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PORTLAND OBSERVER
1 ISPS 959^80-85?
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Volume XIII, Number 29
May 4, 1983
25$ Per Copy
Two Sections
■
Jordan declines to run for Mayor of Portland
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flB B M L /
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BLACK UNITES FRONT
ANNUAL MARCH AGAINST racism
About 300 psopls Joined the Black United Front In Its third annual
March Against Racist Violence Saturday. A t the rally at M artin Lu­
ther King Park that followed. BUF co-chairman Ronnie Herndon re-
leted some of the prograes made since the last march. A year ago
the community was In tha midst of the Tubman School site contro­
versy which was settled w ith ”« Mttle marching on the floor end a lit
tie marching on the table": the 8chool District has more black prln
cipals than aver; the District has M atthew Prophet, the beet Super
intendent the city has seen; 00 to 70 Jobs have been obtained at Safe
way and Fred Meyers; and the 7-Up boycott continues.
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)
.
bv Robert Lothian
Recession weary workers and cost
conscious employers confronted
each other during Portland’s recent
wave of labor protest, and union
busting, strikebreaking, wage and
benefit cuts and protests over non­
union hiring practices sometimes led
to violence.
“ They’re out to gut the unions,"
said Dick Schneider, administrative
assistant for Machinists* Lodge 24,
describing
employer
practices
during the 3-week-old West Coast
Metal Trades strike. Involved are 18
unions and J 100 workers at 78
machine shops from San Jose,
C alif., to British Columbia.
Locally,
strikebreakers
were
brought in to replace 1 JO workers at
Harris Thermal, Inc., Tualatin, and
18 workers at the shop division of
Northwest Marine Iron Works,
2516 NW 29th Ave. Bingham W illa­
mette, 2800 NW
Front,
has
threatened to replace 300 striking
workers, but at press time opera­
tions continued with supervisory
personnel. In Vancouver, 150 em­
ployees of Columbia Machine are
also on strike.
Strikers at NW Marine Iron said
they are being forced to accept a
20% wage reduction and benefit
cuts as a bargaining example for
negotiations involving other shops.
>
.
____ ^ _ _ a
*a_
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is arguing that for companies to re
main cost competitive, workers
must take 20% pay cuts amounting
to yearly wage reductions of from
$4,000-18,000 per year, depending
on grade level. They are also de­
manding reduced hospital benefits,
holidays and vacations, he said.
“ You ask them if they are plead
ing poverty, they say no comment.
We ask to look at their records; they
won’t show us their records because
they’re making massive profits.”
“ We see a turnaround (in the
economy), and we see this as a last
ditch effort on the part of the em­
ployers to get all they can for the
next three years, and we won't buy
it," said Schneider
“ In essence, what they are trying
to do is do away with the union, up
and down the west coast. We’re
saying no way
“ We have no comment to make
at this lim e." said Dick Sumke,
shop manager for Northwest.
In other labor action, fistfights
broke out along the Banfield
freeway during a three week-old
protest by members of Local 701,
International Union of Operating
Engineers, against the non-union
hiring practices of R.A. Hatch Co.
of Bend Hatch won a multi-million
dollar freeway widening contract
from the Oregon Dept. of Transpor
(Please turn to page 2 column I)
g-B/;
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which kill indiscriminately and
threaten whole societies. We feel
that our world and nation are
headed in the wrong direction."
"The whole world," the state­
ment continues, "must summon the
moral courage and technical means
to say ’No’ to an arms race which
robs the poor and the vulnerable;
and ‘No’ to the moral danger of a
nuclear age which places before
mankind indefensible choices of
constant terror or surrender."
The letter, which the Reagan Ad­
ministration unsuccessfully attempt­
ed to have softened, opposes any
use of nuclear weapons "W e be­
lieve it necessary, for the sake of
prevention, to build a barrier
ft.’
. IO 1
Pv
.
I h r the
M a Mayor
v n r m u must
si a d adopt
o n i a a 'business
“ My decision not to run should
not be interpreted as an endorse­
ment of the present administration
in that office. I feel strongly that
Portland needs and deserves a
Mayor who can be the representa­
tive of a ll the people of Portland.
The present M ayor has not de­
veloped and articulated a vision for
the C ity. The one certainty about
the times ahead. . . is that they will
be turbulent times. And if Portland
is to not osly survive but to thrive,
not as usual* posture. Portland
needs a Mayor who does not cater to
special interests, and who recognizes
the im portance o f im proving the
quality of life for all its residents,
young and old, rich and poor, bust
ness and working people alike."
Jordan said he has been encour­
aged to run by many people and or­
ganizations and believes there are
fiscal and volunteer resources " to
change the leadership in the M ay­
or's office, and to change the image
and direction of our C ity.”
Race has not been an important
factor in his decision, he said.
“ I watched with great interest the
campaigns and elections for Gover
nor of California and Mayor o f Chi­
cago. Race was an unhappy and di­
visive issue in both elections, but I
am convinced that Portland is dit
ferenl because its people are differ­
ent. Portland voters are an mdepen
dent lot. They cast thpir ballots on
the basis of the merits and abilities
of the candidate. I'm confident they
would not hesitate to elect a Mayor
who is black if they were convinced
that his leadership and ability were
required to do the jo b ."
Jordan did not rule out a future
race. ’ ’ There w ill be another day
and other challenges and we will be
there to meet them."
Mullahs against Mullahs in Iran
In contrast with the daily
bombardment o f news coming from
Iran just a vear ago, both the U.S.
government and mass media have
been uncharacteristically silent on
the recent events there This is at a
lime when many observers believe
the country is going through its
most crucial period after the 1979
revolution.
Below is one o f a series by Ed
Mason, who is just back from a tour
o f the Middle East.
Amid signs of a growing rift
between the main two factions of
Iranian clergy — the so-called
Im am 's line and its out and out
ultra-fundamentalist rivals— Iran’s
news agency announced last Sunday
that a trial time is now set for the
leaders of Iran’s Communist Tudeh
Party.
The charges against the leaders of
the Iranian Communisits ranged
from “ spying and forging of
documents” to “ preparing to
overthrow” the Islamic regime
The response from this strongly
pro-government
’ party
was
fo rthw ith : “ We appeal . . . an
international delegation of impartial
observers — including legal and
medical experts specializing in
psychological and physical torture
to visit the detainees."
U.S. Bishops oppose nuclear arms race
The Roman Catholic Bishops of
he United States have ratified a
rastoral letter denouncing nuclear
var and calling for Catholics to help
id the world of nuclear weapons.
The letter — titled "The Chal-
enge of Peace: God’s Promise and
Dur Response” — states “ The
nuclear age is an era of moral as well
ss physical danger. We are the first
generation since Genesis with the
power to virtually destroy God's
creation. We cannot remain silent in
the face of such danger ."
" In simple terms." the statement
says, “ we are saying that good ends,
defending ons’s country, protecting
freedom, etc., cannot justify im­
moral means. the use of weapons
—.
Commissioner Charles Jordan
announced Wednesday ihat he will
not be a candidate for the office of
Mayor of Portland.
Jordan said he would not run be­
cause of his wife's poor health. " I
have decided not to run because I
have another love and another duly
which comes ahead of even my love
for Portland. My wife has been ill
since childhood with rheum atoid
arthritis. She has suffered serious
reversals in her health in the last sev­
eral months to the point where hos­
pitalization is necessary, and I feel
she would not be strong enough for
the rigors of a mayoral campaign.”
Jordan said factors for and
against the decision to run were
about evenly balanced until the un­
expected turn of events about a
month ago.
Khomeini’s reign totters
Wave of labor protest hits Portland
“ We feel we are being targeted,”
said picket captain Ed Weatherbee,
a machinist at Northwest for 9
years.
Weatherbee said the workforce at
Northwest has gone from 90 last fall
down to 18 seniority people who are
prepared to tough out the strike.
Workers at Bingham-Willamette
and other shops were counting on
them to hold out for a decent con­
tract. he said. “ I think we are pre
pared to stay out quite a while.”
Workers with up to 35 years
seniority were replaced by strike­
breakers
from
Idaho
and
Washington, said Weatherbee, who
was concerned that the practice
might be illegal.
According to Oregon assistant
attorney general Bob Bulkley. a
1975 law prohibits Oregon firms
from hiring professional strike­
breakers.
Police were called when shouting
matches between striking Northwest
workers and strikebreakers threat­
ened to escalate. “ There's a lot of ill
feeling,” said Al Seidl. Machinists’
Local 63 board member and North­
west employee for 3'A years. "So
far. it's been orderly, but I ’m afraid
it could get nasty,” he said.
"There’s no way, morally, I feet I
could work next to somebody who
crossed the picket line."
Schneider said that management
_
against the concept of nuclear war
as a viable strategy for self-defense
There should be a clear public resist
ante to the rhetoric of ’winnable’
nuclear wars or unrealistic expecta­
tions of 'surviving' nuclear ex­
change. and strategies of a 'pro­
tracted nuclear war.* ”
The Bishops supported the con­
cept of a nuclear freeze and called
for a "h a lt" in the production and
deployment of new nuclear wea
pons.
While they refrained from saying
nuclear weapons could never be
used as retaliation, they emphasized
that they knew of no circumstance
where that action could be justified
The letter supports the church's
philosophy of "just war" as
legitimate self-defense and also up­
held the right of Catholics to be
pacifists. Under the "just war”
philosophy civilians cannot be the
target of violence and only that
force necessary to achieve the goal
can be used.
“ We are called the peacemakers,
not by some movement of the mo­
ment, but by our Lord Jesus
Christ,” the Bishops said.
Two years in the writing, the let­
ter adopted Tuesday was the third
draft.
The pastoral letter, passed by a
238 to 9 vote, is a teaching resource
for U.S. Catholics and its authority
or influence are not yet known.
“ We are said to say that six of
our comrades now tried, have each
served 25 years in Shah's jails on
exactly the same trum ped up
charges." Well-placed observers in
the M iddle East attach great
significance to this trial. According
the them, these show-trials could
easily decide the future o f this
strategic country of 40 million one
way or the other.
W hile rumors o f an early
rapproachment with Washington
abound, there is every indication to
believe that the ground is being laid
for the final ousting of most or all
of the Khomeini faction.
•••••
Before going into the events
surrounding the trials, it would be
useful to look at some of the events
before and after the arrests of the
Com munist Party leaders on
February 5th.
• After an unprecedented week of
heated debate on the Land Reform
Bill for 12 million landless peasants
in Ira n ’ s P arlim en t, the Bill was
passed by a narrow margin. The
next day the Council of Guardian,
an extra-p arlim cn tary legislative
body, vetoed it.
• Earlier the same Council had
vetoed many bills including
Klanoorl: Iran 's v stsrsn top
Communist said to bs tortured.
nationalization
of
foreign
commerece
and
government
subsidies for cheap housing
• On February 6th, the Council
decreed that all the Iranian entre­
preneurs overseas could come back,
which practically opened the coun
try’s doors to counter revolutionary
upper classes residing in western
countries.
• A fte r a series o f agreements,
most o f the Western European
countries obtained their old share of
(Please turn to page 2 column I)
Portland Branch, NAACP
celebrates Brown Decision
The regular monthly meeting of
the Portland Branch of the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People will be held Sunday,
May 15, at 4:00 p.m. at the Antioch
Missionary Baptist Church, 5935 N.
Minnesota. Hazel O. Hays, Branch
President, points out that while the
branch always meets on the third
Sunday of the month except July
and August, May IS is the earliest
“ third Sunday" in 1983, since May
I was Sunday this year.
The National Membership Drive
of 1983 will end on May 17, the 29th
anniversary of the U.S. Supreme
Court decision desegregating the
nation’s schools The branch meet­
ing will be in charge of the Member
ship Chairman, Harvey L. Rice.
Rice points out that N A A C P has
worked all these twenty-nine years
to implement that 1954 decision.
Much progress has been made, es­
pecially in the South, but too many
Black children are still not able to
realize "equal" education — includ­
ing those here in Portland Rice has
planned a program to take note of
the Brown decision There will also
be music. Reverend Felton Howard.
Minister of the Antioch Baptist
Church will present the church choir.
Reverend
Hampton
Calloway,
Mount Gillard Missionary Baptist
Church, will present the choir from
his church. Well-known community
soloist Joanne Collins will also sing