PAGE 6 | January 18, 2019 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
BUILDING COMMUNITY
This year’s Portland SAG Awards party will raise
funds to help family of ailing actor from Grimm
Every year, the union perform-
ers in the Portland SAG-AF-
TRA local gather at the Lake
Theater in Lake Oswego to
watch their union’s televised
annual awards event. This year,
the event is open to all local
union members and supporters,
and is doubling as a fundraiser
for local SAG-AFTRA presi-
dent Robert Blanche, who’s
fighting for his life after a dou-
ble lung transplant.
Blanche, 56, has been a tel-
evision actor since 1994, fre-
quently playing law enforce-
ment officers in TV crime
dramas, like Sergeant Franco
on NBC’s Grimm. In 2011, he
was diagnosed with hypersen-
sitivity pneumonitis, an inflam-
mation in the lungs. In August,
he received a double lung
transplant, but he’s still strug-
gling to overcome complica-
tions from the procedure.
Blanche is a father of five, in-
cluding two small children, and
has been unable to work be-
cause of his medical condition.
Friends and coworkers in
SAG-AFTRA have raised over
$35,000 to support his family,
but with Blanche having spent
over four months in the hospi-
Robert Blanche
tal, the funds are spent and his
family is in need of further
help. Supporters hope to raise
another $30,000 through this
fundraising drive.
They’ll raise funds with
event tickets ($25 for union
members, hors d’oeuvres and a
drink ticket included), a silent
auction, and a raffle. The
fundraiser will run through
Valentine’s Day.
Mary McDonald-Lewis, a
voice actor and member of
SAG-AFTRA’s national board,
described Blanche as a beloved
figure within the local union:
“He’s always been an ambassa-
dor for SAG-AFTRA, and
mentored young actors as they
became ready to join.”
■ Time: Sunday, Jan. 27, 5 to 8
p.m. (doors open at 4:30 p.m.)
■ Place: Lake Theater and Cafe,
106 N State St, Lake Oswego,
Oregon
■ Cost: $25 for union members, $30
for all others (hors d’oeuvres and a
drink ticket included)
■ RSVP: shellea.allen@sagaftra.org
■ Prizes: Tickets to Portland Center
Stage, Artist Repertory Theater,
Portland Playhouse, Third Rail Rep
theater, Broadway Rose theater,
Portland Trailblazers; Cast-signed
script from the original pilot of the
TV show Grimm; rare Grimm
posters; original artwork; stay at
the Hampton Inn and Suites;
acting lessons; dialect coaching;
professional photo session; gift
cards, and much more.
SAG-AFTRA members
nominate and select the win-
ners of the Screen Actors Guild
Awards, which honor SAG-
AFTRA members for outstand-
ing individual, cast and ensem-
ble performances on both film
and television. The award cer-
emony will be broadcast live
on TNT and TBS at 5 p.m. Pa-
cific Time Jan. 27.
Who’s on our side?
By Tom Chamberlain Oregon AFL-CIO President
A manufactured crisis
Eight hundred thousand workers. That is the number of gov-
ernment employees and contractors impacted by President
Trump’s shutdown of the federal government. The average
take home pay of impacted workers is around $500 per week,
and any financial uncertainty is sure to cause stress and anxiety
over how to make ends meet. Each day of this manufactured
crisis, working families lose money for housing, healthcare
and groceries — the essentials we need to get by. These
800,000 workers are in all 50 states and include air traffic con-
trollers and transportation security officers from Portland to
Medford. Workers at national parks across the west are fur-
loughed. The shutdown’s impact goes beyond the actual em-
ployees of the government as well: Countless Americans feel
the impact of this dangerous stalemate.
Working people and their livelihoods should never be used
as political pawns, but that is exactly what the shutdown has
become due to President Trump’s incessant demand for $5.7
billion to start building a wall along our nation’s southern bor-
der. The fact of the matter is that walls and enforcement-only
policies such as the workplace raids, cruel family separations,
and massive deportations we have seen from the Trump Ad-
ministration escalate fear. These policies and actions divide us.
They inspire campaigns like Ballot Measure 105, which Ore-
gonians squarely defeated last year. They embolden prejudice
in communities across the nation. They push people under-
ground, into a shadow economy where unscrupulous employ-
ers take advantage of a climate of fear to undermine the rights
of migrant workers. It is far too common and is exactly why
union members across the country stand united against fear
and division, while fighting for a better tomorrow for all work-
ing people.
The American union movement advocates for an agenda
designed to lift workers up and improve our nation instead of
pushing people apart. We know that strength and prosperity
come from standing together. We have called for comprehen-
sive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship — an
essential step to protecting all workers’ freedom to join together
in a union without fear. We have stood with our allies in calling
for the Administration and the new Congress to work together
to pass immigration legislation that keeps families united, pro-
tects workers’ rights, restricts temporary worker’s programs,
and gives Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients a pathway to becoming
citizens. Finally, instead of focusing on building a wall, the Ad-
ministration and the new Congress should work together to
fund desperately needed infrastructure projects across our
country. Investing the $5.7 billion that President Trump is de-
manding for his wall in repairing roads, bridges and rail transit
would create well-paying jobs in local communities.
The women and men who go to work everyday in service
to the United States government want to do their jobs. They
believe in working hard for our country and for their fellow
Americans. Holding their paychecks hostage over a funding
dispute takes advantage of federal workers’ commendable
work ethic and passion for country and fellow citizen. The par-
tial shutdown of our Government has made it clear that the real
crisis is not on the southern border; it’s in the Oval Office.
The Oregon AFL-CIO is a 138,000-member-strong federation of labor unions.
THIS NEWSPAPER BROUGHT TO YOU BY AMER-
ICA'S LABOR MOVEMENT. SHOP LOCAL. AND BUY
UNION AND AMERICAN-MADE.