Image provided by: SEIU Local 503; Salem, OR
About The Oregon public employe. (Salem, Oregon) 1981-???? | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1994)
1 Workers put views about work, Measure 8 on video can be a good mother, the infant will have an opportunity to grow and develop and have a more positive life than would other wise be the case.” Prall doesn’t believe that the passage of Ballot Mea sure 8 will help her do her job. “Oregon is a beautiful place to work and live. Our schools, parks, and services are second to none. And, we’re proud of our public em ployees. They are on the front lines to keep Oregon safe and protect our way of life. “But an initiative to cut public employees’ pay by 6% and retirement benefits by as much as 20% is on the Oregon ballot in November.” With those words on a 14- minute OPEU video, public employ ees from a variety of Oregon unions use their own words to describe the work they do every day. “I’m floating on air for a week when someone comes in to the Salem Public Library and says ‘The book you gave my son to read he has ✓ This video is available to mem bers who want to bring together a group of non-public employees (family members, friends, and neighbors.) to deliver a personal message explaining why Measure 8 is bad for all Oregonians. Con tact your Organizer for video and House Party materials. If every public employee con vinces five other voters to oppose Measure 8, we will win. not put down; he read the book the whole weekend and now he wants more just like it’,” said Oregon AFSCME member and youth and children’s librarian Susan Dunn. The video also contains inter views with library patrons who say how important die library is to them. OPEU/SEIU Local 503 rep resents workers in the State Parks like naturalist Michael Niss who was lead ing a nature walk the day that the OPEU video team showed up. “I am helping the environ ment by opening up people’s eyes and ears and senses to what’s here and helping them appreciate it,” he said at Portland’s Tryon Creek State Park. For Juanita Reyna, biology teacher John Bohrlander of Salem’s McNary High School, was the inspira tion to help her become the first person in her family to graduate from high school, and to go on to college to train to become a nurse. Bohrlander is concerned about the effect Measure d will have on people entering public employment. “We don’t see our better stu dents going into education at this time,” NO GUARANTEE ABOUT MONEY “SAVED” Clockwise from upper left, John Bohrlander waits for crew to set up; Steve Baska enters his patrol car; Michael Niss answers a nature question; Tom Seubert, left, and Tim Brusse describe the fires. he says on the video. “It feels a little frustrating to know that the overall trend is to devalue the contribution of the public employee.” VIDEO DESIGNED FOR FRIENDS, NEIGHBORS The video is designed for Union members to show their friends and neighbors— who are not necessarily public work ers — the kind of work that they and public workers like themselves, do, and why Ballot Measure 8 is unfair and ought to be defeated in November. OPEU member and The Dalles police officer Steve Baska speaks to that point when he says on the tape, “If this initiative passes, it would not be a strong signal we’re appreciated by the community.” The Dalles businessman Howard Davison lets Baska know how he feels: “Years ago they didn’t give public workers a raise like every one else got. They told them, we’ll give you this instead; now they want to take it away and that’s not right.” CITIZENS, PUBLIC EM PLOYEES TALK FROM THE HEART - Firefighters, like every other public worker, would be hurt if Ballot Measure 8 passes. Portland firefighters talk about their work. “I took one of the residents over my back, literally threw her over my shoulder, she was unconscious, and took her down five flights of stairs, and gave her to a firefighter on the ground and went right back up,” said Portland Firefighters Association member Tim Brusse about the Marshall Union Manor Home fire where 22 residents were rescued ear lier this year. Sutton Hillman-Gouche’r said that when firefighters rescued her children froiiiherbuminghome,“They were dead. They weren’t breathing. They were blue. Theireyes were wide open and they were not alive. And, to see them come back alive, there isn’t any way you can repay that. None.” When Multnomah County community health nurse and Oregon Nurses Association member Kathy Prall works with a new mother fol lowing a high-risk pregnancy she says, “If I can help her care for this infant, if I can give her the positive reinforce ment that she needs to show her she - “The initiative has no guaran tees that the money that is saved, taken from the 6% from em ployees, is going to be spent helping my clients with their special needs,” she said. “Ithink this measure is so confusing and so complicated that nobody re ally knows how it is going to affect the people.” VOTERS ASKED TO VOTE “NO” -Toward the end of the video, voters are asked not to pass Measure 8. “It’s public employees this time,” says Dunn, explaining how Measure 8’s proponents won’t stop with attacks on public workers. “Next time it’ll be somebody else; It might not be happening to you now, but it might someday.” Businessman Davison echoes that theme: “If the State of Oregon is going to do that, what are they going to do next. Who knows?” The video closes with Port land Public Schools Superintendent Jack Bierworth saying, “I would be ashamed if the people approved it. It’s a level of mean-spiritedness that I would be embarrassed about. There are other ways of doing things and this is not the right way.” Interim Financial Report Temporary Dues Assessment to Defeat the Tieman Initiative and ail Attacks on Public Employee Pay and Retirement Benefits. As of July 25, 1994 Income...................................... ................ ... $151,004 Dues Assessment Received Expenses COPS...................................... Citizens for Oregon Pension Security No on Measure 8 Campaign $223,204 Miscellaneous Expenses .. /.«......... Gard-Strang Public Relations.............. Video Production.................. Total Expenses Incurred..................... > $2,527 $8,500 $5,000 $239,231 Page 9
