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NOV. 6, 2009:NWLP 11/3/09 10:21 AM Page 7 Civil and human rights conference focuses on getting voice at the table More than 80 people attended a Civil gays in Iraq. A panel of lawyers helped audience and Human Rights Conference in Port- land Oct. 24 sponsored by Service Em- members understand discrimination claims. Portland attorney Cathy Highet ployees (SEIU) Local 503. Local 503’s Human and Civil Rights stressed that public employees should Committee Chair Rose Kachadoorian file a tort claim notice within six months spoke about how unions are about fair- of an incident. Lloyd Perez of the Oregon Bureau ness and equality, and that by creating a culture of inclusion, the strength of the of Labor and Industries emphasized that the employee bears the burden of proof union could be increased. Keynote speaker Dr. Daniel Hosang, in discrimination claims and the impor- a professor at the University of Oregon, tance of getting a lawyer. Members of Local 503’s Lavender inspired the audience with stories of “linked fate,” and encouraged partici- Caucus recalled that early on they faced resistance from some pants to recog- members who said it nize that “stran- was not the business gers matter.” He of the union to take a encouraged SEIU position protecting to develop strate- the rights of LGBT gies with the members. Now, they Civil and Human said, most members Rights Commit- realize the intercon- tee in a central nection of issues. role, and he urged A transsexual action. SEIU member said B.G. Gray, of SEIU’s African- SEIU members Amy Tucker and that many individuals A m e r i c a n James Jacobson pitch their face intolerable dis- (AFRAM) Cau- union’s new Equal Rights broch- crimination from managers and co- cus, reminded at- ure. Photo by Roxy Barnstead. workers during the tendees, “We are not the descendants of slaves; we are physical transition period. This con- the descendants of proud people who tributes to “disturbingly high unem- were captives. We need to change how ployment, poverty and suicide rates” among transsexuals. we think about ourselves.” Octaviano Merecias and “Bajo Immigration panel members dis- cussed personal experiences with Salario” (Low Wages), a progressive racism and in finding work. One pan- Latin American folklore group, read po- elist explained how “little” racist com- etry and provided music during lunch. In a wrap-up, among the suggestions ments end up killing “little” pieces in- side of you. Another, a highly trained was one that diversity training be made doctor in Ukraine, is now a home care an integral part of staff and steward in- worker because policies in Oregon pre- service training, and that multigenera- vent her from practicing medicine. A tional workplace training be a compo- third panelist spoke of discriminatory nent of any diversity training. Paul Coke, a SEIU member, ex- practices against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) foreign nation- plained it’s about all people having a als; and the escalating murder rate of voice at the table. Murder tale brings Northwest labor history back to life For 10 years, union attorney Susan Stoner has had a secret: In between ar- bitrations and grievance-handling, she’s been moonlighting as mystery novelist S.L. Stoner. Stoner — general counsel at Port- land-headquartered Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757 — worked in her free time to develop a series of his- torical mysteries set in the Portland of 1902. Now the first self-published in- stallment is in print, and is garnering favorable reactions from local histori- ans and labor history buffs. Jim Strassmeier, longtime oral his- torian for the Oregon Historical So- ciety, called it a “unique, genre- crossing novel” that “combines rousing adventure with accurate back- to-the-past details.” The book, titled “Timber Beasts: A Sage Adair Historical Mystery,” is avail- able at Portland-area Barnes & Noble stores, downtown Powell’s Books and online at barnesandnoble.com and powells.com. It’s the story of Sage Adair, a turn-of-the-century trade union spy, who stumbles across a real-life tim- ber fraud, gets a glimpse at the savage exploitation of loggers, and helps track a murderer. In yet-to-be-published se- quels, Adair investigates a shanghaiing, a series of bridge collapses, and an at- tempt to assassinate Teddy Roosevelt, who visited Portland May 21, 1903. love mystery novels. They’re an easy read and they’re entertaining. Why did you choose 1902? Because it really mirrors our time. On a national level we had corporate power starting to take over. Are there particular works that you drew inspiration from, books you like and sought to emulate? I’d have to say Howard Zinn’s Peo- ple’s History of the United States, and then Zane Grey for his Western flavor. Careful not to reveal plot points, Stoner answered questions about the book in an interview with the North- west Labor Press. What made you decide to write a historical mystery novel? I love researching original history. That means reading diaries and letters and newspaper articles that were pub- lished at the time. And I’ve always been interested in labor history in particular. I wanted something that union members and working people could read to learn about their own role in history. Plus I To what extent are the events de- picted real? I tried really hard to make them all realistic. I mess a little bit with the times things occur. But I plagiarized history. So everything is based on something that actually happened. The description of a logging camp, the description of Chinatown … I tried to make every- thing authentic. Why is it called Timber Beasts? It’s a play on words. It was the name they gave itinerant workers in logging, and it was said with contempt. But when you start thinking about large cor- porations that made money off the dec- imation of the forests and people’s livelihoods, you see who the real beasts are. SERVING UNIONS FOR OVER 25 YEARS BEAVERTON, OR (503) 644-1400 WILSONVILLE, OR (503) 682-8552 Northwest Dental Associates, P.C. GRANTS PASS, OR (541) 479-6696 VANCOUVER, WA FISHER’S LANDING (360) 891-1999 GRESHAM, OR (503) 492-8487 Sarah Barber, D.D.S Charles Stirewalt, D.D.S. Chau Ngo, D.D.S. HILLSBORO, OR ORENCO STATION (503) 640-9999 VANCOUVER, WA SALMON CREEK (360) 574-4574 MILWAUKIE, OR (503) 659-2525 Phong Bui, D.M.D. Charles Stirewalt, D.D.S. Chau Ngo, D.D.S. Stirewalt, P.C. 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