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.
Strikes
IAMAW Boeing Machinists Strike
24 hours everyday | Airport Paint Hanger 4635 NE Cornfoot Rd. & The Boeing Co. 19000 NE Sandy Blvd
On September 13 at midnight, over 30,000 workers represented by IAMAW at Boeing plants in Oregon and Washington walked out on strike after voting down a tentative agreement. Support the strike by joining a picket line. For a strike map, times, and more go to: https://www.oraflcio.org/strikemap.
SUPPORT THE LINE AT BOEING IN OREGON
As the Boeing strike enters its second month, here are some ways you can show solidarity:
Contribute to the IAM Portland Boeing Strike Assistance Fund
Sign up for a picket line shift
Drop off filling and nutritious food at the picket line
Show your support on social media using the Oregon AFL-CIO’s toolkit
Sign the solidarity pledge
Teamsters Local 324 and 206 Bigfoot Beverages Strike
24 hours everyday | Bend, Eugene, Coos Bay, and Winston OR
Bigfoot Beverage workers represented by Teamsters Local 324 and 206 are on strike for a fair contract and secure retirement benefits. Support the strike by joining a picket line. For a strike map, times, and more go to: https://www.oraflcio.org/strikemap.
Events & Actions
Thursday October 17, 2024 at 4:00PM to 5:30PM | Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital
Let's stand united for community healthcare! Nurses at Providence Hood River continue to fight in an effort to get a fair contract from their employer. We will picket on May Street between 12th & 13th Streets from 4-5 p.m. and then gather at Jackson County Park for a bargaining update.
New Avenues Workers Union Community Rally for a Living Wage
Tuesday October 22, 2024 at 5:00PM to 7:00PM | Portland Art Museum
New Avenues for Youth Workers voted to form a union in 2023 and have been in bargaining with the Employer over a first contract for over a year. Due to the Employer’s lack of movement on wages, New Avenues Workers Union is hosting a Community Rally for a Living Wage outside a New Avenues Comedy Fundraiser featuring Michael Che at the Portland Art Museum. Workers will be leafleting outside as donors and community stakeholders enter the event asking them to urge New Avenues to listen to workers and pay a fair wage for the important work that they do for our community.
Saturday November 2, 2024 at 6:30PM to 8:30PM | White Owl Social Club in Portland
Following the largest nurses strike in Oregon history, nearly 6,000 Providence nurses, doctors, providers, and healthcare professionals, may be on the cusp of yet another, unprecedented state-wide strike. We're taking this important step in our years-long campaign to better protect our patients and our colleagues from the corporate takeover of healthcare at Oregon’s largest healthcare corporation. Naturally, we decided to have a party! Please join us, our allies, and community members for a strike fundraiser and celebration of our struggle.
Labor 2024 Events
Find more Labor 2024 events and volunteer opportunities on our solidarity calendar.
Phonebank for Val Hoyle for Congress and Dan Rayfield for Attorney General
Thursday October 17, 2024 at 5:30PM | Zoom
Talk to union members and likely voters about Val Hoyle for Congress and Dan Rayfield for Attorney General. Sign up to volunteer.
Canvass for Lesly Muñoz and Dan Rayfield for Attorney General
Saturday October 19, 2024 at 10:00AM | Meet at 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.
Phonebank for Emerson Levy for House District 53 and Anthony Broadman for Senate District 27
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.
Must Read
October 17, 2024 | Northwest Labor Press
“Let’s be crystal clear about our movement’s focus during election season: we work on campaigns to build power for working Oregonians; to ensure the priorities and the values of working people are reflected in our endorsed candidates; and to stand with those who will be champions for the agenda of working people. Period, full stop.”
Boeing Negotiations
October 15, 2024 | Reuters
“Boeing (BA.N) factory workers will hold a large rally in Seattle on Tuesday to demand a better wage deal, mounting pressure on new CEO Kelly Ortberg to end a bitter strike that has plunged the planemaker further into financial crisis. Around 33,000 unionized West Coast workers, most in Washington state, have been on strike since Sept. 13, demanding a 40% wage increase spread over four years and halting production of Boeing's best-selling 737 MAX and its 767 and 777 widebodies.”
October 14, 2024 | Al Jazeera
“United States Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su has flown to Seattle to meet with Boeing and the union representing about 33,000 striking workers to nudge both sides back to the bargaining table, Reuters news agency has reported, citing an unnamed source. Her intervention comes days after the planemaker, dealing with a crippling strike now in its fifth week, unveiled plans to cut 17,000 jobs and take a $5bn hit to cover costs related to problems across its various units.”
October 10, 2024 | Quartz
“After negotiations broke down again between striking Boeing machinists and the aerospace giant, the leader of the union representing the workers says they are prepared to play the long game. “We’re in this for the long haul and our members understand that,” Jon Holden, lead negotiator for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) District 751, told Reuters (TRI +0.08%) in an interview published Wednesday.”
Oregon Labor
October 16, 2024 | KTVZ
“Nearly 200 employees from the technical bargaining unit at St. Charles Bend have ratified their next union contract that will establish conditions for workers and ensure continuity of care, union officials said Wednesday. They said 100% of those workers who voted chose to ratify this contract, signifying a universal level of support for the agreement. These health care workers, who are members of the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (OFNHP, AFT Local 5017), were fighting over issues like living wages and a voice on the job, according to a union statement.“
October 15, 2024 | OPB
“Barely three weeks into fall term at Portland State, faculty members are already receiving notice of possible layoffs. Nearly 100 non-tenure track faculty got notice Tuesday. And the union that represents them, PSU’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, is expecting dozens more this week.“
October 15, 2024 | The Statesmen Journal
“A Democrat represented Oregon's 22nd House District for 18 years until 2022 when Republican Tracy Cramer won the seat by 542 votes. The district includes Woodburn, North Salem, Gervais, Brooks, and Labish Village. Cramer is being challenged by labor organizer Lesly Muñoz in the 2024 general election.“
October 15, 2024 | AFSCME
“Last week, to recognize World Mental Health Day, an AFSCME behavioral health worker from Oregon joined Rep. Andrea Salinas (D-Oregon), co-chair of the bipartisan Mental Health Caucus, and other professionals in the behavioral health field in a roundtable talk to discuss the challenges facing caregivers and barriers to the crucial services they provide. Chief among those challenges, according to Porter Clements, a bilingual outreach and enrollment specialist at Outside In and president of AFSCME Local 1790, is short staffing.“
October 14, 2024 | Teamsters
“Teamsters have escalated pressure on Bigfoot Beverages by extending picket lines to its distribution facility in Bend, Oregon. The extension of the picket lines is part of an unfair labor practice (ULP) strike led by more than 240 members of Teamsters Local 206 and Teamsters Local 324.“
October 11, 2024 | Register-Guard
“Eugene classified school workers are celebrating a big win following a months-long bargaining session. The Oregon School Employees Association Chapter 1, which represents more than 1,100 classified workers in Eugene School District 4J, and the district reached a tentative agreement Sept. 27. The agreement ensures relevant classified staff receive invitations to Individualized Education Plans, 504 plans and other specialized needs plans. It also grants adequate training for classified employees based on the specialized plans such as medical training, allows classified staff access to specialized plans in the classroom and electronically, guarantees 30 minutes per week to review specialized plans and formalizes a process for requesting additional classroom support, including training and staffing.“
October 11, 2024 | Tillamook County Pioneer
“We are writing to notify you that the Tillamook School District has canceled our mediation session scheduled for October 17. While we are incredibly disappointed in this unprecedented decision, we have come to expect that the District will play by their own rules and continue to bargain in bad faith, in violation of labor laws.“
Washington Labor
October 12, 2024 | KOMO
“Over 100 hotel workers have gathered at the Doubletree Seattle Airport and Seattle Airport Hilton & Conference Center to strike on Saturday. The UNITE HERE union, which represents the striking housekeepers and other hospitality workers, said they are fighting to raise their standards to a level that respects their work and allows them to support their families in 2024. “Hospitality work overall is undervalued, and it’s not a coincidence that it’s disproportionately women and people of color doing the work,” Union President Gwen Mills said.“
Politics
October 15, 2024 | The New York Times
“Across town, Mr. Biden joined a dinner held by the Philadelphia Democratic City Committee at the local sheet metal workers’ union hall, where he revved up attendees with a punchy speech and unleashed a long list of attacks against former President Donald J. Trump.”
October 14, 2024 | AJC
“The AJC's Bill Nigut and Tia Mitchell explore unions' role in the 2024 presidential race, AP's election night process, and GA state Fed president Yvonne Brooks interview on 2024 election.”
October 15, 2024 | AP News
“JThere has been a doubling of petitions by workers to have union representation during President Joe Biden’s administration, according to figures released Tuesday by the National Labor Relations Board. There were 3,286 petitions filed with the government in fiscal 2024, up from 1,638 in 2021. This marks the first increase in unionization petitions during a presidential term since Gerald Ford’s administration, which ended 48 years ago. During Trump’s presidency, union petitions declined 22%. President Joe Biden said in a statement obtained by The Associated Press that the increase showed that his administration has done more for workers than his predecessor, Donald Trump, the current Republican nominee who is vying to return to the White House in November’s election."
Strikes & Negotiations
October 15, 2024 | Airline Geeks
“Pilots at Frontier Airlines, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), have overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike if necessary. The vote, which concluded on Tuesday, saw a 97% participation rate of the carrier’s 2,200 pilots, with 99% casting ballots in favor of strike authorization. The pilots’ collective bargaining agreement became amendable in January 2024, and the union and airline have been engaged in mediation since then. However, negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement have not yet resulted in a contract that aligns with industry standards, the union said.”
October 9, 2024 | Marketplace
“Nearly four weeks into the Boeing worker strike, the parties are no closer to reaching a union contract. The plane manufacturer offered a 30% pay increase over four years, and union members said no. The major sticking point here? Pensions. Boeing workers stopped getting defined benefit plans a decade ago, and they want them back. Fifty years ago, most full-time workers had a pension. Once they retired, their employers sent them a check every month, until they died. But in the 1980s, pensions started to disappear.”
Organizing
October 16, 2024 | The Nation
“When Marjorie Levinstein, 35, began working as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute on Drug Abuse in 2021, she knew from the outset that she wanted to advocate for her fellow postdocs. At the University of Washington, where she had received her PhD in neuroscience, she saw firsthand “how the union really fought to improve our lives.” But the unionization movement at her new employer, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), didn’t have that infrastructure. In July 2021, it amounted to “five people on a Zoom call,” Levinstein told The Nation. Now, she’s fighting for her union’s first contract in an over-5,000-strong collective bargaining unit, which won its vote by a nearly 98 percent margin last year."
October 15, 2024 | HuffPost
“More U.S. workers appear to be turning to unions in hopes of improving their jobs. On Tuesday, federal officials reported a 29% jump in union election petitions during the most recent fiscal year, rising from 2,593 in 2023 to 3,286 in 2024. The increase is part of a yearslong trend at the National Labor Relations Board, the agency that oversees private sector union elections and enforces collective bargaining rights. The NLRB said the number of petitions it’s received has more than doubled since 2021, when the board was reshaped following President Joe Biden’s victory over former President Donald Trump."
Union-Busting
October 11, 2024 | Bloomberg Law
“Wells Fargo & Co. employees seeking to be the first nonbranch-based workers to unionize say the bank fired members of their proposed bargaining unit and made other changes to working conditions ahead of a scheduled vote. Employees in Wells Fargo’s conduct management intake department started voting Thursday on whether to join the Communications Workers of America’s Wells Fargo Workers United, the first-ever union at a major US bank."
Remembering Lilly Ledbetter
October 14, 2024 | CNN
“Lilly Ledbetter, whose gender pay equity legal fight was the inspiration for the Fair Pay Act of 2009, has died at age 86, according to the team making a film about her life. Ledbetter died of respiratory failure, her family told AL.com. In the 1990s, after 19 years of working for Goodyear, Ledbetter learned she had been making thousands of dollars less each month that other – male – managers. Ledbetter sued Goodyear in 1999 for gender discrimination. She initially won in federal court in 2003 and was awarded $3.8 million in backpay and damages. The decision was later overturned after the tire giant appealed. The AFL-CIO – The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations – described her as a hero. “Lilly Ledbetter simply wanted to be paid the same as her male Goodyear coworkers – and her fight took her to the Supreme Court, Congress, and the White House to sign the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. She was a true hero, and we send our deepest condolences to her family."
October 13, 2024 | AL.com
“Former President Barack Obama on Sunday paid tribute to Alabama’s Lilly Ledbetter following her death Saturday. The nation’s 44th president released a statement on the social platform X. The two shared a personal connection, as the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was the first bill Obama signed into law after taking office in 2009. “Lilly Ledbetter never set out to be a trailblazer or a household name,” Obama stated."
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