Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Union activist Stoneburner remembered

Those `Stoney' helped vow to continue

RENO -- Hispanic, black and Muslim leaders joined social workers, laborers, peace activists and politicians Monday night in remembering the union organizer they all knew as "Stoney."

Many of the 150 people who packed Tom Stoneburner's memorial service vowed to continue the work of the humble casino security guard who became an unlikely leader for social justice and racial equality in Northern Nevada.

Stoneburner, who died of a heart attack on Feb. 21 at the age of 60, was the co-founder of the Alliance for Worker Rights in 1997 and one of the first to help organize casino workers in Reno.

"It looks like a crowd only Stoney could gather ... compatriots in the struggle for the equality and dignity of all people," the Rev. John Auer said at the First United Methodist Church. He likened Stoneburner to Gandhi, Malcolm X, Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King Jr., saying:

"Stoney joins a mighty throng of giants of mercy and justice who give up comforts in their own lives for others."

A security guard at Circus Circus Reno, Stoneburner organized union elections at that casino and the Reno Hilton in the mid-1990s. He also helped them file grievances and lawsuits against casino policies requiring females to wear makeup and spike heels, the latter part of a "Kiss My Foot" campaign that drew international attention.

"Stoney was a true revolutionary. He changed things," said Mary Wilson, a former leader of the Reno-Sparks NAACP. "We have a warrior who is down in this battle, but the battle isn't over."

Daughter Cindie Addis, of Fallon, said she was proud her father had "touched so many lives."

"I don't think he wants anybody to stop what they've started," she said.

Bob Fulkerson, who worked closely with him as director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, described him as "humble, fierce, courageous and loving." He recalled Stoney's first meeting as a member of PLAN's board of directors many years ago.

"Afterwards, he told me, `Bob I didn't see one person in the room who looked like they carry a lunch box to work. We've got to work on diversity.' "

At the service, Lee Dazey and Kim Elise sang one of his favorite songs, Johnny Cash's "The Man In Black," where Cash explains all the reasons he wears black, including "for the poor and the beaten down."

The congregation read together an 1857 quotation from Frederick Douglas, that began, "If there is no struggle, there is no progress."

They also sang "Which Side Are You On," written by the wife of a union leader during a violent dispute at Kentucky coal mines in 1931, which ends, "Us poor folks ain't got a chance, unless we organize."

State Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, recalled when she went before the state Gaming Control Board on his behalf to develop a uniform statewide procedure for casino employees to obtain their required worker cards.

"They said, `Trust me Ms. Leslie, this is much harder than you think. You don't want to open this can of worms,' " Leslie said.

"And I thought about Stoney sitting at my kitchen table and knew I couldn't go back to that man and tell him that."

Others told how Stoneburner pushed for interpreters during inspections at Nevada farms and ranchers with migrant workers and helped organize Hispanic parents to settle grievances with the Washoe County school district.

He also served as an advocate for the families of four workers killed in a blast at the Sierra Chemical Co. explosives plant near Mustang in 1998 and one victim of another fatal explosion at DePressurized Technologies International in Minden in 2001.

Much of that work focussed on failure to train Spanish-speaking workers in their native language and a pay schedule, since outlawed, that rewarded them for fast work.

Andrew Barbano, a longtime union advocate and friend, remembered how "Stoney pulled a Tiananmen Square" and "faced down a Mack truck" during a labor dispute in Sparks.

Nico de la Puente, an interpreter for the alliance, recalled how Stoneburner persuaded her to join him on a picket line at a Reno hospital even though it was raining.

"He said, `It's only water,"' she said. "He always was concerned for people to have better living conditions. ... He pushed us to recognize, it's only water. We need to follow in his footsteps."