SALEM, Ore. - Some Oregon workers aren't getting paid what they are owed, and at a committee hearing in Salem this week, state lawmakers will get a first look at upcoming legislation to curb wage theft.

Just since Thanksgiving, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) has announced settlements recovering $2.7 million in unpaid wages for construction workers on state-funded projects. But Michael Dale, executive director, Northwest Workers Justice Project, says BOLI has less staff and a bigger workload than in the 1990s.

He says workers in many fields, particularly in rural Oregon, can't always get the help they need if they aren't being paid fairly – or paid at all.

"The notion that somehow now, the problem is solved – no," says Dale. "Wage theft continues to be a pervasive and broad problem that needs attention. BOLI needs resources, and private workers need to have the ability to enforce their wage claims themselves."

He says the proposal includes giving workers better access to their payroll records, without having to file a lawsuit or a wage claim with BOLI, making it a felony to not pay prevailing wages on jobs, and requiring companies that have had wage-theft problems to post bonds.

Dale says wage theft takes many forms, from refusing to pay, to classifying workers as independent contractors to keep from paying overtime, to asking people to work extra hours "off the clock." He points out that wage theft affects not just individuals, but entire communities.

"Nobody spends the money that they didn't get paid in the grocery store," says Dale. "And it's a problem for other employers, because if an employer is trying to do the right thing, they have to compete with people that may not have the same cost structure because they're not paying their workers right. And that's bad for the economy."

He adds the ideas in the draft legislation have had some backing when they've come up before in Salem in different bills, and are being combined to help get them through the short session in February.

The hearing is Wed., Jan. 13, at 2:00 p.m. in the Senate Workforce and General Government Committee, at the State Capitol.


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WALNUT CREEK, Calif. -- Labor protests and strikes are on the upswing this fall, compared with 2020 when everyone hunkered as the pandemic closed whole sectors of the economy.

According to the Cornell University Strike Tracker, California has seen 60 labor strikes from January to the end of November, and there were 334 nationwide.

Sara Cabezas-Prendergast, a behavioral health specialist and co-president of the Mt. Diablo School Psychologists Association, said her union just voted to authorize an unfair labor practices strike because the district has rejected a contract it agreed to almost two years ago.

"It's been a long time without a contract and our members are really tired and irritated," Cabezas-Prendergast explained. "They're ready to unite and organize and really fight for a fair contract."

A date for the strike has not yet been set. Mount Diablo Unified School District did not respond to a request for comment by deadline, but officials there have said they can't afford to honor the pre-pandemic contract.

There have been four strikes and 13 labor protests at schools and universities across the state so far this year. They include actions by teachers in Pleasanton and lecturers at the University of California.

Cabezas-Prendergast said employers need to keep up with prevailing wages, so workers can afford to stay. Right now workers have more leverage, because the unemployment rates are lower than they've been in decades.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment nationwide in October stood at 4.6%, down from 14% in April 2020.

"It's a matter of time before people start to get mad enough to decide to organize and do something about it," Cabezas-Prendergast noted. "I think we're going to continue to see this."

In California, unemployment is at 7.3%, down from a high of 16% during the lockdowns.

NEW YORK -- Members of the New York Nurses Association (NYSNA) union are sounding the alarm about what they say is a nursing shortage at hospitals in New York City and around the state.

Noemi DeJesus-Aponte, president of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital nurses bargaining unit, said at a rally this week burnout and retention issues are contributing to a staffing crisis there that began during the pandemic.

She argued patient care is being compromised due to heavy caseloads, and is a problem across New York.

"There are patients that are ignored for hours on end because a crisis walks through the door; a trauma or heart attack," DeJesus-Aponte observed. "So, what does that mean to that nurse that does one-to-one? She's going to ignore the other 15 or 16 patients that she has."

In a statement, New York-Presbyterian said it is navigating the pandemic challenges and adding nursing professionals to its care teams.

New laws take effect in January for every hospital in the state, establishing minimum staffing standards for intensive and critical care units. However, hospitals have until the following year to implement committees' suggested changes.

Nurses are demanding hospital systems take action sooner, by hiring more nurses now.

Union members contended there has been a hiring freeze at New York Presbyterian, and temporary, traveling nurses have been brought in.

Nancy Hagans, president of NYSNA, does not see the approach as a sufficient solution.

"You bring in the travelers for 90 days, and they leave," Hagans pointed out. "You're using a Band-aid to cover a bleed. When we have a bleed, we put a pressure on the bleed. What do we do? We take the patient to the O.R., we fix the problem."

In the next month, NYSNA members said they plan to rally at other hospitals in New York City and the Hudson Valley to raise awareness about the issue.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Congress is close to passing the Build Back Better plan, and policy groups are hopeful a provision to ensure more Ohioans can access paid leave will remain.

The social-spending plan initially offered 12 weeks of paid leave for workers, which has since been scaled down to four weeks.

Elizabeth Brown, executive director of the Ohio Women's Public Policy Network, explained 72% of Ohio households with kids have two parents working, and one in four moms return to their jobs within 10 days after having a baby.

She noted paid leave is not just about working mothers, but also working daughters.

"Workers in our economy are not just responsible for providing care for their children but also their parents, their spouses, their siblings as our economy ages," Brown observed. "And women's wages support their household. In Ohio, 55% of mothers are key family breadwinners."

In Ohio, about one in five workers have paid family leave, and only two in five can access unpaid leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.

Kate McCleese, senior campaign manager for Paid Leave for the United States, contended paid leave, including personal medical leave, promotes workforce participation and results in better health for workers.

"Just think about the difference that access to paid leave would have on people undergoing cancer treatments or who are forced to leave their job just to have a necessary surgery," McCleese urged. "Paid leave ties you to the workforce and your health insurance."

It's estimated roughly 18 million workers per year would benefit from the proposed paid-leave program in Congress.

McCleese added it would reduce disparities in the workforce.

"At the beginning of this pandemic, only 25% of workers had access to any amount of paid leave," McCleese outlined. "And it was way worse for low-wage workers who are disproportionately people of color. Only 8% of low-wage workers had any type of paid leave."

Ohio is not among the nearly dozen states requiring paid sick leave from private-sector companies.

Reporting by Ohio News Connection in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.