... legislative accountability report., January 01, 2009, Page 13, Image 13

Amid Success, We Also Lost Some Battles
Tough Economic Times Did Take a Toll
We had many great victories
during this session, but we
also lost battles that will
impact lives of hundreds of
Oregon families and critical
services Oregonians rely on.
For the past 20 years there
have been proposals to close
or merge the School for the
Blind. For years SEIU members
have worked with advocates
and OEA to protect the
school, but in 2009 we lost the
fight. The impact will be that
disabled blind children will
have nowhere to go to learn
critical life skills or socialize
with their community. It is
a big loss to Oregon and
to the many members that
dedicated their careers to
helping blind children at the
School.
The members at the Department of Administrative Services ensure that
the state can operate smoothly. They serve other agencies through
maintenance, janitorial services, information technology, training and
many other centralized services. In 2009 the legislature cut motor pool and
janitorial services to save money, leaving agencies with fewer resources and
over 100 dedicated state workers out of a job.
Two other agencies experienced significant losses. The Department of
Forestry will have a tougher time protecting Oregonians from forest fires
because of significant cuts in their private forest program. These workers
spend much of their summer fighting forest fires and will now not be able
to keep our forests safe. The University System will experience significant
cutbacks in their extension services which serve agricultural and community
programs throughout the state.
During the 2009 session all agencies experienced losses, members lost their
jobs, and Oregonians lost critical services. The economic crisis is continuing
to impact many SEIU members and we need to continue to do all we can to
ensure that corporations and wealthy individuals are sharing in the sacrifice
so that the burden to solve the state's problems does not fall to working
Oregonians.
11