March 5, 2010 Volume 111 Number 5

Labor’s reaction mixed to special session of Oregon Legislature

Before the Feb. 25 adjournment of the 2010 Special Session, the majority-Democratic Oregon Legislature passed a variety of bills important to organized labor. Those included:

  • (SB 1045) A ban on employers considering job applicants’ credit history. Authored by State Sen. Diane Rosenbaum (D-Portland), the bill bans the use of credit checks for the purpose of hiring or promotion, with an exception for public safety employees. It passed largely on party lines, with Democrats in support and Republicans opposing. One Republican, Rep. Kim Thatcher (Keizer), voted for it, while four Democrats voted against it: State Sen. Martha Schrader and State Reps. Jeff Barker (Aloha), Brent Barton (Clackamas), and Dave Edwards (Hillsboro).
  • (HB 3655) A six-week extension of unemployment insurance benefits. Passed unanimously in both chambers, the bill helps nearly 19,000 Oregonians who would otherwise have exhausted their benefits at the end of March, at a cost of $19 million to the unemployment insurance trust fund.
  • (HB 3618) Extension of collective bargaining rights and workers’ compensation protection to a new group of home care workers. Sponsored by State Rep. Michael Dembrow (D-Portland), the bill makes the Home Care Commission the employer of record for several thousand workers who are paid by the state to provide in-home care for mentally ill and developmentally disabled individuals and medically-fragile children. The bill was a top priority for Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 503.

American Federation of Teachers-Oregon passed its top priority — a bill (SB 989) that eliminates the confusing double ballot in Oregon University System (OUS) faculty representation elections. Currently, faculty employed by the OUS must first vote to have representation, then vote again to designate a particular union for their representative.

Building trades unions also had some successes. The Legislature authorized bonds that will provide $65 million to renovate the Transportation Building on the Capitol Mall and $75 million for a 451-bed dormitory at the University of Oregon. And a bill (HB 3651) backed by Oregon State Building and Construction Trades Council (OSBCTC) will require payment of the prevailing wage rate on solar energy systems constructed on public property. OSBCTC Executive Secretary Bob Shiprack said the bill was a response to a 2008 ruling that workers installing rooftop solar panels on buildings owned by Multnomah County would not have to be paid prevailing wage. [See Government solar projects skirt prevailing wage laws, in the Jan. 16, 2009 issue.] That’s because the contract was set up as a power purchase agreement, with the contractor owning the panels and selling the power to the County. The newly-passed bill would eliminate any such end-runs around the prevailing wage requirement: If a panel is going on public property, workers installing it will earn the prevailing wage. All House and Senate Democrats voted for the change, while most Republicans voted against it. Republicans voting for it were: representatives Vicki Berger (Salem), Bill Kennemer (Oregon City) and Ron Maurer (Grants Pass); and senators Jason Atkinson (Central Point), Ted Ferrioli (John Day), Frank Morse (Albany), Bruce Starr (Hillsboro), and Jackie Winters (Salem).

Shiprack also applauded the Legislature for reforming the Business Energy Tax Credit (BETC). A bill (HB 3680) passed that will give the Oregon Department of Energy discretion in whether to pre-approve the credit, and a mandate to consider many factors, including the number of jobs created.

There were also disappointments for the Building Trades: Critics of liquid natural gas opposed a bill (SB 1020) to allow pipeline developers to apply for permits while still in negotiations with landowners, and it didn’t get a hearing.

And a “Buy American” bill (SB 1050) introduced in the Senate failed to get a vote. It would have required public construction projects to use U.S.-made steel, lumber, piping and drywall (unless the domestically-produced material is unavailable or 25 percent more expensive than imported material).

Shiprack also decried a move by the Legislature to make up a budget shortfall by “sweeping” portions of unrelated special-purpose funds into the state’s General Fund. The sweep took money out of several funds of interest to union members — including $1.6 million from a Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) fund that pays for enforcement of the prevailing wage requirement.

Several other labor-positive proposals stalled.

State Rep. Brad Witt (D-Clatskanie) (who is also a union rep at United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555) had a bill (HB 3632) calling for the Oregon Health Commission to study a “pay or play” system in which employers would either provide health insurance to employees or pay into a state insurance fund. The bill passed the House, but died in committee after it couldn’t find majority support in the Senate.

And a bill (HB 3604) by Rep. Jules Bailey (D-Portland) to require the Columbia River Crossing I-5 bridge project to give preference to locally produced materials didn’t get a floor vote.

Lawmakers ended the special session by referring to voters a constitutional change (SJR 41) providing for annual legislative sessions — capped at 160 days in odd-numbered years and 35 days in even-numbered years.

Thus far, labor is neutral on the proposal. Shiprack said annual sessions would make it easier for the state to budget effectively, but expressed concern that the 35-day session would be too short to deliberate effectively on policy change bills. Voters will decide the issue in November.

Bill to fine-tune Worker Freedom Act fails to get out of committee

SALEM — Last year, the Oregon AFL-CIO managed to pass a nationally-noticed law that could strengthen workers’ rights in workplace union organizing campaigns. This year, the labor federation asked the Legislature for some changes to the law, and fell flat in the Oregon Senate.

The law in question, known as the Worker Freedom Act, is intended to give workers the right to boycott so-called “captive audience” anti-union meetings. Employers commonly use the mandatory-attendance workplace sessions as a very effective way to squelch campaigns to unionize. But the new law says employers may not discipline workers for refusing to attend a meeting — if the meeting’s purpose is to express employer views on religion, politics or whether to join a labor organization. That bill was to go into effect Jan. 1, but it’s being challenged in federal court in a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The suit argues that the law unconstitutionally restricts employer freedom of speech, and that states may not legislate on the subject of private sector unionization, because that is pre-empted by a federal law, the National Labor Relations Act.

In the February special session, the Oregon AFL-CIO went back to Oregon lawmakers with a bill (HB 3653) to clarify that religious employers are exempt from the law, to change the formula for calculating the penalty when employers violate the law, and to remove the definition of labor organization from the bill. When the labor federation’s bill went to the floor of the House, Republicans Kevin Cameron (Salem) and Kim Thatcher (Keizer) pushed an alternate proposal — to repeal the Worker Freedom Act altogether. That failed on a straight party-line vote, with all 36 Democrats opposed and all 24 Republicans in favor. Next the AFL-CIO’s bill got a vote, and passed 34-26, with two Democrats opposed: Betty Comp of Woodburn and Suzanne Van Orman of Hood River. But then in the Senate, labor couldn’t find 16 senators to pledge support for the bill, even though Democrats have an 18-12 majority.

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