Front Street Weekly; 411

Good evening. Welcome to Friend Street weekly Oregon Public Television's newsmagazine. I'm Gwyneth Gamble Booth. I'm Jim Swanson and here's a preview of tonight's stories. This week the 1985 legislature opened but without a lot of familiar faces. That's because many have found legislative service too costly. Well, the legislative process what you've seen is a lot of talent leave.where Then we will meet at championship women's rugby team right here in Oregon. Women's game, the men's game, although they're different, the rules are the same and the women can take hits just like the men can. Age discrimination; it's spreading from the blue collar labor force into offices and corporate boardrooms at a skyrocketing rate for job holders between the ages of 40 and 65. The Age Discrimination is probably the most insidious and the most prevalent of all forms of discrimination. On Monday, Oregon Sixty third legislative session got underway and while the spotlight is going to be fixed on the lawmakers struggle with tax reform, there's another issue that's causing concern in Salem. That's reform of the legislative process itself. Rhonda Barton

takes a look at the growing call for changes in how the legislature goes about its business. Oh. [singing, national anthem] It's a ritual that happens every two years. Thirty Senators and sixty representatives take their seats for the start of another legislative session. This year one out of five of our senators will be brand new at the job, and about a third of the house will be starting from scratch, too. Harty Myers wonn't be back at his desk this year, nor will many other well-respected veteran lawmakers. There's been an unprecedented number of legislative dropouts during the last two sessions, as what was intended as a part time job, has grown into a full time commitment. I've reached the point where my children were at an age where their tuition demands were growing it, just didn't pencil out to be able to continue taking those long leaves of absence for legislative service.

What you've seen is a lot of talent leave notwithstanding me. There's a lot of a lot of talent in terms of very intelligent members, in terms of a lot of years of service, that know a lot about the process. I've been in the legislature in the Senate for ten years, now that's not an awfully long span of time to learn the legislative process. But there are only about four senators who have been there longer than I have and two of those have been there only one term longer. Now that means that we're not building, enough, I think, experience. People are leaving too soon. People are leaving because it's too hard to juggle a career with record length sessions and numerous special sessions besides. The wait is now, where you have to take off for an intense amount of time six, seven months out of one year, and then come back, and get a job... You've

got to have a very understanding boss. You've got to be willing to starve to death, maybe in between time, or you you've got to have some sort of a very flexible kind of business - I don't know what kind of business that would be. Grinnell now a lobbyist left after the 1981 session which lasted 203 days. Just a few months after that marathon, legislators were called back to Salem to fix a staggering deficit. All is not well in Oregon. Forty-three days after the governor made that observation the legislators finally went home. One of them, House majority leader Branton Kerns, had to be carried out. He collapsed from exhaustion. 1983 was filled with still more budget problems and acrimonious fights over tax reform. The session lasted a full six months. Then came yet another special session for a sales tax plan that never made it to the polls. Never have so many labored so long on a matter of such importance to our

Oregonians... and come up with so little. Frustration over the legislature's inability to act, led Senator Charles Cameron to resign. The Mountaindale rancher has since changed his mind and is more hopeful about the current session, but he still thinks the system must be changed, if it's to meet citizens growing needs. Our legislative system was literally designed back in the horse and buggy days and here we are now in the space age. We haven't changed our legislative system that much. The only thing that happens is that every year every senator has more constituents to deal with and no more tools to help him in his job. Hanlon wants to see a full time Senate adopted, while keeping the House a citizen's body that meets every other year. It's a proposal that has many prominent backers including former House speaker Hardy Myers who has promoted the plan before the City Club. The Portland attorney is also called for abolishing the emergency board and establishing a state controller, as a watchdog over the executive branch.

We need to spend more time on a lot of what the legislature is doing, more time on investigating problems, more time in oversight of administrative agencies, more time in the careful development of legislation. You can't. achieve both the goal of making legislative service available for a real variety of people, and do the job the total job the legislature needs, unless you somehow, reallocate responsibilities within the 90 members, so that all ninety don't have to be involved in everything. So there is already it from time to time... Jealousies arise between the two bodies. And I think if one was a full time body and the other was more of a part time... group, there would be additional problems arise between the two. Whether one was better prepared to handle the issues of the day, or the other body might argue they're closer to the people.

Powell, one of the rising stars of the Senate, dropped out to earn more money and spend more time with his family in hall??? He now runs his own consulting business, and serves on groups like this governor's task force on workers compensation. He says the only way people like him could stay in the legislature, is to have more frequent, shorter sessions. I think there's been way too much time wasted which then leads many of the legislators to the point of wondering whether they can afford to be a part of this process. Bill Grinnell agrees with Powell that short regular sessions are the answer. The former House revenue chairman says trying to budget on a two year basis is impossible. They're starting with at least a 30 month projection and saying OK we're going to have this much money and then they're trying to figure out what the costs are going to be over the next 30 months. Can't be done. The chances of formally adopting annual sessions are probably slim since voters have twice rejected that idea already. And getting a full-time Senate approved by both

houses will also be a tough job. But those interviewed said there's a growing awareness that something has to be done. The legislature as a whole is in very low repute with the public right now. And I think what I'm talking about is one reason - we're simply not prepared and equipped to respond to the individual needs as we might be, and we're suffering because of it. As far as the session goes, those people the Front Street talk to said they're confident the legislature will refer a sales tax measure to the voters in 1985, but they caution that they'll be plenty of debate over distribution of any funds raised through such a measure. And of course there's still a big question over whether the voters would buy w it. Gweyth? You're probably pretty familiar with the Portland Trail Blazers and the Winterhawks. But if you've heard of the Zephyrs? Kai ??? my deck has this report. The game of rugby. It may conjure images of rough and ready men. Playing a

tough game, singing dirty songs, and drinking lots of beer. Similar in many ways to football and basketball, it's a game not usually associated with women. But then, you probably haven't met the Portland Zephyrs - a team that's mostly professional women, independent people, the common denominator is guts. Women's game, the men's game, although they're different, the rules are the same and the women can take hits just like the men can. There's a certain kind of aggression, and it's you pushing yourself as hard as you can go. The Zephyrs play a game traditionally played by men, and they do it well. They're number one out of the 12 women's teams in the northwest. The team started up about seven years ago with three women who had an interest in the game, and some help from this man, Ron Cronin a rugby veteran who agreed to coach. Over the years, that original three, has grown into the present group of 17. Go.

Out. One. [inaudible] Two. ??? Women in their teens to late 30s, students to professional people. I had some friends that played and it looked like fun I watched a few games and didn't understand it very well but I've always been involved in sports and after I was done with college I was looking for an organized club of some sort to play on and I decided to try rugby and got hooked right away. When I first became interested because I had a lot of friends that played and I thought it was totally crazy; just to see women play a contact sport. And I decided that I wanted to try it for some reason I was not ever really involved in a team sport other than softball. It's a really great sport I've played soccer and I've, you know, done other sports but it's- its like the ultimate team sport. But it's not all fun and games. The team spends over four hours a week on the practice field going through drills and learning the fundamentals. It's this nuts and bolts approach that many say is responsible for the Zephyrs

unique style of play and their championship season. The way we win most of our games is by fundamentals and the basics. And that's what makes our team special. The difference between the Zephyrs and all the rest of teams are that we have a very structured and very intense practice. We practice skills more than any other team you'll ever see and individual skills and team skills. Really we win our games on the practice field and we go out have fun during the games. I think the women use a lot more tactics and also a lot more finesse. The men's game is a lot more brutal. There's a lot harder hits and I don't think that they play as well as a te- as teams. The way that we do I think that we're a real team oriented. So I guess the password and byword today is fundamentals, skills over their skills, hustle, hard work, passing and swarming in loose play. We just want to do everything that we do as well as we can. I have no

problem if we do that. The only people who can beat us here today is ourselves. So just be machine like, teamwork oriented. Okay, everybody come up, everybody come in. Lets get their arms around everybody. [inaudible] kick it back to him. Kick the kick back to him. Zephyrs! Zephyrs! Today's competition, the Eugene Housewives. But don't let their name fool you these women don't do dishes. [music] It's a grueling eighty minutes of play. Running, passing and tackling

and tackling without the luxury of pads or helmets. Everybody thinks rugby is a real tough game, and it is in a sense, but if you are fearless and you go out there and play you don't even think about it you don't get hurt. Women don't intimidate. Very interesting thing is that if you tackle 'em hard and run right over them, it doesn't make them shy away from you, it makes them more determined to come back at you. They're only one piece in fifteen and you have to work well there. Not only do you have to get your part down but you have to be able to work with everybody else. I think women work incredibly hard and they put out a more consistent effort for the 80 minutes of the game than I've ever seen. It was great. It would- it just felt- every- everyone got in on it, it was just a lot of support it was a

lot of teamwork and that's what the game's all about it's great. [background noise] They we- looked good today, it's em- both teams played very well. When the Zephyrs are really and really cooking I don't think anybody can beat them. I think we're going to go to a national championship with that kind of play, if we can do that against those good teams. It's just something that clicked with me and I really would like to see it go on and get better and maybe the women who go to the Olympics someday in this sport you know, I don't see why not. [background noise] Well according to Cronin the future of rugby in the United States is with women. He says women have made more progress in the sport in the short time they've been playing than men have in the last 30 or 40 years. Coming up this spring, nationals for women's rugby will be held in San Francisco and the Zephyrs will be there, playing with the best of them. We wish them luck. And we're sure that you'll support your local wheat grower, after seeing this.

The history of toast without electricity, jam or butter, but reasonably complete, and our thanks to photographer

editor Todd ?Sonplace? for that breakaway. Young upwardly mobile workers are marching into the job market at a record pace today making it hard for those between the ages of 40 and 65 not only to find employment but to hold on to their jobs. Besides the job market being youth oriented, older workers with more wisdom and experience are more expensive for companies because they command higher salaries and pension benefits. Age discrimination in the labor force is on the rise in Oregon and in fact the number of age discrimination charges filed with the state doubled in the last two years to 203. Reporter Beth ?Whelan? examines why age discrimination is now the fourth highest discrimination charge in the state. [background conversation] You see people complain every day about hey, my job is, I don't like this job, I can't stand this job, but let them be offe for a month and see what happens. I wanted to work when I was twelve, earned all my clothes and everything. And my dad always would

work. And that was part of your life. Geting up and going to work. 1.3 million Oregonians get up and go to work every day. Together they make up the state's civilian workforce. Today only 28 percent of this labor force is 45 years of age and older. This is an 11 percent drop over the last 14 years even though the older population is slightly increasing and this is where a conflict lies. While the aging population is beginning to grow, the number of older workers in the labor force is declining. One of the reasons for the decline is a little publicized but skyrocketing problem of age discrimination. As a result, the older workers greatest difficulties are finding jobs and trying to hold on to their jobs. I think that probably that the age discrimination is probably the most insidious and the most prevalent of all forms of discrimination. The number of age discrimination charges filed at Oregon's Bureau of Labor has doubled in the

last two years. Even so, the extent of the problem has yet to surface. A recent nationwide Harris survey shows that only two out of every five Americans are even aware there is an Age Discrimination in Employment Act and that they can take legal action. One of the reasons is the economy. The fact that companies are laying people off in greater numbers. And for people who are over 40 we feel that a layoff can mean a long term of unemployment not just a short term. So we're talking a very serious matter here. Degrees, I have a bachelor's degree in psychology, master's degree in psychology, and a masters degree in education. Oregon's bad economy caused Bob McCann to lose his state job in vocational rehabilitation two years ago after budget cuts. Being 57 years old he says is a reason he couldn't find work after the layoff. The normal process was that I was interviewed and they would notify me at a later

date and at a later date I would receive a letter saying "Congratulations thank you for your interest but we've employed someone else." You're not just talking about older people doing as good a job. Usually older people will carry higher salaries with them, they're more expensive. It's not just a matter of youth image but older people having been there and more expertise are often more expensive for the companies. A number of times when I would call my prospective employer they sounded very enthusiastic "Oh yes we'd like to see you very much." I would get down there and then they would see that I was over the hill, not really, their whole attitude changed. At 54, Dave ?Goins? lost his hospital housekeeping job after an injury. When he recovered he could not find another job.

Prior to that I'd been in real estate. I'd had about 15 or 16 years in retail sales, two years of college. Done administrative work in hospitals. I couldn't find a thing. Well there's jobs there but they just wouldn-. For people like ?Goins? and McCann, there are job retraining and placement programs like those sponsored by the American Association of Retired Persons. And even then, those placed usually have to settle for less prestigious lower paying jobs than they had, even though they are happy to be working again. I was reduced, at the present time I am a paid approximately 90 percent less than my pay scale at- in previous positions. Many of the white collar unemployed between the ages of 40 and 65 don't have any alternatives like job retraining programs. To qualify you must be 55 years of age and older and at poverty level income.

I think the phenomena is- is that the executives in the corporate boardrooms, the white collar people who thought this was something that only happened to blue collar people, have now started experiencing themselves. There's no other way to say it, managers want young, aggressive, hard-charging people. That's real depressing. Sometimes they end up taking menial jobs. Sometimes they end up moving. Actually that's probably the most dramatic group is the white collar people because the people who have been in most of the blue collar jobs have always had capacity to get by and they have been more used to kind of making things happen, and the white collar workers had a little bit more professional experience and there's not much latitude with that. In Oregon the majority of age discrimination charges filed with the Bureau of Labor involved alleged forced discharges in hiring discrimination. Most of the charges are settled between the employer and employee before a decision by the labor commissioner or they go unfounded. A minority take their age discrimination cases

to private attorneys and end up in court. The court cases are expensive and hard to win. Nationally employers win two out of every three cases brought under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act according to a government survey by the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. Basically in order to in order to, in order to win an age discrimination case you have to have one of two things. You have to either have a smoking gun letter or evidence. A manager writes to the supervisor saying "fire all the old people". OK. That doesn't happen much. The other possibility or the other best way to win one of these cases is to have inescapable statistical evidence - in other words five out of 20 people are fired and they're the five oldest people and have the- they're the five people with the highest wages.

Portland labor attorney Jeremy ?Cerent? assisted in one age discrimination case last year representing three nonunion management employees who were fired by Georgia-Pacific at the Toledo plywood mill which has since shut down. The employees charged the company with age discrimination and lost the case. Georgia-Pacific refused to talk about the case since it has gone through the court. However during the course of the trial the company's defense was that the employees were incompetent in several areas of their jobs and production suffered. I think the reason we lost is because Oregon has or does not have that law on the books that a company has to show just cause to terminate someone. If you're in the administration you're on salary, you don't have a union protection, they can let your goal for too long of hair or anything. When it becomes down to it it becomes just extraordinarily difficult a factual issue in which the trier of fact, the judge or the jury,

basically has to sit down and decide whether in fact the employer did have a legitimate reason why you discharged a person and the truth is employers can come up with those very quickly. Unless age discrimination is significantly reduced some agree we will no doubt see a further rise in the number of charges as awareness spreads among white and blue collar workers. But at the same time it is believed that while workers are becoming more aware of discrimination practices, the employers are getting better at hiding them. I think that age discrimination cases are often quite subtle particularly when we're not talking about someone who is right at say a year before retirement, but we're talking about someone who is say 45 and the company has decided that that person's salary range in their seniority and their benefits are such that they would want to hire someone who is younger. If a company, basically if a company wants to get rid of somebody

and they carefully leave a paper track, they give the person warnings, they have discussions, they bring him in for discussions and talk about the things that they don't like about that pers- person's performance and then eventually fire the person, it's going to be very difficult - very very difficult to bring any kind of discrimin- discrimination claim. Today nonunion middle management job holders are found to be the most frequent targets of age discrimination. That's according to a study by the U.S. House Select Committee on Aging. And it is the fact that one in nine Americans age 65 or older and within 50 years that proportion is expected to change to one in five, which Jim if my math serves me correctly means that this is going to include [inaudible] and me. In 50 years yes, I would suspect it would. It probably will. Well next time on Front Street Weekly, burglary and theft are on the increase in Portland yet due to lack of jail space officials say there is little that

can be done about it. I look at the crime situation in Multnomah County and the debate on how to deal with it. And tinnitus the ringing in the years that afflicts millions. Oregon Health Sciences University is the headquarters for tennitus research and we'll examine the types of treatment that are available. And by blending a unique style of dance with a troop philosophy. The Eugene ballet has found its center stage in Oregon. And we thank you for joining us tonight on Front Street Weekly. We'll see you next week. Good night.