Peña Cultural at PCUN on March 27th

PCUN, Mid Willamette Jobs with Justice, VOZ Hispana Causa Chavista, Mujeres Luchadoras Progresistas, and CAUSA invite you to a Peña Cultural on Saturday, March 27th. The theme of this Peña is "Solidarity with Immigrant Workers".

Date & Time: Saturday, March 27, 2010 7pm – 9pm
Location:
PCUN Labor Hall
300 Young St.
Woodburn, OR

Join us for an evening filled with progressive music, poetry , dance, and delicious food and learn more about:

The plight of Immigrants in the US

How communities are organizing to defend our rights

What it will take to pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform

History: The Peña tradition started in Latin- America in the early sixties. The main idea is to create a gathering place where artists and musicians gathered to make connections between art and politics. Peñas also make connections between local, national and international efforts for equity, a true democracy and self-determination for all people.

For information contact Samuel Dávila at 503-931-1060 or Carmen Gonzalez at 503/982-0243

Sponsored by: PCUN, Mid Willamette Jobs with Justice, VOZ Hispana Causa Chavista, Mujeres Luchadoras Progresistas, and CAUSA

Resources:
Flyer in English
Flyer in Spanish

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Op-Ed: Minimum-wage workers in Oregon are better off

by Larry Kleinman

On July 24, the minimum hourly wage increased to $7.25.

For Oregonians who earn, who pay or who pay attention to the minimum wage, that's strange to hear. Isn't the hourly minimum in Oregon $8.40?

Explanation: The federal minimum wage increased last week — from $6.55 to $7.25.

Oregonians rarely think about the federal minimum wage because, in practice, it's had virtually no meaning here for two decades. With the exception of a three-month period in 1996, Oregon's minimum wage has consistently been higher than the federal minimum. (Workers are entitled to receive the higher of the two.)

Today, Oregon remains one of 13 states that have a minimum wage which is higher than the federal one. On July 23, the day before the latest federal increase, 30 states had minimum wage rates higher than the federal one.

In 1989, a broad-based coalition of unions, social service groups, churches and community organizations tired of waiting for Congress to give low-wage workers a raise. The federal minimum wage had been $3.35 since 1981. In "real" terms, accounting for inflation, the minimum wage workers' pay went down 30 percent during those eight years.

The coalition lobbied the 1989 Oregon Legislature to pass SB 335; it raised Oregon's minimum from $3.35 to $4.75 by 1991. The federal minimum wage didn't catch up until 1996.

Organized labor played a dominant role in passing SB 335. In 1996 and again in 2002, signature gathering, funded and championed principally by organized labor, put minimum wage increase initiatives on the ballot. By wide margins, voters approved both initiatives which have ushered in 10 increases … and counting. The 2002 measure instituting "indexing" — small annual increases based on a cost-of-living formula.

Meanwhile, in 1997, the federal hourly minimum stalled at $5.15. This time, it took Congress 10 years to approve increases. The third of three annual steps was the increase to $7.25 that took effect July 24, 2009.

Few, if any workers under union contracts in Oregon are paid the minimum wage. Organized labor's role in raising the minimum wage demonstrates a commitment to boosting standards for all workers, not just union members. Like the bumper sticker says: "The weekend: brought to you by the labor movement."

In this case, it's $45,000. That's how much an Oregon minimum worker, employed full-time during the past 20 years, has earned above the federal rate.

Economists debate the effects of a higher minimum wage. In lower-income communities such as Woodburn, where I live and work, higher wages mean more economic activity because workers tend to spend most of their income at local businesses. In communities such as ours, an average of $2,250 more income per worker per year is multiplied as it circulates around town.

I hope that Congress follows Oregon's example by indexing the federal minimum wage. And, better yet, add increases to actually catch up to Oregon's standard. That way, when we read or hear that the minimum wage is going up, we'd know that workers throughout the country have what we, today, take for granted.

Larry Kleinman of Woodburn is the secretary-treasurer of Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN), Oregon's farmworker union. He can be reached at larrykleinman@pcun.org.

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Desktop Raids, a New Policy of Obama Administration comes to Oregon

For Immediate Release
June 19, 2009

Contact:
Francisco Lopez, Executive Director: (503) 269-5694
Erik Sorensen, Communications Director: (503) 488-0263
Desktop Raids, a New Policy of Obama Administration comes to Oregon
Salem, Ore.--This week, evidence came to light that a new type of worksite raid has occurred in Oregon.

An investigation conducted by Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United) PCUN discovered that close to 250 workers were dismissed at a farm in Dallas, Oregon. According to their report, workers at Meduri Farms were notified in May that they were being terminated due to 'invalid or fraudulent Social Security numbers'.

The procedure is being coined a "Desktop Raid" and appears to be part of a national trend.

Last week, the LA Times reported that over 200 workers were terminated in a similar way at a major food-processing plant in Vernon, California near Los Angeles. According to the report, more than 200 employees from Overhill Farms were terminated after the owner received a letter from the IRS saying that employees provided 'invalid or fraudulent' Social Security numbers.

Like Overhill Farms, the Meduri Farms owner received a letter from the Federal Government saying that there were discrepancies in social security numbers that workers provided at the time of hiring. The workers were given 30 days to prove that they have legal presence to be able to continue working.

According to news reports, in effort to verify the employee's status, Overhill Farms turned to using the flawed e-Verify system. One worker, Lucia Vasquez, who had a valid Social Security Number and regularized immigration status, still received a termination letter. It is unknown how many workers at these farms or others are experiencing the same nightmare.

Most of the workers from Meduri and Overhill have been employed with the companies for years--sometimes up to 20 year or more. Having been loyal, dedicated and hardworking members of the workforce, they kept the companies going daily. Now, they find themselves pushed out with no way to reconcile or to support their families.

Raids on businesses, whether by ICE agents storming a facility or a "desktop" style as we have seen at Meduri and Overhill Farms, come at a serious time for the United States. With the Obama Administration trying to recover the down spiraling economy, the loss of these workers is detrimental to the companies that need them.

"Besides the tragic situation for these families that have lost their livelihood that they need to survive", said Francisco Lopez, Executive Director of CAUSA. "The loss of these workers means a loss of revenue for these businesses and that will not help the U.S. Economy. What we need is real Comprehensive Immigration Reform, not more raids".

The mass termination of these hard working and loyal immigrants calls into question again the larger problem with the immigration policy of the United States. With the Federal Government employing yet another tactic to force businesses to become de facto immigration agents, it is critical more now than ever for Congress and the President to take action and pass fair and human Immigration Reform this year.

Sources:

Computer 'raid' in Vernon leaves factory workers devastated (Los Angeles Times, June 12, 2009)
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-desktop-raid12-2009jun12,0,783064.story

Fired for Working (New American Media, June 17, 2009)
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=23f01c9af6aeb27ec5cacc788e883ca2

Related links:

Meduri Farms www.medurifarms.com
Overhill Farms www.overhillfarms.com

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Photo: Oregon Delegation to Reform Immigration FOR America Summit

This week a delegation from Oregon is in Washington D.C. attending the Reform Immigration FOR America Summit.

The delegation, composed of leaders from CAUSA , Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN), Rural Organizing Project, and Mujeres Luchadores Progresistas will join with immigration reform advocates from all around the nation in calling for Congress to pass just and humane Immigration Reform this year.

Oregon Delegation at the Reform Immigration FOR America Summit in Washington D.C.

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Oregon Leaders Mark Beginning of Campaign to Reform Immigration FOR America

For Immediate Release
June 1, 2009

Contact:
Francisco Lopez, Executive Director: (503) 269-5694
Erik Sorensen, Communications Director: (503) 488-0263

Oregon Leaders Mark Beginning of Campaign to Reform Immigration FOR America
Today, Leaders from CAUSA , PCUN, Rural Organizing Project, Mujeres Luchadores Progresistas and the Oregon Association of Nurseries held a press briefing at the Oregon State Capitol to discuss the National Campaign to pass fair and just Comprehensive Immigration Reform this year.

As momentum continues to build nationwide in support of passage of fair and just immigration reform, a delegation from Oregon will go to Washington D.C this week to attend the largest convening of immigration reform advocates and allies of the year. The Summit will mark the beginning of the campaign to secure a common sense approach that gives the hard working men and women already here an earned path to citizenship, keeps families together and provides legal avenues for future workers.

During Today's press briefing, members of Oregon's delegation provided updates on the national campaign and what CAUSA and our allies are doing within the state to further the nationwide effort to pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

Watch highlights from today's press briefing by linking here.



For more information on the Campaign to Reform Immigration FOR America and the National Immigration Summit taking place in Washington D.C. this week, please contact CAUSA's Communications Department at (503)488-0263.

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KPCN-LP Radio Movimiento Streaming Live on the Internet

After two and a half years of solid broadcasting, KPCN-LP, PCUN's low-power 24 hours a day spanish language FM radio station can now be streamed live on the internet.

Radio Movimiento, as the station is called, continues to amaze and inspire everyone including it's thousands of listeners, volunteer programmers, institutional supporters, and staff.

The station's mission is to provide a voice on the airwaves to combat oppression and discrimination, while helping to build self-confidence, self-esteem and developing valuable skills.

Many of the voices heard on KPCN-LP are ones almost never heard on spanish language stations or by a mass audience. They include youth, indigenous people (speaking in their own dialects), women, workers, plus progressive leaders from Latino communities around the corner and around Latin America. With it's weekly line-up, the station lives by it's slogan: “La Voz del Pueblo” (The Voice of the People).

The broadcast can be heard on 95.9 on the FM dial throughout Woodburn and in northern parts of Salem and Keizer. For those that don't live in the radius that Radio Movmiento covers, people can listen on-line by linking here or by visiting http://pcun.org/kpcn-radio/listen.

For more information or to find out how you can help sponsor Radio Movimiento, please contact Marlen Torres, KPCN's Station Director at 503.560.6517

You will need one of the two recommended players below to listen on your PC:
Winamp Download Winamp player
Windows Media Player Download Windows Media Player

Recommended players for your Macintosh:
Itunes Download Itunes

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Cesar Chavez Day Gathering in Salem

Fifth Biennial
CÉSAR E. CHÁVEZ DAY GATHERING
at the Oregon State Capitol

You are cordially invited to participate in this Oregon tradition.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009
12:00 - 1:00 P.M.
House Majority Caucus Room
Oregon State Capitol Building, Second Floor

Sponsored by: Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN),
Oregon Farm Worker Ministry, CAUSA, Voz Hispana Causa Chavista.

Celebrate the life of César Chávez on March 31st, the 82nd anniversary of his birth, and honor the farm workers whose struggle for labor justice César so honorably led. The Governor's Proclamation of Farm Worker Awareness Week, March 29th to April 4th, recognizes the men and women who work under difficult conditions to provide the food that we daily have on our tables.

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Photos: Eugene Rally for Humane and Just Immigration Reform

600 students rallied for immigrant rights and comprehensive immigration reform on Friday at the Eugene Office of Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio. For more photos from Ken Nubeck with the Eugene Human Rights Commission, please link here.




© 2009 CAUSA. All rights reserved. Image posted is the sole property of Ken Nubeck. Permission required for reprint.

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600 Students Rally for Comprehensive Immigration Reform in Eugene

Today, 600 students are rallying for immigrant rights and comprehensive immigration reform at the Eugene Office of Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio.

The event was organized by the students of MEChA from the University of Oregon chapter and chapters from across the Nation, as well as CAUSA, Oregon's immigrant rights coalition, with the help and support of various UO Departments, PCUN, and Eugene community organizations.

The students are demanding that Congressman Defazio support and prioritize Safe, Humane and Fair Immigration Reform. Because the majority of rally attendees are students, they are demanding that DeFazio also support the Federal DREAM Act which would open the doors of higher education to immigrant students and students of immigrant parents.

The Rally for Comprehensive Immigration Reform and Immigrant Rights is taking place from 2:30pm on Courthouse steps outside Peter DeFazio's Office in Eugene. (405 E. 8th Street, Eugene).

© 2009 CAUSA. All rights reserved. All Images posted are the sole property of CAUSA.

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Photos from PCUN Inauguration Celebration

Over 50 people gathered at the PCUN Union Hall in Woodburn on Tuesday to watch the live-broadcast of the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

For more on, check out the article at the Salem Statesman Journal: Diverse group gathers to celebrate in Woodburn

More photos

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Bush Administration to Slash Farm Worker Wages

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 10, 2008

Contact:
Ramon Ramirez, President, PCUN (503) 989-0073
Erik Sorensen, Communications, CAUSA (503) 789-8213

Bush Administration to Slash Farm Worker Wages and Enable Growers Replace Domestic Workers with Foreign Laborers

PCUN and CAUSA Echo the Call for Congress to Reverse New H2A Agricultural Guest Worker Program Regulations

Salem, Ore--The Bush Administration has announced that it will change the H2A agricultural guest worker program to make it easier for growers to cut the pay of domestic farm workers, reduce housing benefits and to hire imported foreign laborers instead of U.S. field workers.

According to a United Farm Workers (UFW) release, the new regulations would mean that farm employers will no longer be responsible for certifying that labor shortages exists and therefore engage in meaningful recruitment of U.S. farm workers before requesting imported H2A foreign field workers. In addition, for the first time domestic workers could be paid less and receive fewer benefits than their H-2A guestworker counterparts. The changes come even as the administration has failed to enforce existing rules.

"This is not the solution we need", said Ramon Ramirez, President of Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United)."Cutting wages and reducing benefits of farm workers will not solve our nation's economic problem. In addition, they ignore the needs of providing a safe and reliable agricultural work force for the future."

PCUN and CAUSA echo the call of United Farm Workers (UFW) and others in urging Congress to reverse the Bush Administration's regulatory changes as hiring for the upcoming growing season commences.

Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United), is Oregon's union of farmworkers, nursery, and reforestation workers, and Oregon's largest Latino organization. CAUSA is Oregon's statewide, grassroots immigrant rights coalition. We work to defend and advance immigrant rights through coordination with local, state, and national coalitions and allies.

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2008 Leadership Graduation Ceremony Wednesday Night

Building POWER through POPULAR EDUCATION
Human Rights Day: Dignity and Justice for all of us

PCUN, Voz Hispana CAUSA CHAVISTA, and CAUSA invite you to a graduation and presentation of diplomas to the participants in our summer and fall 2008 leadership classes. We will also celebrate the success of our Nucleus Actions during the general elections process.

Date: Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Place: PCUN Union Hall at 300 Young Street in Woodburn

The Graduates of the leadership program participated in many activities during the election including voter registration and Get Out The Vote (GOTV). In the coming weeks, months and years, they will continue to use the skills they have learned to further and protect rights for immigrants.

The graduation ceremony marks the 60th anniversary of Human Rights Day. The date, December 10th, was chosen to honor the United Nations' adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) which establishes for all people: The Right to Equality, The Right to Freedom, The Right to Freedom of Religion, The Right against Exploitation, Cultural and Educational Rights and The Right to Constitutional Remedies.

Dinner will be provided. For more information and to RSVP please call Lorena Manzo at (503) 984-4823 or Alejandra Lyli at (503) 884-2679

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KPCN-LP Celebrating Victory Against Commercial Airwaves

Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste
Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United
300 Young Street / Woodburn, OR 97071
(503) 982-0243 / (503) 982-1031(FAX)
www.pcun.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 17, 2008

Contact:
Marlen Torres (503) 560-6517
mtorreskpcn@pcun.org

KPCN-LP Celebrating Victory Against Commercial Airwaves

What: KPCN - LP, 2nd Anniversary and Changing Frequencies to 95.9FM

When: November 22, 2008, 1pm-8pm

Where: Woodburn High School 1785 N. Front St, Woodburn, OR 97071

Background:

Our first two years of radio broadcasting life have flown by. It has been packed with excitement, exhilaration, stress, anxiety, and satisfaction--sometimes all in the same week. The response to Radio Movimiento continues to amaze everyone including our thousands of listeners, our volunteer programmers, our institutional supporters, and our young (and few) staff. Even our competitors, the five full-power commercial radio stations who also reach the Woodburn area with Spanish broadcasting 24/7, are amazed by the positive response we are getting.

As many may remember, we inaugurated our full-time broadcast in Woodburn on November 20, 2006, commemorating the 96th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution. We named it "Radio Revolution Day". Simply staying on the air, plus sustaining for one hundred weeks a broadcast schedule with three dozen locally-produced programs every week, is a huge accomplishment.

On November 22nd, we will mark another milestone. KPCN-LP's frequency will change from 96.3 to 95.9 FM. This change consummates the victory in our fight to preserve Radio Movimiento against the "move-in" threat by KWLZ commercial radio. Although the FCC had deregulated some of the few rights we had as a noncommercial low-power FM radio station, we were able to mount an effective legal, organizing and advocacy campaign.

Last year, we addressed four of the five FCC Commissioners in front of over 1,000 progressive media supporters. We were able to persuade top FCC officials to halt "move-in" applications which jeopardized low-power FM Stations. And, as a result of our campaign, KWLZ's owners were forced to the bargaining table. By the end of negotiations, a settlement was reached in August giving FCC approval to our station to expand its broadcasting reach. The conditions of the approval was that KPCN-LP would need to voluntarily shift it's frequency from 96.3 to 95.9. This new frequency will allow us to now reach part way into Salem. Another step forward for Radio Movimiento!

Our slogan for the frequency change is: "Radio Movimiento moves (a little to the) left". To promote our new place on the dial, we're introducing our new logo below. We will have T-shirts and bumper stickers to distribute at our event on the 22nd.

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Join Immigrant Rights and Latino Community Organizations in Woodburn for Election Night

MEDIA ADVISORY
November 4, 2008

Contact:
Francisco Lopez (503) 269-5694
Erik Sorensen (503) 488-0263

Immigrant Rights and Latino Community Organizations Invite the Public to Join them in Watching Historic Election Returns

Woodburn, Ore-Immigrant Rights, Labor and Latino Community Organizations including Voz Hispana Causa Chavista, PCUN (Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United) and CAUSA invite the public to join them this evening in waiting for the historic election results at PCUN Headquarters in Woodburn.

What: LET'S CELEBRATE DEMOCRACY TOGETHER!

Who: Immigrant Rights, Labor and Latino Community Organizations including Voz Hispana Causa Chavista, PCUN (Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United) and CAUSA

When: Tuesday, November 4, 2008 at 7:00pm

Where: PCUN at 300 Young Street, Woodburn, Oregon 97071

Last month, Voz Hispana Causa Chavista and PCUN mailed voter's guides to over 7,500 Latino voters in five Oregon cities including Woodburn, Gervais, Salem, Keizer, and Independence. Of those 7,500 Latinos receiving voters' guides, 3,500 were new voters that had been registered since December. With the explosion of new Latino Voters in Oregon, Latinos are poised to have a significant impact on tonight's election.

One important issue that will be watched closely during this evening's election returns is Ballot Measure 58. Organizations within the Latino and Immigrant rights community have been working closely with the Parents and Teachers Know Better Campaign in effort to defeat this measure.

Measure 58 would affect many families in the Latino Community as it would hinder the ability of their children to learn and grasp the English language, thereby having a detrimental impact on their future. Not to mention the costly measure would take local control away from school boards, families and educators-those who know what is best for our children-- and place it in the hands of convicted racketeer Bill Sizemore.

Members of the press are invited and encouraged to attend this evening's Election Night Celebration in Woodburn. For those media outlets not able to come to Woodburn, CAUSA will have staff available in other parts of the state for comment. Please contact Erik Sorensen, CAUSA's Communications Director at (503) 488-0236 for more information.

For more information about the Election Night Celebration in Woodburn, please contact Francisco Lopez at (503) 269-5694.

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Social Justice Fund NW honors Ramon Ramirez, President of PCUN

Ramon Ramirez, president of Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN) and co-founder of CAUSA has been honored by Social Justice Fund of the Northwest (SJFNW) with the Jeanette Rankin Award. Here is the release from SJFNW:

Social Justice Fund of the Northwest (SJFNW) is pleased to honor Ramon Ramirez, president of Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN), as the recipient of the 2008 Jeanette Rankin Award.

The Jeanette Rankin Award is given to a lifelong activist who has provided extraordinary service to the Social Justice Fund region of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Washington and Oregon.

Jeanette Rankin was the first woman to serve in Congress, representing the state of Montana. She was an active member of the women's suffrage movement, and served as a community organizer, labor activist, and lifelong peace activist. As a pacifist, Jeanette was one of a few Congressional members to vote against the United States' entrance into World War I and later, World War II. Jeanette's work helped secure rights for women, children and independent thinkers in the Northwest and across the United States.

Ramon co-founded PCUN in 1985 and has been PCUN President since 1995. He has received numerous recognitions, including a Leadership for a Changing World award in 2003, and a Charles F. Bannerman Fellowship in 2000. Ramon co-founded CAUSA, Oregon's immigrants rights coalition, in 1996 and has served as one of it principal leaders. Ramon is a former Board President of the Western States Center and currently serves on the boards of Farmworker Justice, the Alston-Bannerman Fellowship Program of the Center for Social Inclusion, and the UFW Foundation.

Ramon was founding board president of the Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, an organization that has been at the center of the immigration reform debate. Ramon joined the Willamette Valley Immigration Project in late 1977 and is one of its accredited representatives certified to practice immigration law at the administrative level. A native of East Los Angeles, Ramon has lived in the northwest for thirty-five years. He attended St. Martins College, University of Washington, and Colegio Cesar Chavez.

PCUN is a democratically organized, membership-based organization that has long been an anchor for immigrant rights organizing in our region. It is Oregon's only union of farm, nursery and reforestation workers, and is also the state's largest Latino organization. PCUN seeks to institutionalize better working and living conditions, to redress the power imbalance between growers and workers, and to establish respect, fairness and dignity as the bases for agricultural employment.

For more information contact: 503-989-0073

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PCUN president fights for fairness

Yesterday, the Salem Stateman Journal interviewed Ramon Ramirez, President of Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United). PCUN is Oregon’s union of farmworkers, nursery, and reforestation workers, and Oregon’s largest Latino organization.

PCUN president fights for fairness

He is motivated by discrimination he saw against parents
By Thelma Guerrero-Huston • Statesman Journal
August 25, 2008

By the time Ramon Ramirez took over the helm at PCUN in 1995, he already had achieved an unprecedented success: In 1991, he led the first-ever union-organized strike in Oregon agriculture.

He followed that up in 1998 when he signed three collective-bargaining contracts with separate Oregon growers, a first in the state's agricultural history.

Ramirez's drive for fair wages and decent working conditions for some of the state's most marginalized workers is fueled by the discrimination that he witnessed against his U.S.-born mother and immigrant father and their workplace exploitation in his home state of California.

Ramirez recently met with the Statesman Journal at his office in Woodburn to talk about PCUN — the Spanish acronym for Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United — and other topics. >>continue

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Legacy of Cesar E. Chavez Continues

Today, CAUSA and its sister organization, PCUN, Oregon's farmworker union, celebrate the life and work of Cesar E. Chavez and continue the tradition of organizing for social and economic justice.

Cesar Chavez was a civil rights, Latino, farm worker, and labor leader; a religious and spiritual figure; a community servant and social entrepreneur; a crusader for nonviolent social change; and an environmentalist and consumer advocate.

In the words of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy’s, Cesar Chavez was, "one of the heroic figures of our time." Chavez, who led the historic non-violent movement for farm worker rights, dedicated his life to building a movement of poor working people that extended well beyond the fields and into cities and towns across the nation.

For more than three decades Cesar Chavez led United Farm Workers, the first farm worker’s union in American history. His life’s work of achieving dignity, respect, fair wages, medical coverage, pension benefits, and humane living conditions, as well as countless other rights and protections for hundreds of thousands of farm workers continues on today.

Over his life, Chavez worked against the odds, not only helping workers obtain the first farm labor contracts in U.S. history, but helped to secure passage of the 1975 California Agricultural Labor Relations Act. The act remains the only one in the United States that gives farm workers the right to unionize.

The life and work of Cesar Chavez continues to inspire millions of people, even those who never worked on a farm, to commit themselves to social, economic and civil rights activism. As a role model for all Americans, Cesar’s legacy of educating, inspiring and empowering people from all walks of life is sure to be a strong and positive influence on generations to come.

As immigrants continue to struggle for justice and equality, the principles for what Chavez stood remain relevant and inspiring today. We look to the strength, perseverance and inspiration that he brought and continue our fight. Through his legacy, we know that hard work and determination will, in the end, make us victorious.

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OP-ED: Collaboration with feds hurts community policing

by Ramón Ramírez

November 8, 2007

Anyone concerned about public safety should be paying close attention to the new policy of increased collaboration between Marion County jails and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Minority community organizations have worked for years to build trust and communication between Marion County law enforcement and communities of color. Marion County civic and business leaders must resist the attempts of some who seek to vilify the Latino immigrant community at the expense of everyone's public safety.

"Community policing" is a reciprocal policing strategy in which residents and local law enforcement each assume a role in promoting the safety of their communities. The success of community policing hinges upon a relationship of trust between community residents and law enforcement officials, a relationship that is broken down when immigrants fear immigration-related consequences for approaching state or local police.

From New Jersey to Los Angeles, chiefs of police are embracing community policing as an effective strategy to combat crime. Los Angeles is now in the early stages of a potentially historic decline in crime.

Earl Paysinger, deputy to the Los Angeles Police Department police chief, recently commented to The New York Times that the decline in crime in his city could be attributed to efforts to "reach out to communities that years ago we didn't even talk to." One of the benefits, he said, is that "people are more willing to call the police."

Sheriff Russ Isham wisely adopted community policing policies when he was a sergeant in the Salem Police Department, increasing participation in the Neighborhood Watch program from 1,900 to 5,000 households and launching a Drug Activity Response Team.

If the lines between local police and immigration authorities become too blurred, undocumented immigrants don't feel safe reporting crimes, resulting in regrettable situations for everyone including unreported burglaries, violence and drug activity.

Domestic violence advocates also have cited the damaging effects of police collaboration with ICE, as victims of battering would rather endure the abuse than risk deportation. Being serious about combating the meth epidemic in Marion County especially means we should advocate for community policing that facilitates all residents' cooperation with law enforcement.

To ensure the new policy doesn't result in unintended consequences, Marion County should consider monitoring law enforcement officers to prevent racial profiling. Eight years after the New Jersey State Police acknowledged that its troopers were focusing on black and Hispanic drivers at traffic stops, federal monitors announced last month that the department had made remarkable progress in eliminating racial profiling and no longer needed federal supervision.

And on Sept. 25, a Virginia Illegal Immigration Task Force concluded that it couldn't recommend forcing police departments to enforce federal immigration law or require officers to ask about the immigration status of anyone they encounter.

In order not to undermine the trust that has been built with communities of color in Marion County, we are committed to working with the sheriff to ensure that our police officers are behaving in the most professional manner towards all residents of Marion County.

Ramón Ramírez is the president of Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste, Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United, Oregon's farmworker union. He can be contacted at ramonramirez@pcun.org.

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