SEIU in the Oregon Legislature
What difference did it make?
In 2006, we endorsed 55 candidates for the Oregon Legislature—35 were elected. For the first time in over a decade, we elected a pro-worker legislature.
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2005 |
2007 |
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Payday loan cap stalled in the House, no interest rate cap passed. |
Payday loan cap passed, capping rates at 36%. |
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Had to spend time and resources lobbying to stop efforts to decrease the minimum wage. |
Proactively expanded the Oregon Family Medical Leave Act, adding in grandparents and grandchildren and other expansions. |
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Fought to defeat a bill that would have taken away farm workers’ right to strike, have boss neutrality, and card check union organization. |
Successfully expanded bargaining rights. Public employees can now organize through card check and we passed bargaining rights for childcare and adult foster care workers. |
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Our efforts to expand bulk purchasing of prescription drugs died in the House—drug companies won the debate. |
We passed a bill to expand bulk purchasing of prescription drugs, making drugs more affordable for Oregonians. |
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We won a contract for a 2% wage increase on July 1, 2005 and 2% on Dec. 1, 2006, with a floor of a $50 increase per month for DAS and OUS workers. |
We won a contract for a 3% wage increase July 1, 2007 with a floor of $80 increase per month and a 3.2% increase Nov. 1, 2008 with a floor of $85 increase per month. It’s the biggest two-year COLA we have won in decade for DAS and OUS workers. |
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Could not roll back tax breaks to corporations and the richest Oregonians. |
Passed a tax increase on corporations by sending the corporate tax refund to a rainy day fund. |
A pro-worker legislature makes a real difference!