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.
Job Opening
Oregon AFL-CIO is hiring a Campaign Canvass Manager
Are you ready to strengthen the voice of working people in the political process? Are you an experienced, effective project manager or organizer with great references? If so, we need YOU for our robust political program during the upcoming election year by doing critical member mobilization and leading our canvass program! This is a full-time temporary position through the November 2024 election. For details and to apply, see our posting on unionjobs.com.
Take Action Now
Tell lawmakers: Fewer cuts, more real solutions
We know that schools, hospitals and communities need funding and resources to create real solutions for a better life. But once again, extremists in Congress are proposing draconian cuts to slash funding for the people who need it most. Tell your representative to oppose cuts to Title I and other vital programs in the House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee’s fiscal year 2025 appropriations bill.
Upcoming Events
Register Now! OR AFL-CIO/LERC Summer School
We are excited to be back together for this year’s Summer School, sponsored by the Oregon AFL-CIO and the Labor Education and Research Center, hosted on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene on July 19-21, 2024. Whether you are a new member or experienced leader, Summer School has something for you. Join us for a weekend of education, discussion and socializing with 100+ other union members from across the state. To register and learn more go to: https://lerc.uoregon.edu/ss24/.
Must Read
July 10, 2024 | C-SPAN
“President Biden delivered remarks at a meeting with national union leaders at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, DC. “We’re gonna build this country from the bottom up and the middle out, not the top down,” he said, and drew a contrast between himself and his Republican presidential challenger Donald Trump on plans for the economy and labor. He was introduced by AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. This event occurred amid talks within the Democratic Party on whether President Biden should remain as the Democratic presidential candidate, following widespread criticism of his debate performance against former President Trump.”
July 9, 2024 | AFL-CIO
“Today, a coalition of nearly 50 labor organizations sent a letter to lawmakers in Congress that outlines strong opposition to more than a dozen forthcoming Congressional Review Act (CRA) anti-worker resolutions, including an imminent vote to overturn the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ rule on minimum staffing requirements for nursing homes.”
Oregon Labor
July 11, 2024 | Oregon Capital Chronicle
“One way is to remove the barriers to worker organizing. Historically, unions have been the main driver of better wages and working conditions for workers. But through decades of sustained assaults by corporate interests on organized labor, the share of workers belonging to unions withered.“
July 10, 2024 | OPB
“New workplace safety rules and increased civil penalties were permanently enacted in Oregon at the beginning of this year. Oregon OSHA has yet to issue citations but expects to do so, a spokesman wrote to Oregon Business. Since June 15, Oregon OSHA has opened an estimated 186 inspections including for potential heat-related hazards, according to spokesman Aaron Corvin. About 50 of those have been opened since July 1.”
July 9, 2024 | KOIN
“Amid a record-breaking heat wave that has seen Oregon hit the triple digits on multiple days this past week, crop pickers have no choice but to face the outdoors head-on for their livelihood. Ever since the 2021 heat dome resulted in heat illness-related deaths across the state, including a farmer laborer, Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration implemented rules to keep these hard workers safe.“
July 8, 2024 | OPB
“One of Oregon’s largest labor unions failed last year to convince lawmakers to make it easier for some cannabis workers to unionize. Now the union is spending big to get the law passed another way. United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555 said Monday that it expects to qualify a measure on the November ballot that would require owners of cannabis dispensaries and processors to allow workers to unionize without interfering.”
June 5, 2024 | ArtsWatch
“I’m glad the city is asking for general feedback in this survey, though I wish they were soliciting information from theater professionals intentionally, too. From my perspective, the open-ended question #10 on the city’s survey is the most important one — where I said very loudly, “Don’t close Keller for even a single night without a replacement Broadway theater,” and implored them to keep the venue open.”
July 5, 2024 | Jefferson Public Radio
“Fire departments across Oregon are facing staffing shortages as veteran firefighters retire and volunteer numbers drop. But over the last two years, the Oregon Fire Apprenticeship program has been helping departments bring in more candidates from more diverse backgrounds. Apprentices receive full benefits and a minimum salary of $3,800 per month while they complete their training. The program also covers the cost of the five community college-level classes apprentices are required to take. “What the apprenticeship does is provide you that security of a paycheck while you’re learning the trade,” said Karl Koenig, president of the Oregon State Fire Fighter’s Council.”
July 4, 2024 | Northwest Labor Press
“Governor Tina Kotek signed a proclamation June 27 declaring July 10, 2024, as Linemen Appreciation Day in Oregon. The proclamation is meant to honor the work utility linemen do. July 10, 1886 is the day electric lineman Henry Miller — IBEW’s first president — was fatally injured while working to restore power.”
July 4, 2024 | Northwest Labor Press
“The closure of Keller Auditorium for any length of time would be catastrophic for Portland’s arts and entertainment workers, the arts organizations for whom they work, and the city’s comeback,” said Oregon AFL-CIO Office Manager Emily Sahler during a May 29 city council meeting. Sahler, who is also a member of the Screen Actors Guild, testified at the packed meeting alongside members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), American Federation of Musicians, and UNITE HERE. “We cannot endure any lost work,” said Emily Horton, a wardrobe worker and a member of IATSE Local 28. “Our skills are unique and live-events specific. We cannot just find other jobs. These are the jobs in Portland,” she said.”
July 3, 2024 | OPB
“Temperatures are expected to go well above 100 degrees in some parts of Oregon starting Thursday. While the state has one of the strongest heat and wildfire smoke protections for workers, some farmworker advocates say they worry many people will be putting themselves at risk out of necessity because they can’t afford not to work. When temperatures get extremely hot or the air is too saturated with smoke, many farmworkers have to decide to either work in the fields and risk their health or stay at home and lose wages.”
Washington Labor
July 10, 2024 | The Stand
“Doctors, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants working as hospitalists at Skagit Valley Hospital and Cascade Valley Hospital have filed for union representation with the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD). “Our community has been growing in population and we are seeing and caring for higher volumes of more medically complex patients without expansion in nursing care or specialty services to help offset care demands,” a hospitalist said. “This is leading to less time with the sickest of patients, decreasing time to educate and explain treatment needs and resulting in a system backlog trying to get patients to the appropriate level of care.”
July 9, 2024 | The Stand
“Throughout the summer, the Washington State Employment Security Division (ESD) is highlighting the labor and community orgs that make up the UI Navigation partnership, an innovative collaboration to help working people navigate the Unemployment Insurance (UI) process and train workers on their UI rights. In July, ESD is spotlighting the Washington State Labor Council’s growing program supporting workers with UI needs, both by offering trainings for workers and union staff, and by providing hands on support. UI Navigator Michael Pichler and former Workforce Development Director Kairie Pierce sat down with ESD to share some of the WSLC’s background in workforce development work, and their hopes for the UI navigator program.”
July 9, 2024 | Washington State Standard
“The stage is set for the first-ever contract negotiations between Washington state lawmakers and some of their most trusted employees. Democratic staff in the state House and Senate voted overwhelmingly to unionize Monday, joining their Republican peers in both chambers who elected to form bargaining units last month. Now workers in each of the four partisan caucuses will sit down with administrative leaders of the House and Senate to negotiate separate agreements covering wages, benefits and working conditions.”
July 5, 2024 | Washington State Standard
“Every year, prices for things like food and housing go up. Every year, Washington workers get a cost-of-living adjustment to the minimum wage so they and their families can keep up. And every year, someone makes the tired argument that rising prices are workers’ fault and we should let their wages fall behind. Blaming rising costs on the minimum wage is one of the oldest anti-worker tricks in the book. It’s never true, but since it’s once again resurfaced in The Seattle Times’ opinion pages, it’s once again time for business and labor leaders like us to put it to bed.”
Politics
July 9, 2024 | The Washington Post
“Many of the nation’s most powerful unions confirm they are continuing to back President Biden, despite faltering support among some top Democrats, pointing to his willingness to support their priorities on almost every issue during his first term. The United Steelworkers, Communications Workers of America, Laborers’ International Union of North America and Unite Here, among other unions, confirmed to The Washington Post that they plan to continue to support Biden, despite his disastrous debate performance last month. “I have not seen any indication that any of our union leaders have at all backed off from [their] support [for Biden],” said Steve Smith, a spokesperson for the AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest federation of labor unions, which has affiliates representing some 12.5 million members.”
July 8, 2024 | Forbes
“A 922-page document, the Mandate for Leadership 2025: The Conservative Promise, also known as Project 2025, has been a big topic of conversation as the presidential election draws near. The document, which contains a detailed right-wing proposal of drastic changes for the next Republican president to implement, was drafted by the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation. The leader of the Heritage Foundation, Kevin Roberts, stated in a podcast interview that Republicans are in the midst of “taking this country back” and that the U.S. is currently in a second American Revolution that will “remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.” Although several Trump administration officials contributed to the document, former president Trump has claimed to know nothing about it. Every American should understand Project 2025 and its potential long-term impacts. This article explores three major shifts that the authoritarian playbook will cause in the American workplace if implemented.”
July 3, 2024 | The Washington Post
“Shortly after last week’s debate, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler released a statement focused on the danger of electing Trump. “Donald Trump offered the same stale lies in a pathetic attempt to hide the truth that as president, he betrayed workers and families to govern for the wealthy,” she said.”
Organizing
July 9, 2024 | WVIK
“Director of Organizing for Painters District Council 30 Mandy Jo Ganieany is the first woman director in the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades' history. Jo Ganieany joined a union 25 years ago as a drywaller with Peoria Local 157, within District Council 30, a part of the International Union for Painters and Allied Trades. "To be honest with you, it was the money and the benefits," Jo Ganieany said in a phone interview with WVIK. "Being able to make a liveable wage on my paycheck as a single mom raising my children. That was what led me to the union trade." Jo Ganieany previously worked as a drywaller in a non-union job but disliked the lack of benefits and unstructured pay. "When I was given the opportunity to join the union, that was the first time I realized the value of your union card and the voice that it gave you," Jo Ganieany said.”
Strikes
July 9, 2024 | Orange County Register
“Nearly half of Disneyland, Disney California Adventure and Downtown Disney cast members could soon be on strike if the workers authorize a mass walk-out as union negotiations continue over a new contract for 40% of the 35,000 park employees. Master Services Council, which represents 14,000 Disneyland employees from four unions, announced on Tuesday, July 9 that a strike authorization vote will be held next week."
The Union Difference
July 11, 2024 | Center for American Progress
“Unions are a critical force in American society, ensuring that everyday Americans can earn decent pay and benefits and have a voice in our democracy. Study after study has shown that unions make our economy and democracy stronger by boosting wages for workers, reducing wage inequality, increasing voter turnout for union and nonunion voters alike, and providing a counterbalance to wealthy interest groups. This is part of a historical tradition of unions playing a powerful role for American workers: Unions helped create the 40-hour workweek, child labor laws, and improvements in health insurance."
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