Josh Pritchfield pours a taster at Vagabond Brewing, 2195 Hyacinth St. N.E., on Friday, May 22. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)
There’s a lot going on business. To help keep you up to speed, the Salem Reporter is launching a semi-regular roundup of business-related items including new business openings, locations, grant opportunities and others.
To suggest an item, reach out to reporter Jake Thomas at [email protected]
EMPLOYMENT UPDATE. A Covid outbreak at the Oregon Employment Department’s Wilsonville call center threatens to hamper the agency’s ability to send cash to unemployed Oregonians.
During his weekly media call, department Acting Director David Gerstenfeld said that there have been 11 Covid cases at the center that was set up in May to process the flood of unemployment claims caused by the pandemic.
About 600 people work in the more than 100,000-square-foot center, he said. The department has been increasing the number of employees teleworking to provide more space for those remaining at the center, he said.
“I want to note that the rapid and significant shift to remote work will cause real disruptions in our ability to get work done at the pace we have been,” said Gerstenfeld.
But Gerstenfeld also had a bit of good news. Last month, the Employment Department announced it would start making “waiting week” payments to unemployed Oregonians.
Workers usually can’t be paid benefits the first week they’re out of a job. Congress waived the so-called “waiting week” requirement as part of its pandemic relief package, meaning workers would receive an extra week’s worth of benefits.
The department has sent out $242 million in waiting week payments to about 338,000 people, said Gerstenfeld.
In November, the department said that 170,000 people would have to wait while their extra payments were manually processed, which could take until the end of January. The number of people now waiting is 52,000, said Gerstenfeld.
PCUN REACHING OUT. Farmworkers union PCUN (Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste) is seeking to connect small and micro businesses in marginalized communities to educational and other resources to help them with difficulties created by the pandemic.
In a statement, PCUN pointed to a study that found that businesses with Black or Latino owners were less likely to have received federal pandemic relief funds. PCUN has found similar issues locally. A grant from the Oregon Latinx Leadership Network will help PCUN with outreach to such businesses and will connect them with funding, resources and technical assistance. For more information contact Omar Alvarado, PCUN advocacy organizer, at [email protected].
BOOZE TAX BATTLE. Oregon’s adult beverage industry breathed a sigh of relief this week at news that Gov. Kate Brown’s proposed two-year budget did not include a steep increase on beer, wine and cider.
The Oregon Health Authority had requested an additional $293 million in the state’s upcoming two-year budget. It proposed raising that money by taxing beer, wine and cider. The additional funds would pay for behavioral health and substance abuse disorder treatment.
While the authority didn’t specify how the tax would pencil out, the Oregon Beverage Alliance said it would amount to an 800% increase on brewers, winemakers and cideries.
The alliance said in a statement that the tax would have hobbled the state’s renowned alcoholic beverage industry when it was already struggling from the pandemic and September’s wildfires. Oregon Recovers, a group calling for improved substance abuse treatment, shot back that the governor’s move was at odds with her previous commitments and legislators would push for the tax in the January legislative session.
Contact reporter Jake Thomas at 503-575-1251 or [email protected] or @jakethomas2009.
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