Portland demonstrators rally in support for Wis. workers

PORTLAND, Ore. – Hundreds of pro-labor and pro-union demonstrators showed their support for Wisconsin state workers and their right to negotiate their wages and benefits as a group during a rally in downtown Portland Friday afternoon.

The demonstrators, who began their march at Director’s Park, came from all walks of life. There were steamfitters, construction workers and even a Yoga teacher.

Overnight, members of the Wisconsin State Assembly voted on a budget bill that reduces the bargaining power of state union workers. Republican Gov. Scott Walker says it will help balance the state’s budget by keeping benefits packages in check. Unions will only be allowed to bargain over wages. Fourteen Senate Democrats left the state in protest a week ago to prevent a vote on the bill.

Earlier in the day, as they prepared for the rally, the demonstrators said they believe what’s happening in Wisconsin is actually galvanizing the labor movement in a good way. On the other end of the spectrum, Matt Evans, with Americans for Prosperity, said he believes the events in Wisconsin influenced Oregon’s Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber’s recent proposal that state workers start paying toward their retirement and paying more for health insurance.

“The governor of course immediately backed off his own position – essentially the same release of that information,” Evans said. “I think without what was happening in Wisconsin, he never would have made that proposal in the first place.”

“What Scott Walker has done is awakened the sleeping giant and put people back in the streets like they were in the streets back in the 1930s, and where 61 percent of Americans say, people have the right to join together and bargain,” said Tom Chamberlain, AFL-CIO president.

Meanwhile, negotiations with public employee unions are under way in Oregon, with much less noise than the fights in the Midwest.

Still, the stakes are high for Oregon union members, as the state looks to save money wherever it can. All sides agree that government workers will see smaller paychecks when lawmakers wrap up negotiations on a budget for the next two years.

"That's the curse of a recession," said Rep. Dave Hunt, D-Gladstone, his party's leader in the state House. "Every Oregonian ends up getting hit by it."

Gov. John Kitzhaber's negotiating team fired its opening salvo this week in negotiations with the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees.

The federation is the smaller of the two major unions representing Oregon workers. Formal negotiations have not yet begun with the larger Service Employees International Union.

The state is proposing that spending on employee health care be capped at the current level, with increased costs becoming workers' responsibilities. It also proposes that workers take a 3 percent pay cut through seven unpaid days off, and pick up a 6 percent contribution to their retirement plans that is now covered by the state.

"It's the worst proposal we've seen in 20 years, but it's just a starting point," said Ken Allen, federation executive director.

Public employee compensation is getting intense interest nationally amid protests in Wisconsin, where Republican Gov. Scott Walker has proposed not just deep pay and benefit cuts but also the elimination of workers' rights to bargain collectively for pay, benefits and working conditions. Governors in other states have made similar proposals.

It appears such a proposal wouldn't get much traction in Oregon.

"Gov. Kitzhaber is a strong believer in the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively," his chief of staff, Curtis Robinhold, wrote in a recent memo to state agency directors.

Kitzhaber's first offer will not be the last one. Negotiators for the state and unions will continue to meet periodically and are unlikely to reach an agreement before the next revenue forecast comes out in April.

It would be impossible to pass a balanced budget without cutting into employee compensation, especially with health care costs that are rapidly rising, said Rep. Dennis Richardson, R-Central Point.

The governor's offer to keep paying health costs at current levels is particularly generous, he said.

"If that's the governor's opening offer, the unions ought to take it," Richardson said.