Oregon AFL-CIO President Graham Trainor responds to a lawsuit filed against Oregon’s Secretary of State on her rejection of Initiative Petitions 48 and 49:
For working Oregonians, engaging with and advocating for public policy has always been a strategy for creating high quality, family-supporting jobs. Including high-road labor standards in public policy is not a new concept. Unfortunately, Oregon’s Secretary of State has taken an unprecedented and dangerous position in rejecting Initiative Petitions 48 and 49 citing the “single subject rule” and specifically referencing the labor standards in her rationale.
Oregon workers and their unions have engaged in a wide range of advocacy efforts aimed at improving standards for jobs created from legislation with a different primary objective, and Oregon is a better place to live and work for it. To suggest that this type of advocacy violates the “single subject rule” will hurt Oregon workers and sets a dangerous precedent for public policy discussions in the future. Oregon’s unions are deeply concerned by the actions of Secretary of State Bev Clarno and Deputy Secretary of State Rich Vial. By infusing politics into what should be an apolitical process, Oregonians are being denied the opportunity to debate important legislation while workers are used as a political football.