Statement from Keep Oregon Working: Anti-Worker Initiatives and Revenue Initiatives Pulled from 2014 Ballot

Oregonians won’t have to face the threat of Koch Brothers and ALEC anti-worker laws this year.

(SALEM) - As of 2pm today, chief petitioners for Initiative Petitions 1 and 9—the anti-worker initiatives—as well as the chief petitioners for several revenue-raising initiatives, have formally withdraw their proposed initiatives, keeping them off the 2014 ballot.

Since last year, the Governor has talked about wanting to keep these initiatives off the ballot so that he could continue his revenue reform efforts. Withdrawing them clears the way for his process to continue.

Like everyone else in Oregon who cares about our schools, health care services, and public safety, we’ll be watching the Governor’s revenue reform efforts closely.

The best news out of this deal is that Oregon workers will not have to face a major, multi-million dollar attack from out-of-state corporate interests. While the Koch Brothers and ALEC are moving these anti-worker laws around the country, we won’t have to face that threat this year.

The need for revenue is clear. We have the third largest K-12 class sizes in the nation, and one of the shortest school years. Our kids are getting less and less instruction time, and very little one-on-one instruction, thanks to very large classes. We continue to see threats to the services that seniors and working families depend on, making it more difficult for struggling Oregonians to stay afloat.

While it’s great news that we won’t be facing a major anti-worker initiative this year, it’s critical that we remain vigilant about what’s happening to working families right now. While corporate profits and incomes for the top 1% are at all time highs, wages and incomes for working people have fallen since the end of the recession.

We’ll continue to highlight the growing gap between the wealthiest households and everyone else, and we’ll continue to look for ways to make Oregon’s economy more fair for everyone.