After numerous songs, slogans, speeches and a march across Portland's Hawthorne Bridge, the message came down to a simple chant rising from Terry D. Schrunk Plaza and echoing off the Portland skyscrapers around it: "What do we want? Fairness! When do we want it? Now!" With that, about 2,500 SEIU Local 503 members and allies concluded the United for Oregon rally against state budget cuts and layoffs last Sunday.
The event drove home the need to shield front-line workers and those they serve -- children, seniors, and families made vulnerable by the economic downturn -- from absorbing an unfair share of proposed state budget cuts. A proposed budget from the Oregon Legislature calls for as many as 1,700 state worker layoffs, and unions have been asked to accept a wage freeze and as many as 24 unpaid furlough days during the next two years.
"I live in fear we're going to have furloughs," said Laura Tesler, a wildlife biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and SEIU Local 503 member. "Me personally as a union member, I would rather we have pay freezes and COLA (cost of living adjustment) freezes instead of furloughs. Every day I'm furloughed, that's my savings that's gone."
Marchers gathering for the march across the Hawthorne Bridge, accompanied by the Lions of Batucada samba band, heard strong words of encouragement from SEIU 503 president Linda Burgin, DAS bargaining chair Kermit Meling, Children First for Oregon policy director Cathy Kaufman and AARP Oregon state director Jerry Cohen. Four members -- DHS case manager Brandi Standridge, OYA counselor Ken Ross, SEIU 503 homecare president Mary Wood and OUS bargaining chair Marc Nisenfeld -- delivered remarks surrounded by members and supporters from segments they represented: human services, public safety, senior care and education. Politicians present at the rally included Portland Mayor Sam Adams; House Majority Leader Mary Nolan, D-Portland; and House Speaker Dave Hunt, D-Gladstone.
(In this video from the rally, Blues singer Linda Hornbuckle leads the 2,500 United for Oregon rallygoers in a new rendition of an old Woody Guthrie standard: "This State is Your State, This State is My State.")
Speaker Dave Hunt and SEIU 503 Executive Director Leslie Frane sent the marchers off with strongly worded commitments to fight for fair treatment of front-line workers and vulnerable Oregonians. Frane pledged the union members' willingness to do our fair share to help the state through its economic crisis, but said front-line workers should not shoulder a disproportionate share of the sacrifice. "We must not allow our safety nets to be shredded--not now, not ever," she said. "We cannot allow our community-based approach to long-term care, long the envy of the nation, to be dismantled."
Photos of march and rally on SEIU Local 503's Flickr page :: KOIN 6 TV coverage
