Per-cap increase will fund campaigns to fight Sizemore's anti-union initiatives

NORTH BEND - A special per-capita tax assessment to fight "right-to-work (for less)" and other union-busting political activities was approved by delegates at the 44th annual convention of the Oregon AFL-CIO.

Starting Oct. 1 and ending Nov. 30, 2000, affiliated locals will pay an additional 30 cents per member per month to the state labor federation for its internal campaign. In the event that no right-to-work-for-less or related union-busting ballot measures qualify for the November 2000 ballot, the money - projected to be about $500,000 - will be set aside for future right-to-work battles.

For several months now, Oregon Taxpayers United has been collecting money and paying petitioners to gather signatures for another "paycheck deception" initiative which would prohibit public employee unions from collecting dues automatically from members' paychecks. Oregonians rejected a similar measure last year. But, according to retiring AFL-CIO President Irv Fletcher, collecting signatures and attacking public employees is how OTU's executive director Bill Sizemore makes his living. "It's the full employment act for Bill Sizemore," Fletcher has told the Northwest Labor Press.

"Sizemore's goal is to silence organized labor by de-funding us," said Brad Witt, secretary-treasurer of the Oregon AFL-CIO. "This is nothing new. But if it passes here the cancer may not be stopped and spread nationwide."