Portland City Council Establishes Faith Based Negotiating On Health Care

Portland, The City That Works - For Its Employees

The Oregonian's Wade Nkrumah reports, "City leaders had hoped to spread more of the cost of health insurance to workers. But the City Council changed course, hoping to avoid labor strife and to encourage workers and management to work toward answers to rising costs. It was decided that all 13 city unions would be offered the same basic package with the same concession in health coverage."
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/portland_ne...

The elected leaders of Oregon's largest city have broken new ground in public administration by officially adopting the faith based technique called management-by-hope. A distinction without a difference from management-by-prayer. President Bush, those who derisively refer to the "peoples republic of Portland," teachers and students of political science around our state please take note. Portland City Commissioners joined their elected colleagues at the Portland School Board who also believe that their job is primarily to make sure that those bargaining units that helped them get elected get the best health care coverage taxpayer's money can buy. Portland's city council and its school board are not moved by the fact that together they will face $50,000,000 in INCREASED health care costs during mayor Potter's term in office. Portland's city council and its school board do not discuss their responsibility nor the details of $50,000,000 in lost services.

The only solution all of these "leaders" can ever imagine is shifting more of the health care costs to the employees. Of course, the public employees always reject this approach. So the stand off goes on and on and on and on. It never occurs to any of these folks that regardless of the employer/employee contribution percentage mix the TOTAL cost for public employee health care continues to rise in an unending spiral ultimately borne by taxpayers and citizens alike. This unproductive ritualistic health care benefit dance performed by both parties only feeds the private health insurance industry beast and in so doing the public officials and the public employees involved in this exercise in make-believe continue to be part of the problem not part of the solution. Here are their names.

Tom Potter - The mayor who believes the federal government will solve Portland's problems
Randy Leonard - City Commissioner who has never been without publicly paid health care
Dan Saltzman - City Commissioner and establishment candidate for reelection and more of the same
Erik Sten - City Commissioner and establishment candidate for reelection and more of the same
911 Operators - Susan Skites - Negotiator
AFSCME, Local 189 - James Hester - Negotiator
City of Portland Professional Employees Association - Doug Bloem - Negotiator
District Lodge No. 24, IAMAW - Scott Lucy - Negotiator
IBEW, Local 48 - Clif Davis - Negotiator
Operating Engineers, Local 701 - Tony Sandbothe - Negotiator
Painters and Tapers Union, Local 10 - John Kirkpatrick - Negotiator
Portland Fire Fighters' Association - Jack Finders - Negotiator
Portland Police Association - Robert King - Negotiator
Portland Police Commanding Officers Association - Dave Benson - Negotiator
Recreation Employees & Laborer’s, Local 483 - Richard Beetle - Negotiator
U.A. Local Union No.290 - Ron Murray - Negotiator

Only one member of this troop of players has ever recognized the moral and economic health care crisis in our state, City Commissioner Sam Adams. Only one member of this troop of players has ever recognized the solution to this crisis - the Oregon Community Health Care Bill - City Commissioner Sam Adams. Only one member of this troop of players deserves to be admired and applauded for his leadership role, City Commissioner Sam Adams.

If you are an elected official serving on any school board, city council or county commission in Oregon I urge you NOT to follow Portland's lead. You are the decision makers that will determine whether we as a community of three and a half million Oregonians can change our failed health care delivery system and move on to a society that provides affordable health care for its people and its public institutions. We, Oregonians, lead our nation by twice voting for, "Death With Dignity" legislation. We can do it again by demanding, "Life With Affordable Health Care."

Richard Ellmyer
Oregon Community Health Care Bill author and project champion
President, MacSolutions Inc. - A Macintosh computer consulting business providing web hosting for artists and very small businesses.
Writer/Publisher - Oregon Health Watcher commentary - Published on the Internet and distributed to 6500 readers interested in public health care policy in Oregon.
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