M arch 02 , 2011
Workers
Hearing draws
100 people to
local meeting
Workers R ights
B o a rd
The challenges affecting the
U n ited S ta te s P o stal S erv ice
boiled over at a hearing last week
in Portland regarding working
conditions and service.
More than 100 people crow ded
into A ugustana Lutheran Church
in Northeast Portland Feb. 21 for
a public hearing chaired by State
Sen. Chip Shields regarding over
all postal service. Both custom ers
and Dostal em ployees spoke.
w ith the continued develop
ment of electronic com m unica
tions, the USPS has seen a dra
matic decrease in revenue, while
expenses have continued to rise.
The com bination has led to rising
postal rates and reductions in
staff. Home delivery on Saturday
may soon be discontinued.
Jim Cook, president of the local
N ational A ssociation o f Letter
C arriers, spoke of how the inabil
ity to hire new em ployees has led
to chronic m andatory overtim e as
being the key to an erosion in
Job, with Justice
A hearing draws State Senator Chip Shields, Multnomah Education Service District Board Director
Geri Washington, Rethinking Schools' Bill Bigelow and others to discuss the postal service crisis.
custom er service.
labor costs. Beyond cutting ser
“Letter carriers want to pro vice days, the Postm aster General
vide the best service possible,” is advocating the closure of 2,000
Cook said. “We just need more post offices.
staff.”
E m ployee organizations say
USPS m anagem ent has stated that the postal service is in debt
a hiring freeze is necessary to cut m ostly because of Bush-era man-
dates, which Congress or Presi
dent Obam a could fix.
“The issues facing the public
postal service are o f deep con
cern to all com m unity m em bers,”
Shields said. “I found particularly
troubling certain m anagem ent
practices, especially with regard
to u n d e rstaffin g and “ tra n s i
tional" employees, but I also came
away with a sense o f hope be
cause of some great ideas for the
future.”
A fter listening to testim ony
from over 20 speakers, the Port
land Area W orkers Rights Board,
which sponsored the hearing, pro
duced a report recom m ending
Portland-area postal facilities im
prove their working conditions
through the hiring of more local
carriers.
The p a n e l’s m em b ers also
pledged to com m unicate with
Portland’s Congressional delega
tion and forward to the President
their desire to see a swift solution
to the USPS accounting problems.
O ther m em ber o f the w orkers’
rights board joining Shields on
the panel, included Rev. John
Schwiebert of United M ethodist
C hurch, M ultnom ah E ducation
Service D istrict D irector Geri
W ashington, Casa Bruno ow ner
Don Oman, Jon Bartholom ew of
the Oregon Students Public Inter
est Research Group (OSPIRG), and
B ill B ig e lo w o f R e th in k in g
Schools.
ALVIN
AILEY
AMERICAN D A " O E A T E R
JUDITH JAMISON
A R T IS TIC D IR EC TO R
M asazu m i C haya
ASSOCIATE A R TISTIC
DIRECTOR
In this June 2 5 ,1 9 4 5 picture, army doctors expose patients to
malaria-carrying mosquitoes in the malaria ward at Stateville
Penitentiary in Crest Hill, III.
R o b e r t B a t t le
A R TISTIC DIRECTOR
DESIGNATE
Past M edical Testing
on Humans Revealed
(AP) - Shocking as it may seem,
U.S. governm ent doctors once
thought it was fine to experiment on
disabled people and prison inmates.
Such experiments included giv
ing hepatitis to mental patients in
Connecticut, squirting a pandemic
flu virus up the noses of prisoners
in Maryland, and injecting cancer
cells into chronically ill people at a
New York hospital.
Much of this horrific history is 40
to 80 years old, but it is the backdrop
for a meeting in Washington this
week by a presidential bioethics
commission. The meeting was trig
gered by the government's apology
last fall for federal doctors infecting
prisoners and mental patients in
Guatemala with syphilis 65 years
ago.
U.S. officials also acknowledged
there had been dozens of similar
experiments in the United States —
studies that often involved making
healthy people sick.
Two Exciting Programs
both featuring Revelations
TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
white Ibird
hdceim asier 1-800-745-3000
and PCPA Box Office
Info/Groups 503-245-1600 ext. 201
MARCH IS & 16
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 7:30pm
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Bonham s
sponsored by
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°*RCI H sw . ndelis
<Efw (O re g o n ian