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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 2019)
STATE MyEagleNews.com Wednesday, October 2, 2019 A11 University workers reach deal to avoid strike By Claire Withycombe Oregon Capital Bureau A looming strike by thousands of workers at Oregon’s seven pub- lic universities has been avoided after the workers settled with man- agement early Saturday morning. The two-year contract was set- tled during talks at the Oregon Institute of Technology campus in Wilsonville. Workers and the universi- ties had reached an impasse after months of negotiations over cost of living increases, yearly pay bumps, benefits and the cost of meals for food service workers. The workers, represented by Service Employees International Union Local 503, were prepar- ing to strike unless an agreement was reached by 7 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 30, the first day of classes for many of the universities. The union reported that the final agreement they reached includes: • The largest cost of living adjustment in over a decade • No leaps in health care costs • A 48-hour leave bank that employees can use in inclement weather University workers had lamented that they were getting short shrift compared to other workers on the state’s payroll — especially after lawmakers voted to boost the amount of money going to public universities by $100 mil- State health care sounds alarm: quit vaping Brown asks DOJ for ‘legal options’ to stop sale of some vaping products By Sam Stites Oregon Capital Bureau A second death related to vaping has prompted the Oregon Health Author- ity to advise Oregonians to stop vaping. On Thursday, Gov. Kate Brown urged Orego- nians to stop vaping. “I have directed (the Oregon Health Authority) to provide recommenda- tions for further steps to protect Oregonians and public health within 24 hours,” Brown said. “I am also requesting that the Department of Jus- tice advise my office on what legal options are available to the state, up to and including the tem- porary ban of all vaping products.” Brown’s statement came after the Health Authority announced that another person had died of illness related to vaping. “The safety of this product has been in ques- tion for a long time,” Dr. Dean Sidelinger, state health officer, told report- ers during a Sept. 26 press conference. “We know this product is not safe and have seen health effects from it with acute respi- ratory injuries and death. We do urge all individu- als to stop vaping whether that’s nicotine-based products, cannabis prod- ucts or other. People who haven’t vaped shouldn’t start.” State health officials identified five cases of acute respiratory illness related to vaping both nic- otine-based products and cannabis products. The state’s first death related to vaping was announced on Sept. 3. According to Sidelinger, the five patients who were hos- pitalized reported short- ness of breath and trou- ble breathing, which progressed. More than 800 cases of vaping-re- lated illness have been reported across the nation. There have been a dozen deaths reported in several states. “The latest individ- ual who died, like the other case was an adult, and did report using can- nabis products,” said Sidelinger, who could not provide more detailed information about the victim. Sidelinger said that all five of the people being treated for vaping-re- lated illnesses had used licensed cannabis prod- ucts. The Health Author- ity expects more cases to be reported. The agency is working with the state and local officials to track the outbreak of vaping-related illnesses. Multnomah County Deputy Health Office Doctor Jennifer Vines said the county sent a clini- cian report to several hun- dred Portland-area health care providers echoing Sidelinger’s warning. The county also urged people to quit vaping and asked health care providers to watch for more cases. The warning came days after Multnomah County commissioners said the county would work with state and federal officials to ban the sale of flavored nicotine products. House Republican leader Christine Dra- zan also issued a Sept. 26 statement saying that safe- guarding public health was the state’s top priority. “I urge all Oregonians to take this advisory seri- ously and stop using vape products immediately until the Oregon Health Authority can properly investigate the risks,” Drazan said. lion over the next two years. The median classified univer- sity worker makes $36,000 per year, according to SEIU Local 503. Classified staff work in jobs rang- ing from food service to informa- tion technology. The union had railed against what it said were sky-high sal- aries for top administrators, bloated management and mod- est pay raises compared to other state workers. The universities had countered that they had made fair offers. “Workers stuck together to demand a contract that respects the critical role they play in sup- porting our students and keep- ing our campuses running,” said Melissa Unger, executive direc- tor of SEIU Local 503, in a state- ment Saturday. “Together, we fought back take-aways proposed by management on wages, health care, steps and personal days, and won higher wages for all workers. This hard-fought victory is a tes- tament to the strength and solidar- ity of Oregon’s front-line univer- sity workers.” There will be a vote among workers in the next few weeks to ratify the contract, according to the union. But until then, they will show up for their jobs as usual. “As we welcome students back in the new academic year, we are pleased that we have a ten- tative agreement in place with Wildfire council tells governor: update firefighting tools Group compiles more than 50 recommendations that could include millions of dollars in new investments By Sam Stites Oregon Capital Bureau The Governor’s Coun- cil on Wildfire Response said Thursday that the state needs to update its firefighting pri- orities and techniques to deal with future conflagrations. At its final meeting, the council outlined about nine months of work that pro- duced more than 50 recom- mendations to improve the state’s firefighting, prepared- ness and response. The rec- ommendations will be given to Gov. Kate Brown in early November. Council Chairman Matt Donegan said the group’s pro- posals could require about $4 billion in investments. Rec- ommendations fall into three categories: creating wild- fire-adapted communities; mitigating and developing resilient landscapes to prepare for fire; and supporting effec- tive wildfire response. “The basic element of this (January) executive order is, are we setup for success? Is what we have today sustain- able given the increase in wildfires that we’re seeing?” Donegan asked. “I think the general message back from our committees is no. Many of these systems were built for another era and need to be updated and modernized.” The primary charge of the 20-member group, Donegan said, was to find the right strategy that hit key areas of interest, such as saving human lives and protect- ing public health, protecting homes and buildings, remov- ing excess fuel from forests, creating green jobs and revi- talizing rural communities. The council determined that the state needs to reorient some older systems in its fire- fighting protocol that are out- dated for the modern wildfire realities. That includes the way the state monitors public health related to wildfires and smoke, emergency response to the fires, disaster recovery measures, public education about wildfires and improved research efforts at Oregon State University. Spending more resources Proposed changes would include a multi-billion dol- lar, multi-decade fuel miti- gation initiative to reduce the proliferation and severity of Oregon wildfires. An invest- ment in fuel mitigation is expected to come from both state and federal dollars, as well as expanded private sec- tor investment and public-pri- vate partnerships. “The estimates that we hear, it’s going to be $4 bil- lion in terms of total costs,” Donegan said. “It’s larger than any one entity. This is going to take the collective power of the public-private partnership.” Recommendations to expand fire suppression efforts could mean major changes to the state’s wild- fire response, specifically in areas that will help protect firefighters, safeguard build- ings and structures, and help the state meet social, eco- logical and economic goals, Donegan said. “In an era of climate change, fuel build up and population growth, we’re going to have to spend more resources in suppressing fire,” he said. “There is a hope that a correlation between fuel loads and suppression, overtime as we invest more in mitigation both with the wildland-urban interface and the landscape, that we can see our suppression cost decline.” Donegan said state land- use planning tools could be used to create cost savings by taking hard looks at defensi- ble space fire control meth- ods — creating landscaped buffers around structures designed to reduce fire dan- ger — as well as building and zoning codes to create state- wide standards in community fire suppression planning. After the council pres- ents its recommendations in November, it will be up to the governor and the Legis- lature to develop options, set priorities for recommended actions and find a way to fund the estimated $4 billion of investment in state’s wildfire preparedness, response and suppression. “I’m really pleased with the council’s work,” Brown told reporters after the coun- cil meeting. “This is a diverse group of Oregonians that came together to spend a lot of time and energy to address the changing needs of our communities across the state as it relates to wild- fire. It is absolutely instru- mental that the state play a role in bringing all the parts together to create healthier public lands, healthier for- ests and of course, health- ier and safe communities for Oregonians.” Smoky summers for some Improved fire response, more resilient landscapes and better fire/smoke adaptive communities to keep Orego- nians health topped the gov- ernor’s list of priorities after hearing Donegan’s pitch. As an example of fire and smoke adaptive communities, Brown pointed to the Rogue Valley, where, for the past sev- eral summers, residents have dealt with horrid air quality due to wildfires. Cleaning Kits in Acres. Since 1945. Packs Camping Gear Meet our team of experienced Agricultural and Commercial lenders. 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They had to cancel about 24 or 25 of their outdoor productions in 2018,” Brown said. “I want to make sure our communi- ties like Ashland and Medford have places to go if there is that type of smoke so that vul- nerable populations, whether its seniors, children or peo- ple with asthma, have places to go. “We don’t want the Rogue Valley smoked-in for six to eight weeks. It destroys their summer. It’s not healthy, and it’s not good for the economy.” Speaking with report- ers after the council meeting, Brown didn’t say where the state would find the $4 billion it could need to make changes suggested by the council. She promised to find ways to pro- vide Oregon’s Department of Forestry — which faces a four-year, $100 million back- log of debt for fighting fires on federal and private land — with the necessary resources it would need to continue fight- ing state wildfires. “We’re asking (the Depart- ment of Forestry) to work under a structure that was cre- ated in the 1900s to fight fire in what we’re seeing is substan- tially changing conditions,” Brown told reporters. “I’m relying on the work of the fire council to make recommen- dations to changes in struc- ture, changes in finance and changes in tools the (agency) needs to do their jobs. This department is one of the finest in the country, and we want to make sure they have tools and resources they’ll need in the future.” Gear Up for hunting & fishing We Measure Success BURNS, OR our SEIU-represented classified workers, who play an important role in the education of more than 120,000 Oregon public univer- sity students,” the university pres- idents said in a joint statement Saturday. “Our university clas- sified employees are respected colleagues who are vital to the operation of our universities and the diverse student services each campus provides.” Oregon’s public universities are Western Oregon University, the University of Oregon, Ore- gon State University, Eastern Ore- gon University, Southern Oregon University, Portland State Univer- sity and The Oregon Institute of Technology. RV Supplies Game calls, lures & attractants Blinds & stands Binoculars & gun scopes Member FDIC NMLS# 414459 ...and much more
