Story and photo by Pete Shaw

“If food is essential for survival, then why are the people who bring it to us paid so little?”

That question was recently asked at a forum regarding the many fast food worker strikes across the country over the past year. Those workers, many of whom make the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour (the Oregon minimum wage is $8.25 an hour), have been demanding a raise to $15 an hour. With the economy still in the tank for most working people, the idea of demanding this increase to a living wage seemed only fair, especially as CEOs who don’t do the actual work of getting customers their food are earning high salaries, and then much more in stock and incentives.

On October 15th a crowd of about 60 people gathered at lunchtime outside of the McDonald’s on SE Powell and 28th in support of fast food workers being given a living wage increase. Chanting slogans such as “No burgers, no fries, we want our wages supersized!” and “At $8.95 we can’t survive!” the ralliers milled around on the sidewalk as numerous cars honked their horns in approval. The rally was part of a national day of action honoring the work that fast food workers do and demanding their wages reflect the value of their work.

“People have a right not to live in poverty and be paid an affordable wage,” said Rob Sisk, President of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 503. “They have a right to earn more than poverty wages and to take home a living wage.”

Magarito Joy, who attended the rally with her young son, works a minimum wage job at a coffee shop. “I get paid minimum wage, but I can’t live on that. I have a kid. Minimum wage doesn’t cover the cost of food for us. Fifteen dollars an hour is a start. I’d like it higher. The money is being saved for the people at the top–CEOs, presidents. We want a more even distribution of the money.”

More than 20 students from Cleveland High School, not far from the McDonald’s, also took part in the rally. “We’re going to stand in solidarity with these McDonald’s workers and all low wage workers,” said CHS student Ian Jackson.

According to a new report from the University of California Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education, between 2007 and 2011, the cost of public assistance to families of fast food workers was almost $7 billion a year. “McDonald’s likes to keep the minimum wage low, but not for CEOs,” Sisk told the crowd. “That $7 billion subsidizes McDonald’s.”

The report also shatters an old stereotype of fast food workers. Contrary to myth, most front-line fast food workers are not young teenagers putting together some savings for college: Sixty-eight percent of front-line fast food workers are not in school and are single or married adults with or without children.

A year ago, if you had asked people about the prospects of organizing fast food workers, they probably would have laughed at the idea. But with the help of SEIU, fast food workers have forced people to reconsider the idea.

The people at the rally ate at neither McDonald’s nor the Wendy’s across the street, but they did not go hungry. The Red and Black Cafe, celebrating its 13th birthday, provided lunch.

Mother Jones

1:16 PM  -  Public

Obama can murder you with drones on US soil, US Attorney General writes. But only in, like, "extraordinary" circumstances. Comforting.

Obama Administration Says President Can Use Lethal Force Against Americans On US Soil »

But only in "extraordinary" circumstances.

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SPECIAL EDITION
The Black Panthers in the Pacific NorthWest
To read the whole  Black History Edition click here

Somali American Council of Oregon Seeks to Unite Frightened Community
African youth are at-risk from extremists, but they are also caught in the school to prison pipeline… To read all about it click here

Six aging, single-walled underground storage tanks are leaking radioactive waste, threatening groundwater below the Hanford nuclear site, Washington state Governor Jay Inslee announced on Friday afternoon.

Workers at the Hanford nuclear reservation work around a a tank farm where highly radioactive waste is stored underground near Richland, Wash. Six underground radioactive waste tanks at the hemisphere's most contaminated nuclear dump are leaking, Gov. Jay Inslee said Friday, Feb. 22, 2013 (AP Photo/Shannon Dininny) The seeping waste adds to decades of soil contamination caused by leaking storage tanks at Hanford in the past and threatens to further taint groundwater below the Columbia River, officials said.

The newly disclosed leaking tanks were revealed by Inslee just a week after the U.S. Energy Department disclosed that radioactive waste was found to be escaping from only one tank at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

"This is disturbing news for all Washingtonians," Inslee said in a statement released by his office. "This certainly raises serious questions about the integrity of all 149 single-shell tanks with radioactive liquid and sludge at Hanford... We received very disturbing news today.  I think that we are going to have a course of new action and that will be vigorously pursued in the next several weeks."

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com

January 22, 2013  |  

The Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) campaign of drone strikes in tribal areas in Pakistan will continue to run wild in the coming year. A “playbook” for how the U.S. conducts targeted killing operations by drone that is nearly completed will exempt the CIA’s drone strikes in Pakistan, making the “playbook” essentially useless, considering that the vast majority of strikes occur in Pakistan.

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From the Daily Kos!
Published Thu Oct 18, 2012 at 03:58 PM PDT

Am I My Brother's Keeper?
Why pay for health care for the undeserving?

It's a question that goes to the heart of our health care crisis. Should we reduce health care costs by excluding the undeserving? If we don’t squander dollars on them, we liberate billions for us solid citizens who earned our right to health care. Why should everyone have that right?

If Oregonians diverted what we currently spend on health care premiums and out-of-pocket payments into a statewide, publicly-funded, universal care agency, we would recover enough administrative costs to pay for treatment for uninsured people like Max without spending more money. We need to regain our health care dollars from insurance companies, not from our neighbors (deserving or undeserving).

Universal health care is an essential tool to ensure each of us gets better care for less money. Who cares if freeloaders get care at our expense if by doing so the rest of us spend less and receive better care?

So hop on the bandwagon for quality health care for everyone. The campaign to create publicly funded universal health care in Oregon is underway, spearheaded by Health Care for All-Oregon. To provide Max with the care he needs while making your own care less expensive, visit www.hcao.org. Learn more about how to become a better advocate for your family’s health care needs and play your own role in this vital process. Turning Oregon into a shining example of cost-effective comprehensive health care requires people like us looking after ourselves, our families, and our communities.  Join us!  

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