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“ Sect. II Page 6
PORTWND OBSERVER
USPS »59-6SO-S35 0 £ n r P u M i A iaz
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Volume XIII, Number 35
June 15, 1963
25C Per Copy
Two sections
Ca Zar IM J
Medicare, Social Security, cuts due July 1
I f President Reagan's proposals
for the 1984 budget go through, at
least 40 percent o f those on M edi
care will not be able to afford it.
As o f October I , 1983, the M edi
care charge for the first day in a
hospital will be $357 instead o f the
previous $350. A two-week stay in
the hospital will cost $714; doctors’
fees will be held at the 1982 level but
w ill cost more for their Medicare
patients.
Several bills now in Congress
would continue hospital and physi
cian charges. The 1983 Social Secu
rity A ct, signed into law on April
20, provides that Medicare no
longer pay hospitals on a cost-plus
basis, but according to a fee
schedule.
Senior organizations say the piece
meal approach will not halt the
pressure on the medical, pharma
ceutical and insurance industries to
raise prices. The health care indus
try is among the most profitable of
U .S. corporations. An A F L -C IO
Council report said that health facil
ities in the U.S. continue to be taken
over rapidly by profit-m aking cor
porations. The Hospital Corp, o f
America operates 58 percent o f the
private profit hospitals in the U .S.
and increased its profits by 35 per
cent last year. American Medical In
ternational increased its profits by
55 percent.
These corporations will also bene
fit from the income tax cut
scheduled to go into effect on July
1st.
In addition to increasing cost o f
medical care to Medicare patients,
Congress postponed the 1983 cost o f
living increase for Social Security
recipients from July 1, 1983 to
January 1,1984.
This is, in effect, a cut since in
flation
decreases the spending
power o f the current payments.
The Bipartisan Budget Appeal —
whose founding members include a
former Secretary o f Commerce and
5 former Secretaries o f the Treasury
(Democrat and Republican) — is
calling for a one year freeze on cost
of living increases for Social Securi
ty and other “ entitlement pro
grams.”
City-wide coalition forms
Back on the ground again ara Bolaa Bth graders and thair teacher.
Mrs. Laura Qloason, winners of tha Obaarvar/Ooodyaar annual
blimp rlda. Wlnr.ers ware. Leslie and Lola Wyllle. Barbara Staplaa
and David Stigler. Tha student rlda la provided annually through tha
courtesy of the Goodyear Company.
(Photo: Dan Longl
State aids union-busting efforts
by Robert Lothian
Larry Burnside thinks the State o f
Oregon went scab in awarding a $27
million Banfield light rail freeway
widening project to non-union R .A .
Hatch Co. o f Bend.
Burnside, business representative
with the Oregon District Council o f
Carpenters, spoke for a dedicated
group o f protesters from
the
building trades unions. Since A pril
IS, carpenters, operating engineers,
cement masons and other union
members have been out near the
work area between NG 39th and
87th Avenues from 6 a.m . until 2
p.m . five days a week with placards
and bullhorns trying to get Hatch
employees to go union.
"Basically, what we are protest
ing, is letting out a contract to a
non-union contractor." he said.
The protesters are also concerned
about the quality o f work being per
formed by Hatch, and employment
o f out-of-state workers, he said.
W hat motivates the pickets to
show up day after day, facing pos
sible arrest? “ The construction in
dustry is depressed, there’s nothing
out there," said Burnside. " W e ’re
looking at 75% unemployment."
“ Our members are stuck between
a rock and a hard spot. They’ re
losing homes, cars, they’re having
fam ily problems, a lot are leaving.
They’re also being abused at the un
employment
o ffice,”
he said.
“ They’ ll call 10 carpenters into a
room and offer them a minimum
wage job and they have to take it or
lose
their
benefits."
(Those
receiving unemployment benefits
are required to “ look for and be
willing to take any work the Em
ployment Division may determine is
suitable” ).
Burnside contends that such poli
cies are part o f an anti-union drive
“ right down from Reagan" to force
down wages and benefits and bust
unions.
"U nions made this tow n,” said
Burnside. "U nions have set the
standards for wages and working
conditions for all people.”
But now, said Burnside, “ every
contract I deal w ith, they’re just out
to tear you apart. And our governor,
he wouldn’t even talk to the A F L -
C IO .” he said, referring to the cold
shoulder Atiyeh has given to Oregon
labor leaders since they supported
Ted Kulongoski in the last election.
" I would assume that all the state
bodies under the governor go along
with h im ," said Burnside.
State inspectors are casting a
blind eye on Hatch safety viola
tions, according to Burnside. Oxy-
Acetylene tanks are allowed to lay
on the ground while they are sup
posed to be chained upright, and
Hatch employees wear aluminum
hard hats, even though they were
outlawed because they conduct elec
tricity, he said.
According to Vicky Rocker,
spokeswoman for the Oregon Dept.
o f Transportation, “ we don’t have
any safety or work violations on
file. W e are required by law to ac
cept the lowest bidder. Hatch is not
new to us, we’ve had good results in
the past Personally, from a public
relations standpoint, they are quite
helpful. We haven’t any complaints."
But, according to Burnside, in
spectors take pictures o f the pickets
instead o f doing their jobs. “ They're
there," he said, “ but they’ re not in
specting. They’re with H a tc h ."
Burnside also charges that Hatch's
non-union employees are under-
qualified and responsible for shoddy
workmanship. A concrete wall near
60th avenue "looks like hell" and
will have to be redone at consider
able expense, he said. "T h a t's us,
that’s our tax dollars. I f you had
qualified people there to start, it
would have been right the first
tim e.”
Burnside thinks the state needs to
look at contractor qualifications in
addition to lowest bid in order to in
sure a quality job for taxpayers.
"O n e o f our goals is to inform the
public, the taxpayers, that they're
being ripped o f f ," he said.
Burnside also contends that no
blacks or women in the skilled trades
are employed by Hatch.
Hatch has appeared on T V news
several times vociferously arguing
with protesters. W hat hasn’t been
publicized, according to Burnside,
were the times Hatch passed out
anti-union literature endorsed by a
radical right wing group, and the
two occasions he hit protesters with
his pickup.
¡Please turn to Page 4 Column 3)
A coalition o f city-wide organiza
tions met with an organizing group,
the Committee for Restoration of
the M etropolitan Hum an Relations
Commission, M onday night at
Sunnyside Methodist Church in
Southeast Portland.
it was unanimously agreed that
efforts should press forward for full
restoration o f M H R C staff and pro
gramming. The office’s budget was
cut more than half with staff reduc
tions and program transfers during
recent City Council budget hearings
at the request o f Commissioner
Margaret Strachan, Council Liaison
to M H R C .
The city-wide support committee
organized following an Observer
Comm unity Forum on the issue
M ay 21st. Its purpose is to coordi
nate and facilitate the efforts o f or
ganizations and individuals wanting
to show visible support for restora
tion o f M H R C staff and programs
and for maintenance o f a centralized
human rights office and commission.
The committee is chaired by Fred
M ilton.
The coalition is asking organiza
tions and individuals to write letters
to the City Council or to the coali
tion, which will forward them, and
to call City Commissioners’ offices.
To offer individual names or organi
zation names in support o f M H R C
restoration, call 284-1816, write to
the Committee for Restoration of
the M H R C . 4431 N .E . Ainsworth,
Portland 97218, or complete and
mail the form below by June 23th.
Grenadan leader advocates peace in region
by Tim Wheeler
W A S H IN G T O N . June 2 — In a
speech to the Organization o f A m er
ican States (O A S) yesterday. Prime
Minister M aurice R. Bishop o f
Grenada
rebutted
President
Reagan's hostile attacks on the C a r
ibbean nation and urged the U .S . to
reestablish normal relations.
Bishop spoke in the ornate, chan-
deliered “ H all o f the States" to an
audience that included O A S Secre
tary General Alejandro O r fils and
the ambassadors and representatives
from the O AS* 30 member nations
including Grenada’s ambassador,
Dessima W illiams.
Bishop charged that persistent
efforts by his government to estab
lish and maintain "norm al and
mutually respectful relations” with
the U .S. have been “ ignored or re
b uffed" by the Reagan administra
tion.
H e assailed President Reagan’s
recent televised attacks on Grenada
in which he displayed aerial photos
o f a new airstrip under construction
on the tiny island which Reagan
claims poses a military threat to the
U .S.
" I reaffirm what representatives
o f our government and people have
said so many times before: that
Grenada constitutes no threat to the
United S û te s ," he said. “ We repeat
that the new International Airport is
a civilian project vital to the eco
nomic development o f our country."
Recognized ee vital
He pointed out that successive
governments over the pest 23 years
have discussed the urgent need for
the new airport, adding, " it is also a
project which past U .S. and Canadi
an administrations have recognized
as vital to the development o f our
tourist industry. We have received
assisunce for the project from
countries throughout the world and
its importance to our economic de
velopment is unquestionable."
The youthful prime minister also
condemned the Reagan administra
tion for excluding aid to Orenada,
Nicaragua and Suriname in its so-
called “ Caribbean Basin Initiative."
“ The unity o f our people must not
be compromised by attempts to di-
vide us,” he said. " I f assisunce is to
be g iv e n .. .then it must be given to
all countries o f the area without dis
crim ination."
Bishop quoted Simon Bolivar,
Jose M arti and the Grenadian patri
ot Theophilus Marryshow in urging
unity o f the peoples of Latin Am eri
ca and the Caribbean against neo-
colonial dom ination and outside
m ilitary force. H e cited the "heroic
and
unconquerable
people
of
Central Am erica” , especially the
people of Nicaragua.
W hile not mentioning Reagan's
covert war
against
Nicaragua,
Bishop said, " I f we truly aim at
peace in our
region, at the
individual development o f each
(Please turn to Page 5 Column ! )
Patricia Loving, daughter of Willie and Roesie Loving, racalvad tha
Portland Observer Journalism Award at her graduation ceremony
Thursday. The award la presented each year to tha Boise Elementary
School 8th grade Journalism student who beet typifies the ethics of
Journalism, academic excellence and school or community service
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)