SALEM — Dan Gardner was sworn in Jan. 2 to a second term
as commissioner of the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries.
A former state legislator and a card-carrying member (third generation)
of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 48,
Gardner outlined his 2007 legislative agenda — an agenda he
says “will help both Oregon’s workers and the state’s
economy over the next four years.”
BOLI enforces wage and hour laws, civil rights laws, apprenticeship
training and provides technical assistance for employers’
programs. BOLI has offices in Portland, Salem, Eugene, Bend, Medford
and Pendleton, employs 106 people, and has a two-year budget of
approximately $20 million.
Gardner said he will continue to bolster efforts to provide top-notch
technical assistance to state employers trying to comply with both
state and federal workplace laws. “It is my firm belief that
the vast majority of employers intend to follow the law at all times
for the benefit of their workers and their companies,” he
said.
Additionally, Gardner will work to link Oregon high school students
with apprenticeship and training centers in order to help fill the
gap left by the elimination of vocational education programs in
state schools and to help meet the growing shortage of construction
workers.
“We need to get to work immediately to train young Oregonians
to help meet the critical shortage of construction workers we will
soon face here and around the nation,” said Gardner. “Guidance
counselors need to be reconnected to the state apprenticeship programs
and all that they can offer.”
Gardner said that “robust economic development” depends
primarily on the creation of high-paying, family-wage jobs. He defined
a family-wage job as one with health care benefits for workers and
their families, and retirement benefits.
Gardner said he also will push for legislation requiring overtime
pay for workers after each eight-hour shift they work. The law was
changed in the 1990s to pay overtime only after 40-hours a workweek.
Gardner said oftentimes retail employers schedule workers 12 to
16 hours a day. If that worker doesn’t put in more than 40
hours in that workweek, the hours are all paid at straight time.
“Oregon is an at-will state, so if an employee refuses to
work a 16-hour shift, he or she can be fired,” he said.
Gardner said workers are more prone to injuries if they work longer
than eight hours in a day. His bill would require time-and-a-half
pay after eight hours on the job.
Gardner also will introduce legislation that will require employers
to provide personal record requests in a reasonable amount of time
and at a reasonable cost.
“Some employers think ‘reasonable’ is six months
after the request and $5,000 (for their time),” he said.
Gardner will propose a limit of 45 days after a records request
is made, and a yet-to-be-determined “reasonable cost.”
Gardner was first elected labor commissioner in May 2002. He was
elected to the Oregon House of Representatives from District 13
in 1969. Gardner served as assistant Democratic leader during the
1999 session and was unanimously elected House Democratic Leader
in 2000.
