May 14, 2003
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Page A7
B usiness
M in ority Trade Show B uilds A llian ces
UM
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In n X Su
Nate Moreland
establishes leads for
new business and K t .
strategic alliances at
the Oregon Association
o f Minority Entrepre
neurs Trade Show at
the Oregon Convention
Center. Moreland is
the director of OAME s
Youth Entrepreneurship
Program.
1-11111
lie s
Pricilla Hulin of
Ramada Inn and
Suites makes
personal contacts
with representatives
o f minority, woman
and emerging small
businesses at the
Oregon Association
of Minority Entrepre
neurs Trade Show.
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S m all and large b u sin e sse s, neurs is held to build strategic alli Sam Brooks, O A M E founder, presi
s ta te an d fe d e ra l g o v e rn m e n t ances for H ispanic A m erican, A fri dent and chairm an o f the board.
a g en cies and b u sin ess d e v e lo p can A m erican, Asian A m erican,
M ore than 150 sm all and large
m ent reso u rces p ack ed in to the N ative A m erican and European business, state and federal g o v ern
O reg o n C o n v en tio n C e n te r last A m erican businesses.
m ent agencies and business devel
w eek fo r the P acific N o rth w e s t’s
“T he O A M E T rade Show is a o p m en t reso u rces, w ere re p re
la rg e st m in o rity , w o m an an d perso n al, face-to -face forum to sented at the show.
e m e rg in g sm all b u s in e s s lu n m ake sales, netw ork and obtain re
M araC ohen, a N ative A m erican
ch eon and trad esh o w .
sources am ong large and small, new and o w ner o f a successful co n su lt
The annual event by the O regon entrepreneurs, business dev elo p ing firm, w as the conference’s key
A ssociation o f M inority E ntrepre m ent and coaching resources,” said note speaker.
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Setback for Worker Rights
Wage protections,
civil rights and
apprenticeships
take hit
w orkplace conditions and child la
b or violations.
L a b o r C o m m is s io n e r D an
G ardner, elected last year, adm its
the agency faces challenges inves
tig atin g co m p lain ts but b lam es
(A P) — E nforcem ent o f w orker
rights has declined w ith cutbacks
at the state agency responsible for
protecting those rights, attorneys
say.
T heO regon Bureau o f Labor and
Industries has already shed about
a quarter o f its sta ff and once again
finds itself the target o f cuts. This
tim e, the agency could elim inate at
least 11 o f its 114-m em ber sta ff
overseeing civil rights law s, w age
p ro te c tio n s and ap p re n tic e sh ip
program s.
“People a re n ’t getting any sub
stantial ju stice because there are
no m eaningful investigations o c
curring," said Daniel Snyder, a Port
land attorney w ho represents w ork
ers pursuing com plaints against
em ployers.
For m ost w orkers, the bureau is
the first stop for com plaints about
harassm ent, im proper pay, poor
reau program s.
“ W e ’ve had sta ff reductions o f
30 percent w hile other agencies
havegrow n,” G ardnersaid. “W e ’re
at the bare bones o f getting our
m ission done. The bone is getting
into the m arrow .”
B esides enforcing state w age
and civil rights law s, G ard n er’s of
fice m anages a $4.9 m illion w age
security fund that covers w orkers
w hose em ployers close w ithout
issuing final paychecks. It also
oversees the sta te 's 6,000 appren
ticeship trainees as they learn on-
the-job trade and business skills.
G ov. Ted K u lo n g o sk i’s p ro
posed $ 18.2 m illion operating bud
-Portland attorney Daniel Snyder
get for 2003-05 w ould elim inate
who represents workers pursuing
another 11 positions, including tw o
complaints against employers
civil rights investigators and one
wage-and-hour compliance special
m uch o f the problem on the previ ist, saving $2 m illion.
ous com m issioner.
G ardner is try ing to preserve the
G ardner replaced form er Labor tw o civil rights investigators by
C om m issioner Jack Roberts, a two- saving m oney elsewhere. H e’spro-
term R epublican w ho in 1997 p ro posing to renegotiate office leases,
posed elim inating the bureau and c o n s o lid a te b u re a u o ffic e s in
folding its duties into another state M edford and Salem with other state
agency. L egislators rejected that agencies and tap the w age security
idea, but over tim e, they approved fund to foot som e adm inistrative
budgets that w hittled aw ay at bu co sts.
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New Data to Address Insurance Gap
(A P ) — A etna Inc. has begun
T he com pany began the initia
collecting data on the racial and tive in 13 states in Septem ber, ask
ethnic backgrounds o f som e o f its ing new m em bers or those chang
14 m illion health plan m em bers in ing health plans o r beneficiaries to
w hat the insurer says is intended to voluntarily list their race o r ethnic
narrow the gaps in treatm ent be status in their applications.
tween w hites and m inority patients.
“ Reducing the gap in health care
A etna said it is trying to under am ong m inority populations is one
stand differences in how w hite and o f the m ost obvious targets for
m inority patients get m edical care, health care im provem ent in the
and develop prevention, education U nited S tates," said John Rowe,
and treatm ent program s to narrow chairm an and c h ie f executive of-
the gap.
fic e ro f Aetna. “The scientific com
munity and the federal governm ent
have acknow ledged that systematic
efforts on the part o f insurers such as
Aetna can ha ve a dramat i c impact on
disparities in health care, and I am
very proud o f the initiatives that we
have undertaken to date."
A etna cited a January 2 0 0 1 letter
from th e b .S . Departm ent o f Health
and H um an Services to the Health
Insurance A ssociation o f A m erica
targeting the elim ination o f racial
and ethnic disparities in health care.
Jobs Scarce in African American Communities
(A P) — The distance betw een
blacks and jo b opportunities nar
row ed across the nation during the
1990s,although African A m ericans
rem ained the m ost segregated eth
nic group from em ploym ent op p o r
tunities, according to a new study.
The analysis o f U.S. C ensus
Bureau data by the B rookings In
stitution found blacks’ overall prox
imity to jo b s im proved slightly d u r
ing the 1990s.
But no group w as m ore physi
cally isolated from jo b s than blacks,
the study found. In nearly all m et
ropolitan areas w ith significant
black populations, the separation
betw een residences and jo b s w as
much higher for blacks than whites.
“W e have designed our metro
politan area in w ays that reduce op
portunities for potential black jo b
seekers," said W ayne State Univer
sity urban affairs professor George
Galster. The study, he said, show s
“continuing evidence o f a phenom
enon referred to as spatial racism ."
U sing 2000 census figures, re
searchers com pared w here people
o f different races live to w here the
jo b s are found. T hey then d eter
m ined what percentage o f the popu
lation o f any race w ould have to
m ove to a different neighborhood
for that race to be equally inter
spersed am ong all available jobs.
1
Investigation of Utility Misconduct Wanted
In a draft report on its investiga
tion into questionable trading ac
tivities during the w estern energy
crisis o f 2001, the sta ff o f the O r
egon Public U tility C om m ission
recom m ends that the com m ission
open a form al investigation into
possible m ism anagem ent by Port
land G eneral Electric.
PUC officials said the investiga
tion w ould focus on P G E 's involve
m ent in Enron “ D eath S tar" type
transactions and its failure to post
its trades property w ith Enron, the
bankrupt Texas com pany that ow ns
the Portland utility.
But the co m m issio n ’s staff rec
om m ends delaying any action on
possible m isconduct by PGE until
the F ederal E nergy R egulatory
C om m ission com pletes its review.
Initiative
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