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 EVENTS
Oregon Labor Legislative Conference & Lobby Day
February 25, 2025 in Salem
RSVP Required: Please email communications@oraflcio.org to request the registration link
Join union members from across Oregon to meet with legislators, advocate for working people, and make our voices heard in Salem. This event is free of charge and is only open to union members, union leaders, and staff of unions.
✊🏿Black History Month Events
Thank you to the Oregon Coalition of Black Trade Unionists for organizing an incredible series of events for Black History Month!
Special Black History Month Viewing: “Outgrow the System”
February 13, 2025 from 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Oregon Labor Center, 3645 SE 32nd Ave, Portland, OR 97223
Join us for a special Black History Month screening of Outgrow the System, a documentary about transitioning to a sustainable economic system. A discussion and Q&A will follow.
“The Revolution Continues:” The Need for a Revolution
February 20, 2025 from 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Oregon Labor Center, 3645 SE 32nd Ave, Portland, OR 97223
Join us for a special Black History Month panel, The Need for a Revolution, followed by a Q&A session.
📣 TAKE ACTION
On Jan. 27, President Trump fired National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) member Gwynne Wilcox, the first Black woman to serve on the board. This move is illegal and will have immediate consequences for working people. Click to call your Senator and Representatives in Congress today to demand Wilcox be reinstated.
The AFL-CIO is collecting stories from workers and working families who are affected by the Trump administration’s new policies.
Striking workers and their families should not be pushed into poverty for exercising their legally protected right to strike. This policy helps level the playing field, helps put money back into the local economy during a labor dispute, and helps ensure negotiations happen sooner rather than later. Take action today and send a letter to Oregon lawmakers asking for them to support SB 916 / HB 3434 and by doing so, protect working people who are using their legal right to strike
🛠️ RESOURCES
The Oregon AFL-CIO’s compendium of resources to address federal threats against workers from immigration to LGBTQIA+ rights.
📖 MUST READ
February 13, 2025 | Salem Statesman Journal
Hundreds of Oregonians have submitted testimony on a bill that would extend unemployment benefits to striking workers after seven days. Senate Bill 916, requested by the Oregon AFL-CIO labor union that has 300,000 members, would remove language that disqualifies workers from receiving unemployment benefits while they strike. If passed and signed by the governor, the bill would immediately go into effect.
🏔️ OREGON LABOR
February 12, 2025 | Labor Notes
Nurses across Oregon remain on strike at Providence Health and Services more than a month after they first walked out. Members at all eight hospitals rejected a tentative agreement by more than 80 percent when it was put to a vote in early February.
February 6, 2025 | KGW8
Portland announced it had reached a tentative agreement with the District Council of Trade Unions (DCTU) on Wednesday, one day before a planned strike. The city also said it had finalized terms for the tentative agreement it reached last week with the other union with which it was negotiating, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).
February 12, 2025 | The Oregonian
On Jan. 9, workers at the Central Eastside Sizzle Pie said they voted unanimously to unionize with Restaurant Workers United, a process that began with a petition and rally last September. Since then, the Sizzle Pie union has filed multiple unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board alleging that employees were targeted or dismissed for their pro-union activities.
February 9, 2025 | The Register Guard
A crowd of University of Oregon students gathered Thursday for a campus rally, protesting recent student conduct violations and the university's policies on demonstrations and free speech.
February 11, 2025 | AFT
Nurses at Portland, Ore.’s Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel, and Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center have overwhelmingly voted to unionize with the Oregon Nurses Association, marking a historic moment for healthcare workers in Oregon. The vote represents a hard-fought victory for nearly 2,300 nurses who have long sought a collective voice in advocating for their patients, profession and working conditions.
🏛️POLITICS
February 12, 2025 | The Oregonian
Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination has scrambled typical partisan divides, attracting some Democratic support even as her union-friendly stances generate concern and in some cases outright opposition from congressional Republicans.
February 11, 2025 | The Lund Report
Lawsuits targeting the Trump administration’s attempt to block gender-affirming care for young people has bought Oregon hospitals some time. But the push to stop the care has alarmed patients, providers and families while forcing health system officials to negotiate a legal and funding minefield.
February 12, 2025 | The Portland Mercury
As protesters descended on the Oregon State Capitol last week to protest a litany of executive orders from the Trump administration, Oregon’s elected leaders were pushing back on Trump in a different way.
February 12, 2025 | Oregon Capitol Chronicle
Oregon U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley have joined over a dozen other lawmakers, all Democrats, in calling on [Trump’s] administration to issue an exemption for thousands of seasonal firefighters so federal agencies can prepare for “what’s expected to be another devastating wildfire year.”
February 12, 2025 | Bloomberg Law
“DOGE is violating multiple laws, from constitutional limits on executive power, to laws protecting civil servants from arbitrary threats and adverse action, to crucial protections for government data,” the complaint says. The coalition bringing the lawsuit includes the AFL-CIO and American Federation of Teachers. They added the claims concerning HHS and the CFPB to their pending lawsuit against DOGE and the Department of Labor in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
⚠️FEDERAL ATTACKS
February 12, 2025 | The Washington Post
Billionaire Elon Musk’s team has initiated sweeping layoffs of federal employees, as the Trump administration races to shrink the government’s civilian workforce. An official with the Office of Personnel Management, which is now run by Musk allies, emailed staff Wednesday morning stating that widespread layoffs — known as “reductions in force” — have begun and are already overwhelming the small agency that functions as a human resources department for the government, according to a copy of the message obtained by The Washington Post.
February 12, 2025 | ABC News
Ahead of Linda McMahon's hearing to become the next secretary of the Department of Education, America's state teachers of the year for 2024 have said they worry the future of public education is under direct attack. De'Shawn C. Washington, the 2024 Massachusetts teacher of the year, said he will be heartbroken if the Department of Education is dismantled under McMahon.
Since the start of his second term, President Donald Trump has issued several executive orders that closely align with proposals outlined in Project 2025, raising fears in some quarters about the impact of these policies on workers, particularly those in the public sector.
February 7, 2025 | The Washington Post
The states — Washington, Oregon and Minnesota — say Trump’s Jan. 28 executive order is an attack on transgender youths and their families, as well as on doctors and medical institutions providing critical care. Some hospitals have already scaled back or stopped providing care to trans minors, fearful that providers and parents could be federally prosecuted.
February 9, 2025 | PBS
Top Trump administration officials are openly questioning the judiciary’s authority to serve as a check on executive power as the new president’s sweeping agenda faces growing pushback from the courts.
🚨ATTACKS ON IMMIGRANTS
February 12, 2025 | The New York Times
Dozens of Venezuelan migrants sent by the Trump administration to the U.S. military base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, are being guarded by troops rather than civilian immigration officers, according to people familiar with the operation.
February 6, 2025 | Mother Jones
Following a flurry of anti-immigrant executive orders by Donald Trump on his first day in office, the Department of Justice sent emails last Wednesday ordering legal service providers in immigration courts to “stop work immediately.” The order was sent to organizations working within four federally funded programs designed to help people navigate the complex immigration court system, through assistance outside the courtroom—like going over legal paperwork and court date requirements—and inside the courtroom, through direct legal representation.
February 9, 2025 | The Guardian
Immigrants and asylum seekers caught up in Donald Trump’s mass enforcement crackdown will at least have a better chance at knowing their legal rights – for now – after a court intervened to restore some vital advice services.
🫱🏼🫲🏽 THE LABOR MOVEMENT
February 12, 2025 | AFL-CIO
Today, as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene holds her first DOGE subcommittee hearing, the AFL-CIO’s Department of People Who Work for a Living (DPWL) submitted the following information to ensure that the voices of people who work for a living are heard.
📣 STRIKES & COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
February 10, 2025 | Labor Notes
Ten thousand members of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 7 are on strike all across Colorado. They work for King Soopers grocery stores, owned by Kroger, the largest supermarket chain in the U.S.
February 7, 2025 | KPBS
After nearly four months on strike, Kaiser Permanente's mental health workers in Southern California said Friday they’re ready to enter mediation at Governor Gavin Newsom’s request, with talks possibly starting Feb. 17.
February 13, 2025 | Nerd Wallet
So far in 2025, there have been 21 official labor actions, according to the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) Labor Action Tracker In 2024, there were 345 labor actions in 519 locations, according to the tracker.
📊 THE ECONOMY
February 12, 2025 | Reuters
U.S. consumer prices increased by the most in nearly 1-1/2 years in January, with Americans facing higher costs for a range of goods and services, reinforcing the Federal Reserve's message that it was in no rush to resume cutting interest rates amid growing uncertainty over the economy.
👥 ORGANIZING
February 10, 2025 | Labor Notes
Four thousand workers at a North Carolina Amazon warehouse are voting February 10-15 on whether to unionize with Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity & Empowerment.
February 11, 2025 | KNPR
More than 300 Nevada home care workers recently voted to unionize, reports SEIU Local 1107, the state’s largest healthcare and public service union. Workers across three Las Vegas agencies voted in favor of joining the service employees’ union. They bring the union’s total number of home care workers to more than thirteen hundred. The additions follow advocates' successful push for a wage increase to $16 per hour, which took effect last year.
February 12, 2025 | Chicago Tribune
Workers at the Chicago History Museum are seeking a union with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, the union said Wednesday. In a public letter signed by more than two dozen workers at the museum, employees said they were motivated by a desire for “livable and competitive wages and raises,” clarity around grievance and disciplinary procedures and a greater voice in workplace decisions.
February 7, 2025 | AP News
Amazon-owned Whole Foods is asking the National Labor Relations Board to set aside the results of a union election in which the first group of the company’s employees voted in favor of collective bargaining.
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