How the next Labor Commissioner can help put Oregon back on track

In the wake of the pandemic, there's an opportunity to rebuild and improve the partnership between the workforce and employers

"Cherry Blossoms Salem Oregon" by Edmund Garman is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Oregon is off track and in need of a new direction. Businesses, employees, and our students have been clobbered by the pandemic. Our in-person workforce is exhausted, hands-on education has been at an all-time low, and businesses have struggled to meet their supply-chain commitments. 

Despite an incredibly difficult two years, Oregon is ready for its brightest future yet! The sun is shining in the front window and COVID is in the rearview mirror as we drive into our next chapter together. Strong, positive leadership with experience and vision will be key for our success.

Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries (commonly referred to as “BOLI,” pronounced Bo-Lee) is the most important elected office you have probably never heard of. BOLI must find the balance between business industry and the workforce. Part of its job is to ensure Oregon’s workforce can meet the changing and growing demands of our economy, creating opportunities for workers, and filling critical worker shortages in healthcare, technology, trades and construction. In addition, BOLI is tasked with the important job of protecting Oregonians from discrimination in the workplace, housing market and public spaces.

We must have someone to lead this office who knows what it means to work with their hands. Someone who respects a hard day’s work. Someone who values education. Someone with a history of creating opportunities for Oregonians. Someone who has experience as an employee and employer.  Someone who has first-hand knowledge of state level policy work. Someone who understands career and technical education. Someone who values balance and who focuses on problem-solving, not politics.

We need someone with a new voice and new perspective in Salem, with a servant’s heart and who brings experience and advocacy for both businesses and employees. For too long we have been electing officials based on rhetoric not result. I want to share with you the experience and values I would bring to this office.

I have owned restaurants in Oregon with my husband for the last 18 years. We have worked alongside 100s of coworkers over the years and we today employ 62 awesome Oregonians. I know what it takes to run a business, what it feels like to meet payroll and value all hard-working Oregonians. 

When our community supported our family business,  we decided it was time to give back, so I ran for school board. Together with my fellow school board colleagues we dug in to support our teachers and staff, providing students opportunities in career and technical education. Bend La-Pine schools; graduation rates rose 10 percent helping students thrive and getting them into the workforce.

Unfortunately, the bridge from career and technical education classes in high school has never been built to connect properly with apprenticeships post-graduation. I want to take my decade worth of school board experience at a local and state level and build a bridge from high school to high wage skilled jobs in healthcare, technology, and construction trades. Working together we can ensure we have the workforce to grow our economy by creating a solid path for graduating students to grow to their fullest potential.

That Oregon’s state government is failing Oregonians is a non-partisan truth that we must change. Now. I love the fact that BOLI is a non-partisan position; it makes it easier to focus on solutions instead of party politics. I loved that about serving on the school board, too. And I will always work to solve problems in a non-partisan fashion. Oregon could surely use more of that.

Cheri Helt is a former state representative and a candidate for Labor Commissioner.