Foster
Grandparents
World Music
Fesival
Photographer
in Nicaragua
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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.