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.
Upcoming Actions
ONA Samaritan Nurses Picket
Friday August 2nd, 2024 | Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital, Hwy 101 & Abbey St. in Newport
Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital, joined by our families and communities, are picketing to raise standards at our community hospital. To end the staffing crisis at our hospital, we must secure a contract that guarantees wage parity with other Samaritan nurses and stable working conditions.
We’re Hiring!
Oregon AFL-CIO is hiring Campaign Canvassers
Are you passionate about economic justice and want a job that will make a real difference? Are you ready to strengthen the voice of working people in the political process and help balance the power of corporations and wealthy elites? If so, we need YOU for our robust political program during the upcoming general election to help mobilize voters for critical races! These are full-time temporary positions through the November 2024 election. For details and to apply, see our posting on unionjobs.com.
Must Read
July 30, 2024 | Axios
“Between the lines: A big question heading into November is whether the Biden administration's pro-union moves — like the president walking the UAW picket line, and putting union protections into key legislation — will make a difference on Election Day. So far, many big unions have thrown their support behind Harris' campaign.”
Oregon Labor
August 1, 2024 | Public News Service
“Nurses with an expired union contract in Oregon are holding an informational picket on Friday. Negotiations on a contract with Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital in Newport started in April, but the two sides have yet to reach a deal. The nurses are represented by the Oregon Nurses Association. Their contract expired on June 30th. Brook Clark, a registered nurse at the hospital and member of the union, wants Samaritan to bring its pay up equal to other Samaritan hospitals. Clark also noted that about a quarter of staff are traveling nurses. "That cost is really going to eat into our budget as an organization and that cost is going to eventually trickle down to our patients and our community," she said.“
July 31, 2024 | The Oregonian
“But protectionism has critics among Oregon farmers, labor unions and voters, too. “Calling for blanket tariffs without putting money back into our workforce doesn’t sound like a serious economic policy,” Oregon AFL-CIO President Graham Trainor said in a statement to The Oregonian/OregonLive. The national AFL-CIO backed President Joe Biden’s re-election and has now endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign. The union’s Oregon chapter is open to targeted tariffs, according to Trainor, but said Trump’s more ambitious trade proposal “seems to be treating them as a political stunt.”
July 25, 2024 | Willamette Week
“Unionized researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have voted to authorize a strike if they don’t get increases in wages and benefits that they’ve been seeking for nine months. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees represents about 250 researchers in a year-old union called PostDoc Workers United, who have completed doctorate degrees and are doing research in their field at OHSU. The vote means that the union can give OHSU a 10-day notice and then strike. The vote comes at OHSU pursues a merger with Legacy Health.”
July 25, 2024 | Yachats News
“Oregon Coast Community College and its staff and faculty have settled contracts resulting in wage increases of more than 30 percent over five years. The American Federation of Teachers-Oregon bargains for full- and part-time faculty and classified employees, but each employee group has its own contract. The college and the union settled new five-year contracts July 17 retroactive to 2023. College administrators and union negotiators had been bargaining since April and then met in mediation for 13 hours July 2-3.”
July 25, 2024 | Willamette Week
“Political strategists tell WW that union endorsements will matter in the fall election because the roster of candidates is so bloated; to wade through the over 70 candidates that are likely to appear on the ballot, voters will look at endorsements to determine, at least to some extent, the seriousness and traction of a candidate.”
Washington Labor
July 29, 2024 | The Stand
“More than 350 behavioral healthcare workers united in SEIU Healthcare 1199NW at 26 Compass Health facilities in Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, Island, and San Juan counties will hold informational pickets and rallies on July 29, August 1, and August 3 to call on Compass Health administration to invest in recruitment and retention by settling a strong union contract.”
July 24, 2024 | Eater Seattle
“The closure announcement comes not long after a period of conflict with the chain’s unionized employees. When drivers for its wholesale division announced plans to unionize in 2022, Homegrown installed cameras that monitored them while they worked. The chain’s restaurant employees voted to form a union later that year and in 2023 some went on strike to protest the firing of a union leader. In March, that strike ended and the contract was ratified; notably, it included a provision that gave them time-and-a-half pay on especially hot days, a rare “heat protection” benefit.”
July 23, 2024 | Cascade PBS
“Foreign guest or H-2A workers at Washington’s tree-fruit orchards will get paid more under a federal court ruling issued earlier this month, in the latest development in a yearslong court battle over how foreign agricultural workers are paid. Under the ruling from the U.S. District Court in Seattle in the case brought by Familias Unidas por la Justicia, or FUJ, a Burlington-based farmworkers union, the U.S. Department of Labor will reinstate prevailing wages set in 2022.”
Politics
July 31, 2024 | New York Times
“The United Automobile Workers endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday, giving her the support of one of the nation’s most influential unions after it delayed to assess her approach to key issues. The U.A.W.’s endorsement throws the union’s powerful organizing muscle behind Ms. Harris, who faces a tight race against former President Donald J. Trump. The union has about 370,000 members, with large presences in key battleground states like Michigan and Wisconsin. “We stand at a crossroads in this country,” the U.A.W.’s president, Shawn Fain, said in a statement, adding, “We can put a billionaire back in office who stands against everything our union stands for, or we can elect Kamala Harris who will stand shoulder to shoulder with us in our war on corporate greed.”
July 27, 2024 | Jacobin
“Corporate backers of the Donald Trump campaign have tipped their hand. In “Project 2025: Presidential Transition Project,” the Heritage Foundation unveiled its 900-page wish list for a new Trump presidency and a compliant Supreme Court. Trump’s victory last time was a surprise, and many corporate types view his chaotic term as a missed opportunity. This time Heritage, which is a mouthpiece for big employers, has compiled a long list of people they want Trump to hire and appoint, and a scorched-earth plan for his first 180 days.”
July 25, 2024 | New York Times
“Vice President Kamala Harris addressed a very friendly crowd this morning at the American Federation of Teachers convention in Houston. She has been a longtime ally of teachers’ unions, even when their positions have divided the Democratic coalition. In 2019, as a U.S. senator considering a presidential run, Ms. Harris supported the teacher strike in Los Angeles, which stood in opposition to fellow Democrats who had sought to expand charter school options in the city. Later on, Ms. Harris rolled out her failed 2020 primary run with a proposal to vastly raise teacher pay, thrilling the unions. In her first days as the presumptive Democratic nominee, she has focused on teachers.”
July 25, 2024 | The Hill
“The Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) voted unanimously to endorse Vice President Harris’s presidential run, becoming the latest labor organization to throw its support behind the likely Democratic presidential nominee. The major construction workers union joins the more than half-dozen national labor organizations to endorse Harris.”
Organizing
July 30, 2024 | UC San Diego Today
“A new report from the University of California San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy reveals significant changes in support for labor unions among U.S. workers. The report, published by the Economics Policy Institute, delves into the evolving attitudes toward unions and identifies three major shifts are occurring in U.S. workers: a recent, marked decline in opposition to labor unions, a rise of workers who are interested in—but unsure about—unions and an emerging generation gap in attitudes toward unionization between younger and older workers.”
July 30, 2024 | Slate
“Video game workers—whatever their job, employer, or status—have clearly had enough. This month alone, the labor movement has made some of its biggest advancements ever in organizing the techies, artists, and creatives who keep the largest, most culturally significant sector of the global entertainment industry running and thriving.”
Strikes and Negotiations
July 30, 2024 | Hoodline
“These 85 employees stand at the forefront of a nationwide trend of retail worker unionization, and their actions may set a precedent for other stores. This landmark agreement was reached after the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers' Coalition of Organized Retail Employees (IAM CORE) at the Towson store authorized a strike in May. Eric Brown, a Towson Apple Store employee and member of the bargaining team, provided a local perspective stating that the pandemic underscored how little influence workers had in decision-making processes, leading to all-time low morale in the early days of the pandemic, as reported by WMAR."
July 26, 2024 | ABC News4
“The Communications Workers of America Southeast released a scathing report this week outlining issues they say are faced on the job and at home by AT&T technicians. The report comes as the union is negotiating with the multinational telecommunications holding company for a new contract. Communications Workers of America District 3 bargains on behalf of thousands of wire and premises technicians throughout the Southeast, including South Carolina. Over 150 union workers at Communications Workers of America Local 3704 are represented in the Charleston metro area, including technicians and buried service machine operators."
July 26, 2024 | CBS News
“Video game actors went on strike early Friday morning after contract negotiations with major game studios broke down over artificial intelligence protections. The strike of around 2,500 SAG-AFTRA video game voice actors and motion capture performers comes after nearly two years of negotiations between the union and video game producers. The union argues that AI poses an even greater threat to voice and motion performers in the video game industry than it does to actors in film and television. Video game actors are seeking a new contract that would require producers to obtain their consent before reproducing their voices or likenesses with AI. Video game actors last went on strike in October 2016, before AI became a major issue."
Legislation
July 31, 2024 | Capitol News Illinois
“AFL-CIO national President Liz Shuler, the keynote speaker for Wednesday’s state convention, praised the legislation before Pritzker signed it. She admonished “rich and powerful” executives like Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, the founder of companies including Tesla, for “stacking the deck against us.” "They want to sit there and hold their captive audience meetings and make us listen to a bunch of their propaganda,” she said."
July 26, 2024 | Common Dreams
“A group of Democratic U.S. House members on Friday unveiled legislation "aimed at bolstering protections for America's workers and ensuring accountability for employers who flout labor and employment laws." The Labor Enforcement to Securely (LET'S) Protect Workers Act was introduced by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.)—the ranking member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce—and House Labor Caucus Co-Chairs Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Donald Norcross (D-N.J.), and Steven Horsford (D-Nev.). Earlier this month, nearly 50 labor organizations led by the AFL-CIO and representing a wide range of U.S. workers urged congressional Democrats to resist Republican efforts to roll back rules enacted by the Biden administration to protect worker rights amid relentless attacks by abusive employers."
July 25, 2024 | HuffPost
“A growing number of states are moving to bar employers from holding mandatory anti-union meetings at work, a move labor advocates hope will give employees more confidence to vote “union yes.” Tim Drea, the president of the Illinois AFL-CIO, said it made “a lot of sense” for the state labor federation to get behind the bill. While Drea has an obvious stake in opposing anti-union captive audience meetings, he said workers shouldn’t be forced to listen to political talk either."
NLRB
July 29, 2024 | Reuters
“A U.S. appeals court on Monday signaled that a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling curbing the in-house enforcement powers of some federal agencies could impact the National Labor Relations Board, in a case involving alleged labor law violations by Macy's. A three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit asked lawyers, opens new tab for the board, Macy's, and a union representing the retailer's employees to file briefs explaining how the Supreme Court's June ruling in Jarkesy v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may affect the NLRB's ability to impose remedies in administrative cases.”
July 26, 2024 | Reuters
“Major unions including the AFL-CIO and North America’s Building Trades Unions had filed petitions urging the NLRB to rescind the rule eliminating blocking charges. The AFL-CIO also filed a lawsuit in 2020 claiming the rule conflicted with federal labor law and the NLRB had failed to follow the proper administrative procedures in adopting it. The case in Washington, D.C., federal court had been stayed pending the new rule issued on Friday. Friday's rule also rescinds a provision of the 2020 rule involving employers' voluntary recognition of unions.”
Workplace Safety
July 29, 2024 | Labor Tribune
“The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee has released initial findings from its year-long investigation into Amazon’s injury crisis. The committee — whose investigation was prompted by organizing among workers at the STL8 fulfillment center since 2022, including multiple visits with Senate HELP Committee staff on Capitol Hill last spring — found evidence that Amazon knows its injury rate is much higher than it has revealed to the public and regulators. In 2019, nearly 45 percent of workers were injured during peak times like Prime Day and holidays, as a result of company management pressuring employees to work at unsafe speeds, according to internal company documents made public for the first time.”
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