax. After all, the nation is watching little Eugene
and what we do here could inspire a very different kind of
taxpayer revolt all over the country.
We spotted only a handful of AFP protesters at the
Strong Schools kick-off Tuesday afternoon at Kelly Middle
School. They were far outnumbered by parents and kids.
• Turnout for the Public Interest Environmental Law
Conference last weekend was impressive and EW sent
8 MARCH 10, 2011
EUGENE WEEKLY
half a dozen staffers and interns to the panels and talks.
As usual we will be running PIELC stories for the next few
weeks as space permits; and story ideas we gleaned will
keep us busy for the next year. The success stories
presented at PIELC provide inspiration and encouragement
at a time when the challenges seem overwhelming. As
Bruce Nillis of the Sierra Club told one gathering at PIELC,
“Change is coming even if Congress is not ready.”
PIELC is touted as an environmental law gathering, but
the topics discussed are much broader in scope, addressing
some of the key issues of our day. Climate change, energy,
resource management, food security, justice,
communication — these issues and their high level of
discourse are worthy of a much larger audience. Most
meeting rooms at PIELC were packed to standing room
only and crowds were turned away from some keynote
talks. We would love to see PIELC evolve into a truly global
conference drawing many more than 3,000 people, and
packing every available venue on campus, even Mac Court
or Matt Court. The valiant volunteer law students who
organize this event would need year-round staff support,
and a much bigger budget.
• It sounds like a headline from The Onion: “Area Dad
Mad, Thinks Teachers are Mean to His Kids.’” Art Robinson
is trying to grab headlines again with an attack on Peter
DeFazio and Oregon State University that OSU calls
“baseless and without merit.” Robinson has largely been
out of the news since his Wall Street billionaire-funded
attempt to win DeFazio’s seat in Congress failed last
November. Robinson claims that “DeFazio supporters” at
OSU, which he calls a “Democrat stronghold,” are trying to
prevent three of his home-schooled progeny from getting
their doctorates in nuclear engineering. OSU says they’ve
investigated the claims and found nothing; and DeFazio’s
office says the congressman’s support of higher education
has nothing to do with whatever problems the Robinson
clan might be having at OSU.
What’s not getting media attention is that Robinson
has attacked schools before, the last time to draw
attention to his online home school business. He went
after Southern Oregon University, which required his
daughter Arynne to take a humanities course. Robinson
claims the school was intimidated by his threats of a costly
telephone, fax and letter campaign by his “subscribers and
home-schooling friends.” Robinson campaigned on a
platform that included defunding public education.
• We hear donations are slow coming in for Project
Homeless Connect, while the need is greater than ever.
This year’s event is March 17 at the Fairgrounds. Last
year’s event served 1,402 guests with the help of 581
community volunteers and 301 service providers, from
medical and legal professionals to bike mechanics and
hairdressers. See Activist Alert this week for information
on how to help.
SLANT includes short opinion pieces, observations and rumor-chasing notes
compiled by the EW staff. Heard any good rumors lately? Contact Ted Taylor at
484-0519, editor@eugeneweekly.com
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