Latest news with #SB916
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Oregon lawmakers pass bill allowing striking workers to receive unemployment benefits
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – The Oregon legislature passed a trimmed-down version of a bill on Thursday that would allow striking workers to receive unemployment benefits. Senate Bill 916 repeals a law that denies unemployment insurance benefits to unemployed Oregonians due to an active labor dispute, allowing striking workers who are otherwise eligible for UI to receive the benefits under the bill. The bill passed on Thursday after failing in the Senate. DON'T MISS: Oregon bill offering unemployment benefits to striking workers could 'destabilize' school services, superintendents warn Initially, the bill allowed striking workers to receive up to 26-weeks of benefits, except during a recession or as the economy recovers from a recession, when workers are less likely to strike. Lawmakers in the House passed the bill, however the legislation hit a snag in the Senate. On Tuesday, lawmakers held a Conference Committee hearing in a group made up of members of senators and representatives. There, the lawmakers discussed amendments to the bill. This included deductions in backpay for teachers who claim unemployment during a strike and trimming the initial 26-weeks of unemployment benefits to 10 weeks, which lawmakers passed on Thursday. During the Conference Committee hearing, Representative Dacia Grayber (D-SW Portland East Beaverton) said she felt the 10-week amendment is a 'massive compromise.' Newberg vineyard workers arrested in targeted ICE raids: Salinas 'It's not something I'm entirely thrilled with,' Grayber said. 'When unemployment insurance was developed in Oregon, I do believe that we were living in very different economic times in a very different political reality where we have over the last few decades watched systemic disenfranchisement.' Grayber, who was among chief sponsors of the bill, told KOIN 6 News in a statement on Friday, 'This is a historic win for the working people of Oregon. Nobody should starve or lose their health care while a fair contract is being bargained—and SB 916 was crafted to expedite ending strikes by bringing parties to the table with more urgency for a last, best, and final offer.' 'In addition to the previous House changes made to be responsive to the revenue forecast, protective of the UI fund, and streamline the process for schools, the changes adopted by the Conference Committee limit striking workers to receiving benefits for ten weeks, a sixteen-week reduction from the bill we passed out of the House last week. While I am disappointed with this reduction, it is a testament to the power of compromise, and the ability of legislators to bridge divides to secure policy wins for working Oregonians,' the representative added. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now During the Conference Committee hearing, Senator Daniel Bonham (R-The Dalles) voiced his opposition against the amendment or the underlying bill, decrying the bill's provision allowing both public and private sector employees to receive unemployment benefits while on strike. 'For me, it's too much to ask of the system and structure that we have in place,' Bonham said. ' We have a healthy fund today due in no small part because all the agreements over the years have been honored. It is a healthy enough (unemployment) fund that I don't know that this will be a massive draw on it but again, the kids will lose if teachers are incentivized to strike. We've always been able to negotiate for backpay but then the framework coming back from strike, incentivizing strikes in this way, in my opinion, you're decreasing the threshold for which someone wouldn't be burdened by a strike and thus I think you're incentivizing a strike.' Portland leaders address community ahead of weekend demonstrations Bonham issued a press release after the bill's passage, calling the bill a 'terrible idea.' 'Democrats just made it easier to strike against schools and public services—and stuck taxpayers with the bill. But the people who will suffer most are the kids, the ones without a lobbyist or a vote, whose school days will be lost so unions can cash in,' Bonham said. After passing the House and Senate, the bill heads to Oregon Governor Tina Kotek's desk for signature. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Oregon workers could soon claim strike payments under bill passed by House
Hundreds of educators, parents and students joined a rally Nov. 1. 2023 at Roosevelt High School in north Portland. A new bill would extend unemployment benefits to them during work stoppages. (Alex Baumhardt/Oregon Capital Chronicle) Oregon could soon become the first state in the nation to extend unemployment benefits to striking workers. House lawmakers passed Senate Bill 916 Wednesday in a 33-23 vote along party lines with one dissenting Democrat, a decision that followed an hours-long debate about the bill's impact on schools, health care, and private businesses. The bill already cleared the Senate in May in a 16-12 vote, but will need to go back to that chamber before the month's end for a re-vote to clear further amendments. The legislation would allow striking workers — including most public employees — to collect unemployment benefits after their first two weeks of striking and up until the eight week of a strike, pending the financial stability of the state's unemployment fund. Several other states, including Washington, New Jersey, and New York, extend unemployment benefits and payments to striking private sector workers, but not to public employees. If unemployment funding is available, striking workers could collect benefits for up to 26 weeks. Payments range from $196 to a maximum of $836 weekly, according to a 2024 policy from the Oregon Employment Department. After the House voted down a scaled-back proposal by Republicans Wednesday morning, lawmakers debated the extent to which Senate Bill 916 would lengthen or shorten strikes, and the potential strain it could impose on schools and private business. 'SB 916 won't encourage strikes — it will shorten them,' state Rep. Travis Nelson, D-Portland, wrote in an emailed statement Wednesday. 'It will bring employers to the table faster, and let workers stand up without having to worry that their families will starve should they choose to exercise their right to strike. Fundamentally, this legislation is about dignity and fairness for workers.' Republicans, led by state Rep. Lucetta Elmer, R-McMinnville, sought to derail the proposal with their own measure that also would've capped benefits to six weeks of payments after the first two weeks of a strike. 'We can have the conversation about making sure that employees are paid well and they are protected and their voices heard,' Elmer said. 'This bill isn't the way — this is too much and too far.' Prior to the vote, opposition to the measure was piling up in testimony from school board leaders and business groups concerned the bill could allow strikes to drag on and put a wrench in day-to-day operations. Leaders of teacher unions and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, a statewide coalition of unions that represents over 300,000 workers, have testified in support of the bill, as have nurses, teachers and state workers. 'Regardless of income level or industry, Oregon workers all want the same things — to work hard, support themselves, and build a better life,' the Oregon AFL-CIO said in a social media post prior to the vote. 'Senate Bill 916 is an opportunity for our state to support working class Oregonians by strengthening their right to strike through expanding unemployment benefit access.' The Oregon Employment Department told the Legislature in April that the bill wouldn't result in any changes to unemployment taxes paid by employers. The bill was amended in the House Committee on Labor and Workplace Standards in May to allow school districts to deduct the cost of benefits from backpay some teachers receive after a strike has ended, under union contracts. Multiple Democrats reiterated their argument following the vote that the bill would not raise costs for businesses and schools. 'I also firmly believe that this policy will help our businesses, education and healthcare communities by bringing these strikes to a close sooner and with greater certainty,' said state Rep. Dacia Grayber, D-Portland, in closing the discussion on the House floor. If the bill clears its revote in the Senate, it will head to Gov. Tina Kotek's desk for final consideration. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
