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143rd Year, No. 67
REGONIAN
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2019
WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
$1.50
Unions look
to leverage
Democratic
leadership
Legislative session
begins with union-
friendly body
By AUBREY WIEBER
Oregon Capital Bureau
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A procession of marchers makes its way down Main Street while participating in a Martin Luther King march Monday in Hermiston. The
annual march is put on by the Hermiston Cultural Awareness Club.
‘Step out of your shell’
Hermiston march
honors King’s legacy
with call to get active
Day of service honors
MLK’s vision of a
‘beloved community’
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
O
f all the timeless lessons
Martin Luther King Jr.
taught the world, an indi-
vidual’s responsibility and power
to make the world a better place
was a focus of Monday’s annual
march in Hermiston.
“It’s amazing what we can do
as people, as Americans,” keynote
speaker Joe Whitfi eld said.
Whitfi eld, who recently moved
to Hermiston, was born in Mont-
gomery, Alabama, four years after
Rosa Parks refused to give up her
seat for white passengers on a
Montgomery bus. As a child, he
helped his father bring water to
civil rights marchers and attended
segregated schools.
After students from his school
were integrated with students
from predominately white schools,
Whitfi eld said sports helped bridge
the gap between students of both
races as they learned to work as a
team. Today, he said, people should
still work patiently to fi nd common
ground and understanding with
those who are different than them.
“Sit down and work it out,”
he said. “You may not agree on
everything, but you can still work
through it, if you put in enough
patience and time.”
See King, Page A8
“I
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Speaker Joe Whitfi eld of Hermiston talks about
Martin Luther King Jr.’s six principles of nonviolence
on Monday during a service for Martin Luther King
Jr. Day in Hermiston.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Lynette Ford repairs nail holes on a display wall at
the Pendleton Center for the Arts during Monday’s
National Day of Service.
think
MLK
would
approve.”
Ruth Hall made the
comment Monday morning as she
gazed around the Pendleton Center
for the Arts pottery studio where
a contingent of people scrubbed
walls, mopped and cleaned
brushes. Hall stood on a ladder
washing windows. Others worked
upstairs in the gallery and theater
or outside removing sodden leaves
from an outdoor stairwell.
The motto of the Martin Luther
King Jr. Day of Service is “Day
On, Not a Day Off” and these folks
embraced the idea with gusto.
Executive Director Roberta
Lavadour looked around grate-
fully. She too thought King would
have appreciated the scene and
felt the arts center was an appro-
priate venue for such an effort. The
center, Lavadour said, is a place
that brings people of all stripes
together.
“Everyone feels welcome here,”
she said. “There are people in
this building today of all political
persuasions, of all religious persua-
sions. They are all here doing some-
thing for the common good. That is
the essence of MLK’s message.”
Lavadour lined out the
See Service, Page A8
In November, educators and
school children got a champion.
The homeless got an advo-
cate and environmentalists
got a steward. But perhaps the
people most happy with Gov.
Kate Brown’s re-election reside
in Oregon’s union shops.
Brown has long been
pro union. She has publicly
supported them and even had
the president of a national
teachers union stump for her
during her campaign.
Unions have backed Brown
as well. Her six biggest union
donors gave nearly $1 million
combined in 2018. Now, with
Democrats having a stronger
majority in the House and
Senate, union leaders say it’s
time to push their pro-worker
agenda.
“It’s time to do something
bold,” said Melissa Unger,
executive director for Service
Employees International Union
Local 503, which represents
about 70,000 state workers and
caregivers.
Unions have weakened
through the country compared
to their power in decades past
but remain strong and active in
Oregon.
In the 2018 election, SEIU
49 gave House Speaker Tina
Kotek $50,000 though she had
no serious challenger. SEIU 503
provided $42,000 in in-kind
contributions to Future PAC,
which covered wages, general
expenses and surveys. Future
PAC is the House Democrats’
campaign fundraising arm.
The Oregon Education
Association gave Sen. Shemia
Fagan’s campaign $15,000 and
she received $20,000 from the
Oregon chapter of the Amer-
ican Federation of State, County
and Municipal Employees,
despite having a large lead in
her primary contest.
Unions also gave to the
Senate Democrat Leader-
ship Fund, which then spread
money around to various
caucus leaders. SEIU gave
$15,000 to the PAC in 2018 in
the form of travel expenses and
wages. The national AFL-CIO
gave $10,000.
House Majority Leader
Jennifer Williamson also got
$10,000 from AFL-CIO, as
well as $13,500 from Local 48
Electricians. United Food &
Commercial Workers Union
See Unions, Page A8
Solidarity Walk focuses on unity
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
Marchers in this weekend’s Soli-
darity Walk in Pendleton began by
remembering the words of a man
harassed several days ago by a group
of teenagers on the National Mall.
Nathan Phillips, a Vietnam
veteran and member of the Omaha
Tribe, was mocked in Washington,
D.C., on Jan. 18 by the boys, mostly
white and sporting “Make America
Great Again” caps, who were
visiting from their Catholic school
in Kentucky. As Phillips sang and
drummed near the Lincoln Monu-
ment, one boy smirked and stood
inches away. Others mimicked the
man. Phillips continued drumming
and singing, appearing calm. The
incident sparked outrage on social
media.
Solidarity Walk organizer Willa
Wallace described the Native Amer-
ican drummer’s response as she
spoke to the crowd of almost 50
gathered at Brownfi eld Park on
Sunday.
“Nathan Philips, in the face of
hatred, stayed peaceful in song
and prayer,” Wallace said. “He
responded without anger, but with
wisdom and hope.”
She quoted Phillips as saying
afterward, “I wish I could see that
mass of young men put that energy
into making this country, really,
really great.”
Marchers took the thought with
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
See Walk, Page A8
About 50 people braved the rain Sunday to participate in the Solidarity Walk,
which focused on unity.