A11
B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31, 2021
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32,862.30 -153.07
BRIEFING
VW issued a false
news release
Volkswagen of Amer-
ica issued false state-
ments this week saying it
would change its brand
name to “Voltswagen,”
as a way to stress its
commitment to electric
vehicles, only to reverse
course Tuesday and admit
that the supposed name
change was just a joke.
Mark Gillies, a com-
pany spokesman, con-
firmed Tuesday that the
statement had been a
pre-April Fool’s Day joke,
after having insisted
Monday that the release
was legitimate and the
name change accurate.
The company’s false
release was distributed
again Tuesday, saying
the brand name change
reflected VW’s switch to
more battery-electric ve-
hicles.
The company is trying
to change its image and
recover from a 2015 scan-
dal in which it cheated on
government emissions
tests and allowed die-
sel-powered vehicles to
illegally pollute the air.
U.S. consumer
confidence surges
U.S. consumer confi-
dence surged in March to
the highest reading in a
year, helped by increased
vaccinations and more
government economic
support.
The Conference Board
said Tuesday its consumer
confidence index rose to
109.7 in March, the best
showing since it stood at
118.8 in March of last year
as the pandemic was be-
ginning to hit the United
States. The index stood at
90.4 in February.
The present situations
index, based on consum-
ers’ assessment of cur-
rent business and labor
market conditions, rose
to 110.0, up from 89.6
in February. The expec-
tations’ index, based on
consumers outlook six
months into the future,
also improved, rising to
109.6 in March, up from
a reading of 90.9 in Feb-
ruary.
Most economists
are forecasting strong
growth in coming quar-
ters, powered by a surge
in consumer confidence
and consumer spending,
which accounts for 70%
of economic activity.
U.S. home prices
soared in January
U.S. home prices in-
creased at the fastest
pace in seven years in
January as the pandemic
has fueled demand for
single-family houses even
as the supply for such
homes shrinks.
The S&P CoreLogic
Case-Shiller 20-city home
price index, released
Tuesday, rose 11.1% in
January from a year ear-
lier. That’s the biggest
gain since March 2014.
Prices rose in all 20 cities,
and the 12-month in-
crease was larger for all
cities in January than in
the previous month.
“January’s data remain
consistent with the view
that COVID has encour-
aged potential buyers
to move from urban
apartments to suburban
homes,” said Craig Laz-
zara, managing director
and global head of Index
Investment Strategy at
S&P DJI.
The biggest price gain
was in Phoenix, where
home prices jumped
15.8%, followed by Se-
attle, with a 14.3% gain,
and San Diego, at 14.2%.
— Bulletin wire reports
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Deschutes County fills 7 out of 10 jobs lost
BY SUZANNE ROIG
The Bulletin
When Deschutes County
moved out of the extreme
risk category for spreading
COVID-19, businesses began
hiring, filling 7 out of every 10
jobs lost since the initial shut-
downs, according to the Ore-
gon Employment Department
monthly data.
The unemployment rate
in February fell again in De-
schutes County to 6.8% , still
higher than a year ago at the
same time when it was 3.4% ,
according to the data released
Tuesday morning.
Most of the job growth in
Deschutes County was in the
leisure and hospitality sectors,
which added 780 jobs. In Feb-
ruary, the county moved into
the high risk category, which
allowed 25% capacity for
in-person dining. On March
12, the county moved into the
moderate risk category, which
allows for 50% capacity inside
a restaurant.
Damon Runberg, Oregon
Employment Department re-
gional economist, predicted
that the job gains are the sign
the county is heading toward
a full recovery and predicted
that pent-up travel demand
this summer will translate into
a robust summer for Central
Oregon’s leisure and hospitality
industries.
“For the past four months
we had seen flat job growth
or job losses. These numbers
show a return of recovery,
which is necessary,” Runberg
said. “The vaccine rollout is
going well; we expect to see ev-
eryone who is eligible for a vac-
cine by May and there’s a high
savings rate.
“It feels like people will start
spending money again, and
we as a local economy will be a
direct beneficiary of that with
travel and tourism.”
Crook County, however,
held on to an 8% unemploy-
ment rate in February, which is
nearly double the 4.8% it was
at the same time last year, ac-
cording to the data.
Jefferson County’s unem-
ployment rate dropped to 6.9%
in February, down from 7.1%
in January, but far higher than
it was in the same time the year
before when it was 4.3% .
Reporter: 541-633-2117,
sroig@bendbulletin.com
COVID-19 pilot project
Morrow County vaccinates
hundreds of ag workers
BY BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
B
OARDMAN — Maria Corona knew
she wanted to get the vaccine. Three
months earlier, eight of her family
members tested positive for COVID-19. So
had many of her co-workers and neighbors.
“I was really concerned,” said Corona,
who, at 49, spends half the year working
in food processing plants and the other
half working in the fields near her home in
Boardman. “You hear a lot in the news that
people are dying, so you get afraid.”
The day after Corona learned through
Facebook that she and her co-workers were
eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine,
she hopped in her Dodge Caravan and
made her way down to the visitor center just
off Interstate 84. State and county health of-
Jorge Tapia Madrigal looks away as he receives
his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at a mass
vaccination site for farmworkers at the Sage
Center in Boardman on March 24.
ficials were offering doses to farmworkers in
a four-day clinic that was the first of its kind.
“In order to not infect other people, to
feel safe with your family and to be secure
is what’s most important,” Corona said
through a translator after getting her vaccine
on March 24.
Akiko Saito, deputy director for the
COVID-19 response and recovery unit, a
joint division between the Oregon Health
Authority and the Oregon Department of
Human Services, said the clinic was a “pilot
project” specifically geared to immunize a
community long understood to be especially
vulnerable to COVID-19.
In all, officials vaccinated over 1,000 ag-
ricultural workers at the clinic, according to
the Morrow County Health Department.
See Ag workers / A12
A driver waits in an observation area after receiving
a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine during a vaccination
clinic at the Sage Center in Boardman on March 24.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Chicken producers to build
large-scale operations in Oregon
Amazon vote
may spark more
union pushes
BY SIERRA DAWN MCCLAIN
Capital Press
BY JOSEPH PISANI AND BILL BARROW
The Associated Press
Oregon will likely soon have two new
large-scale chicken operations — one in the
Scio-Jefferson area, the other in Aumsville.
Poultry producers contracted with Fos-
ter Farms plan to raise millions of broiler
chickens at the operations. Proponents say
the new sites will expand Northwest chicken
production, meet demand for locally-pro-
duced protein and boost profits for con-
tracted poultry growers.
But some locals, including neighboring
farmers, fear the mega-operations will dam-
age good soil, ruin views, pollute water and
air and hurt surrounding property values.
Christina Eastman, 56, a Scio resident,
called the expansions an “abomination.”
Eric Simon, 51, a longtime poultry
farmer, will run the Scio operation. Simon
owns Ideal AG Supply, a dairy and poultry
equipment company. In Brownsville, Simon
has also been a contract grower for Foster
Farms since 2000.
What happens inside a warehouse in Bes-
semer, Alabama, could have major implica-
tions not just for the country’s second-larg-
est employer but the labor movement at
large.
Organizers are pushing for some 6,000
Amazon workers there to join the Retail,
Wholesale and Department Store Union
on the promise it will lead to better work-
ing conditions, better pay and more respect.
Amazon is pushing back, arguing that it al-
ready offers more than twice the minimum
wage in Alabama and workers get such ben-
efits as health care, vision and dental insur-
ance without paying union dues.
The two sides are fully aware that it’s not
just the Bessemer warehouse on the line.
Organizers hope what happens there will
inspire thousands of workers nationwide
— and not just at Amazon — to consider
unionizing and revive a labor movement
that has been waning for decades.
See Chicken / A12
Courtesy of Christina Eastman
Christina Eastman, 56, a Scio resident from a multigenerational farming
family, said she is concerned and “heartbroken” about the proposed Foster
Farms expansion.
See Amazon / A12