Delegates Vote ‘To Put Our Money Where Our Anger Is”
to Fight the Tieman Initiative
On a resounding
voice vote, some 200 Local
delegates to the OPEU/
CAPE Leadership Confer
ence voted unanimously on
February 12 to recommend
and take to the membership
a proposal for a temporary
dues assessment to fund an
effective statewide cam
paign “to defeat the Tieman
initiative and all attacks oh
public employee pay and re
tirement benefits.”
“This will tell Bob
Tieman and the public em
ployee bashers that we’re
mad as hell and willing to
put our money where our
anger is to keep their hands
off of our paychecks,” said
OPEU/SEIU Local 503
President Dawn Morgan.
The proposed assess
ment is $2 per month for
twelve months, beginning in
March. If approved, it will
apply to all members and
fair share payersan our bar
gaining units (except for
three private, nonprofit bar
gaining units unaffected by
the Tieman initiative^., „,
Ballots with postage-
paid return envelopes will
be mailed to all members on
or about February 28, with a
deadline for receipt of bal
lots of March 15.
The proposed assess
ment will raise approxi
mately $480,000, which —
in addition to voluntary
CAPE contributions of two-
cents and four-cents per hour
— will become the major
portion of OPEU’s cam
paign budget to defeat the
Tieman initiative. Contri
butions will also be sought
from management and
unrepresented workers in
state agencies and in local
government jurisdictions.
Similar amounts are
being raised by die Oregon
Education Association,
which is assessing its mem
bership a one-time $25 per
member fee to defeat the
Tieman initiative and other
attacks on their pay, ben
efits, and working condi
tions. In a campaign, to de
feat a repeal of prevailing
wages on state construction
jobs, building trades unions
have approved an assess
ment of five cents per hour
(almost $9 per member per
month) for their members.
All told, coalition ef
forts to defeat the Tieman
initiative should enable us
to raise the $1.5 to $2 mil
lion it takes to run an effec
tive statewide campaign
with extensive TV, radio,
and newspaper ads. A me
dia campaign based on 30-
second spots running 20 per
week on six stations for 12
weeks costs $432,000. A
similar statewide radio ad
campaign costs $360,000.
Tieman has predicted
the campaign will be a
“bloodbath” and is attempt
ing to gain votes early by
misrepresenting PERS ben
efits as “excessive” and us
ing facts and figures that dis
tort the truth. (See story,
page 7.) Combined with a
strategy of using his House
subcommittee investigating
PERS as a campaign vehicle
and starting its hearings in
April, Tieman is obviously
trying to move up the
timeline for getting voters
to make up their minds on
this issue far in advance of
the fall campaign season.
Our campaign will have to
start early and build steadily
to November.
“If public employees
don’t fund this, no one else
will,” says OPEU/SEIU Lo
cal 503 Secretary-Treasurer
Don Patch. “The good news
is OPEU is 20,000 strong
and united and motivated as
never before on this issue,
and there are another
230,000 public employees
and retirees in Oregon who
will follow our lead in this
fight.”
Questions and Answers
About the Proposed Dues Assessment
Q.
Why is the proposal for 12 months, when the election will be over in
November?
We need to raise at least $500,000 to help fund an effective statewide
campaign. This is the equivalent of $2.00 per month for 12 months
($24 per bargaining unit member) in order to fund this campaign. Spreading
it out over 12 months is easier on everybody, and we can advance money
from our mandatory reserve fund to put all of the money into the campaign
by November.
Q-
Will other unions help?
Yes. The Oregon Education Association will be assessing their members
(mostly teachers) a one-time fee of $25 this year to fight the Tieman initia
tive and other attacks on their jobs. AFSCME has already helped with the
coalition effort by funding a statewide poll. And the PERS Coalition,
including firefighters and other school employees, sponsored focus group
research on the Tieman initiative.
Q.
How will the money be spent?
The money will be set aside in a special fund dedicated to the campaign to
u defeat the Tiernan .initiative and jail attacks on pay and retirement benefits.
Q.
Can the money be used to oppose or support other initiatives?
Not unless other initiatives make the ballot that specifically threaten our
pay and/or retirement benefits. One initiative now in circulation would
use a contrived version of average compensation in the private sector to
reduce pay and benefit levels in the public sector. (See page 8.) If this
initiative qualifies, we will conduct a combined campaign against it and
the Tieman initiative.
Q.
Will the assessment apply to all members and fair share payers?
Yes.
Q.
How do we know this assessment won’t become permanent?
OPEU’s By-Laws require a vote of the membership on any change in dues.
This proposal is specifically written to expire after twelve months. There
would have to be a new proposal and a new vote of the full membership to
continue this assessment in any form.
Q.
Will this assessment take the place of two-cent contributions to CAPE?
No, we will continue to seek voluntary contributions to CAPE to add to our
campaign budget. CAPE contributions are an important part of the Union’s
political action program. But, they are insufficient to fund a statewide
campaign of the kind we need to defeat the Tieman initiative. Also, CAPE
contributions are eligible for a full credit on state income tax returns. The
temporary dues assessment will not be eligible for this credit.
Q.
Will management be asked to contribute?
Yes. Some are already asking us where to send their money. We’ll be
setting up a separate fund for managers and unrepresented employees to help
in this fight.
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