Tuesday, November 13, 2007

ODOT Visits Colorado


A few pictures of Rex Parks, HET 2 and Cam McGinnis, TMS 2 on their organizing trip to Colorado.
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How much did this cost Oregon SEIU members in their dues? How does spending our union dues in this way help our cause in Oregon?

November 15, 2007 at 2:01 PM
ODOT Past Pres said...

Cost. Transportation, Lodging, Meals & 'Lost Wages'.

How does this help IN OREGON. The most basic answer is Union Density. Union density is the measure of how many union jobs or Union Households are present in a community; town, county, state or some other unit.

Historically, in the 1800's and early 1900's as laborers organized and formed unions, increasing union density, the middle class was formed and the workers standard of living increased. Wages increased, standards were established for work hours, legal age for some work was set (child labor laws) & perhaps most importantly safety standards began to be written.

In recent history. As union density has decreased so has the standard of living for the middle class, both union and non union. I was born in 1956. I know that there were some families where both parents worked. It was the exception, not the rule, everywhere I lived. There is much discussion in the press and locally on the street that many families can not make ends meet on one income, let alone be able to afford to buy a home.

10 years ago Colorado state workers were ahead of many of the western states in wages and benefits. They had an employee association but not a recognized Union. At about that time the destructive politics of TABOR (TAxpayers Bill Of Rights), no dues deductions for state employees, and other issues, came to Colorado. If any of these issues sound familiar, the same persons, from outside of Oregon, brought these politics to our state recently. The Colorado governor at the time, by executive decree (not via law nor negotiation) eliminated the associations dues deduction; their association was ruined. TABOR decreased tax revenues all across the state in every conceivable venue; state, county & city. The Colorado public school system went from the fourth best in the nation to number 48 last year. CDOT (dept of trans) employees had a wage scale, salary ranges and steps, similar to ours with somewhat higher wages. That wage scale has been eliminated. They had a merit system; some will tell you they still do. The boss puts your name in for a merit increase, then the agency waits to see if the state legislature will vote a separate line item to pay for those merit increases. During my seven day there I found no one who had received a merit raise. There is no contract. I talked to a single mother with two children who pays more than $450 a month for health insurance. Public employees, by law are not allowed public assistance.

Those employees who are organizing, who ask SEIU to help them form a real Union, also ask state employees from Oregon to come down and help them.

The bottom line is: The Union believes union density matters. Oregon is one of the last several states with 'fully paid health care'. I am willing to fight some of these battles in other states with the goal of never having those conditions happen here in Oregon.

November 16, 2007 at 12:19 AM

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