BY BARBARA GRAHAM
HOUSTON - Standing on the steps of the Houston city hall, flanked by supporters holding bright blue signs saying "Jobs for All," "Defend Affirmative Action" and "No to the Death Penalty," Patti Iiyama, the Socialist Workers Party candidate for mayor of Houston, announced in a press conference that she and her supporters had collected 1,000 signatures on petitions to place her name on the November 4 ballot.

The requirement for ballot status is 631 signatures.

Iiyama, 52, is a refinery worker at the Lyondell-Citgo Refinery in Houston and a member of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Local 4-227.

"Unlike the other candidates in this election race, my campaign unequivocally supports the fight taking place today to defend affirmative action. We support the students at the University of Texas in Austin who have called for UT to reinstate affirmative action in admissions and scholarships," declared Iiyama to several reporters from local TV stations and newspapers. "I also urge a `no' vote on the misnamed Houston Civil Rights ballot initiative."

The Houston Civil Rights initiative, patterned after Proposition 209 in California, seeks to eliminate affirmative action in city purchasing, construction, and professional service contracts.

The oil worker also explained her campaign's championing of fights by working people for better wages and working conditions, such as the victory against UPS and the on-going fight by locked-out workers at the Crown refinery in Houston.  
 
 
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