The Oregon Labor Dispatch is a weekly email and blog series designed to keep Oregon’s workers informed of the latest news about unions, worker power, and much more. Each week, we bring you a curated selection of news stories, graphics, and information about upcoming events and actions. When Oregon’s Labor Movement is connected, updated and informed we are able to be stronger advocates for all working Oregonians.
If you have a news story, event or action you’d like to see featured in the Oregon Labor Dispatch please email us at communications@oraflcio.org.
Take Action Now
Fred Meyer Workers Call for a Boycott
The strike is over but the fight for a fair contract continues. UFCW Local 555 Fred Meyer workers are asking the community to shop somewhere else. Don’t shop at Fred Meyer until a fair agreement is reached and Fred Meyer’s admitted price gouging has stopped. Sign the pledge to boycott Fred Meyer here.
Support Injured and Sick 9/11 Responders
We made a promise to provide medical care and take care of those who became ill because of that tragic day in American history. Unions led the fight to create the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program, and now we need to act again. The WTC Health Program is once again facing a budget shortfall that could start to impact care and lead to budget cuts in 2028. The shortfall would occur just as we expect more people to need the program’s care due to an increasing number of 9/11 cancers. In partnership with Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act, will you call your senators and representative and ask them to co-sponsor the bipartisan 9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act of 2024?
Labor 2024 Events
Find more Labor 2024 events and volunteer opportunities on our solidarity calendar.
Labor 2024 General Election Kickoff Canvass for State Rep. Hoa Nguyen and Dan Rayfield for Attorney General
Saturday September 14, 2024 at 10:00AM | Meet at the Oregon Labor Center in Portland
Join Oregon Labor at a canvass for State Representative Hoa Nguyen and Dan Rayfield. Nguyen is a union member and educator who is running for reelection in Southeast Portland and Dan Rayfield has been a labor champion in the State House now running for Attorney General. Coffee, lunch and training provided. Sign up to volunteer.
Phonebank for Lesly Muñoz for House District 22 and Dan Rayfield for Attorney General
Thursday September 12, 2024 at 5:30PM | Zoom
Tuesday October 29, 2024 at 5:30PM | Zoom
Talk to union members and likely voters about Lesly Muñoz who is running for State Representative in House District 22 and Dan Rayfield who is running for Attorney General. Sign up to volunteer.
Phonebank for April Dobson for House District 39 and Dan Rayfield for Attorney General
Monday September 16, 2024 at 5:30PM | Zoom
Tuesday October 15, 2024 at 5:30PM | Zoom
Talk to union members and likely voters about April Dobson who is running for State Representative in House District 39 and Dan Rayfield who is running for Attorney General. Sign up to volunteer.
Phonebank for Emerson Levy for House District 53 and Anthony Broadman for Senate District 27
Thursday September 19, 2024 at 5:30PM | Zoom
Monday October 21, 2024 at 5:30PM | Zoom
Talk to union members and likely voters about Emerson Levy who is running for State Representative in House District 53 and Anthony Broadman, running for State Senate in District 27. Sign up to volunteer.
Canvass for Lesly Muñoz and Dan Rayfield for Attorney General
Saturday September 21, 2024 at 10:00AM | Meet at the PCUN in Woodburn
Join Oregon Labor at a canvass for Lesly Muñoz and Dan Rayfield. Lesly Muñoz is running for State Representative in House District 22 and Dan Rayfield who is running for Attorney General. Coffee, lunch and training provided. Sign up to volunteer.
Boeing
September 12, 2024 | The Washington Post
“More than 33,000 union workers will start voting Thursday on measures that could bring Boeing airplane production to a halt with a massive strike at the embattled aerospace giant early Friday morning. The work stoppage would begin if members, mostly in Washington, reject a deal reached by Boeing and union leadership this past weekend hailed by both parties for its historic gains for workers, including 25 percent pay raises over four years. Despite the strong gains won in the contract, aggrieved rank-and-file union members, who build the company’s flagship planes, are eager to seize a rare opportunity to claw back lost ground over more than a decade of pay that has failed to keep up with the cost of living. Jon Holden, president of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751, told the Seattle Times on Tuesday that he expected his members to vote down the deal and strike.”
September 12, 2024 | Reuters
“Boeing's U.S. West Coast factory workers started voting on Thursday on a much-criticized new contract and a possible strike, piling pressure on the planemaker as it wrestles with chronic production delays and mounting debt. A potential strike could start on Friday, which would be a big early blow to new CEO Kelly Ortberg, brought on last month to restore faith in the planemaker after a door panel blew off a near-new 737 MAX jet in mid-air in January.”
Fred Meyer
September 6, 2024 | Supermarket News
“After a six-day strike, some 4,500 grocery workers at Fred Meyer in Portland, Ore., are now calling for a shopper boycott to put continued pressure on contract negotiations. United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555 issued a press release on Thursday urging community support of the workers by not shopping at Fred Meyer stores until the two sides can agree on a new contract. “Fred Meyer was held accountable [during the strike], and the company now understands just how many of its workers are committed to change,” said Miles Eshaia, communications coordinator for UFCW Local 555.”
Oregon Labor
September 10, 2024 | The Oregonian
“Two forces long dominant in Portland politics, business and labor, see an unprecedented opportunity to boost their favored candidates amid a dizzying field of candidates running for mayor and City Council this year. So does a bloc of progressive nonprofits and advocacy groups that has more recently emerged as a third powerful faction.“
September 9, 2024 | Portland Business Journal
“As unionization and worker concerns have heated up in recently in Oregon, the state is already ahead of the curve in many areas according to a global anti-poverty and social justice organization.“
September 6, 2024 | The Oregonian
“More than 3,000 Oregon state workers have filed claims alleging that they are underpaid due to an inaccurate evaluation of their experience and education in a recent state equal pay analysis.
The Oregon Department of Administrative Services conducts the analysis at least once every three years to ensure employees have the correct job classification and are fairly paid.“
September 3, 2024 | KGW8
“For Labor Day we took a look at the current state of organized labor in Oregon and the U.S. Here's what you had to say about it.“
Washington Labor
September 10, 2024 | The Lund Report
“Workplace will be first in Pacific Northwest to join Pharmacy Guild, and organizers say they’re working on others in Oregon and Washington.”
September 6, 2024 | Fox13 Seattle
“Nearly 50,000 public service workers in Washington state, represented by AFSCME Council 28 (The Washington Federation of State Employees), are set to walk off the job on Tuesday, Sept. 10, at 12 p.m., to demand fair wages, safe staffing levels and better working conditions. The strike, branded as "Walkout for Washington," will include employees from state agencies, community colleges and universities at 130 worksites across the state.”
Politics
September 11, 2024 | Common Dreams
“Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, similarly described the 2024 contest as a "fundamental choice," characterizing Harris as a "principled, tough fighter who'll work to create opportunity for all of us" and Trump as "an unhinged serial union buster who betrays working people." "As tonight's debate reminded us, a second Trump term would be a corporate CEO's dream and a worker's nightmare," Shuler said in a statement late Tuesday. "Trump and Vance are ready to make their Project 2025 agenda a terrifying reality: eviscerating unions, slashing millions of union jobs, and making it nearly impossible for workers to organize, while cutting wages and benefits and threatening health and safety on the job. They're running a campaign based on division and fear to cover up the fact that they are in this for themselves and their rich donor friends—not the workers who make this country run.”
September 10, 2024 | The Hollywood Reporter
“The Department for Professional Employees, a trade department of AFL-CIO, the largest labor federation in the U.S., has put forward a slate of new federal policies it hopes can create more sustainable careers in the nonprofit arts and media sectors. The policies, which speak to concerns from nonprofit workers across 12 unions,including Actors’ Equity, SAG-AFTRA, IATSE and more, call for stronger labor protections as part of federal funding received through the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, gaining seats on federal grantmaking councils for working professionals and updating federal grants in these areas, so that the funds are not limited to just one production or project.”
September 6, 2024 | TribLive
“Former President Donald Trump was quick to announce his opposition earlier this year to a proposed $14.9 billion sale of U.S. Steel to the Japanese corporation Nippon Steel, but influential people close to Trump have been working to push the sale through behind the scenes ever since. Trump, who is seeking another term in the White House, first said in January that he would block the deal and reiterated his opposition last month. “I will stop Japan from buying United States Steel,” Trump said on Aug. 19 at a campaign event at a York County factory. “They shouldn’t be allowed to buy it.” But his pledge to block the purchase of the iconic Pittsburgh company runs contrary to the advice of one of his top advisers and contradicts the work of lobbyists who have been part of his inner circle and are supporting his campaign for president.”
September 6, 2024 | The Seattle Times
“President Joe Biden on Friday plans to sign an executive order for federal grants that would prioritize projects with labor agreements, wage standards, and benefits such as access to child care and apprenticeship programs. The Biden administration is trying to make the case that economic growth should flow out of better conditions for workers. “A good job is a job with security and benefits, where workers have the right to join a union, advocate for better working conditions, come home safe and healthy, and retire with dignity,” said Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su. Biden is going to a union training center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to announce the order as the administration has stressed the vital role that organized labor will likely play for Democrats in November’s election. In her matchup against Republican Donald Trump, Vice President Kamala Harris is depending on backing from the AFL-CIO and other unions to help turn out voters in key states.”
September 5, 2024 | Portland Press Herald
“Union members should not allow themselves to be deceived by Trump again. But their leaders acknowledge that even with his track record, Trump’s allure for some is strong. “He’s been very effective at messaging working-class people,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler told Politico recently, particularly on unfair trade policies and offshored jobs.”
Organizing
September 10, 2024 | GeekWire
“Organized labor has arrived at Microsoft headquarters. A two-day AI Labor Summit between AFL-CIO leaders and Microsoft executives this week reflects the tech giant’s revamped approach to unions — which includes a pledge by the company to incorporate feedback from labor unions and their members into the development of artificial intelligence. “We’ve always said, as a labor movement, we are willing to work with companies who want to work with us,” said Liz Shuler, AFL-CIO President, speaking via phone from the event. “That invitation doesn’t often get accepted.” Those in attendance included leaders of AFL-CIO unions representing teachers, electrical workers, public sector employees, communication workers, nurses, and entertainment, creative, and theatrical professionals."
September 9, 2024 | Fast Company
“Workers at a Pittsburgh-area battery storage plant voted 88 to 39 last Thursday to be represented by the United Steelworkers union, in an effort to improve “green” jobs they said were dangerous and inflexible. Workers at zinc battery company Eos Energy Enterprises in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania, approved creating a bargaining unit that includes the plant’s approximately 160 production and maintenance workers."
Strikes and Actions
September 5, 2024 | Business Wire
“Following widespread Labor Day strikes that saw over 10,000 UNITE HERE members walk off their jobs, the hotel workers union has launched a new website highlighting concerns over the high cost of resort fees. While workers took to the picket lines across nine cities calling for higher wages, fair staffing, and the reversal of COVID-era cuts, the union also distributed leaflets to guests about the “Resort Fee Ripoff” at their hotel. Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, and Omni face customer complaints, press scrutiny, and legal actions as a result of their resort fee policies. And UNITE HERE knows customers are sick of paying a fee for basic hotel services or for amenities they didn’t want in the first place. "While hotel workers are struggling for higher wages and fair workloads, rising fees and hotel service cuts are hurting guests too," said Gwen Mills, President of UNITE HERE. “The future direction of the American hotel industry, and the standards that guests have come to expect, are on the line."
September 5, 2024 | The Austin Chronicle
“United Airlines flight attendants have been fighting for a new contract for three years – the longest negotiation the airline has ever seen. Last week, 99.99% of the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) members who voted chose to authorize a strike, should management fail to agree to their demands. “In my 28-year career I’ve never seen anything like this,” says Elizabeth Hibbard, president of AFA’s Local 42 in Houston, which represents flight attendants flying out of Houston and Austin. United flight attendants last authorized a strike in 2005, but it was related to the company’s bankruptcy at the time – the last time there was a strike vote related to contract negotiations was the Eighties. “We hope this demonstrates to the company how unified we are, that we will take any action that would need to,” says Hibbard."
September 5, 2024 | NPR
“About 17,000 AT&T workers in the southeast are still on strike after the Communications Workers of America union withdrew from negotiations over a new contract. Internet service technicians, customer service representatives, and thousands of other workers in nine states—Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee—walked off the job after contract talks stalled last month. The CWA, which represents the striking AT&T workers, says its members are looking for a contract that delivers increased wages and benefits, including more for healthcare, and claims the company violated the National Labor Relations Act by not bargaining in good faith to come up with a contract that addresses these demands."
Workplace Safety
September 11, 2024 | Bloomberg Law
“Union leaders who backed the New York law hope to see other states follow its lead in passing workplace violence laws targeting high-risk industries such as retail, said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. “Retail workers feel particularly vulnerable, because anyone can come in off the streets,” he said. “And in many retail establishments there are fewer and fewer people working. A lot of employers are under-staffing, and workers can feel like they are on their own."
Union Leadership
September 9, 2024 | Fast Company
“Ten years ago, when Sara Nelson was elected president of the Association of Flight Attendants—the union that represents airline workers at United, Frontier, Alaska, and other airlines—the picture for the U.S. labor movement was grim. “We were clearly failing the working class,” says Nelson. Stories of striking autoworkers and organizing Starbucks baristas were not yet dominating national news. “We were still in a place where the narrative was that the labor movement was outmoded, that it was something for the past,” she says. “We couldn’t yet awaken people to their power of withholding their labor."
September 9, 2024 | Labor Tribune
“A growing number of women are taking leadership roles in the union building trades. Former Missouri State Sen. Gina Walsh, deputy director of the International Association of Heat & Frost Insulators Union Labor Management and Cooperative Trust (LMCT), has been an active member of Insulators Local 1 since completing its apprenticeship program more than 30 years ago. “It truly was a man’s world,” she said of the period when she entered the trades. But Walsh said she felt welcomed and supported by almost all the men who worked with her on construction projects right from the start of her ground-breaking career. “We need to educate women that those jobs are now open to them,” she said. “If we don’t educate them, then they don’t know about all the great opportunities they have in construction."
It’s Better in A Union
September 10, 2024 | People’s World
“Seven in 10 Americans say they approve of labor unions, just shy of the record-high approval rating for organized labor, according to a new Gallup poll. The survey, released Monday, found 70 percent of Americans approve of labor unions, while 23 percent disapprove and 7 percent have no opinion. This is 1 point shy of the 71 percent reading in 2022, which marked the highest approval rating since 1965."
September 9, 2024 | The Hill
“Labor unions are having a bit of a comeback. Some 70% of Americans now approve of labor unions, up from 67% in 2023. This marks the second-highest approval rating for unions in almost 60 years, according to a recent Gallup poll; the only year during this timeframe with a higher approval rating was 2022, when support reached 71%. The past two years have featured pronounced union activity, from the United Auto Workers union’s push to win contracts with the Detroit Three — and beyond — to organizing movements at Amazon and Starbucks. Not to mention the writers’ and actors’ strikes of 2023 and the largest healthcare strike in U.S. history, as well as several ongoing — and potential — strikes that are poised to disrupt numerous industries."
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