Activists Blast Brown After Governor Changes Wage Plan

Tuesday, February 02, 2016

Brendan Murray, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Gov. Kate Brown

Over the weekend, Governor Kate Brown released a revised version of her plans to increase wages in Oregon, lowering the slated raise for Portland workers to under $15 an hour, and lowering it even further for workers outside of the Rose City. Activists told GoLocal that they are angry that Brown decided to alter her plans to give workers a raise.

Brown’s newest proposal calls for wages to be raised from $9.25 to $14.50 in Portland and $13.25 in the rest of the state by 2022.The earlier proposal called for minimums of $15.52 in the Portland area and $13.50 in the rest of the state by 2022.

“Based on feedback from stakeholders, I have refined my proposal, beginning implementation in 2016, so workers get higher pay sooner, and extending the glide path to give businesses more time to prepare for higher wages,” Brown said in a statement.

Activists fighting for wages to rise above $15 an hour took aim at the plan, calling it a weak effort.

“Originally, after almost a year of utter silence and complete lack of leadership from Governor Brown on this issue, she proposed $15.52 in six years for the 25 cities within the Portland urban growth boundary, and $13.50 in six years for the rest of the state with no restoration of local control over minimum wage laws,” Justin Norton-Kerson, spokesman for 15 Now PDX, told GoLocal regarding the new plan. “This plan was already a compromise from the previous session where a statewide $15 minimum wage over a shorter three year phase in—and the restoration of local control of minimum wage laws—were the only proposals with any traction.”

Not Happy With New Plan

Norton-Kerson acknowledged that Brown’s new plan does include an earlier than scheduled raise for workers—the minimum wage would rise to $9.75 in July 2016 for the whole state, where it would have risen in January under the first proposal.

However, Norton-Kerson said that the increase is insubstantial to many of Portland’s workers.

“True, workers get a smaller and insufficient raise a few months earlier,” Norton-Kerson admitted. “The original proposal called for a first step to $11.79 in the Portland area and $10.25 for the rest of the state on January 1, 2017. The new proposal has a first step of $9.75 in July 2016 for the whole state. That is $2 per hour less in the Portland area and 50 cents per hour less everywhere else. This new and further diluted proposal is not impressive. There is nothing here to get excited about.”

Norton-Kerson also took aim that democrats in the legislature for capitulating to demands from big business. He said that while workers want to see local cities and municipalities decide their own minimum wage, lawmakers did not fight to end to preemption laws, which prevent local municipalities from raising the minimum wage above the statewide level.

“What did not change about her proposal is the ridiculously long phase in of six years, which renders the raise virtually meaningless,” Norton-Kerson said. “What also didn’t change is that local control is still not restored. As we expected, local control was the first of many things to be compromised away in Democrats’ fetish for ensuring that anything they pass meets at least some scant approval of their corporate election funders.”

Some Still Oppose Wage Hike

Anthony K. Smith, director of the Oregon chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business, said that raising the minimum wage would have a negative impact on businesses in the area, forcing them to reduce hours or jobs.

“Small business owners across sectors are likely to suffer even more from rising labor costs, which will force owners to move operations to places with lower wages, or else cut jobs and worker hours,” Smith said. “The rising push towards minimum wages is a top threat to US small businesses.”

Business owners on the Idaho-Oregon border also headed to Salem last month for a wage hearing.

Many said that the proposed wage hikes would cripple their business. They threatened to move to Idaho if the minimum wage goes up.

Related Slideshow: Hundreds March for $15 Minimum Wage in Downtown PDX

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Hundreds of protestors marched through the streets of downtown Portland on Tuesday, demanding an increase to the minimum wage.

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“This is definitely a moment for our movement,” Justin Norton-Kertson, media chair for 15 Now PDX, told GoLocal. “We’re getting a lot of support from different leaders and groups throughout the city."

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Protesters came dressed to impress as part of the protests "Day of the Dead" theme.

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Marchers in Portland joined protesters inn 270 cities across the nation today, tens of thousands of low-wage workers rallied with supporters to demand good union jobs and a fair $15 minimum wage.

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Hundreds, including janitors, homecare workers, parks and recreation center workers and supporters gathered downtown to call on local employers to provide good jobs and a liveable minimum wage.

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Members of SEIU Local 49 joined protesters on Tuesday to call for a $15 an hour minimum wage.

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Protesters called on employers to increase wages to $15 an hour for at least 30,000 low-wage workers in the Portland area by 2017, organized by a coalition of faith, labor, community, and student organizations, coordinated by Portland Jobs with Justice.

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As GoLocal reported, efforts to raise the minimum wage have received backing from Mayor Charlie Hales and the leading candidate to replace him as Mayor, State Treasurer Ted Wheeler, as well as the Portland City Club. Norton-Kertson cited those endorsements, saying that the movement is carrying more momentum than it ever has before.

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Protesters like Christine Eckert, a home care worker, said they were fighting for an increase to the minimum wage "because wages are so low for home care workers that some of us can barely afford the cost of transportation to our jobs, let alone rent on decent places to live."

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Despite the movement’s strength, Norton-Kertson said there was still a lot more work left to be done. First and foremost, he said, is changing Oregon state laws that prevent the City of Portland for raising its minimum wage.

“What is really important now is to get the preemption laws repealed,” Norton-Kertson said. “Those prevent cities in Oregon from raising the minimum wage above the state level. As long as those laws are on the books, there is nothing that an individual city like Portland can do.”