By Peter Wong

ASHLAND -- How local labor problems relate to global economic conditions will be explored at a daylong forum at Southern Oregon University.

The forum will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday in the Stevenson Union Arena at SOU. Admission is free, but participants are asked to bring their own lunches for a break scheduled from noon to 1 p.m.

"I am impressed with the broad interest the forum has attracted," said Oregon Action's Rich Rohde, who is based in Medford and is one of the forum's organizers. "The state of the local economy has gotten everyone looking at the larger global economic changes and the role of multinational businesses."

Among the speakers are Gerry Cavanaugh of Ashland, who taught history and social theory at the University of California at Berkeley; Barbara Kellogg, Medford-based organizer for the Oregon Public Employees Union; and Ramon Ramirez, organizer for Pinerosy Campesinos del Noroeste.

Cavanaugh will talk about globalization, Kellogg about local labor issues, and Ramirez about labor and immigration.

A panel of community activists will speak after lunch. In addition to Rohde, scheduled panelists are Normary Barrett, League of Women Voters of the Rogue Valley; Joan Dean, Church Women United; Rick Gwynallen, Headwaters environmental group, Ashland; Elizabeth Hallett, Peace House, Ashland; George Hutchinson, Sierra Club; Dagoberto Morales, farmworkers; and John Statler, Jackson County Human Rights Coalition.

The moderator is Wes Brain of the Oregon Public Employees Union.

A 30-minute question-and-answer period is planned with state Rep. Judy Uherbelau, D-Ashland, and a staff representative of U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

For more information, call Wynne Ferguson at 482-5379 or Hal Jamison at 488-5653.

The forum is sponsored by the Chomsky Action Project, which is affiliated with the Progressive Coalition of Southern Oregon. Rohde said the coalition consists of community action, environmental and labor groups that seek to explain issues, train leaders and promote political advocacy.

The Chomsky Action Project is focusing on the first two goals. It is named after Noam Chomsky, a prominent social critic and once a linguist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Rohde said the project hopes to bring Chomsky to the Rogue Valley for a visit next year.

Rohde said the forum will explore such issues as low wages in Southern Oregon, where the medians are about two-thirds of Portland's level, and how they relate to federal immigration policies and the global economy.

"A lot of people working at low-wage jobs may feel the need to do something about it, but we're told we cannot do anything about it," he said. "We need to make those connections."

He said it could lead to such coalition actions as opposition to pending federal legislation that would allow another 25,000 guest workers to enter the United States and relax restrictions in the guest-worker law that protect domestic workers.

Growers say the legislation is needed to relieve labor shortages and undo red tape, but the General Accounting Office disputes the shortages.