Wednesday, September 14th, 11am
St. Francis of Assisi Church
311 SE 12th Ave, Portland OR 97214
FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL 503-233-6787

The E-Verify bill is legislation which mandates that every employer checks and records the legality of their workers on an online, centralized database. This bill is costly, inaccurate, and untested. If it passes, the bill will be disastrous for workers and divisive for communities.

Please join us as we spread the word about this dangerous legislation. Bring your cell phone to call congress and tell them to vote against E-Verify!

Oregon residents can help stop wage theft in the construction industry by signing this petition in support of State Senate Bill 612-A today.

Click here to read and sign the petition:
http://www.change.org/petitions/end-wage-theft-in-oregon-get-sb612-a-hearing-in-the-house-by-monday

OVERVIEW

Our last petition helped get SB 612 passed out of the Senate, now we have until Monday to get a Hearing in the House to make sure our bill to stop wage theft keeps moving forward.

Can you imagine working hard at your job for a day, a week, or longer and having your boss tell you to “get lost” without paying you?

Thousands of workers in Oregon have their wages stolen from them by corner-cutting abusive employers. As it is now, most of the time, the employer can get away with it. Many unregulated construction labor brokers are skirting the rules. These brokers keep their workers on informal books and do their business in the shadows.

SB 612-A closes the loopholes to make sure that the labor brokers are subject to the same oversight as any other Oregon company. Lifting them out of the shadows helps to lift the standards for us all. A recent analysis by the Oregon Center for Public Policy found that $700,000 in wage claims from the construction industry were determined by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries to have been illegally withheld last fiscal year. That is only the tip of the iceberg. <http://www.ocpp.org/cgi-bin/display.cgi?page=nr20110426WageTh>

The Oregon Coalition to End Wage Theft asks residents of Oregon to:

Sign the petition to make sure that in the 21st century no one in Oregon is laboring without being paid.

For more info: http://portlandvoz.org/, www.facebook.com/protectoregonworkers <http://www.facebook.com/protectoregonworkers>

On the 18^th of December, 2010, Voz, the American Friends Service Committee, and the Comite de Solidaridad y de Apoyo Mutuo en Portland (Committee of Solidarity and Mutual Support of Portland) got together during the Week of Action in commemoration of THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF IMMIGRANTS, in order to hold the Fifth Indigenous Forum.  Participants included representatives from many different peoples of Abya Yala (Latin America).  On this day we shared our space so that we could also share our struggles, realities, challenges, dreams, and visions as forcibly displaced peoples.  We shared this space in order to reaffirm our identity, our spirituality, and to share our thousand-year-long history, inherited from our fathers and grandfathers.  Mayans, Inca-Canñari, Nañu, Zapotecas, and our Native brothers from North America all participated in the event.  Not only did we (and here I speak as a Mayan) share our stories, but we also shared with our allies our altar, where the flowers, the candles, the fruit, the incense, and the water are all important elements in our ceremonies.  I should also mention that we shared a traditional dish with those who were present. 

We have convened on the 18^th of every December of every year for the past five years in order to reunite.  It is important to convene in order to make known that there are indigenous peoples from Abya Yala here in this country.  No one says it, no one will talk about it, but here we are among the multitude, in anonymity, in the realm of the invisible, resisting triple discriminations:  because we are indigenous, because we are immigrants, because we are poor, and, in many cases, because we are women.  Our effort to maintain our identity will continue in a society where the whole world works to transform one’s image and one’s values in order to fit in, leaving behind mother tongues, traditional dress, spirituality, respect, and collectivity.  We will go on defying the modern world, or modern life, which the First World places in our hands in order to absorb us and make it so that our peoples of origin disappear.  We take this moment to thank the community that accompanied us in this event.

By Emiliana Aguilar

Marcha del Primero de Mayo en Portland:
¡¡Empleo para todos!!  ¡Los Derechos de los Inmigrantes también son Derechos Humanos!


12:00 del medio día en el South Park Blocks (entre SW Park Avenue y SW Salmon Street en el centro de Portland).

El Primero de Mayo 2006

¡¡Compañero esta lucha es tu lucha no la dejes para tus hijos!!
¡¡Queremos una Reforma Migratoria justa y Humana!!
¡Migra fuera de las carceles!
¡No más redadas!
¡No más separación de familias!

Viste una playera blanca, trae agua y una bandera de Estados Unidos.  Te invita la Coalición Pro-inmigrante de Portland y la Coalición de Primero de Mayo.

El Día Internacional del Trabajo comenzó en los 1880 en los Estados Unidos con la lucha por una jornada laboral de ocho horas. Hoy conmemoramos la lucha de los trabajadores y los pobres de todo el mundo por la justicia económica. Estamos unidos contra el racismo, la violencia policial, y los ataques a inmigrantes a través de las redadas y detenciones de ICE. Nadie es ilegal. Nuestro objetivo es acabar con la discriminación por orientación sexual e identidad de género. A través de la solidaridad vamos a reformar nuestra inmigración, la justicia penal, y los sistemas económicos para satisfacer las necesidades humanas. Exigimos un aumento al gasto público, no más recortes a la educación, al transporte público, y servicios sociales. Exigimos una vivienda digna accesible, no perdidas hipotecarias y desalojos. Exigimos atención de la salud con un solo pago para todos. Exigimos empleos con salarios justos, trabajos para todos, y la restauración de nuestro derecho de organizar en los lugares de trabajo. Podemos lograr estos objetivos mediante impuestos a los ricos y a las corporaciones en vez de fináncialos. Podemos parar los acuerdos de libre comercio que aquí ha externalizado los empleos y mantenido los bajos salarios, mientras crean fábricas de explotación y la destrucción de los recursos en otra parte. Podemos acabar con las guerras y ocupaciones, así como las catástrofes ambientales que sirven para mantener a las corporaciones más ricas y la gente en la pobreza.

Para más información: 503-233-6787      http://maydaypdx.blogspot.com

Solidaridad por siempre.

¡Sí se puede!

Portland May Day March and Rally:

Jobs for all!
Immigrants’ Rights are Workers’ Rights!

WHEN: Saturday, May 1st, 2010
WHERE: South Park Blocks, Downtown Portland

11am— Gather at SW Park and Salmon
Noon— Rally: Speakers and Entertainment
1pm— March

Join the Portland Immigrant Coalition and the Portland May Day Coalition for this family-friendly event.

International Workers’ Day began in the 1880s in the United States with the fight for an eight-hour work day,  Today we commemorate the struggle of working people and the poor around the world for economic justice.  We stand together against racism, police violence, and attacks on immigrants through ICE raids and detentions.  No one is illegal.  We aim to stop discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.  Through solidarity we will reform our immigration, criminal justice, and economic systems to meet human needs.  We demand an increase in public spending, not more cuts to education, public transportations, and social services.  We demand decent affordable housing, not foreclosures and evictions.  We demand single payer health care for all.  We demand living wage jobs, full employment, and the restoration of our right to organize workplaces.  We can achieve these goals by taking the rich and corporations instead of bailing them out.  We can stop free trade agreements that have outsourced jobs and kept wages low here while creating sweatshops and destroying resources elsewhere.  We can end the wars and occupations as well as environmental catastrophes that serve to keep the corporations rich and the people in poverty.

Solidarity Forever!  ¡Si se puede!

For more information, visit http://maydaypdx.blogspot.com

Photo Taken by Douglas Yarrow

Participants also enjoyed poetry, traditional Guatemalan dancing, and some entertainment from some of the children in attendance.

The celebration also presented an opportunity to share the history of immigration and immigration reform, and to address what is currently on the table in relation to the immigration reform bill proposed by Rep. Luis Gutiérrez. The bill is not perceived to be of benefit to many migrants, thus VOZ will be lobbying representatives in Congress to ensure that reform is fair and humane, and that it benefits all migrants.

el 12 de Diciembre en el centro de Jornaleros 240 NE MLK Jr Blvd, Portland

Esta tradicion empieza hace muchos anos entre los jornaleros para
agradecerle a la virgen de Guadalupe por las oportunidades de trabajo  y
pedirle su proteccion en la lucha diaria de encontrar un trabajo.

Habra
Procesion, las mananitas, servicio religioso, teatro, musica y deliciosos
tamales Mexicanos.

Programa

• 7:00 am     Procesion y las mananitas desde la esquina de la 6 y la Ankeny

• 7:30 am     Pasamos en la esquina de la MLK y I-84 y llegar en el centro de jornaleros

• 8:00 am     Serivicio, musica, teatro

• 9:00 am     Desayuno

Traditional Celebration for Our Lady of Guadalupe

December 12th at the Worker Center: 240 NE MLK Jr Blvd. Portland, OR

This tradition began a few years ago with a group of day laborers who wanted to thank Our Lady of Guadalupe for their work opportunities, and to ask Her for continued protection in their daily struggle to look for work.

There will be a procession, prayer service, music dedicated to the
Virgin, and delicious Mexican tamales

Program

• 7:00 am     Procession and Las Mananitas starting from the 6th and Ankeny St.

• 7:30 am     We will pass by the second corner of MLK and I-84 and arrive at the Worker Center at 240 NE MLK Jr Blvd.

• 8:00 am     Prayer service, music and theater

• 9:00 am     Breakfast

When

12:00 Noon

Saturday, December 19th 2009, at the Day Laborer Center

240 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd,  in Portland

We will have food, music, and theater– Come show us your talents!

Information on Immigration Reform will be given

For more info, call Voz at 503.233.6787

Come enjoy the sounds and rhythms of the Jornalero Band, learn about VOZ, and learn how you can help.
Admission is free, but donations are greatly appreciated.
Appetizers and beverages will be provided.
For more information call (503) 233-6787