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It's no surprise when business interest groups and public employee unions don't see eye-to-eye, but in Oregon, these two groups were more were bitterly divided than usual over two tax measures that passed in January. In the aftermath, business lobbyists are taking a page from the union handbook in trying to form a broad coalition of like-minded groups. This had us wondering: what else do these two groups have in common, besides strong political influence (often on opposite sides of an issue)? Where do their interests overlap? What common enemies do they have? Are there big goals that they share, even if they're not in total agreement about how to achieve those goals?
Are you a member of a union? Do you belong to a business association? Do you have experience in both worlds? Where do you see the common ground?
GUESTS:
- Ryan Deckert: President of the Oregon Business Association and former Oregon state legislator
- Arthur Towers: Political director for Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 503
Photo credit: Skatelin / Creative Commons
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I have never belonged to either a business interest group or a union. The common ground is that these two groups should work together transparently to do what is best for the survival of their company and themselves. Unions were created because the "business association" element took unfair advantage of workers. In recent times unions have gotten fat, expensive and lazy causing their companies to falter. The recent turmoil of the U.S. auto industry serves as an example. No one in the business association element should make hundreds of times the compensation of the lowest-paid employee. Wealth has to be redistributed in this country or we will continue our descent into mediocrity.
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Coming up at 9:50, an update about the Columbia River Crossing. Here are some articles from this morning to whet your appetite:
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/08/columbia_river_crossing_will_b.html
http://news.opb.org/article/10861-portland-area-leaders-agree-aspects-new-i-5-bridge/
Thoughts?
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Did I really hear this AM that the design has been built once, had huge cost over runs, and that bridge is now cracking… So, the design has issues and that may be resolvable, will it withstand the impending earthquake along the fault it is being built on? Can it be built on budget? Are the choke points (all of I-5 through PDX) going to be eliminated?
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I'm an instructor at a community college in Oregon, and it's hard for me to imagine the animosity between the administration and the union-represented faculty/staff ever going away. I have witnessed members of both "sides" making vitriolic comments about the other, and I'm afraid that stereotypes are so deeply ingrained that cooperation between both groups may never be possible. What can staff (or in my case) faculty members do to facilitate better union-administration relationships?
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there are two issues i have seen that need to come into play in bringing the state back into balance:
public sector management is top heavy. i have worked for both DoT and DoR (Transportation and Revenue) in Information Tech sections, and can honestly say I've seen more time wasted from the middle and upper levels of management. if they have that much time, they are redundant. of course, part of that wasted time is dealing with equally worthless union overkill. i suspect Mr. Towers will ignore that part.
second, the unions fought hard when i was there to ignore the recession we had then. they pour money into their candidates and issues and ignored our (as members) issues. if the union really wants to have the employees do better, they should take less for dues when they are already out of touch too.
imho, of course.
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public sector management is top heavy. -- tpohara — Tue Aug. 10th 9:47a.m.
I would have to say that this applies not only to State agencies, such as ODOT and ODOR as mentioned above, but just as well to local governments and special taxing districts. (Are you listening, Lane Transit District?) LTD down here in Eugene just had a bunch of service cuts (including discontinuing service on minor holidays, such as Labor Day), but yet, their Administrative Labor costs are outrageous. Seriously? Why does an administrator for a transit district need a $100,000+ salary?
(stepping down off the soapbox...NEXT!)
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We are fighting over a shrinking pie. To grow the economy, create jobs and the stimulate the private sector we have to increase the pie. And we have to become an exporting economy, instead of selling each other lattes.
We do not have that foundation and are not working to achieve it. For instance, the fastest growing economy in the world is China. They need resources and products. They want products that we can make. We have to market them. They are becoming the world source of banking, financing , manufacturihg and the largest consumer market.
But in the entire state of Oregon, less than 100 students are studying Mandarin at a college level. More students are studying Italian so they can have a breezy summer abroad in Tuscany. 95% of Oregon students study Spanish and it gets them nowhere in banking or the business world. We have to revaluate our education programs and goals. But the Century is changing and it will be hard to bet against China.
We do not study their culture enough to know what products would particularly sell. What holidays do the Chinese celebrate? What are their preferences in Fashion color? What foods would they be interested in tasting?
Interestingly Washington State has become the largest State Exporter to China. They have non-stop flights to China, a heavy subsidized high school education exchange program, and a widepread library acquisition program for Mandarin. IT has paid off. Boeing sells more planes planes to China than any other country. Starbucks has outlets in the Forbidden Palace, the 3rd most visited North American City by Chinese tourists is Seattle, Amazon is in the top ten of internet retail sites. Bill Gates is taking Mandarin Lessons and travels to China quarterly.
We have unique access to China and a state of wonderful natural resources. We should do more than artisanal roasting beans grown in Sumatra. We have an insight to a future...we have to act on it or become Appalachia.
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Thank for hosting the discussion addressing the tension between demand for public services and our ability to pay for them. Unfortunately, a critical conversation was devoid of much substantive information. The business representative offered nothing more than platitudes and while more prepared, Mr. Towers hardly presented the realities of the current budget with honest numbers and candor. These are tough times and quantifiable facts need to drive common ground solutions. If it's true that 60% of union members makes +/- $40K, what does the other 40% make and what % of the total budget do their salaries and benefits makes up? SEIU is not the only public employee union -- in aggregate how do we stack up? Is it true that we are #1 to #3 in the nation in wages/benefits for employers? We are among tops in unemployment? OBA offered no real ideas about job creation and SEIU seems to believe that there is a limitless ATM for legitimate services - but we can't make decisions based on heart rending stories. I hope the next Governor and legislative session forces an honest debate that picks up the reset committee's work in earnest. I'm not optimistic based on Deckert's palpable trembling to even take on SEIU's unsustainable view on state expenditures.
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One of the top secret for attaining progressive business community is unity, we don't have to be divided for we are all seeking for a common goal , for progress and advancement of the venture we are taking with. We need to be open minded with the possible ideas which will bring growth, we don't have to create issues that will make us fall apart. Stay with the positive views of the business endeavor although there might be some other factors, we just have to beat all the negative influence that will try to hinder us.
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