[NV Greens] Fwd: Memorial Service for Tom Stoneburner

Wed Feb 23 00:28:33 PST 2005

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>From: Bob Fulkerson <bfulkerson at planevada.org>
>Subject: Memorial Service for Tom Stoneburner
>Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 17:17:21 -0800
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>The Nevada Assembly adjourned today in honor of 
>Tom Stoneburner, a man who believed in the 
>dignity of work and who fought for the dignity 
>of workers.
>Picking up where Stoney left off, Kathy 
>Stoneburner met this afternoon with workers at 
>the Salvation Army to assure them the Alliance 
>for Workers Rights will not abandon them.
>
>Stoney's memorial service will be held Monday, 
>February 28, at the First United Methodist 
>Church, First and West Streets, in downtown Reno.
>
>Gather at 5:30; Memorial begins at 6 p.m.
>
>A Pot-Luck Reception in the Church Fellowship Hall will immediately follow.
>
>In Lieu of Flowers, please send donations to the 
>Alliance for Workers Rights--One Booth Street, 
>Reno, Nevada 89509.
>
>Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for the family and for Stoney.
>
>Bob Fulkerson
>State Director
>Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada
>1101 Riverside Drive
>Reno, Nevada  89503
>(775) 348-7557
>(775) 348-7707 (fax)
>www.planevada.org
>
>
>Pioneering Nevada labor leader Tom Stoneburner dies
>  http://nevadalabor.com/unews/stoney.html
>by Andrew Barbano
>NevadaLabor.com
>
>Security guard showed the way to organize and 
>benefit workers despite prejudicial local, state 
>and federal roadblocks
>
>(SPARKS, 2-22-2005) -- Longtime Nevada labor 
>leader Tom Stoneburner died Monday of a massive 
>heart attack at his home in Palomino Valley 
>north of Sparks. He was about 60 years of age. 
>He is survived by his wife, Kathy. More 
>information will be posted at the above web page 
>as it arrives.
>
>  He worked as a security guard at Circus Circus 
>Hotel-Casino in Reno for more than 10 years, 
>coming to Nevada from southern California.
>
>  FIRST IN HISTORY. He organized and won 
>back-to-back union elections for security guards 
>at two major Reno hotel casinos. The 1994 
>election at Circus Circus was the first time in 
>Nevada history that any group of casino security 
>personnel had voted in favor of  group 
>representation by forming a union. The Circus 
>Circus win generated other organizing drives, 
>most notably at the Reno Hilton in 1995. The 
>hotel management refused to bargain in good 
>faith toward a contract, so Stoneburner, by then 
>president of United Plant Guard Workers of 
>America Local 1010, took the workers out on 
>strike.
>
>  His timing was perfect. The 1996 Hot August 
>Strike at Hot August Nights, northern Nevada's 
>biggest special event, resulted in a contract 
>with the region's largest resort property. The 
>union, now renamed the Security, Police and Fire 
>Professionals of America, still represents the 
>Reno Hilton guards. They remain the only 
>unionized hotel-casino security staff in the 
>state. See
>  http://nevadalabor.com/barbwire/barb99/barb12-12-99.html
>
>  Circus Circus never came to a contract and 
>implemented a series of delaying actions until 
>the pond could be stocked with anti-union new 
>hires and a decertification election held.
>
>Stoneburner's experience with the difficult and 
>near-impossible roadblocks thrown up by federal 
>and state law against union organizing led him 
>toward helping those who were not only without a 
>union, but would probably never enjoy the 
>benefits of one. In doing so, he paved the way 
>for the guerrilla union campaigns of the future.
>
>  He formed the Alliance for Workers Rights in 
>1997 to champion those without a voice. While 
>still maintaining his full-time job at Circus 
>Circus, Stoneburner worked tirelessly for the 
>least among us. He championed the cause of 
>workers killed and injured in Nevada industrial 
>plant explosions. See
>  http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2002/06/28/17932.php
>
>  At one point, Stoneburner even helped raise and 
>arrange for shipment of felled workers bodies 
>back to Mexico.
>
>  Perhaps his many years of tireless activity in 
>his "off-hours" proved too much, ending his time 
>early. Perhaps Tom Stoneburner died for the sins 
>of those who abuse so many for the sake of 30 
>pieces of Silver State silver.
>
>Against heavy odds, he chose to fight, and often 
>win, the great issues of his  time. Expensive 
>and repressive "permission to work cards" or 
>"police cards" are now much more uniform. Until 
>about two years ago, someone working two jobs in 
>adjacent cities would have to pay for two work 
>cards and background checks. Tom Stoneburner was 
>in the forefront of changing archaic local laws 
>and moving toward a uniform statewide standard.
>
>Stoneburner fought the Sparks City Council in a 
>continuing series of skirmishes when the city 
>criminalized looking for work. Day laborers 
>seeking work in front of the state casual labor 
>office on Galletti Way in the Rail City  were 
>continually rousted by Sparks police. Many could 
>not avail themselves of the services of the 
>state office because the state provided no 
>Spanish-speaking workers to assist them. The 
>state finally hired some bilingual staff and the 
>city and the Alliance for Workers Rights have 
>had a truce for the past two years.
>
>  See
>http://nevadalabor.com/barbwire/barb03/barb11-16-03.html
>
>In January, 2001, Stoneburner signed a 
>groundbreaking agreement with the Nevada 
>Department of Agriculture to provide Spanish 
>translators to assist during state inspections. 
>The contract, signed January 9, 2001, was 
>"expected to increase fair treatment and safety 
>for immigrant workers at greenhouses, nurseries 
>and landscape service companies." (Daily Sparks 
>Tribune 1-14-2001) Stoneburner's triumphant 
>press release read "Immigrant Farm Workers Break 
>Sound Barrier."
>
>Stoneburner advocated the creation of a state 
>ombudsman for farm workers who have few rights 
>under the law. (Reno Gazette-Journal guest 
>editorial 2-3-2001) Somewhere, Cesar Chavez was 
>smiling.
>
>  Stoneburner formed a network to assist fired 
>Sundowner Hotel workers who were left without 
>health insurance, jeopardizing the lives of some 
>who could no longer afford vital medication.
>
>  See the 11-18-2003 Reno Gazette-Journal
>http://www.rgj.com/news/printstory.php?id=56972
>
>WORKING FOR WORKING WOMEN. Stoneburner garnered 
>worldwide attention for oppressed Nevada workers 
>by supporting Harrah's bartender Darlene 
>Jespersen, who was fired by Harrah's-Reno for 
>the sin of refusing to wear makeup after 20 
>years of exemplary service without it. 
>Stoneburner organized picketing demonstrations 
>in both Reno and Las Vegas to sensitize the 
>casino industry to the permanent maiming of 
>their cocktail servers caused by mandatory spike 
>heels. Several major gambling corporations 
>eventually changed to a more foot friendly 
>policy.  Read news and view photos of the Kiss 
>My Foot campaign at
>  http://nevadalabor.com/news.html
>
>  The Alliance's accomplishments and initiatives 
>in various states of progress over the past 
>seven years are almost too numerous to mention. 
>Here are a few:
>
>Š Tip Tax Reform
>Š Unemployment Appeals Reform
>Š The Kiss My Foot campaign
>Š Work Card Reform
>Š The Farmworkers Project
>Š The Day Laborer Project
>
>  Stoneburner hosted a public access television 
>show entitled "Alliance for Workers Rights" 
>which still airs on Washoe, Carson and Douglas 
>channels. He taped his last two programs on Feb. 
>11.
>
>Both of the programs centered around his last 
>crusade to help recently stiffed and stranded 
>construction workers. He was visibly upset and 
>shaken at what he termed outright thievery by 
>employers who refused to pay their employees. He 
>was personally and emotionally invested in 
>winning justice for the homeless construction 
>workers who remain owed about $96,000 in back 
>wages.
>
>  Perhaps this fight was one too many for someone 
>who had worked around the clock for so many 
>years.
>
>  Nevada workers have lost a great and innovative 
>champion. Nevada unions have much to learn from 
>Stoneburner's tactics of essentially bringing 
>workers together in a concerted manner - the 
>very definition of unions under federal law - 
>while bypassing the expensive, time-consuming, 
>often perverted and usually unsuccessful 
>election process.
>
>  Stoneburner showed how community organizing, 
>public pressure and media savvy could often be 
>more effective than garden variety techniques.
>
>  A laundry list of labor luminaries recently 
>published a long editorial advising organized 
>labor to make some radical changes in its 
>methods of operation. See
>  http://progressivetrail.org/articles/050218Editorial.shtml
>
>They both reinforce and expand upon reforms 
>being considered at the highest levels of the 
>union movement. Well and good, but let them all 
>look at the accomplishments of Tom Stoneburner 
>first. Does any Nevada union currently produce 
>its own regular television program?
>
>  A FITTING MEMORIAL
>
>On August 13, 2002, the Nevada State 
>Legislature's Legislative Commission 
>Subcommittee on Industrial Explosions considered 
>two of Stoneburner's proposals. One stands out: 
>"Amend NRS (Nevada Revised Statutes) criminal 
>statutes that apply to cases of negligent 
>homicide, manslaughter or involuntary 
>manslaughter to include prosecution of 
>corporations, executives and managers of 
>corporations, who knowingly or negligently cause 
>or allow conditions to exist that result in the 
>death or serious injury of workers. Empanel a 
>task force to recommend to the Legislature and 
>Governor laws designed to help protect Nevada's 
>workers through prosecution of persons who 
>violate workplace safety standards."
>
>  The legislature is now in session. Does any 
>lawmaker have a spare bill draft available for 
>the Tom Stoneburner Worker Safety Act of 2005? 
>Let us know and we'll be there to support it.
>
>More details as they become available at 
>NevadaLabor.com. Memorial statements and 
>remembrances will be most welcome and published.
>
>My Sunday column in the Sparks Tribune will be a 
>more personal set of stories about my friend 
>Stoney.
>
>  Adios, compadre.
>
>  Be well. Raise hell.
>
>  Your friend forever,
>
>  Andrew Barbano
>
>  http://nevadalabor.com/unews/stoney.html
>
>
>
>[CWA 9413/AFL-CIO)
>


-- 
Paul Etxeberri

"Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow"   ---Chateaubriand
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