May Day Rally and Celebration to take place in Salem

MEDIA ADVISORY
April 9, 2010

Contact:
Francisco Lopez, CAUSA Executive Director, 503.269.5694
Erik Sorensen, CAUSA Communications Director, 503.488.0263
Marlen Torres, PCUN, 503.560.6517

May Day Rally and Celebration to take place in Salem
Salem, Ore--On May 1st, in commemoration of International Workers' Day, Immigrant and Labor Rights supporters will gather for an all day celebration at the Oregon State Fair Grounds in Salem.

During this year's May Day festivities, allied organizations will hold a Rally for Immigration Reform and pay homage to Latino workers -- celebrating their contributions to the State of Oregon.

WHAT: May Day Rally for Immigration Reform and Homage to Latino Workers
WHEN: Saturday, May 1st, 2010 at 12:00 Noon
WHERE:
Pavilion
Oregon State Fair Grounds
2330 17th Street Northeast
Salem, Oregon 97301

There will be music and dance throughout the day including performances by Los 4 de Mexico, Arrazado, Chris Mesa, Samuel Davila, Los Diablitos, Chinelos, APANO (Asian) Floklorico, Los PCUNCitos, and Mixy Brakers Chapter 2.

A full schedule of performances and speakers for the day will be posted at CAUSA's website (www.causaoregon.org) in the weeks to come.

May Day 2010 Celebration sponsors: CAUSA, Oregon's Immigrant Rights Coalition, Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN), Radio Movimiento 95.9FM, Latinos Unidos Siempre.

###

Read more »

Voters Protect Oregon’s Future by Passing Measures 66 and 67

On Tuesday Night, Oregonians passed Measures 66 and 67, two tax fairness measures which increases taxes on households making at or above $250, 000 ($125,000 for individuals) and raises the $10 corporate minimum tax to $150 minimum for most businesses. Prior to the passage of this measure, more than two-thirds of corporations doing business in Oregon paid just the $10 a year corporate minimum income tax.

The measures passed statewide early on in the evening. According to the Oregon Secretary of State, Measure 66 passed by 53.90% and Measure 67 passed by 53.38%.

A large group of community organizations, including unions, small business owners, advocates for children and seniors, churches, environmental organizations, and civil rights groups came together to pass the measures. Over 250 organizations formed the Yes for Oregon coalition to mobilize voters for the January election. CAUSA and our sister Organizations Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN) and Voz Hispana Causa Chavista were part of the coalition.

A special thanks goes to the Oregon Labor Movement who worked tirelessly alongside small business owners, advocates for children and seniors, churches, environmental organizations, civil rights groups and concerned individuals to pass these very important measures. Due to their hard work, jobs, schools and services that Oregonians depend on and care about have been saved.

Read more »

Rebuilding Haiti's infrastructure, people's lives, and their grassroots movement for Social Justice

The tragedy of Haiti moves us to act and to give of ourselves. Hundreds of millions of dollars are pouring into relief funds run by people working tirelessly to get aid to where it's desperately needed. Still, we find ourselves wondering or asking: "where can we send our support so that we know it's used effectively and consistent with our values?"

Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN) has reached out to our sister farmworker organization, the National Confederation of Farmworkers (CONFENACA) in the Dominican Republic (DR), led by a courageous and diligent leader, Luis Ureña. Years ago, Luis established the Dominico-Haitiano Project, which organizes to improve the living and working conditions for Haitian farmworkers in the Dominican Republic. Haitians are, at best, second-class workers in the DR, but Luis' and CONFENACA's commitment to class solidarity has compelled them to reject nationalist differences and historic grudges.

Luis is calling for our assistance in helping with the tragedy in Haiti. CONFENACA has organized immediate relief, arranging the delivery of 18 truckload of humanitarian aid to Haiti. Meanwhile, Haitian workers are flooding into the DR. Hundreds are arriving in La Vega, three hours from the border.

CONFENACA is housing and feeding Haitians who arrive in La Vega. They are only the first wave. As time passes, the Dominican people will be overwhelmed as they encounter and respond to more earthquake victims.

PCUN has worked with CONFENACA for sixteen years and what we know is that any assistance we can send to CONFENACA will be well-used and will build the movement for social change. Without that movement, there will be no end to the injustices and exploitation which have long plagued the Haitian people and which directly contributed to the massive deaths, as people were crushed by buildings which, thanks to poverty and corruption, lacked even basic seismic integrity.

PCUN and CAUSA have resolved to answer Luis' call. We're launching a campaign to raise $5,000 by February 1st. PCUN and CAUSA are each committing $500. We call on our sister organizations, their staff, the community, and on our allies to contribute immediately and as generously as they can.

Donations can be made by clicking on the "DONATE NOW" button below, or by linking here. You can also mail checks payable to "CAUSA" to 700 Marion Street NE, Salem, Oregon 97301. Be sure to put "Haiti Relief Fund" in the memo. CAUSA will count every contribution received between now and February 1st as a contribution to support CONFENACA.

Please join with us to help the Haitian people endure and re-build their country on a new foundation of equity and social justice

Read more »

Celebrating the life, work and vision of Cipriano Ferrel

Today is the 60th anniversary of Cipriano Ferrel's birth. Cipriano Ferrel was a Willamette Valley community organizer who dedicated his life to advocating for the rights of migrants and farm laborers.

Cipriano worked with César Chávez and the United Farmworkers Union (UFW) in California, attended Colegio César Chávez in Mt. Angel, and was a co-founder of the Willamette Valley Immigration Project (WVIP) in 1977 and Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN) in 1985.

Cipriano also co-founded the Farmworker Housing Development Corporation (FHDC) in 1990 and developed the community organizing program at Nuevo Amanecer, FHDC's first housing complex in Woodburn.

Since his sudden death in September 1995, our movement continues to celebrate Cipriano's life and vision. Employing his strategies for movement-building has led to incredible growth. Since Cipranos passing, the number of organizations has grown from three to nine sister organizations and staff has more than tripled in size.

CAUSA joins with our sister organizations in honoring the life, work and vision of Cipriano Ferrel.

A gathering will take place this evening at 6:00pm at FHDC (1274 5th Street, Suite 1-A, Woodburn, OR 97071) to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of Cipriano’s birth. For more information, please call 503-981-1618.

Cipriano Ferrel, ¡Presente!

"La lucha es una chinga pero nosotros somos bien chingones"
-Cipriano Ferrel

Read more »

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.

Read more »

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

Read more »

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

Read more »

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.

Read more »

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.

Read more »

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

Read more »

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.

Read more »