Unions get hit on benefits proposal

City mulls charging builders who offer no health coverage

By Nick Budnick

The Portland Tribune, Sep 29, 2006, Updated Oct 30, 2009

For seven months, a committee formed by Commissioner Sam Adams has been meeting twice a month, writing a draft City Council resolution that would impose a new tax or surcharge on building contractors – including companies working on city projects and, potentially, companies working on private, noncity projects.

The surcharge, if adopted by the council, would apply only to firms that do not offer health insurance to laborers. The money would help fund Multnomah County’s health clinics for the uninsured.

Adams says a surcharge would be justified because when companies don’t offer health coverage, it is society that picks up the costs for uninsured injured workers. “There is a problem in this community in terms of providing access to health care,” he said.

Critics, however, say the push is designed to force contractors to go union – because unions offer health plans to their members.

The committee was “brought about by the unions. The agenda was the unions’. It was chaired by the unions, and the only people in attendance were (from) the unions – so what would you say?” said Faye Burch of FM Burch and Associates, a contracting consultant who recently found out about the committee and attended a meeting. “I’m not opposed to unions, but I am opposed to forcing people to go one direction or another.”

Adams, however, said the committee, despite being composed almost entirely of union leaders and representatives of union-affiliated organizations, had nothing to do with boosting union membership, saying, “That would not be appropriate.”

San Francisco led the way

Based on a concept called “best-value contracting,” the group is named the Best Values Committee, according to Adams. It was inspired by an ordinance in San Francisco that requires bidders on city contracts to meet certain qualifications, including offering health coverage.

The local push for such a “responsible contractor” ordinance has been spearheaded by Cherry Harris, an organizer with Operating Engineers Local 701.

“The basic thing is to say you shouldn’t be shifting the cost of health care (to the general populace) if you’re at the public trough,” she said.

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