Minimum wage initiative headed for November ballot

SALEM - Oregon's lowest-paid workers moved closer to a long-overdue pay raise July 5 when the chief petitioners for the Oregon AFL-CIO-endorsed initiative to raise the state's minimum wage turned in 91,098 signatures to the secretary of state.˜

The number of signatures should be more than enough to meet the threshold of 66,786 valid signatures needed to qualify for the November 2002 ballot.˜

"I'm very proud that organized labor was involved with this," said Gene Pronovost, president of Tigard-based United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555 and one of three chief petitioners for the initiative, which proposes to raise the minimum wage from $6.50 to $6.90 per hour in January 2003 and provide annual cost-of-living adjustments thereafter.˜

"This measure will give Oregon's minimum wage workers their first raise since 1999," noted Democratic State Representative Diane Rosenbaum, co-chief petitioner with Pronovost and Labor Commissioner-elect Dan Gardner.

Rosenbaum is a member of Portland Communications Workers of America Local 7901 and Gardner is vice president of Portland Electrical Workers Local 48.

Oregon's minimum wage is now the lowest on the West Coast, behind Washington (at $6.90) and California (at $6.75), Rosenbaum said.˜

Oregon AFL-CIO President Tim Nesbitt thanked the many unions and their members who helped with signature gathering and with contributions to the campaign.

Home | About