Economic Security

 

In poll after poll, the economy ranked as the top issue for voters in 2008. American working families expressed a great deal of economic anxiety over rising fuel and health care costs, unfair trade deals shipping jobs overseas, and tax policies favoring corporations and the wealthy over everyone else. This year, there were a number of ballot initiatives that both sought to strengthen and weaken worker security.

Labor unions have played a vital role in helping provide the economic security American working families want and deserve. Unions have stood up for individual workers, advocating for higher wages and better benefits and preventing big businesses from arbitrarily firing employees.

This year special interest groups who continue to cling to Reaganomics joined forces with corporate big business in attempts to dismantle the economic security that labor unions have helped strengthen. In Colorado, Oregon, and South Dakota, initiatives went before voters that were are intended to weaken labor unions and create loopholes for multi-national corporations. In each state, conservative backed initiative efforts failed to win over voter support.

Colorado

In Colorado, three initiatives (47, 49 and 54) threatened to put the state's economy at greater risk by pushing workers and small business owners apart. That is why the business community in Colorado joined forces with labor unions in a partnership to defeat the ballot measures.  These amendments sought to mandate government interference with the relationships in workplaces between employers and employees. They also would have limited the ability of public employees, such as nurses, firefighters, teachers, and police officers, to join together to advocate for changes in the workplace because the proposed rules would make it harder for employees to organize for change. Nurses would have a harder time advocating for safer staffing levels to ensure patient care, firefighters would have a more difficult time advocating for changes to emergency preparedness systems, and teachers would have experienced challenges organizing to improve schools.

The Prohibition on Mandatory Labor Union Dues Amendment (47) was defeated 55%-45%. The failed effort sought to restrict the way unions organize in the state. The constitutional amendment would have turned Colorado into a "right-to-work" state, making it illegal for labor unions to negotiate agreements that collect dues or agency fees from nonmember employees who receive union-negotiated benefits in the workplace.  The initiative would also have allowed nonmember workers to get all the benefits of union membership and pay nothing, while forcing unions and their members to foot the bill for those not willing to pay their share.

Colorado's Amendment 49, also known as the Limitation on Public Payroll Deductions Amendment, or what opponents call Paycheck Deception, was also defeated 61%-39%. The initiative would have prevented public employees from having deductions taken from their paychecks to pay for union dues. While other Coloradoans have the freedom to choose their own paycheck deductions, only public employees, such as firefighters, police officers, and teachers, would have been covered by this amendment.

Colorado's Amendment 54, the Campaign Contributions from Government Contractors Amendment, passed 51%-49%. The constitutional amendment will prohibit political contributions by persons and organizations with certain state or local government contracts. It also prohibits political contributions by labor unions that have collective bargaining agreements with state or local governments. Amendment 54, which supporters have called the "Open and Clean Government" initiative, is silent about corporate gifts to elected officials yet ignores most contributions by large and out-of-state corporations. It would prevent a person from volunteering for a campaign or donating a few dollars to a political candidate just because their mother-in-law is a government contractor or their nephew belongs to a public employee union. A lawsuit challenging its constitutionality is underway. 

Oregon

Just like in Colorado a similar Paycheck Deception ballot initiative, Measure 64, was also defeated 51%-49%.

The initiative was being pushed by Bill Sizemore, a long time ballot initiative activist.  For the fourth time in less than a decade, Oregonians have rejected Bill Sizemore's attack on public employees, non-profits and charities.  In 2000, Sizemore, who ran for governor in 1998 as a Republican and lost with only 30% of the vote, was the subject of a racketeering lawsuit against two of his organizations: Oregon Taxpayer's United and the OTU Education Foundation. The jury found Sizemore's organizations guilty of racketeering, and the organizations were fined approximately $2.5 million. Sizemore refused to pay the fines and attempted to avoid the liability by changing the name of his organizations to Oregon Taxpayers Association and carrying on with business as usual. Without a trial, Sizemore was found personally liable for his organization's civil racketeering liability, and a judge shut down his education foundation. Nearly a million dollars was added to the fine as a result of Sizemore's resistance to earlier court orders/decisions.

A substantial amount of national corporate dollars came into Oregon in an attempt to create an anti-worker environment. The measure would have dealt a devastating blow to Oregon charities like the Oregon Food Bank, Oregon Humane Society, and the United Way, among others. These organizations were instrumental in educating their members and the public about the harmful effects of Measure 64.

The Defend Oregon Coalition-a broad coalition of 204 organizations, including labor unions, businesses, charities, non-profit organizations, and community advocates-led the fight to defeat all five of Sizemore's measures.  

South Dakota

In South Dakota, Measure 10 combined Paycheck Deception with Open and Clean Government and the measure was defeated 65%-35%. The South Dakota state Attorney General had written an opinion stating that if approved, Measure Ten was likely be challenged in court and could be declared in violation of the United States Constitution. If so, state taxpayers may have been required to pay attorney fees and costs.

There were many unanswered questions with this initiative. For example, a social service group could be banned from receiving a government grant because they spoke to public officials about their work. Under Initiative 10, this would have been considered lobbying and it would have disqualified the social services group from receiving any government grant.

Also, as a result of the state and local governments having labor agreements with public employee groups, this initiative would have unfairly prevented public servants like law enforcement officers and school janitors from donating a few dollars to a candidate, yet would have allowed big out-of-state interests to continue spending millions of dollars to influence state government.

One major concern with the initiative was that many citizens would unknowingly and innocently break the law by supporting a particular candidate or cause because they would be unaware that a distant relative had a government contract.

Predatory Lenders Lose Big in Arizona and Ohio

At a time when corporate greed and corruption dominated the political debate this election cycle, Ohio and Arizona both voted on ballot initiatives that dealt with the predatory lending industry.

In Ohio, payday lenders lost 63%-37% despite spending over $15 million to pass the initiative. The initiative attempted to gut a reform measure that was passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Strickland earlier this year. The reform legislation capped interest rates for short term loans at 28%. The initiative would have repealed the cap and would have moved it back to a 391% interest rate.

In Arizona, the so-called Payday Loan "Reform" Act would have allowed payday lenders to institute 400% interest rates on consumers. Current law caps payday loans at a 36% interest rate. The initiative went down in defeat 60%-40% despite spending over $10 million. Fifteen states and the District of Columbia have ended predatory payday loans at triple-digit interest rates, enforcing interest caps of 36% or less.

Paid Sick Leave

In Wisconsin, the City of Milwaukee passed a paid sick leave measure. This local referendum was modeled after successful referendums in San Francisco and Washington, D.C.  A coalition of labor, educational, and community organizations calling itself Paid Sick Days Milwaukee, led by 9 to 5, the National Association of Working Women, headed the effort.

The proposal allows a worker to earn a minimum of one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked, which means full-time employees for a large business would earn 72 hours a year. Businesses with l0 or fewer employees would be required to provide 40 hours of paid sick leave a year. The days could be taken for illness, medical care for the worker, a child, parent, or other person related to the worker "by blood or affinity".

Nearly half of all workers nationally lack paid sick days. Only one-in-four low-income workers and one in six part-time and temporary workers have paid sick days, and some 85% of all food workers don't get paid sick days. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) has introduced federal legislation that would implement paid sick leave nationwide, and 9 to 5 has said it wants to use the Milwaukee referendum to build support for the bill.

Local health care reform referendums passed as they did in 2006. In 2006, thirteen local referendums passed with overwhelming support but the states have not yet acted on reform. The local referendums call on the legislature to act on comprehensive health care reform and guaranteeing health care comparable to what is provided to state lawmakers. This year an additional 22 cities and counties passed the referendums.

In Ohio, a similar paid sick day measure was pulled off the ballot by supporters after Democratic Governor Ted Strickland came out in opposition to the initiative. The Healthy Families initiative would have guaranteed seven days of paid sick leave for working families.  Currently, over 2 million Ohio workers are not able to take a paid sick day when they are ill. Supporters of the initiative in Ohio said that they would focus on helping to pass the federal legislation which has the backing of Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown.