Kulongoski names two union leaders to top posts

Former Oregon AFL-CIO president Tim Nesbitt is leaving the House of Labor.

Nesbitt, 61, is one of two union leaders Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski is tapping to fill top positions in his second-term administration. Chip Terhune, assistant executive director of the Oregon Education Association’s Center for Public Affairs, will be the governor’s new chief of staff. Nesbitt will be deputy chief of staff, in charge of policy for education, health care, public safety and natural resources.

The Nov. 29 announcement ended a year of speculation about Nesbitt’s next move. He took many people by surprise in September 2005 when he resigned mid-term as president of the Oregon AFL-CIO.

Over the next year, Nesbitt says he had on-and-off discussions with leaders of the national AFL-CIO, the Change to Win labor federation, and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) about going to work for them.

“For me personally the decision came down to whether I should move on to union work on a regional or national level or stay in Oregon and move over to the governor’s staff,” Nesbitt said. “What convinced me to stay is that I realized my base of knowledge and my relationships are all here in Oregon.”

Nesbitt has a national reputation as a labor leader and political strategist, and is credited as a major force in turning Oregon into a reliable “blue state.” First, as executive director of SEIU’s Oregon State Council, he strategized the passage of several ballot measures that reined in anti-union ballot measure activist Bill Sizemore. Then, as Oregon AFL-CIO president, he helped unite and focus Oregon’s labor movement, turning it into a permanently mobilized political force.

So he was tremendously disheartened to see labor’s unity unravel as SEIU led a group of unions out of the national AFL-CIO in July 2005.

“We were going to have to go through a period of rebuilding,” Nesbitt said, recalling the dilemma he faced as the split spread to the state level. “I had already done it once.”

As the Oregon AFL-CIO met in its September convention, it was unclear whether national union leadership would allow Change to Win locals to remain affiliated with local AFL-CIO bodies. Nesbitt decided the time had come for him to step aside, and proposed former Fire Fighters Union President Tom Chamberlain as a successor.

After resigning, Nesbitt stayed connected with the labor movement, working as a consultant for the Working Families Party of Oregon, a new labor-led third party that qualified for ballot status this year. He maintains an associate membership in SEIU.

In July, he began working as a political adviser on Kulongoski’s re-election campaign.

Unions were the backbone of the campaign. Now, Kulongoski’s choice of Nesbitt and Terhune suggests the governor will work closely with organized labor in his second term.

With Democrats in control of the Legislature and governor’s office, Nesbitt is optimistic about progress on issues dear to labor, including a fairer tax system, health care cost savings, and greater ease for employees to form unions.

“A progressive and growing union movement is important, but it’s still not enough. We need to make government work for working people,” he said.

Nesbitt says he sees working for the governor as a continuation of his political work in the union movement.

“I never saw unions as a special interest. Unions are a defender of the general interest.”