Oregon Action's Campaigns
Living Wage Campaign
Rogue
Valley Oregon Action is working to pass a Living Wage ordinance in Medford.
We have filed an initiative for November 2003. If you would like to help gather
signatures, e-mail Rich Rohde to
request petitions.
To learn more about this campaign, you can check out the special
campaign website at http://www.medfordwage.org.
Oregon Action thinks all workers deserve a living wage. Meanwhile,
it's important to protect and defend the minimum wage.
Oregon Action supports farm workers'
right to organize and unionize.
- Farmworkers have the worst working conditions of any Oregon workers:
Average life expectancy is 47. Average annual income is $6,500;
94% don't receive health insurance; 89% don't get paid vacation or holidays;
55% don't get unemployment insurance. They are frequently exposed to pesticides
and hazardous working conditions.
- Farmworkers don't have the same legal protections as other workers:
Federal laws that govern wages and hours, meal breaks, overtime, and many
benefits do not apply to farmworkers.
- In Oregon, even if the majority of workers on a farm vote to join
a labor union, their employers are not required to recognize it.
Farmworkers are forced into indentured servitude as they face threats and
retaliatory firing when they complain about unjust working conditions.
- Farmworkers play an essential role in Oregon's economy: Migrant
and seasonal farmworkers pick between 70 and 80 percent of Oregon's annual
crop harvests. In 1994, immigrant farm labor generated almost $1 billion
to the economy of Marion County alone.
- The condition of Oregon's farmworkers is a direct legacy of Jim
Crow: The exclusion of farmworkers from federal labor protection
laws stems from the era of Jim Crow, when farmworkers were primarily African
American. Now 98% of Oregon's farmworkers are Latino, and the legacy of
racism and exploitation continues. Given this context, it is not surprising
that farmworkers are treated as second class workers.
Despite these obstacles, PCUN-Piñeros y Campesinos Unidos, Oregon's
farmworkers union, has won contracts for some of Oregon's farmworkers.
Corporate agribusiness is not content with the deck already stacked in their
favor. They want to make it even more difficult for farmworkers to organize,
stripping them of the few strategies they can use such as secondary boycotts
and harvest strikes. They will soon be introducing a so-called "farmworker
collective bargaining" that is designed to weaken even further the ability
of farmworkers to organize to improve their wages and working conditions.VICTORY:
Despite extraordinary lobbying efforts and excessive influence, the failed
to pass this sham bill.
- When growers and farmworkers work together, everyone benefits:
The growers fail to realize the amount of waste they incur when using labor
contractors. Unions help to guarantee a more stable, dedicated workforce
without the need to rely on contractors.
- The union can negotiate contracts without this law: PCUN
has already negotiated several contracts without a collective bargaining
bill. The union is ready and willing to negotiate with any grower who wants
to, and this can be done independently with no need to spend taxpayer
money.
- Union contracts dignify the work and basic rights of farmworkers:
A union contract is the only mechanism that guarantees workers a voice in
their workplace. Workers should have the right to be represented collectively
by a union representative who negotiates with employers to reach agreement
on the terms of employment. Such agreements focus on fair treatment on the
job, obtaining a living wage, the creation of a seniority system, provision
of basic benefits, and the rights of workers to have decision-making power
regarding workplace issues.
- It's about democracy and fairness: In a democratic society,
all workers should have dignity, respect, and the ability to negotiate with
their employers about their working conditions. Farmworkers are among Oregon's
most vulnerable workers. In a system with gross imbalances of power, their
rights to strike, picket and boycott are absolutely essential.
- The growers' bill is a sham collective bargaining system that
creates a veneer of democracy while in fact stripping workers of all their
power. It compromises workers' most fundamental rights.
- A collective bargaining structure must be appropriate for agricultural
workers: A good collective bargaining system enables workers to
successfully negotiate with employers around wages, benefits, and conditions.
A collective bargaining system will only work for the agricultural sector
if it is tailored to meet the unique conditions of agricultural workers.
This includes the following criteria:
- maintain farmworkers' bargaining power (e.g., not restrict strikes
or boycotts);
- include a fair, timely, and effective mechanism for enforcement and
dispute resolution;
- provide an expedited and fair representation process;
- be independent from political manipulation;
- have adequate funding or resource support for implementation and
enforcement.
OA is working to protect the minimum
wage.
There are two bills to roll back the minimum wage increase passed
by Oregon voters in November.
VICTORY!
HB 2624 would repeal the new annual cost of living increase for
minimum wage workers. If this bill passes, the minimum wage will stay at $6.90/hr
indefinitely, even though the cost of things like food, rent, and utilities
goes up each year.
Oregon Action opposes HB 2624 because indexing makes sense:
The cost of living for workers increases along with inflation. Not indexing
the minimum wage results in an annual erosion of wages year after year,
meaning less money for families to pay for rent, food, and utilities. Past
minimum wage increases quickly lost their value as they fell behind inflation.
If the minimum wage was worth today what it was 30 years ago, it would be
$8 an hour. Measure 25's indexing is a sensible solution. Let's not erode
this important standard any further.
VICTORY!
HB 2720 would freeze the minimum wage at its current level
for workers who receive tips, exempting them from any future increases in
the minimum wage. The bill would also allow employers to pay youth under 18
less than the minimum wage for the first 60 days of employment.
Oregon Action opposes HB 2720 because:
All workers deserve to be treated equally: Proposals to exempt certain
groups of workers from the minimum wage undermine the very principle of
a minimum wage.
Tips do not provide a stable or predictable source of income: Employers
argue that tipped workers make well over the minimum wage when tips are
included, and thus shouldn't be subject to the minimum wage's annual cost
of living increases. However, workers cannot rely on tips as a steady or
dependable source of income. The amount of income received in tips varies
widely from day to day and from job to job. In addition, most tipped workers
rely on part-time jobs with unstable hours and few to no benefits.
Youth should not be treated as second class workers: The proposal to create
a "training wage" for youth workers discriminates against minors.
Most jobs filled by youth do not require a 60 day training period. Youth
deserve to be treated with the same dignity and respect as all workers.
A "training wage" will enable employers to displace adult workers
with lower paid youth: The training wage proposal would enable employers
to fill seasonal and summer jobs with youth workers paid less than the minimum
wage – this would displace many part-time and seasonal adult workers
with families.
