A potent political agenda
Fair Shot group unites social, economic issues
A lobbying group that wins enactment of 80 percent of its agenda can congratulate itself for having had a highly productive legislative session. Oregon’s Fair Shot Coalition will celebrate that level of success today, when Gov. Kate Brown is scheduled to sign four of the five bills the group promoted in Salem…
Brown will sign Senate Bill 454, mandating paid sick leave for most employees; House Bill 3025, which makes it illegal for employers to include questions about applicants’ criminal histories on job applications; House Bill 2002, which will establish a system for collecting data about racial profiling by police, and House Bill 2960, which takes the first steps toward creating an employee-funded workplace-based retirement savings system for workers without access to a savings plan…
The Fair Shot Coalition emerged from a recognition that the two groups heavily overlap. The coalition is made up of labor organizations such as the Service Employees International Union and the Oregon AFL-CIO, and social justice organizations such as the Urban League of Portland and Basic Rights Oregon…
We Respond & Your Comments
Let’s think about “Fair.” Here’s why we avoid that word:
- Ask 5 people if something’s “fair” and you’ll get 6 answers;
- People usually think what’s “fair” is what works for them;
- When a politician tells us something’s “fair” – we grab our wallets. You should too.
Now let’s look at the “Fair Shot Coalition.” We doubt any of these “Fair Shooters” could say with a straight face that their union pals wants what’s “fair” for companies. Unions are paid to get the best deal for worker members. Fine. But let’s not confuse that with “fair.”
“Social justice organizations”? Economist F.A. Hayek hit the ol’ nail on the head: “(Social justice is)…conveniently used to assert that a particular claim is justified without giving any reason.” Amen.
“Fair” is a good word for 6th graders to use on the playground. But because it’s usually a code word for justifying the unjustifiable and/or extracting money from our wallets, let’s avoid it when discussing public policy.
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