Oregon's governor John Kitzhaber slammed a proposed ballot measure that would impose right-to-work-for-less on government workers during a Labor Day picnic.
Backers of the ballot measure want to crush Oregon unions. They say they don't but they're lying.
Jeff Mapes at The Oregonian reported:
Kitzhaber, speaking at a Labor Day picnic at Oaks Park sponsored by the Northwest Labor Council, denounced the initiative as an attempt to turn Oregon into a "so-called right-to-work state" that would weaken unions and leave workers less well-off...
"A right-to-work state means you have a right to work for less without a voice in the workplace," Kitzhaber told the labor crowd. "A right-to-work state means you have a right to be exploited and ripped off and work at unsafe jobs and low wages and no benefits."
The governor charged that anti-union forces are targeting Oregon "because this is where labor is strongest." He cited organized labor's role in passing the nation's second highest minimum wage law and noted that Oregon's largest union -- Service Employees International Union -- has been able to reverse the general trend in declining union membership by organizing home health care workers...
...unions have already been girding for another fight over an initiative they believe is aimed at weakening the public employee unions, which are key backers of Democratic candidates in Oregon...
He said right-to-work laws strike at the heart of unions that he said play a crucial role in building the middle class. "Without organized labor, we have very little chance to address the growth of income disparity," he said.
