Page 10A
OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
PORTS: McDonald’s in
Japan began rationing fries
because of potato shortage
harbors, with similar scenes
in San Francisco Bay and
DQG¿OH 7KH\ ZRUN SRUWV Washington’s Puget Sound.
from San Diego to Seattle The scenes were reminiscent
WKDWKDQGOHDERXWRQHTXDUWHU of a 2002 worker lockout that
of all U.S. international trade, shuttered West Coast ports for
much of it with Asia.
10 days.
Negotiators for the union
Though negotiations be-
DQGWKH3DFL¿F0DULWLPH$V- tween the two sides typically
sociation, which represents involve public theatrics, U.S.
ocean-going shipping lines businesses grew increasing-
and the companies that load ly antsy as talks ground on.
and unload cargo at terminals Groups representing retail-
ports, began talking formally ers warned that some holi-
in May. Their prior six-year day goods might be delayed;
contract expired July 1.
thanks to advanced planning,
The maritime association trouble on the waterfront
did not have immediate com- didn’t steal Christmas.
ment Friday.
Still, there were broader
After initial signs of prog- economic repercussions.
ress, in the fall employers
Farm exports suffered —
publicly charged dockworkers McDonald’s in Japan, for ex-
with creating a congestion cri- ample, began rationing fries
sis to gain bargaining leverage because of a potato shortage.
by slowing their work rate and Apple, walnut and hay pro-
withholding the most skilled ducers all said they were los-
workers. The union responded ing out to foreign competitors.
that its members were work- The meat industry tallied its
ing safely and blamed the losses in the tens of millions
jam on broader dysfunction at of dollars. Importers of furni-
West Coast ports that predated ture, books, clothing — even
contract talks, notably a lack Mardi Gras beads — said
of truck beds to tow contain- their products were stuck on
ers from dockside yards to the docks. Honda Motor Co.
distribution warehouses.
cut production because of
By January, the mari- a parts shortage. Wal-Mart
time association’s members Stores Inc. warned that Easter
stopped ordering night work goodies could be affected.
crews to load and unload
After a federal mediator
ships, saying that smaller couldn’t broker an agreement,
groups would focus on clear- the Obama administration
ing the thicket of containers dispatched Labor Secretary
already on the docks.
Thomas Perez to oversee
Union members called it talks this week in San Fran-
an attempt to hurt workers in cisco, where both the union
their pocketbooks; their ne- and maritime association are
gotiators soon agreed to the based. After a few days, he
involvement of a federal me- warned negotiators that if they
diator.
didn’t seal a deal by midnight
The slowdown-vs.-lock- Friday, he’d haul them back
out dynamic was the kind of WR:DVKLQJWRQWR¿QGDUHVR-
brinksmanship familiar to lution.
past negotiations between two
With so much at stake, out-
sides with a history of con- siders puzzled over why the
ÀLFW GDWLQJ WR WKH NLOOLQJ RI talks took so long. A summer
dockworkers during the Great GHDO RQ KHDOWK FDUH EHQH¿WV
Depression. How much re- — longshoremen enjoy com-
sponsibility for the congestion plete coverage, and the cost
each side bears may never be of it was expected to be a big
determined, but their animosi- sticking point — seemed to
W\PDJQL¿HGWKHFULVLV
SRUWHQG TXLFN SURJUHVV %XW
In early February, the CEO negotiations stalled on issues
of the maritime association including what future jobs
publicly warned that if no would fall under the control of
agreement could be reached, the union, which worries that
employers would stop calling automation at the ports will
workers and shut down the erode its membership.
ports within days. Weekend
In the end, the disagree-
and holiday lockouts of many ment boiled down to the sys-
longshoremen
followed, tem for resolving allegations
though major ports were not of work slowdowns, discrim-
fully closed.
LQDWLRQ DQG RWKHU FRQÀLFWV DW
Instead, cargo trickled the ports. The union wanted
through. Massive ocean-go- to get rid of the man who ar-
ing ships anchored off the bitrates disputes in South-
coast of Los Angeles and near ern California and proposed
the ports of Oakland and Se- changes to the arbitration sys-
attle — waiting for berths tems that would accomplish
they anticipated occupying that; the maritime association
after the long haul across the rejected those suggestions —
3DFL¿FWKDWLQVWHDGZHUHWDN- though eventually the two
en by ships whose unloading sides found a compromise.
Continued from 1A
SENTIMENTAL B a ck
J O U R N E Y
to th e
4 0 s
When: Friday, February 27th • 6-9 pm
Where: Hamley’s Slickfork Saloon
What: • no-host bar • hors d’oeuvres
• silent auction • music by the PHS Jazz Band
• dressing up optional but encouraged
Cost: $40 pre-registration • $50 at-the-door
Tickets: Armchair Books &
Heritage Station Museum
(541) 276-0012
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Pasco police shooting stirs protests
2000.
The city is more than
55 percent Hispanic; many
members of the communi-
PASCO, Wash. — The
W\ ÀRFNHG KHUH IURP 0H[L-
rallying cry in Ferguson was
FRWRZRUNLQWKH¿HOGVDQG
“Hands up, don’t shoot!” In
at food-processing plants.
New York, it was “I can’t
Starting in the 1960s and
breathe!” In Pasco these
‘70s, many of those migrant
days, the protest signs say
workers settled down here.
things like “It was just a
Pasco’s modest downtown
rock!!!”
is now lined with Mexican
In a case with unmistak-
restaurants, bakeries and
able echoes of Ferguson and
clothing stores, and city busi-
AP Photo/Nicholas K. Geranios
New York, demonstrators
ness is conducted in English
have gathered every day over A protest sign is displayed in front of City Hall in Pas- and Spanish.
Wash., the city where Antonio Zambrano-Montes,
the past week in front of City co,
The police force of 71
an unarmed man who was running away from police
Hall to demand answers in at a crowded intersection, was fatally shot by police XQLIRUPHG RI¿FHUV KDV MXVW
the deadly police shooting of on Feb. 10.
15 Hispanics, and only one
Antonio Zambrano-Montes,
person on the seven-member
a 35-year-old Mexican im- acrimony that happened in SXUVXHGE\WKUHHRI¿FHUV$V City Council is Hispanic.
migrant and former orchard Ferguson, Missouri, last year he stops and turns around,
Once a hotbed of gang-
worker who authorities say ZKHQRI¿FHUVVKRWDQGNLOOHG gunshots ring out and he falls and drug-related violence,
ZDV WKURZLQJ URFNV DW RI¿- an unarmed black 18-year- dead.
the city has seen crime plum-
old.
While the shooting is met in the past 20 years, in
cers.
“We will continue to be under investigation by a large part because the His-
The Feb. 10 killing —
captured on cellphone video calm, until they give us a regional task force — and panic community worked
by an onlooker — was the reason not to,” said protest- being watched by the FBI — with police to drive out the
fourth by law enforcement er Hector Alamillo, 62, of police have said that Zam- bad guys, said police Capt.
RI¿FHUVLQ3DVFRLQOHVVWKDQ Pasco. “We are not a Fergu- brano-Montes had hit two Ken Roske. But there are
a year. It has sparked calls for son. We will not burn things RI¿FHUV ZLWK URFNV DQG KDG worries that future cooper-
refused to put down other ation will be jeopardized if
a federal investigation and down.”
But Alamillo said His- stones. They also said a stun the investigation clears the
roiled this fast-growing agri-
cultural city of 68,000, where panics are “very distrustful gun failed to subdue him.
RI¿FHUV
The case has cast a spot-
more than half the residents right now” and are wonder-
“We are asking for more
are Hispanic but few are LQJZK\RI¿FHUVGLGQRWXVH light on the ethnic makeup of WUDLQLQJ IRU RXU RI¿FHUV´
members of the police force non-lethal force to subdue working-class Pasco, an ap- said protester Lorian Reave-
Zambrano-Montes.
ple-, grape- and potato-grow- ly, 39, of Pasco, who stood in
or the power structure.
In the cellphone video, ing center about 220 miles front of a sign reading “Stop
Protesters and police of-
¿FLDOV DOLNH VD\ WKH\ ZDQW Zambrano-Montes is seen from Seattle that has more Police Brutality. It was just a
to avoid the violence and running across a busy street, than doubled in size since rock!!!”
By NICHOLAS K.
GERANIOS
Associated Press
BROWN: Will announce new secretary of state by March 6
of state to serve the remain-
der of her term. The governor
munities. Kitzhaber had pro- GHÀHFWHG D TXHVWLRQ DERXW
posed spending more than whether she will run for
$200 million on projects re- election in 2016, saying she
lated to irrigated agriculture, needs to focus on the work at
forest products research and hand.
sage grouse habitat over the
%URZQ DOVR ¿HOGHG TXHV-
next biennium.
tions about her proposed
Brown was sworn in as ethics and public records
governor on Wednesday, reforms, and legislation ap-
following Kitzhaber’s res- proved by the state Senate
ignation amid criminal in- this week that would make
vestigations into allegations permanent Oregon’s low-car-
RILQÀXHQFHSHGGOLQJE\WKH bon fuel standard.
JRYHUQRU DQG KLV ¿DQFHH
Republicans have called
Cylvia Hayes. During the for that bill to be put on hold
press conference Friday she pending investigations of
spoke about Oregon’s death Kitzhaber and Hayes, be-
row, ethics reform and fuel cause some of the groups that
standard legislation.
paid Hayes for consulting
On death row, Brown said work have also worked on
she will continue Oregon’s campaigns to support the fuel
moratorium on executions, standard legislation.
a policy initiated in 2011 by
Brown declined to say
Kitzhaber.
whether she would sign the
Oregon needs to have “a fuel standard legislation,
broader discussion” about the Senate Bill 324, if it reaches
death penalty and criminal her desk. But she did signal
justice system, the governor her support.
said. Kitzhaber put a morato-
“In terms of clean fuels,
rium on executions in 2011. the Legislature passed the
There are currently 34 people original clean fuels bill in
on death row in Oregon.
2009,” Brown said. “For me,
Brown, who was secretary clean fuels translates into
of state before Kitzhaber’s cleaner air for Oregonians. I
resignation, said she will an- think that’s a good thing.”
nounce by March 6 the ap-
The governor said em-
pointment of a new secretary ployees in her administra-
Continued from 1A
tion will not be allowed to
receive outside compensa-
tion for state business, and
she is looking into options to
provide more resources and
independence to the Oregon
Government Ethics Com-
mission. Three members of
the ethics commission are
direct appointees of the gov-
ernor, and four are selected
by the party caucuses in the
Legislature.
Brown said “the gover-
nor gets to essentially veto
the caucus leaders appoint-
ments to the government eth-
ics commission. I think that
needs to change.”
Brown, a Democrat, said
it is encouraging to see ethics
reform proposals from both
Republican and Democratic
lawmakers.
“I am optimistic this
can be a bipartisan effort,”
Brown said.
Earlier this week, Rep.
Jodi Hack, R-Salem, an-
nounced she is working on
a concept for legislation to
create a process for lawmak-
ers to impeach the governor.
Oregon is currently the only
state without a process to
impeach the state executive,
according to a press release
from Hack.
If Hack’s proposal passes
the state House and Senate,
it would then be referred to
voters in a general election
EHFDXVH LW ZRXOG UHTXLUH DQ
amendment to the Oregon
Constitution.
Meanwhile, Brown has
also called for the state to
strengthen laws “to ensure
the timely release of public
documents.”
She said on Friday that se-
nior policy adviser Gina Ze-
jdlik will work on this issue
along with ethics reform pro-
posals. Chris Pair, a spokes-
man for Brown, said gover-
QRU¶V RI¿FH ZLOO DOVR EULQJ
in two Oregon Department
of Justice employees to help
tackle the backlog of public
UHFRUGV UHTXHVWV VXEPLWWHG
by news organizations and
others when Kitzhaber was
VWLOOLQRI¿FH
On a personal note, Brown
said she and her husband,
¿UVW JHQWOHPDQ 'DQ /LWWOH
are in the process of moving
from Portland to Salem.
“Mr. Little and I are very
excited about moving into
Mahonia Hall,” Brown said,
referring to the governor’s
mansion.
— The Capital Bureau is
a collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
APPLY NOW
Win One of Twelve UEC
$2,500 Academic Scholarships
OR A
$5,000 Electrical Engineering Scholarship
Presented by:
OR A
$2,000 Linemen College Scholarship
FOR 2015-16
APPLY ON-LINE AT:
www.oregonstudentaid.gov
OR
www.UMATILLAELECTRIC.COM
Deadline March 1, 2015