NOV. 6, 2009:NWLP
11/3/09
10:21 AM
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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.
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