Republicans introduce bill to ban all boycotts

SALEM, OR -- A bill has been introduced in the Oregon Senate that would outlaw boycotts or threats of boycotts in the state.

Senate Bill 994 is sponsored by the Senate Committee on Rules and Elections, chaired by Randy Miller, R-Lake Oswego, at the request of the Oregon Litigation Reform Coalition. In addition to boycotts, the bill would make it a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $100,000 fine for trespassing on the premises of anyone who contributes or refrains from contributing to an initiative or referendum petition.

The Oregon AFL-CIO has learned that the president of the Oregon Litigation Reform Coalition is former Republican Governor Vic Atiyeh and that officers are John DiLorenzo, an attorney for the Republican Party, and Larry Campbell, former Republican speaker of the Oregon House and a former executive of the Louisiana-Pacific wood products giant. An active member of the coalition is Mark Hemstreet, owner of Shilo Inns.

SB 944 would prohibit a labor tradition of boycotting businesses that support anti-worker/anti-union practices, said the Oregon AFL-CIO.

The listing of Shilo Inns on the state labor federation's Unfair/Do Not Patronize List would be declared a Class C felony, the AFL-CIO said.

In 1995, Shilo Inns were placed on the Unfair List because of Hemstreet's big financial contributions to 1994's Measure 8, which cut public employee's pay by 6 percent by requiring them to pay into their pension fund. Measure 8 was later overturned by the courts as impairing contractual rights.

When the Northwest Oregon Labor Council cited Shilo Inns to appear before its Executive Board in Portland, Hemstreet responded with a letter stating that placement on the Unfair List would be worn "as a badge of honor."

Others whose businesses or residence have been picketed because of their financial contributions or for leading support of anti-worker issues are Senate Majority Leader Gene Derfler, R-Salem, and former Republican State Representative Bob Tiernan of Lake Oswego.

* Several bills have been introduced that would require the use of inmate labor to work at jobs previously held by private sector workers. In 1994, voters passed Measure 17, a constitutional amendment requiring state prison inmates to work 40 hours a week. "Organized labor long advocated that inmates should be required to provide restitution to crime victims and to pay for their rehabilitation," said Oregon AFL-CIO President Irv Fletcher. "But convict labor must not be allowed to displace law-abiding workers in the private sector."

The five bills that have been introduced would require inmates "be utilized to the greatest extent possible" in constructing, remodeling and maintaining new and currently operating correctional facilities; to perform maintenance and repair work at state and county-owned waysides; to construct buildings for parks; to construct mobile prisons to be used by inmates engaged in park restoration services, and to transfer the state printing section of the Oregon Department of Administrative Services to the Department of Corrections.

The bill numbers are SB 818. SB1077, HB 2619, HB 3230, and HB 3256.

* A third "right-to-work (for less)" bill has been introduced, this one by Bill Markham, R-Riddle. HB 3286 would prohibit unions from requiring members to contribute to political action campaigns (which already is illegal). It also would prohibit dues checkoff.

Two other right-to-work bills, SB 850 and 851, introduced by Derfler, were heard April 1. They would prohibit public employee unions from collecting dues through payroll deductions and would eliminate fair share agreements.