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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 28, 1985)
Foster Grandparents World Music Fesival Photographer in Nicaragua Page 5 Page 4 Page 3 PORTLAND OBSERNER 5 C«n* A iM b A ftvft. Mr / « * Bus strike looms on the horizon (Photo Richard J Brown! by Robert Lothian T ri Mel bus driver P a lly I hotnas says she doesn’ t want to go on strike, but she’ll stick with her "brothers and sisters" in Transit Union 1 oeal 757. Thomas, a driver for nine years, op erates the Number Light 15th Avenue bus. She is the sole supporter for her self and several fam ily members. " I bring home the bacon,” she said. E ither way, said Thomas, w ith a strike or w ith T ri Met contract o f fers, it looks like drivers and mcchan ics w ill he forced to make a sacrifice " I t ’ s just a lot o f pressure they're putting us under," said Thomas. " A l ter nine years,’ she said, " I don't want to see everything I'v e w orked lo r crumble." Iri Met management remains firm Representatives at press conference question policies of Oregon In v e s tm e n t Council. The 0 IC oversees in its resolve to cut labor costs. In his August report, general manager Jim Cowan said it is time for I n-M ct’s union employees “ to lake their fa ir share o f cutbacks." " T o r the last three ye a rs ," said Cowen, “ Tri-M ct's management em ployees and riders have shouldered the burden o f s h rin kin g revenues. Service has been cut by 15 percent, management salaries have been frozen this year and reduced, and 48 m an agement positions have been e lim i nated." I he company still needs additional dollars just to maintain present service levels, ( owen said, and th a t’ s why the drivers and mechanics are being asked to bite the bullet. There are teeth in I ri-M ct’s resolve — the com pany has said it w ill use non-union employees to fill in for strikers The 1,41X1 member union local re jected the com pany’ s firs t contract offer in July, by a vote o f 1,081 to 52. I hat offer included a 2 percent wage cut and cost saving changes in many things the union in won in previous bargaining — overtim e procedures, holidays, shifts, pay differentials and other benefits. The company also wanted to contract out less profitable routes to private bus companies, and increase part-tim e drivers fro m 14 percent to JO percent o f the w ork force. O regonian labor w riter Stan Federman called this contract "a shot through the union’s heart" that could cause its destruction. T ri-M e t’ s second o tte r in August scrapped the benefit and w ork rule changes in lieu o f an across the board 9 5 percent pay cut ovet the nest 18 months I he union rejected that offer by a vote o f I ,<MI lo4J The company says it will now come back to the union w ith its o rig in a l offer, possibly as early as Sunday A $7 billion in retirement funds (Photo Richard J Brown! Representatives question Investment Council by Nathaniel Scott In response to the escalation o f vio lence in South Africa, 13 members of the Oregon Senate and House o f Rep resentatives has requested a meeting with the Oregon Investment Council (O IC ), w hich oversees $7 b illio n in state retirement funds The legislators are concerned about Oregon's investments in South A f rica. In a letter to the O IC dated Aug 16, the legislators asked five questions: • How the O IC evaluates the risk factors and applies the prudent person factor to investments in companies w ith business subsidiaries in South Africa. • What alternative kinds o f invest ments the O IC is considering, should the prudency o f South A frica invest ments prove too risky. • What contingency plans the O IC lias, if the holdings fail significantly, thus affecting the pension income o f many elderly Oregonians. • W hat policies and pnxedures the O IC has to inform the public and the legislature o f its m onitoring o f these issues, as an investment factor. • How does the OIC work with the Public Employees Retirement System in considering investments related to South Africa. The legislators’ concerns came to light Monday. August 26, in a news conference held at the King Neighbor- hixxJ Facility. Representatives Mike Burton, M a r garet Carter and Ron Cease, Districts 17, 18 and 19 respectively, and Rep. Tom Mason attended the news con ference. Tlx; legislators are focusing their at tention on the O IC because there is v irtu a lly no hope o f o ve rrid in g the g overnor's veto o f H B 2001, w hich called fo r divesture o f Oregon funds from companies doing business w ith South Africa. "T h e governor's veto is one o f the saddest things to happen," Rep. M a son said, adding, " V ic Atiyeh came strike vote w ould occur w ith in 48 hours, raising the possibility of a strike on the first das ol school. Sept 3rd Even though the second otter might have been better than the firs t, the 9.5 percent wage cut it contained meant a loss o f ovet $2<X) a month to emplovces "Twenty live hundred dol lars a year, that's asking lix> m uch," said Thomas. Driver Bob Juhr, who was tilling in on the Number Nine Broadway bus for a vacationing driver, said tie could live with the 2 percent wage cut o f the o rig in a l o ffe r, but not the other changes, especially in seniority and overtime Mans drivers routinely are behind the wheel 14 hours a day. getting tired, but at least they get paid tor overtime after eight hours, said lulu I lie corn pans wants to |iay overtime only alter 40 hours drivers could work long studs without getting paid overtime, tie said On the seniority question, "W hat they want to do is lav o il lull time drivers before thev lay o il part nine drivers,” he said I ri Met saves with the part tuners, who receive no overtim e pay or benefits and who work only peak shills M eanw bile, fin a n c i.illy -tro u b le d I ri-M e l continues to look lo r other bail-outs The I n Met board »>1 d im tors voted recently lo raise lares by Id cents to 85 cents A t its August 26iti meeting, the board considered an 01 dinancc that would impose a I percent las on certain petroleum pnxlucls mi ixirted into the county I axes on sen ice stations, m otor vehicle dealers and parking lots are also being con sidered A source inside I n Met headquar lets said that the com pany’ s sc ram bling for funds as it cuts services, raises tares, and forces wage cuts, indicates grave mismanagement down on the side ot the South Alrican government." The escalation ot violence in South A fric a gets worse every day. Rep Mason said " I he country is on its way to a revolution." We need to seriously hx>k at what's happening in South A frica, Rep ( ar ter said "Seventy-seven percent o f the Black people in South A frica say we do want divestment ." She added, "O ver MX! people have been killed during the last year and the South A fric a n governm ent is not considering pressure fro m any coun try. We need to look at how we ate condoning |apartheid|," six- said. Rep Mason said he was not going to be on the side ot Jerry I alwcll and Rep. Carter called I .dwell "blatantly racist." Rep. Cease m aintained that the public has a right to know what O IC is doing. " I would like more public in form ation," he said. “ I would like for them to say this what we are d oing.” The representatives also called lo r public prssure on O IC and said it they didn't meet with O IC as a group, they w ould meet w ith them in d iv id ually. In their letter to O IC , the represent atives maintained: "T h e Botha govern ment, in refusing to move tow ards reconciliation or negotiation with the Black majority, is opening the d ixir to continued violence and, potentially, c iv il w ar. C ountries doing business in S outh A fric a arc now at greater risk than ever before. Realizing this, seven states, 30 cities, one te rrito ry , and four foreign countries including Canada, France, Japan and Sweden — have enacted divestment legislation and banned the sale ot gold Kruger rands Similar legislation is pending in the U S. Senate." An example o l mismanagement, and also o f disregard lo t employees and taxpayers, say the duvets, are the 5 percent merit pav increases awarded to top management who make be tween $4(,(XX) $75.(XX) a year. I tie average driver earns $27,(XX! annually. "W e haven't got enough money to go around We want you to take less, we'll take more,” is management's at litude, according to lulu "W e d o n 't gel b onuses," said I liomas Site said she has trouble even getting days o l! that aie owed to her Inevitable rum ors are flo a tin g atound that In Met is out to break die union, lo llo w in g a pattern that has destroyed locals o l the m achinists, marine trades and lum ber w orkers' unions. But I liomas and Juhr say they are w illin g to take the risk. "S end up a prayer for us," said Thomas Her ad vice to riders: "W a tc h the news, so you can see w hat's going on and so vixi'll have a wav to w o rk ." If there's a strike: Tri Met w ill operate 15 minute service weekdays from 6 to 11 a.in. and from 2 to p in on the follow mg routes: No 14 Hawthorne Sandy; No 20 Burnside combined with No 53 23rd Avenue; No. 57 Forest Grove; No ' Interstate Barbur; No .33 M c l o u g h lin ; No 35 Oregon ( ity; No 75 39th Ave.; No 72 82nd Avenue, and No. 8 15th Avenue lacks.m Park. Sonator Bill McCoy was among the spnakers who addressed about ISO people who gathered at Oregon State Grange headquarters in S E Port land. Saturday The rally was to protest the sales tax and offer a heme stead exemption as an alternative (Photo Richard J. Brown) Sides drawn on sales tax measure by Jerry ( iarner I hi- Sides I ax Ballot Measure ( om nnttee recommended to the C ity Club to approve State Measure No. I. I lie ballot measure calls for a single stage retail sales lax on g.xxls, which is con stitutionally limited to ' percent. I he ( ommittee Report was presented last I ndav lo the C ity C lu b Sales la x Ballot Measure (. ommittee I he corn mitlee was tormed to evaluate the sales tax package writen by the 1985 legis lature to determ ine whether it was close enough to the "m odel sales tax” proposal adopted by the ( ity ( lub in I ebruary I98S to ju s tify < ity ( lub support. (.ary Hinkle, a committee member, said the committee found seven areas where the two proposals d iffe r, how ever, only two are m ajor differences. Ihe first is the spending limit imposed on state government and school dis tricts I he ( ity ( lub's plan called for a constitutional restriction on spending levels to be increased or decreased only by changes in per capita income or population w ithin the slate. The legis lature's plan is less restrictive. It calls fo r a ''c o n s titu tio n a l lim it on the amount of revenue received by school districts and community colleges from property taxes, and a constitutional re quirement that the legislature enact a statutory lim it on state government spending other than spending fo r schools, co m m u n ity colleges, and bonded indebtedness. I he other principal difference be tween the tw o plans is the extent to which the tax burden is shifted from business low .uds Ihe in d ivid u a l ta x payer Ihe ( ity ( lub proposal recom mended a $2(1,188) p ro p e rly tax ex emption lor homesteads, but the legis lature's plan il.x-s not include such an exem ption In spite o l the legisla ture's failure to include the ( ity Club's recommendations, Hinkel said the tax measuie is Ihe most progressive one in the nation. I he ( ity ( lu b w ill vole August 3(1 on whether to support the Sales la x B a llo t Measure R eport's recommendations. In other news related to Slate Mea sure No I, the Oregon A l I C IO voted last I nday to oppose the ' per cent sales tax despite a plea from Gov ernor'Vic Atiyeh to not light against Ihe "o n e ray o f hope we in Oregon liave (or jobs " I he final vole by ATI ( IO delegates was 1711 5 1, more than the two thirds o f m ajority needed Irv Fletcher, President ot Oregon A l l CIO, staled: " I f thev hail talked about only taxing yachts, a llig a to r shoes, Audis and things like that, we would have supported it.” last Thursday, the Portland S c I kmi I Board unanimously endorsed passage ot the 5 percent sales tax package. I here w ill be a “ Stop Sales la x ” campaign rally, sponsored by Oregon I air Share, Friday, Sept 6, 7:00 p.m at the Pine Street Theatre, 221 S.E. 9th, with music by (o m p to n , Doherty A T inhorn, and the Gresham Senior Hot Shots (Jug Band) Speakers w ill include Senators Jan W'ycrs and I d I adelev, and Ron H e rndon o f the Black United Front. Voters will vote on the tax measure on September 17th.