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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 7, 2008)
NOV. 7, 2008 :NWLP 11/5/08 10:05 AM Page 11 I’ll never forget Bruce ‘Utah’ Phillips in Seattle. Amazingly, the festival fea- By JIM COOK tured a long-planned tribute concert, and Like train whistles echoing often in it was the night of his passing. the Columbia River Gorge, so are Our band, General Strike, performed thoughts of Utah Phillips. But the west- labor and social justice songs there May bound BN-SF freight train that passed 24. Afterward, I listened to a phone mes- through the Columbia River Gorge at sage. It was Jimmy Kelly, a Santa Cruz, Skamania on a late Spring afternoon Calif., labor teacher and singer. In 1987 seemed to carry the spirit of friend, he started the annual Western Workers Bruce ‘Utah’ Phillips. Why not, since I Labor Heritage Festival. There, I saw was enroute to his June 1 memorial Utah several times. Once, in the late ’90s, service in Nevada City, Calif. The news I photographed Phillips interviewing Pete of Phillips’death May 23 — just days after UTAH PHILLIPS Seeger. The phone message said, his 73rd birthday (he was born May 15, 1935) — hit hard. It seemed especially poignant re- “Brother Bruce Utah Phillips has left us and is singing ceiving the sad news at the Northwest Folklife Festival with Joe Hill, Woody Guthrie, and Mother Jones.” Boeing strike worth the fight for our future To The Editor: Let me just take the time to put my spin on the Machinists strike at Boeing. I have been a Boeing employee going on 31 years at the plant in Gresham. I have six children — four under the age of 18 — who are dependent on my income and medical benefits. I, along with my Machinist co- workers, lost eight weeks of in- come and medical benefits. Just last night my 14-year-old son was playing high school foot- ball. Throughout the entire game I was thinking: Play good, enjoy yourself, don’t get hurt! We have no medical benefits until this strike ends. My point is, was this strike worth it? Yes, it was worth it every single worrying minute and lost sleep. It was a fight for our future and our children’s future. All of the insult- ing takeaways that were first handed to us — the best aerospace workers in the world — was a dis- grace. Boeing has a record backlog of airplanes to build, as well as record profits, rival to none in its history. With new and improved con- tract language on our most impor- tant issues — job security, med- ical benefits, and wages, this contract is worthy of the skills and dependency we deliver every sin- gle day. Hopefully, Boeing won, too. We can work together collectively and continue to produce the safest and best airplanes in the world. Paul Mulligan IAM 63 Portland HOW LABOR CAN LIVE UNITED: JOIN HANDS. OPEN YOUR HEART. LEND YOUR MUSCLE. FIND YOUR VOICE. GIVE 10% GIVE 100% GIVE 110%. THINK OF WE BEFORE ME. REACH OUT A HAND TO ONE AND INFLUENCE THE CONDITION OF ALL. GIVE. ADVOCATE. VOLUNTEER. TM United Way of the Columbia-Willamette NOVEMBER 7, 2008 guers. Many remember Utah’s baseball passion, his music and stories of work- ing class struggle and courage, folk mu- sic with message and oral histories shared. With smiles and tears we lis- tened as family and friends shared in- sights of an amazing character and mentor to many. He cherished life, and had many pursuits, including family, poetry, folk music, labor history, the IWW, trains, tramping, gardening, well, you get the idea. We laughed together retelling Utah’s stories and countless practical jokes. Closing with Utah’s powerful Hymn Song, together, in one big union, we sang through our hard time. We shall never forget Bruce Utah Phillips. (Editor’s Note: Jim Cook is a retired member and past president of Letter Carriers Branch 82. He is a Portland labor activist and member of the band, General Strike.) We worked hard to build Freightliner To The Editor: May I speak from heart for a moment? Those @#$%^&*. Freightliner was born here, developed here. Freightliner was a Portland fixture, our company. We worked hard to make it special. It appears unfortunate now that Daimler ever bought the company be- cause now where Freightliner once stood in Portland there will only be a big hole. Locally owned now has new meaning. People that live in far off places don’t care. People that view the world through a balance sheet are cold. Last year I recommended when Daimler decided to send the Freightliner brand down to Mexico, they should have been given a pro- visional business license to do business in Portland. Daimler’s sense of entitlement to corporate mobility plays havoc on the lives of those left in the wake of companies like Daim- ler that shop the world for cheap labor. There should be a price to be paid for the destruction of economy, a provisional business license. Call it a responsibility clause, where any com- pany that fails in their humanity would be stripped of their corporate personhood and be denied a business license. After all, if the com- pany is allowed to enjoy the rights of a person, they should act like one — act in a way that becomes a person with a family and a home. Go ahead, walk away and give us the building.You owe us that much. We can make solar panels for the new world. As for your corporate personhood, it should be revoked for abandonment and neglect. Carroll Wikander IAM Local 1005 Portland ILWU pensioners honored Cook, too GIVE AN HOUR. www.unitedway-pdx.org Memories of his voice and laughter echo through the universe. For some of us, dealing with death is tough. Though bracing for years, family and friends forever mourn. Each always hoping for another heartfelt con- versation, or concert filled with radical songs, stories of wisdom and humor, or hilarious rants against the bosses and their politicians. We now dealt with death’s reality. Utah Phillips’ congestive heart disease, which he valiantly fought for more than a decade, restricted the singing hobo’s traveling. Known worldwide, those touched by his love for life, liberty, and social justice, understand Utah Phillips’rebel spirit, like Solidarity, is now global. Nevada City, his beloved hometown in the Sierra Nevada foothills, held a public memorial June 1. Knowing Utah’s keen interest in baseball (not major league), the Little League baseball field felt a perfect location to bid our comrade farewell and console each other. Banjo music greeted as the stage was set behind home plate. The entire infield, outfield, and bleachers filled quickly with family, friends, and local commu- nity. Genny Nelson, of Portland’s Sisters of the Road Cafe, was there. Also, IWW fellow workers and radi- cal labor singers from many places. On this sunny spring morning, Utah Phillips’ life celebration opened with the ceremonial “first pitch” by local Little Lea- Open Forum To The Editor: Thank you for the article about the 41st an- nual convention of the International Long- shore and Warehouse Union Pacific Coast Pensioners Association held in Portland in September. I would like to add that among the awards presented, Brother Jim Cook received the “Jesse and Lois Stranahan Award.” Brother Cook is a retired letter carrier, past-president of the National Association of Letter Carriers Portland Branch 82, and longtime chair of the Northwest Oregon Labor Council’s History Committee. He is also my good friend and union Brother. The plaque reads: “The ILWU Pacific Coast Pensioners Association Presents This Jesse and Lois Stranahan Award to Brother Jim Cook for his many years of dedication as NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS a Good Samaritan and his contributions as an avid union activist. September 16, 2008.” Each year since 2002, the ILWU PCPA has presented this award to a deserving union ac- tivist. Thanks to Brother Phil Lille, ILWU Lo- cal 23 in Tacoma, who suggested the award shortly after my husband, Jesse Stranahan passed away in 1998. Brother Arne Auvenin, of Longview ILWU PCPA Local 21, was the first to receive the award. He also spoke on behalf of Brother Cook. In addition, I arranged other speakers on his behalf, including Sister Barbara Byrd, Brother Mike Sullivan, and Jesse and my daughter, Ju- dith K. Stranahan, a union member and con- ductor on a freight rail line in New Jersey. Lois R. Stranahan ILWU Retired Portland PAGE 11
