The BulleTin • Friday, March 12, 2021 A5
EDITORIALS & OPINIONS
AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
Heidi Wright
Gerry O’Brien
Richard Coe
Publisher
Editor
Editorial Page Editor
It’s time to end
the hospital strike
Both sides are talking; that’s a good thing
I
t’s time to end the walkout at St. Charles Bend. The union
strike by some 150 medical technicians enters its ninth day
Friday (if an agreement is not struck late Thursday) after
collective bargaining broke down prior to the March 4 strike.
Both sides were speaking with a
mediator as of press time Thursday.
The Oregon Federation of Nurses
and Health Professionals organized
about a year ago. Since that time, it
has sought a contract with St. Charles
and after some 28 meetings, there’s
been no settlement. The last bargain-
ing sessions were in early December.
There is not much information
coming out of the mediation, so it’s
hard to judge how far apart both sides
are today. According to St. Charles
and The Bulletin reporting, two core
issues remain on the table: Compen-
sation and union security.
The teams have agreed upon wages
for the first year of the contract.
Under this agreement, the average
hourly wage for techs in the bargain-
ing unit will be $41.94 per hour. How-
ever, wages for years two through five
of the contract are still being negoti-
ated, according to St. Charles.
The union has also requested a
closed shop, meaning all St. Charles
technical employees’ jobs would be
conditional upon joining the union
and paying 1.4% of their base wage in
dues or paying agency fees and giving
up voting rights. St. Charles has asked
for an open shop in order to give its
caregivers a choice on whether they
are members of the union.
Medical staff inside the hospital
have raised safety concerns over the
administration hiring replacement
workers who are just getting oriented
to the work as the strike progresses.
While the replacement workers may
be well vetted, it’s not ideal for the
best health care versus a med-tech
who is from the community and un-
derstands the nuances of how this
hospital functions.
St. Charles, for its part, took a big
financial hit when it halted nonemer-
gency surgeries this time last year as
COVID-19 struck. It has been suc-
cessful in reducing the number of
COVID patients hospitalized, and it
is the driving force in getting vaccines
into the arms of county residents.
That is a big effort on its part.
Both sides have much to gain and
much to lose, and personal accusa-
tions and acrimony are starting to
boil up, acerbating the issue. It’s time
to bridge the gap in the talks and
bring the walkout to an end.
Proposed tax increase would
kill Central Oregon jobs
A
s local business owners and
residents, brewers care deeply
about our communities.
That’s why we invest and create so
many jobs here in Central Oregon.
Prior to COVID-19, Oregon
was home to 400 breweries creat-
ing 43,000 jobs, $2 billion in wages
and $6.7 billion in economic activ-
ity for the state. Sadly, it’s estimated
due to the pandemic, 10,000 of those
beer-related jobs have been lost.
The last thing members of the
Central Oregon Brewer’s Guild need
are the unprecedented tax increase
being considered by Salem politi-
cians, which would kill our busi-
nesses and the jobs we create in the
community.
House Bill 3296 would increase
taxes on beer and cider by nearly
3,000% and increase taxes on wine
by 1,700%, making Oregon the high-
est beer, wine, cider and spirits tax
state in the nation. It would increase
the beer and cider tax from $2.60 a
barrel to $72.60 per barrel. And wine
taxes would increase from 65 cents to
$10.65 per gallon. These aren’t minor
adjustments a business can simply
absorb or pass along to the consumer.
While we make beer because we
love it, we still need to make a liv-
ing. A tax increase of this size would
more than eat up profit margins,
leaving many breweries no other
choices but to fold, no longer sell beer
in the state of Oregon or set prices at
unsustainable, uncompetitive levels.
Oregon’s beer, wine, cider and
spirits sectors are already the third
largest source of revenue for the
state — only behind income taxes
GUEST COLUMN
and the state lottery. Yet for some
reason, less than 1% of Oregon’s
budget goes to alcohol treatment
and only 3.5% of existing beer, wine,
cider and spirits revenue is dedi-
cated to addiction recovery.
Without question, more needs to
be done to address addiction, which
is why last fall a majority of voters
supported Measure 110, increasing
addiction services funding by more
than $57 million. The resources are
already there; we just need to use
them better.
Before raising taxes on Oregon’s
breweries, politicians need to deeply
examine the current system and why
existing dollars are not being spent
on these programs. Brewers stand
ready and willing to work with law-
makers and stakeholders on these
issues.
In order to survive what has al-
ready been an extremely difficult
past 12 months, Oregon’s breweries,
wineries, cideries, distilleries, restau-
rants and bars need the support of
our customers and elected officials.
Voters know, our businesses are
job creators for our state and must be
protected, which is why 74% or Or-
egonians oppose increasing our taxes.
People come to Bend for the out-
door recreation and beer. If Oregon
breweries are taxed to death, our
community just won’t be the same.
Tell lawmakers to oppose HB 3296.
Don’t Tax My Drink!
— Robin Johnson is president of the
Central Oregon Brewer’s Guild
My Nickel’s Worth
Votes reveal GOP remains
Trump’s party
I hope that all voters remember
when they get their American Rescue
check that not a single Republican
voted to help you!
Polls showed that Americans were
in favor of this bill. The Republicans
continue to be afraid of former Presi-
dent Donald Trump even after he lost
the election, second time that he lost
the popular vote, and is hiding out in
Florida.
Trump has appeared only once,
giving a speech in Florida in which
he put down some Republicans that
are in his party. He doesn’t care about
anyone but himself. He doesn’t even
care that some of his voters are finan-
cially struggling because he ended his
speech asking for his followers to send
money directly to Donald J. Trump,
not to the Republican party but to
him personally because he’s going to
need a legal defense fund.
Hopefully, they are not that gull-
ible because he made $1.9 billion
while he was in office (according to
Forbes magazine), much of it taxpayer
money at his resorts, so let him use
his own money to fight his legal battle.
Asking for donations to his per-
sonal account only shows that he isn’t
in support of the Republican Party
now but once again he’s only for him-
self, the party of Trump.
If the Republicans ever want to re-
store their party to what it was “Before
Trump Decided to be a Republican”
— a working, two-party system —
they have to stand up to him and ex-
punge him from the party.
President Joe Biden is busy keeping
his eyes on the road to make America
better and on the path of helping the
American people, all people regard-
less of party. Biden is on his way to re-
storing our country to greatness with
an approval rating of 62%, something
Trump never accomplished. Glad we
now have a real president, a qualified
president with years of public service
experience and a president with em-
pathy!
— Sue Ooten, Madras
Vaccinations a godsend
I’m a mother of two young children
and work in higher education; I am
also a fitness instructor on the side.
Both of my professions have been two
of the industries most affected during
this pandemic and like many, are des-
perate for our businesses to fully open
so that our economy can recover. But
with two children, I need everything
to be as safe as possible.
Deschutes County has just recently
dropped out of the extreme risk cate-
gory, and officials are now reopening
indoor dining and our gyms. Still, we
will have a long way to go. People con-
tinue to be out of work and our chil-
dren’s’ education remains interrupted.
We are all eager for the vaccine to be
widely available.
Thankfully, our state has admin-
istered just under one million doses
of the vaccine, and we are finally on
our way to immunity from the virus.
Health care distributors are ensuring
that all corners of the nation are re-
ceiving vaccines as soon as they be-
come available — as well as all the
protective and administration equip-
ment our health professionals need.
With each vaccination, we are one
step closer to safety from the virus
and a fully reopened economy.
Our economy is hanging on by a
thread, and it simply cannot survive
many more months of the pandemic.
Our children, too, are suffering, be-
ing stripped of socialization, human
connection, and in some cases, edu-
cation.
It is imperative to vaccinate those
who are able so that we can end the
pandemic and begin to rebuild our
community and economy.
— Emily Fitch, Redmond
Democrats expanding
their voter base
In reply to a letter I sent Sen. Jeff
Merkley about the thousands of ille-
gal immigrants now crossing our bor-
der, he replied that “allowing people
to migrate is in our DNA.” His overall
reply was generic in nature and ad-
dressed none of the questions I asked
about the illegal immigrant’s impact
on our environment, global warming
or spreading the virus.
His dated thinking was appropri-
ate in 1886 when the Statue of Liberty
was built and world population was
about 1.5 billion.
Since then world population has
doubled twice, from 1.5 billion to 3
billion in 1960 and 3 billion to 6 bil-
lion in the year 2000. It is projected to
double again in 2075.
In short, Congress, including our
two senators, has allowed millions to
enter the U.S. illegally with Central
American and Mexico’s high birth
rates supplying endless numbers of
migrants. We may feel compassion for
these people, but to allow the popu-
lation of the U.S. to continually climb
will ensure a continued deterioration
of our environment and is a recipe for
the development of a permanent un-
derclass of unskilled workers living in
poverty.
The Democratic leadership is con-
sidering proposing “Comprehensive
Immigration Reform,” which basically
allows thousands of immigrants into
the U.S. legally, rather than being il-
legal. This will greatly expand their
voter base.
— William Boyd, Bend
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The question is, who pays for employee benefits?
BY BILL RICH
I
t’s the beginning of a month, which
means it’s time for Rich Belzer’s
guest column. While other local
monthly columnists appear to be well
qualified in the subject matter that
they present (based on italicized cre-
dentials at the end of their articles),
Belzer, on the other hand, “lives in
Bend” and fails to cite any authorita-
tive sources in his column.
In his most recent March 6 column,
Belzer tells us how America needs to
catch up with the rest of the world (pri-
marily Europe, “EU”) in the areas of
free health care, free college and free
preschool/child care. Before jumping
on the Belzer bandwagon, please un-
derstand he totally ignores (as usual)
the critically important other half of
the story. In this case, it is who really
pays for this.
In the EU, corporations pay for
many of these “free” programs, but
they get much of the money from their
employees. How? If you are a skilled
technician or professional and your
identical job was located in Europe,
you would be paid about 20% to 30%
less than you would earn in the U.S. In-
ternational salary surveys support this.
To compete globally, EU corpo-
rations use these savings from their
employees to pay its portion of these
social benefit obligations (health care,
long-term care, social security, unem-
ployment, education, etc.). The cost of
these programs average approximately
20% to 30% of payroll costs (according
to a study by PriceWaterhouse).
In addition, corporate income tax
levels are higher in the EU compared
to the U.S. by an average of 5% to 6%
according to the Tax Foundation.
GUEST COLUMN
Employees also contribute directly
to these social benefit programs via
payroll deductions. According to
PriceWaterhouse, employees contrib-
ute about 15% to 20% of their earn-
ings these programs. This compares to
7.65% for FICA paid by U.S. employees
but this excludes the cost of health in-
surance which in 2020 averaged about
$7,000 annually for an employee with a
family (according to the Bureau of La-
bor Statistics).
However, U.S. health care benefits
are often paid by the employer at little
or no cost to the employee. About 49%
of the U.S. population is covered by
employer group insurance according
to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
If this isn’t enough, the EU also has a
Value Added Tax (“VAT”), which is ba-
sically a national sales tax. It is added to
the cost of just about everything pur-
chased. It averages approximately 21%
across Europe according to the Tax
Foundation.
While corporations initially pay this
tax on their purchases, they receive a
credit for this tax when they sell their
product and add the VAT tax to its
price. Thus, EU corporations don’t pay
this tax, rather it’s paid by the final con-
sumer … you. It is highly regressive.
Everyone pays the same rate re-
gardless of income level and thus low-
er-income families pay a much higher
proportion of their earnings for VAT.
Imagine paying 21% more for every-
thing you buy. This taxes helps finance
these governments and pay for these
“free programs.”
It doesn’t take rocket science to real-
ize that a U.S. family is much better off
than its European counterpart, espe-
cially if the family does not have either
young children or college age children.
The big difference is that in Amer-
ica, you get to keep much more of
your hard-earned money and make
your own decisions where it should
be spent. Does America need to do a
better job in providing affordable, ac-
cessible health care, day care, and edu-
cational opportunities? Definitely. But
Belzer’s model is not the one to emu-
late and based on his extensive inter-
national travels, he should know that.
After all, people still come to America
to get the best health care and educa-
tion the world has to offer. We must be
doing something right.
— Bill Rich is a CPA and recently retired CFO
of an international food and beverage
manufacturer. He lives in Bend.