A letter to the Bend-La Pine School Board
The unions affiliated with the Central Oregon Labor Chapter represent several thousand workers in both the private sector and public sector, including members of Chapter #6 of the Oregon School Employees Association. While the Bend Education Association is not in the AFL-CIO, their members are our allies in the labor movement.
In the past two election cycles we have endorsed a majority of the current school board members. When asked, we have contributed money to your campaigns.
We ask each candidate who seeks our endorsement if they support working people and their unions. We expect that the candidates we support will stand with unions — including at the bargaining table — after they are elected.
The reports we have received from OSEA and the BEA indicate that the district’s bargaining with these two unions representing over 2,000 essential workers is not going well. District negotiators are moving too slowly.
While district administrators are doing the actual bargaining with the union, the school board has the ultimate power to determine the pace and direction of bargaining. You have the power to improve the lives of BEA and OSEA members who have developed comprehensive proposals that meet their needs.
Members of both unions need higher wages and affordable benefits that will allow them to live in the communities where they work.
Educators, classified employees and students all need safer schools and workplaces.
Educators need more planning time outside of the classroom and reduced workloads.
Longtime classified employees need a stipend that allows for movement on the pay scale beyond 25 years of dedicated service to the district.
These are just some of the contract proposals developed by OSEA and BEA members. All of their proposals need to be taken seriously. Telling union members that their proposals are “not feasible,” as Superintendent Cook did, disrespects their work in bargaining and in the schools.
We urge the Bend-La Pine School Board to do everything within your power and authority to make sure that OSEA and BEA members get all that they deserve in their next contracts. We are counting on you to stand with the unions.
—Central Oregon Labor Chapter
Empty Chairs and Town Halls
Very pleased to hear that a Bend group hosted an empty-chair Town Hall to benefit Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer. It seems Chavez-DeRemer is notorious for refusing in-person Town Hall meeting invitations.
I don’t know if Chavez-DeRemer is just too busy to visit Central Oregon, or is afraid of the actual questions she would be asked based on her voting record.
For example, she voted yes for H.R. 4368. This Bill is of real interest to rural Central Oregon communities. Every Democrat voted against it along with 27 Republicans. So, why was that?
In a protest speech by Rep. Betty McCollum, Minnesota, in less than one week before a vote to provide for a responsible increase to the debt ceiling, the Republicans brought a slate of funding bills to the floor. McCollum said the bill doubled down on cuts to critical programs American farmers rely on.
It slashed loans to distressed farmers and for rural electric cooperatives.
It underfunded direct loans for water and waste removal by cutting access to loans to ensure clean drinking water.
It cut the cash value voucher in the Women, Infants and Children Program (WIC). I am scratching my head on this one because Chavez De-Remer advocates for forced birth because she is against a woman’s choice. So, she wants to take nutrition away from low-income mothers and their babies, too?
H.R. 4368 also cut $1.2 billion from the vital Food for Peace Program that provides nutritious surplus food grown by America’s farmers to countries suffering extreme hunger and political turmoil.
The bill also contained harmful and partisan policy riders meant to satisfy the most extreme right-wing members of the Republican Caucus.
Is she one of them? I don’t know.
—Dianne Crampton
RE: In Redmond, Action on Managed Camps. In Bend, More Meetings. Opinion, 10/12
So glad to read about actual progress being made in Redmond addressing the crisis of homelessness in C.O.
As reported in the Source, a homeless service provider is close to opening a tiny home village, and is in planning stages for an RV park, both to be sited on public lands. At the same time Bend “appears to be stuck in an endless cycle of meetings that appear to be aimless and unproductive.” The Source also notes that “Bend has its own fair share of public land” but seems to be stuck due to “hurdles of NIMBYism.”
I scour The Bulletin daily and the Source weekly for some sign that there is movement here in this direction but I see none. I watch media sources, review City Council Agendas, frequently visit homeless provider websites and keep an eye out for meeting notices aimed at informing the public about progress but information is lacking.
I believe a public forum, similar to that held in Bend in July addressing e-bike safety, is long overdue. It’s time for those of us in Bend who support creation of managed camps as part of the solution to the homelessness crisis to hear from service providers, local officials, AND perhaps most importantly, our NEIGHBORS who are in opposition to such plans.
—Ida Green Gurule
Letter of
the Week:
Ida: Thanks for adding both feedback AND helpful suggestions to your letter! Perhaps you can use your Palate gift card (come by the office to grab one) to take a local elected official out for a hot cup of joe to discuss your ideas.
—Nicole Vulcan
This article appears in Source Weekly October 19, 2023.
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