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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (April 19, 1996)
14 T aprii 1 0 . 1 0 0 6 ▼ ju s t o u t Emily Sim on J local news 620 SW Fifth Ave., Ste. 1204 Portland, Oregon 97204 ride with (503) 241-1553 (503) 241-2587 FAX Radio Cab Out of the pan Emphasizing representation of the accused in all misdemeanor, felony, traffic and DUN actions in state, federal, juvenile courts and administrative actions UCUb #/ ch o ice 227-1212 Maker o f a popular veggie burger product comes under fire from farmworkers union T by Inga Sorensen A WHEEL ALIGNMENTS & TIRES ( 503 ) 232-3600 2454 E. BURNSIDE • PORTLAND, OR 97214 Family Owned & Operated Since 1952 B er n a d ette B reu A ntiques & ornam ent 2 14 SW Stark Street Portland, OR 97204 Mon - Sat 1 lam - 6pm (503) 294-1812 PARKING AVAILABLE NO CRUISING ALLOWED 9PM-5AM driving a vehicle THROUGH this traftk ^ gestion thoroughfare m ore THMITIO TIMES SHALL 8£ A VIOLATION OF QTV CODE SECTION 16.70740. VEHICLES una 8E -, yÉÉi' A SECOND.VIOLATION M ' B re a k the R ules. The Portland Area Business Association (PABA) invites you to come cruising with u s aboard the Portland Spirit on Monday, May 13. if you order your tickets by April 15 (it's Dine like royalty on a sumptuous buffet $30 after that, but be sure to order by aboard the Portland Spirit. Drink in the May 3). To purchase tickets, send your verdant scenery along the Willamette check to: Cruìse/PABA, PO Box 6344, river as you hob nob with the coolest of Portland, Oregon 97228 or stop Portland's business community. Swing to uptempo jazz tunes, iliiJU'vV 1 * " E by Brian Marki Framing, 2236 HE Broadway, Portland. Call (503) and saddle up to the no-host bar. All this for only $25 per person, g*»Bi sinks association 241-2222 for more information. s s 5 1 i Board at 5:30 m l , return at BOO m l Board Portland Spirit at SW Front A Salm on, near Salm on Springs Fountain in Portland. Tour tickets w i be held for you at the site. Pacific Northwest farmworker and treeplanter union is calling for a national boycott o f Portland- based W holesom e and Hearty Foods Inc., producer of the “Original Gardenburger,” a popular patty sold in supermarkets, food co-ops, restau rants and establishments specializing in organic, health-oriented products. Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (Northwest Treeplanters and Farmers United, or PCUN) is calling for the boycott due to WHF’s failure to commit to cutting ties with NORPAC Food Sales, a company PCUN describes as the “exclusive sales agent” of NORPAC Foods Inc., a separate Oregon-based food processing, grower- owned cooperative, which the union has been boycotting since 1992. PCUN is upset that WHF, a company that claims to pursue “vi sionary ideas that [help] to sustain the health and integrity of our planet” and strives to “promote harmony in the world by working to develop our dream of a healthy and balanced planet,” has contracted with NORPAC Food Sales to bolster sales of WHF products. PCUN says by “tar geting Wholesome and Hearty Foods and their relationship to NORPAC Sales, [we are] increas ing the pressure on NORPAC Foods to negotiate. NORPAC Food Sales enhances the earnings of NORPAC Foods member growers by contracting with other companies such as Wholesome and Hearty Foods.” PCUN’s Erik Nicholson says the union began boycotting NORPAC Foods Inc. four years ago, when Kraemer Farms, a member and co-owner of NORPAC Foods Inc., allegedly refused to dis cuss worker concerns and fired at least 21 workers who participated in a 1991 strike. PCUN says it approached the two processors that purchase the bulk of Kraemer produce, NORPAC Foods Inc. and Steinfeld’s, and asked them to “exercise their economic influence over the Kraemers and either pressure them to negoti ate or to sever ties to them.” PCUN, which maintains that sales to the two processors generate the majority of Kraemer’s income, says both companies refused to take action. In a March 15 letter to PCUN, Matthew J. Palmer, WHF’s executive vice president and cor porate secretary, said his company had “no busi ness arrangement with either Kraemer Farms or NORPAC Foods Inc. We do not purchase prod ucts from either company. As such, we have no influence over the policies of these companies. “We do have a business relationship with NORPAC Food Sales, but that is an entirely different business from NORPAC Foods Inc. NORPAC Inc. is a farmers’ cooperative, whereas NORPAC Food Sales is actually Robert Ameson Sales Agency, doing business as NORPAC Food Sales. Robert Ameson simply uses the NORPAC name because NORPAC Foods Inc. represents its single largest contract,” Palmer wrote. “How ever, Robert Ameson acts as a sales agent, for other com panies,, including Wholesome and •0 I S Hearty Foods. As such, thert is no reason what ever to believe that consenting to your request would im prove the conditions o f Oregon farmworkers. It is clear, however, that refusing to do business with NORPAC Food Sales would immediately undermine our company’s ability to vegetarian deliver healthy, meatless food products to con sumers who rely on them to meet their dietary needs and could very well negatively impact on our workers.” Nicholson was not satisfied with Palmer’s response. “I think it’s highly ironic that Wholesome and Hearty Foods, whose mission statement claims to ‘promote harmony,’ would be using the same distributor that NORPAC Foods uses. [WHF] says NORPAC Sales is a different company. We understand that, but we feel that NORPAC Foods benefits from the effort of NORPAC Food Sales, which also contracts with companies like Whole some and Hearty Foods.” N icholson says if WHF “can provide [PCUN] with documen tation which establishes that NORPAC Inc. de rives no economic ben efit from its relationship to NORPAC Food Sales, we will reconsider our boycott of all Wholesome and Hearty Foods prod ucts.” Nicholson says a community food store in Ashland, and a food co-op in Olympia, Wash., have expressed interest in the WHF product boy cott. He says a Montana co-op was the first to honor the boycott, when it agreed in late March to remove WHF products. Additionally, PCUN has launched a national letter-writing campaign to let WHF “know that by continuing to do business with NORPAC [Sales], they will lose a considerable portion of their clientele. In addition, farmworker supporters will be conducting informational leafleting about the boycott in front of stores and restaurants in Or egon, Washington and other states nationwide.” “We have talked to NORPAC Food Sales and they assured us in writing that there is no relation ship issue [with NORPAC Foods]. They are not the same company,” stresses WHF’s vice presi dent of sales, Charles Monahan. “We don’t buy food from NORPAC Foods Inc., nor would we do that. [PCUN] is trying to draw some real fuzzy, indirect line between all of us.” He adds: “We’re not going to sever our ties with NORPAC Food Sales and, quite frankly, this is not our fight. I had never heard of PCUN or Kraemer Farms before all of this. It’s not that we aren’t involved in the community. We do things for the community. We’re involved with the POZ Life Expo [a national consumer exposition for people impacted by HIV and AIDS, to be held in New York City from May 31 to June 1]. We do walk the talk, but we have to pick our issues.” In addition to its Gardenburger, WHF pro duces, among other products, GardenSausage, G ardenD og, G ardenburger Vegan and GardenSteak. NORPAC Foods Inc. markets its frozen fruits, vegetables and juices under the Flav- R-Pac label, and its canned fruits and vegetables under the S anti am label. Steinfeld’s produces pick les, relishes,and sauerkraut under its own name.