NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
Obscure federal rule may pose fi nancial
threat to one of Oregon’s largest unions
Change could also
hamper ability
of home care
workers to save for
retirement
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Up to 30,000
Oregon workers may no lon-
ger automatically support
their union as concerted
national efforts to trim the
political power of unions
gain steam.
A change in an obscure
federal rule may pose a
fi nancial threat to one of
Oregon’s largest public
sector unions, while also
crimping the ability of home
care workers to save for
retirement.
The federal agency over-
seeing public health care for
elderly and low-income peo-
ple earlier this month moved
to ban certain voluntary
deductions from federally
funded paychecks for home
care workers.
The new rule may mean
that about 30,000 Oregon
workers can’t have union
dues and retirement savings
automatically taken from
their paychecks. But Ore-
gon and four other states are
Oregon Capital Bureau Photo/Claire Withycombe
Members of Service Employees International Union rally
outside the Oregon Capitol on Monday.
efi ts, the unions represent-
ing them say.
Oregon home care work-
ers,
considered
public
employees, have relied on
collective bargaining since
2001. Since then, the aver-
age home care worker, once
not even required to be
paid minimum wage, has
received a roughly $12 per
hour pay bump, according
to SEIU Local 503.
But
those
workers
aren’t considered full pub-
lic employees: they don’t
receive a public pension, for
example.
There are other ways the
union could collect dues to
pay the costs of collective
bargaining, including credit
cards and bank drafts, said
Ben Morris, a spokesman
contesting the move.
The rule creates a fi nan-
cial roadblock for one of the
most active unions in Ore-
gon politics.
Service Employees Inter-
national Union Local 503
represents the workers who
care for about 20,000 Ore-
gonians. Home care work-
ers help elderly people and
people with disabilities with
bathing, dressing and other
daily activities.
The service is paid for
through Medicaid and the
new rule says such money
can’t be diverted out of pay-
checks to third parties even
if a worker is willing.
The change impacts
American workers who have
only recently organized for
better wages and other ben-
THURSDAY
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FRIDAY
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Seattle
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63/51
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75/51
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
73/49
Lewiston
71/51
78/50
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64/52
Pullman
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75/49
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Portland
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74/54
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The Dalles 78/49
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Yesterday
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63/41
PRECIPITATION
John Day
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Burns
56°
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97° (1928) 32° (1971)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
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Albany
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Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
67/50
Thu.
NNE 7-14
N 6-12
nesses that sell tobacco
products and inhalant
delivery systems such as
e-cigarettes must post
signs prohibiting sales of
these products to persons
under the age of 21.
PORTLAND
(AP)
— The Oregon Health
Authority
announced
Tuesday promising short-
term outcomes of Sen-
ate Bill 754, which raised
the age of purchase for
tobacco and vaping prod-
ucts in Oregon from 18 to
21 years.
OHA found a signifi -
cant decrease in youths,
ages 13-17 and young
adults, ages 18–20, who
have started using tobacco
since the law took effect
Jan. 1, 2018. The evalua-
tion also shows a decrease
in young adults’ perceived
ease of access to tobacco
and vaping products.
“Tobacco
21
was
enacted to help prevent
young people from start-
ing to use tobacco, and it’s
working,” said Dr. Tom
Jeanne, deputy state health
offi cer and epidemiologist.
“With this and our strong
Indoor Clean Air Act, Ore-
gon is a national leader
in protecting youth from
tobacco use.”
In August 2017, Gov.
Kate Brown signed Senate
Bill 754, making Oregon
the fi fth state to increase
the age to purchase
tobacco. To ensure com-
pliance with the law, busi-
Radar to probe
for bodies at ex-
Oregon asylum
SALEM (AP) — Ore-
gon will use ground-pene-
trating radar to search for
bodies buried at the for-
mer Oregon State Insane
Asylum.
The Statesman Jour-
nal reported Tuesday that
the facility, which opened
in 1883, once had a cem-
etery — but all the 1,500
bodies buried there were
exhumed in 1913.
Now the Confederated
Tribes of the Grand Ronde
is asking the state to make
sure that happened before a
housing development gets
built on the land.
There is no evidence
that any remains were left
behind, but the tribe wants
a full accounting.
The Department of
Administrative Services,
which owns the land, is
hiring a contractor to do
the search.
The state will also con-
duct research about exhu-
mations and cremated
remains from the facility.
2, which passed the House
53-5 on May 17 after clear-
ing the Senate in February.
Representatives
from
Eastern Oregon praised the
bill for allowing greater
land use fl exibility in a
part of the state that’s often
lagged behind in economic
development.
Before making zon-
ing changes, an economic
opportunity analysis would
fi rst be completed by the
affected counties: Baker,
Gilliam,
Grant,
Har-
ney, Lake, Malheur, Sher-
man, Union, Wallowa and
Wheeler.
Rep. Brian Clem, D-Sa-
lem, said the bill will resolve
the longstanding question of
whether job growth in rural
areas is inhibited by Ore-
gon’s land use system, which
is intended to protect farm
and forestland while focus-
ing growth within cities.
“This is about a 40-year-
old festering issue that we
really need to get an answer
to,” Clem said.
CORRECTION: Round-Up and Happy Canyon Hall of Fame inductee and longtime
Pendleton Round-Up volunteer Dean Forth was not a cast member of the Happy Can-
yon Night Show. Incorrect information was published in Tuesday’s East Oregonian.
The EO regrets the error.
The East Oregonian works hard to be accurate and sincerely regrets any errors. If
you notice a mistake in the paper, please call 541-966-0818.
WINDS (in mph)
66/47
58/44
0.45"
1.34"
0.85"
9.10"
6.07"
5.96"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
70/45
69/49
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
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Two bills easing home-
building and industrial
development outside urban
growth boundaries in parts
of Eastern Oregon recently
won approval in the House.
Ten counties in Eastern
Oregon could each slate up
to 10 sites totaling 50 acres
for “industrial and other
employment uses” outside
UGBs under Senate Bill
HERMISTON
Enterprise
Pendleton 60/37
71/50
Corvallis
55°
47°
72°
48°
95° (1928) 30° (1903)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
74/51
Aberdeen
71/49
75/56
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
75/54
By MATEUSZ
PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Mostly cloudy,
showers around
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
69° 46°
Fewer youths have
started smoking
since Tobacco 21
took effect
Bills aimed at easing Eastern Oregon
development make headway
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
for SEIU Local 503.
But he said the rule
change is a politically moti-
vated attempt to undercut
the union.
“The goal of doing some-
thing like this is you’re hop-
ing people don’t follow
through to that new system
and that you lose revenue,”
Morris said.
Dues to SEIU Local 503
are 1.7% of monthly sal-
ary plus $2.75, according to
U.S. Department of Labor
records. The union collected
about $28 million in dues in
2018, according to the fed-
eral reports.
The change could also
affect retirement savings for
home care workers.
Many have opted in to
OregonSaves, a new state
program that provides a
retirement savings account
for people who don’t get one
at work.
State Treasurer Tobias
Read, a Democrat, has
criticized the federal rule
change for preventing pay-
roll deductions for retire-
ment plans.
“Homecare and personal
support workers were one of
the key groups who fought
for the creation of the pro-
gram because they have
no other retirement option
through their employers,”
Read said in a statement.
OREGON IN BRIEF
St. Anthony Provider Spotligh t
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Aimee Rogers, MD
is now accepting
new patients.
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Special Services: Urology
Aimee Rogers, MD
Call for your appointment today
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