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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 19, 2008)
DEC-Holiday-2008:Holiday Issue Inside 12/16/08 10:05 AM Page 1 MEETING NOTICES See Page 9 Volume 109 Number 24 December 19, 2008 Portland By DON McINTOSH Associate Editor It’s fixing to be a lean Christmas for truck driver Jeff Murillo and his family. Murillo, 45, is a mem- ber of Portland-based Teamsters Local 81, and one of about 600 Pacific Northwest truck drivers, load- ing dock and warehouse workers who’ve been on strike at Oak Harbor Freight Lines since Sept. 22. Murillo’s family is feeling the pinch. There are five kids. The three youngest attend Sandy High School and live with Murillo and his wife at a manufactured housing community in Boring, Ore- gon. Murillo’s union-provided strike pay of $304 a week, plus his wife’s income as a hairdresser, are enough to put food on the table, but not much else. Losing union benefits and $21 an hour can be a shock to a family’s budget. “It’s harder for my wife, because she wants to do something for the kids for Christmas, and I’m telling her, ‘Honey, we just don’t have the money,’” Murillo said. An Oak Harbor Christmas The day the strike began, Murillo was helping his oldest daughter move to Corvallis for her first year at Oregon State. It pained him that he couldn’t give her money. Then an engine valve burned up in his 8-year- old truck. Murillo couldn’t afford $5,000 to hire a mechanic, so he and his father-in-law spent weeks fixing it, and got it done for $1,500. Murillo’s savings were depleted, but at least he could now make the hour-long drive to Northeast Portland to do picket duty and collect strike pay. The Murillos had their phone shut off, and got a shutoff notice for the electricity, but they called the power company and got a week’s forbear- ance so they could make the payment. Oak Harbor cut off payments to the health and welfare trust the day after the strike began. Murillo, like most strikers, was unable to pony up $800 to $1,000 a month to continue coverage, and now his wife is hav- ing medical problems. “The kids think everything’s okay because there’s still food in the house,” Murillo said. “They’re not really affected by it, and then they wonder why we’re all stressed out.” And yet Murillo said abandoning the picket line to go back to work has never crossed his mind. The injustice is too great. Murillo has (Turn to Page 15) Marion-Polk-Yamhill Counties Labor Council hosts holiday party in Salem The Elsinore Theatre in Salem was the cite for the 68th annual Holiday Party sponsored by the Marion, Polk, Yamhill Counties Central Labor Council. This year, nearly 750 people attended. Santa and Mrs. Claus (above left), played by Jack Rusen of Albany Steelworkers Local 6163 and his wife, check their “naughty and nice list.” After seeing the movie “Kung Fu Panda,” youngsters (top center) got antsy waiting to see Santa Claus. Labor council volunteers (above) handed out goodie bags to everyone. Leftovers were delivered to a local charity. And opening the program was the Patrick Lamb Band, who sang Christmas carols to the kids. Lamb (pictured at right behind a dancing elf) and his band are members of Musicians Local 99. The labor council funds the annual event through donations from more than 14 union affiliates and unionized businesses. “Labor is a part of this community, and we just love doing this for them,” said Richard Swyers, secretary-treasurer of the labor council. “We look forward to it every year.”
