It is astonishing that The Oregonian did not print Steven Carter's story about the latest right wing legislative attack against teachers (SB 1180, SB 1181) which ran on the paper's website OregonLive, on Thursday, 4/29/99 (http://www.oregonlive.com/news/99/04/st042909.html). Readers would like to hear the reason for suppressing such news. A similar story by Steve Law ran on 4/29/99 in The Statesman Journal. The Oregonian's readers deserve better.
The pressure being placed on teachers and on public employees year after year by reactionary forces inside and outside the Oregon Legislature has not been well covered by The Oregonian. The teachers' union (Oregon Education Association) has been ineffective in telling the teachers' story to the public; The Oregonian and its apparent anti-union bias are a major factor in that failure.
The following AP version of the story was
downloaded from The Oregonian's OregonLive publication on 4/29/99, URL:
http://hotnews.oregonlive.com/cgi-free/getstory.cgi?o0457_AM_OR-XGR--Teachers-Barg&OR&news&oregonleg
The Associated Press 4/29/99 2:11 AM
SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- The head of the state teachers union went to the Oregon Senate on Wednesday to protest two bills that would weaken the collective-bargaining and add job restrictions for Oregon's 28,000 teachers.
The bills would remove the appeals process for teachers whose contracts aren't renewed and allow school districts to impose salary and fringe-benefit caps on teachers during bargaining.
James K. Sager, president of the Oregon Education Association, said the two bills interfere with local control of schools and punish teachers at a time when the public is asking them to do more to raise the academic achievement of students.
"To say that OEA members have been dismayed and disappointed by the introduction of these measures would be to grossly understate the reaction we have heard from school employees around the state," Sager told the Senate Public Affairs Committee.
But Chris Dudley, executive director of the Oregon School Boards Association, said the bills are needed to counter the power the teachers union brings to the bargaining table. He said teachers have job protection rights not given to other workers, and local school boards are poorly equipped to fend off salary demands made by the union.
Sens. Gene Derfler, R-Salem, and Neil Bryant, R-Bend, are the sponsors of both bills. They also sponsored a 1995 law that limited bargaining.
Last session, they ushered through a bill which eliminated permanent-employee status for teachers and instead put them on two-year, renewable contracts.
The new bills, similar to a plan in Wisconsin, would let districts decide to offer a legislatively set cap for salary increases that the union would have to accept. Dudley said districts would be free to reach a contract settlement above the cap.
"These bills are not punitive," Dudley said. But he was immediately interrupted by hoots from the audience.
Previous Derfler-Bryant bills on teachers have been moderated before final passage in the Legislature. Gov. John Kitzhaber could veto either bill. His education aide, Jean Thorne, said he does not favor the salary cap proposal.
The hearing drew scores of teachers, such as Cassandra Wilson, a first-year teacher at Portland's Applegate Elementary School.
"I work hard," said Wilson, a former saleswoman for Nordstrom. "I took a cut in pay because I wanted to become a teacher so I could help inner-city schools. I'm not whining. I just want someone to say, 'Gosh, you are working hard. Thanks.' "
The bill numbers are SB1180 and SB1181.
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