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 Strikes and Actions
OFNHP Picket at St. Charles Medical Center
Today: Thursday August 15th, 2024 | St. Charles Medical Center, 2500 NE Neff Road in Bend
Show your support for technical employees at St. Charles Medical Center in Bend. We will be walking the picket line to demand that management agree to common sense proposals that will help secure safe staffing and living wages for healthcare workers. These workers are employed in high-skilled, essential healthcare positions, such as Respiratory Therapists. Sonographers, and Surgical Techs, but who often make less than similar positions like RNs.
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
August 12, 2024 | Oregon AFL-CIO
“Project 2025, the 920-page blueprint for a second Trump administration, has been widely criticized for its regressive, anti-democratic agenda. The document’s policy proposals touch on every aspect of American life, from civil and reproductive rights to climate change to gutting the system of checks and balances underpinning our democracy. The AFL-CIO wants to make sure that working Americans know that Project 2025 is also dangerously anti-union and anti-worker. They’ve created an online resource that clearly lays out all the ways Project 2025 and a second Trump presidency would unravel hard won labor rights and create new barriers to forming and sustaining unions.”
August 13, 2024 | AFL-CIO
“Last night, Donald Trump yet again made it crystal clear exactly who he is: a scab who will go to any lengths to crush working people. Greedy bosses aren’t just laughing at workers in smoke-filled backrooms anymore. They’re broadcasting it for the world to hear. It’s no surprise coming from Trump and Elon Musk—two notorious union-busters who boast a combined record of crossing picket lines, underpaying workers, flouting health and safety laws, and retaliating against workers for demanding the rights and fair pay we deserve, with Musk even suing the National Labor Relations Board rather than being held accountable for charges he illegally fired workers..”
Oregon Labor
August 14, 2024 | Oregon Capital Chronicle
“Calderon is among Oregon’s workforce of 100,000 farmworkers, a diverse group of people who toil in fields, tend cattle at ranches and process fruit at canneries across the state. Salinas, D-Oregon and the daughter of a migrant worker, introduced the “Disaster Relief for Farm Workers Act,” to compensate them for lost earnings due to events tied to extreme weather and public health.“
August 12, 2024 | KATU
“A local union is set to vote this week on a potential strike against Fred Meyer. The union claims Fred Meyer refused to provide essential information for proper contract negotiations. It represents about 4,500 workers at affected Fred Meyer locations in the Pacific Northwest. The union said it filed a suit against what it said are multiple unfair labor practices. "They are entitled to the information to negotiate a good contract. They're entitled to a grievance process that is being followed through and they're not getting it. So Fred Meyer needs to stop the games and needs to let us move forward," said Miles Eshaia, with UFCW Local 555.“
August 11, 2024 | Jefferson Public Radio
“The union that represents registered nurses at Oregon State Hospital has filed more than 200 grievances in the past month. Maggie Simpkins starts her workweek at 6:30 a.m. Sundays at Oregon State Hospital, where the registered nurse dispenses medication to patients, goes over their treatment plans and maps out the day’s schedule, including appointments, meals and care. Her shift is supposed to end at 5 p.m. But most Sundays, Simpkins has to work mandatory overtime, which can stretch until about 10 p.m.”
August 11, 2024 | The East Oregonian
“Nurses and technical support workers at Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Heppner have joined the Oregon Nurses Association. Nurses and technicians in x-ray, lab and radiology announced their interest to unionize in March, which the state and the hospital would have to recognize, according to a press release from the Oregon Nurses Association. Since Pioneer Memorial Hospital is a public hospital and not federal, it was required the hospital go through the state. If the hospital was federal, it would have had to go through the National Labor Relations Board.”
August 9, 2024 | Willamette Week
“Employees at Do Good Multnomah are asking the nonprofit shelter operator to recognize a newly formed union, saying they need representation to push for better safety protocols and guaranteed leave time made necessary by trauma inflicted on the job. “The amount of near and actual death we encounter as front-line workers for Do Good is cumulative and takes a massive toll on our mental health,” Kelli Schaefer, a case manager at Do Good’s Roseway shelter said in a statement. “We need a protocol surrounding traumatic events, so that the burden of having to choose between self-care and a loss of income, doesn’t fall on an already taxed nervous system.” A majority of Do Good’s 270 workers signed union authorization cards and asked Do Good to voluntarily recognize the new union, according to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Workers, which is organizing the workers. If Do Good refuses, union cards will be sent to the National Labor Relations Board next week to trigger an election, AFSCME said.”
August 8, 2024 | Oregon Capital Chronicle
“Republican U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer continues to walk a fine line between appealing to labor unions and business interests that typically back Republicans. In July, she became only the third Republican member of Congress to cosponsor the sweeping pro-union bill called the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, and she has courted union endorsements in her reelection campaign while talking about her father’s experience as a member of the Teamsters union. But when her fellow Republicans on the Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee held a series of union-bashing meetings over the past year, Chavez-DeRemer didn’t show up and join Democratic representatives in speaking up for unions.”
August 7, 2024 | Willamette Week
“Researchers with doctoral degrees took another step toward going on strike this week, giving leaders at Oregon Health & Science University 10 days’ notice that they will walk out unless last-ditch negotiations yield wage increases they’ve been seeking since September. The notification, sent Monday, came after OHSU offered raises that came too little, too late, according to the 260-member Postdoc Workers United, a new unit of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The increase was the first one OHSU offered in 11 months of talks.”
Washington Labor
August 14, 2024 | The Stand
“More than 1,100 techs and service workers at Kadlec united in SEIU Healthcare 1199NW will strike for seven days starting August 20 to denounce Providence executives’ bad-faith bargaining and refusal to settle a strong contract with investments in wages and staffing that respect frontline workers’ experience, no matter where they work in the Providence system.”
August 14, 2024 | The Stand
“The Joint Crafts Council (JCC) Coalition of Unions reached a tentative agreement on Monday with the Woodland Park Zoo over a new contract covering approximately 200 Zoo employees. The proposal is fully recommended by the Union’s negotiations committee and subject to ratification of the membership. Union members will have an opportunity to review and vote on the offer in the next few weeks.”
Politics
August 13, 2024 | The Hill
“Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz addressed members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union at their convention in Los Angeles Tuesday afternoon. The visit by the Democratic vice presidential candidate comes as the Harris-Walz ticket looks to solidify its base, including with organized labor. AFSCME is one of several major labor organizations, including other constituent unions within the AFL-CIO, that have given strong support to the Democratic Party ticket.”
August 12, 2024 | Center for American Progress
Project 2025 is a plan to gut America’s system of checks and balances in order to enact an extreme, far-right agenda that would hurt all Americans. The plan proposes taking power away from everyday people to give politicians, judges, and corporations more control over Americans’ lives. Here are specific ways that Project 2025 harms American workers.”
August 10, 2024 | Las Vegas Sun
“But the union representing 60,000 workers in that industry, the Culinary Workers Union, announced Friday night its endorsement of Harris. About 54% of the union's members are Latino, 55% women and 60% immigrants. “The path to victory runs through Nevada,” the union said in a statement, “and the Culinary Union will deliver Nevada for President Kamala Harris and Vice President Tim Walz”
August 10, 2024 | NBC News
“Biden has been pretty forward with his thought that he wants to be the most pro-union president in history, and I think that actually has kind of taken place,” said Joel White lawyer who advises employers in labor matters at Fox Rothschild. Before joining the law firm in 2022, White worked for a decade at a regional NLRB field office under the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations. The agency’s current approach, he said, marked “the biggest swing thus far.”
August 9, 2024 | Variety
“Actors’ Equity Association joined numerous other unions Friday in endorsing Kamala Harris for president, citing her record of support for labor issues. The union represents 51,000 actors and stage managers who work in live entertainment. Its legislative priorities include the PRO Act, which would make it easier for unions to organize, and the Performing Artist Tax Parity Act, which would restore income tax deductions for performers’ business expenses.”
Organizing
August 12, 2024 | MJ Biz Daily
“Employees of The Apothecarium Dispensary in Cumberland, Maryland, voted 25-0 to form a union with United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 27. The Apothecarium’s retail workers unionized “to address longstanding issues, including poor wages, unaffordable benefits, safety concerns and a lack of support from the parent company, TerrAscend Corp.,” the union said in a news release.”
Strikes and Actions
August 13, 2024 | The Wrap
“SAG-AFTRA video game actors will mark the start of the fourth week since declaring a strike with a picket line against Disney on Thursday, Aug. 15. Participants will demonstrate outside Disney Character Voices, located at 2600 W. Olive Avenue in Burbank (91505), from 9:00 a.m. to noon. There are parking structures located nearby on Frederick, as well as 2-hour street parking available in various nearby locations. The picket line will be attended by Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Committee chair Sarah Elmaleh and committee members Andi Norris, Seth Allyn Austin as well as SAG-AFTRA leadership including National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland. Other SAG-AFTRA members, labor allies and video game fans are expected as well."
August 12, 2024 | Hotel Dive
“Hotel workers in San Francisco voted overwhelmingly to authorize strikes over the weekend, according to a release from hospitality union Unite Here obtained by Hotel Dive. According to a post on the social media platform X, some 94% of union workers who participated voted to authorize a strike. The vote represents eight hotels and roughly 3,000 workers in the San Francisco market. The San Francisco tally comes after Unite Here unions in other major markets — most notably Boston and Honolulu — approved strikes. Votes are still forthcoming in Seattle and the California cities of Oakland, San Jose and San Diego."
August 12, 2024 | Bloomberg Law
“Apple Inc. store workers in Oklahoma City have given union leaders permission to call a strike if talks with the company remain stalled. The late Sunday vote, at one of two unionized Apple Stores in the US, sets the stage for a walkout in the next few weeks if the two sides can’t reach a first contract. “A majority of the workers voted in favor of the strike and are ready to withhold their essential labor if Apple continues its pattern of delays at the bargaining table during scheduled sessions today and in early September,” the Communication Workers of America, which represents the workers, said in a statement Monday. The Washington-Baltimore News Guild, which is affiliated with the Communications Workers of America, represents employees of Bloomberg Law."
Contract Wins
August 12, 2024 | Labor Tribune
“Two recently ratified contracts, one with the Transport Workers and the other with the Electrical Workers, have given on-board Amtrak workers and the passenger train system’s electricians historically large raises, the unions stated. Both contracts feature 34.1 percent compounded raises over seven years, retroactive to July 2022 and run through the end of 2028. The contract with Transport Workers Local 1460 covers 360 Amtrak on-board service workers, including train attendants and cafe car workers. Amtrak’s pact with IBEW’s of Railroad System Council 7 covers 1,200 electrical workers. “Amtrak on-board workers are a critical part of our nation’s transportation system and this contract includes essential quality-of-life wins,” TWU President John Samuelsen said in a statement."
Workplace Safety
August 12, 2024 | Fox5 DC
“Congress is moving to address the growing problem of violence against U.S. postal workers with new legislation aimed at enhancing their safety. Lawmakers are currently reviewing the "Protect Our Letter Carriers Act," a bipartisan bill designed to curb the rising number of attacks on letter carriers across the country. Brian Renfroe, President of the National Association of Letter Carriers, notes that the threat to postal workers has dramatically increased in recent years. "Letter carriers could walk down even the meanest streets of America, and nobody messed with us. Unfortunately, that really changed a few years ago," Renfroe said.”
August 10, 2024 | The Washington Post
“Four days after a Baltimore sanitation worker died of overheating, the city halted trash collection for a day so pickup crews could attend a heat safety training session. It was so urgent, they made the class mandatory and offered free rides to get there. Such education would have been required under a workplace heat stress policy likely to take effect in Maryland this year, after clearing final bureaucratic hurdles. And though unions hoped the rules would have been final months ago, they were not in place when Ronald Silver II, 36, passed out on the job on Aug. 2, weeks after inspector general reports showed mounting evidence that city trash workers like him received little relief from scorching temperatures, and lacked access to cold water, ice and air conditioning. Maryland is poised to become just the sixth state to adopt heat protections for workers.”
NLRB
August 13, 2024 | CNBC
“The United Auto Workers on Tuesday filed federal labor charges with the National Labor Relations Board against former President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk for publicly applauding the practice of firing employees who threaten to strike.”
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