By Don McIntosh
Oregon law passed by the Oregon Legislature says state and local public employees have the right to unionize. On Dec. 8, the Legislature’s own staff exercised that right, and filed cards seeking to join IBEW Local 89. It would be the first state legislative union in the nation. The roughly 110 employees in the proposed unit work directly for Oregon’s 90 legislators.
Now the Oregon Attorney General’s office says they don’t have the right to unionize after all. On behalf of the Legislature, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum submitted four separate legal objections in a Dec. 29 filing with the Oregon Employment Relations Board (ERB), the body that administers the state’s public employee collective bargaining law.