There’s a lot at stake for working people in the month-long session of the Oregon Legislature that began Feb. 1. Labor lobbyists and legislators are hopeful that a major increase to the minimum wage may pass, as well as bills to crack down on wage theft and give cities the right to mandate the construction of affordable housing. Here are some of the top items legislators will discuss between now and March 5:
Minimum wage
Thanks to a union-backed 2002 ballot measure, Oregon’s minimum wage now stands at $9.25 and rises with inflation. But it’s still so low that a single worker working full-time year-round qualifies for food stamps. Oregon lawmakers failed last year to raise the minimum wage. But the prospect of not one but two ballot measures has stiffened their spines. One ballot measure would raise the wage to $15 over three years; the other would raise it to $13.50 over two years, and lift a state ban on local jurisdictions going higher. On Jan. 14, Gov. Kate Brown announced her own proposal: a two-tiered raise in the minimum wage over six years. Under her proposal, by 2022, the minimum would rise to $13.50 statewide and $15.52 in the Portland metro area (within the urban growth boundary.) Brown’s proposal doesn’t lift the ban on local minimum wages.
Wage theft
The law says employers have to pay employees at least minimum wage for hours worked, with paid breaks, time-and-a-half for overtime after 40 hours, and the “prevailing” wage and benefits on government construction projects. But the law only works if it’s obeyed, and evidence is mounting that there’s an epidemic of employer wage and hour violations known as “wage theft” — especially in construction, restaurant work, and agriculture. Last year, lawmakers were asked to crack down on wage theft, but instead they backed down, under pressure from employer groups. This time, led by labor lawmakers like State Sen. Michael Dembrow, a bill is being reintroduced that contains the least controversial elements of last year’s rejected bills. Business lobbyists representing Associated Building Industries and Associated Oregon Industries still testified against it at a Jan. 13 pre-session hearing, but labor unions and allies are making it a bigger priority. The bill would require employers to provide workers with detailed pay stubs spelling out pay rates, hours worked, and any deductions. Employers would have to maintain those records for three years, and make them available within 45 days upon request by employees. The bill would give the state Bureau of Labor and Industries the power to require repeat offenders to post a bond guaranteeing their workers will be paid. It would also free up funds to increase enforcement, and it would make certain prevailing wage violations a Class C felony.
Unemployment for locked-out workers
State Rep. Dan Rayfield (D-Corvallis) is pushing a bill that will help the 180 locked-out union Steelworkers at ATI Technologies in Albany. Currently workers who are locked out by their employers in a labor dispute — through no fault of their own — are eligible for six months of unemployment. Rayfield’s bill would extend that to 12 months. That could make a real difference for the ATI workers, who believe their employer has a strategy to starve them out once their unemployment benefits run out this month.
Inclusionary zoning
In Portland and around the state, there’s a housing affordability crisis under way: Rents and home prices are fast becoming unaffordable to many working people. With labor support, housing activists tried but failed last year to get lawmakers to remove a ban on local governments mandating that a certain percentage of new units be affordable. But the problem has only gotten worse. This month, they’ll consider a bill to let cities mandate that up to 30 percent of new units meet a definition of affordable. The bill is backed by the Oregon AFL-CIO, Oregon AFSCME, and the Service Employees International Union.
Oregon AFL-CIO Political Director Graham Trainor said it’s a symptom of how rampant income inequality has become that lawmakers are ready to take up such momentous issues in a one-month off-year legislative session.
“We can’t wait another year for movement on the most pressing issues facing working people,” Trainor said.
