PAGE 8 | June 19 , 2020 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
BUILDING COMMUNITY
Oregon unions distribute food to workers impacted by COVID-19 pandemic
As the entire nation has felt the grave impacts of
COVID-19, workers across Oregon have seen lay-
offs, furloughs, and more — all with serious con-
cerns as to whether those jobs will return anytime
soon.
Recognizing the growing need in the commu-
nity, Oregon’s unions joined together to create and
host the Workers Helping Workers food drive and
distribution program. The goal of the program is
to host at least three Workers Helping Workers dis-
tributions in the Portland Metro Area over the next
two months. The first distribution was held June 6,
at Laborers Local 737 Training Center in North-
east Portland. Organizers boxed and distributed
1,000 boxes of food staples provided at a discount
by Safeway. Franz Bakery donated 1,000 loafs of
bread.
Nearly two dozen labor groups are participating,
including the Northwest Oregon Labor Council,
Oregon AFL-CIO, and Labor’s Community Serv-
ice Agency.
The next food distribution is tentatively set for
Thursday, June 25, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., at
United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555,
7095 SW Sandburg Road, Tigard. You can pre-reg-
ister for a designated pickup time at www.worker-
shelpingworkers.com. You don’t have to be a union
member or union family to get a food box. The dis-
tribution is open to anyone whose household has
been adversely impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.
... Labor confronts police brutality
From Page 1
cally, union members as individ-
uals have taken part in the
protests or joined morning-after
volunteer parties to help clean
up the aftermath.
“The cause of labor has al-
ways been the cause of human
solidarity, human dignity and
justice and equality for all,” said
IBEW President Lonnie Steph-
enson in one of many national
statements. “So the IBEW can-
not afford to stay silent as our
African-American brothers and
sisters suffer in fear of violence
at the hands of either the state or
by private citizens like we saw
with the case of Ahmaud Arbery.
… This is the time for all those
who love America and care
deeply about its values to speak
out in the name of justice and
against systemic racism.”
Meanwhile, some unions
have taken action — as unions.
Members of International
Longshore and Warehouse
Union (ILWU) held an 8 minute
46 second work stoppage June 9
(the length of time a police offi-
cer kneeled on Floyd’s neck).
That was followed by the an-
nouncement of an eight-hour
work stoppage in 29 West Coast
ports June 19 to demand an end
to white supremacy and police
terror.
Teachers unions in Seattle,
Oakland, Los Angeles, Denver,
Chicago, Boston, Milwaukee,
Madison, and Minneapolis have
demanded the removal of police
officers assigned to schools, with
immediate success in some
cases.
On June 4, the Oregon AFL-
CIO general board approved a
set of action steps aimed at root-
ing out racism internally inside
the labor movement.
“We as progressive trade
unionists have a responsibility to
tackle any injustice, and that in-
cludes racial injustice,” said Ore-
gon AFL-CIO President Graham
Trainor, who took part in a June
8 Black Lives Mattter march that
ended up occupying both sides
of I-84. “We talk mostly about
economic justice, but there’s no
way to disconnect the struggle
for racial justice and economic
justice.”
Public support is overwhelm-
ing: A recent nationwide poll by
the Washington Post found that
74% of Americans support the
protests; 69% say Floyd’s
killing represents a broader
problem within law enforce-
ment, and just 29% say the
killing is an isolated incident.
IATSE Local 28 recording
secretary Jay Spottswood and
his wife Liz Spottswood—also a
Local 28 member—have at-
tended several of the George
Floyd protests in their Northeast
Portland neighborhood.
“It feels like something you
can’t ignore,” Liz Spottswood
told the Labor Press. “It’s a
crime for us to ignore racial in-
justice any further.”
The Spottswoods say it’s per-
sonal for them: They once wit-
nessed a squad car roll up and
police jump out and tackle their
neighbor’s 12-year-old son, pin-
ning the terrified African-Amer-
ican boy to the ground face
down as he cried for his mother.
He was released after police de-
termined he wasn’t the suspect
they were looking for.
“I’m angry that we still have
to keep doing this,” Jay
Spottswood added.
Other IATSE Local 28 mem-
bers have supported the demon-
strations by sewing face masks
that are then distributed to pro-
testers.
Oregon Nurses Association
has turned out as a union for sev-
eral daytime Black Lives Matter
protests at Pioneer Courthouse
Square and Oregon Health and
Science University (OHSU).
At the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C., boards covering windows are
painted with statements supporting criminal justice reform and Black Lives Mat-
ter. The signs (and security guards) appeared after the AFL-CIO lobby was dam-
aged May 31 by protesters who sprayed graffiti, broke windows, and set fires.
And graduate student union
members at OHSU, part of Ore-
gon AFSCME, have been oper-
ating a medical supplies tent in
downtown Portland for protest-
ers injured in nightly attacks in
which police use tear gas, pepper
spray, rubber bullets and batons.
On June 13, Oregon AFSCME
reports, police came for them
too, ordering them to disperse
immediately and leave their sup-
plies behind. While complying
with that order, union member
and med student Michael Mar-
tinez was arrested. When union
volunteers returned to retrieve
their supplies, they were gone.
“Police officers were the only
people allowed anywhere near
our tent and supplies, so the only
explanation is that our medical
supplies were stolen by the po-
lice,” said Adrian Baris, a grad-
uate student in the OHSU
School of Medicine. Members
of Graduate Researchers United
plan to continue providing aid
for protesters, and are inviting
community supporters to con-
tact organizer Michelle Ozaki at
ozakim@ohsu.edu.
At press time, IBEW Local 48
was also organizing a mask-
mandatory union-focused Black
Lives Matter rally outside the
Northwest Oregon Labor Coun-
cil headquarters, set for June 18.