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
The strike is still on! 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
TODAY: PSU-AAUP Practice Picket
Thursday October 24, 2024 at 12:00PM | SW 5th and Montgomery on the PSU campus
After receiving notice of almost 100 layoffs PSU-AAUP, the full-time faculty and academic professionals at Portland State will be having a practice picket. You can also show support for PSU-AAUP members by signing this letter to the president.
University of Oregon Student Workers Rally
Friday October 25, 2024 at 1:30PM | EMU Amphitheater in Eugene
UO Gets an F! Reason: Failing on Fundamental Proposals. No Response: Harassment and discrimination, health and safety, free speech and protest. Join us to show UO how they are failing us.
Monday October 28, 2024 at 5:00PM | Zoom
Join higher education workers and students from across the country on Monday, October 28 on Zoom. We will rally our combined energy around a progressive vision of public higher education that works for all of us. We will channel that energy, one week before the 2024 election, to commit to getting our campus communities out to vote on or before election day. Register for a discussion about how we can all fight together for our shared vision of higher education’s future: fully funded, free to students, democratically governed, where all workers are respected and paid a living wage.
Southwestern Oregon Community College Classified Workers Practice Picket
Monday October 28, 2024 at 1:30PM | Southwestern Oregon Community College in Coos Bay
The classified staff at Southwestern Oregon Community College have been bargaining hard for wage increases that would bring them up in range with other college workers across the state.
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.
Sign a Letter of Support for the faculty union at University of Oregon, UAUO
United Academics is fighting for fair working conditions, competitive salaries, and improved benefits, all of which are crucial to the collective success of the University of Oregon and for the well-being of faculty members. Sign a letter of support with the bargaining team.
Support OSU Graduate Workers Strike Fund and Pledge
The Coalition of Graduate Employees (CGE) are ramping up for a potential strike and need your help. Since August 2023, OSU has continually refused to negotiate in good faith. While CGE would prefer to work with OSU to compromise on a contract that benefits both employee and employer, they must be prepared to strike if necessary. Show your support by contributing to their strike fund and signing a pledge to withhold donations to OSU until a fair contract is reached.
Labor 2024 Events
Find more Labor 2024 events and volunteer opportunities on our solidarity calendar.
Phonebank for Legislative Candidates
Thursday October 24, 2024 at 5:30PM | Zoom
Talk to union members and likely voters about labor endorsed legislative candidates. Sign up to volunteer.
Canvass for Hoa Nguyen and Dan Rayfield for Attorney General
Saturday October 26, 2024 at 10:00AM | Meet at the Oregon Labor Center in Portland
Join Oregon Labor at a canvass for State Rep. and union member Hoa Nguyen and Dan Rayfield, our next Attorney General! A BBQ lunch will be provided by Portland Fire Fighters, IAFF Local 43. Coffee and training provided. Sign up to volunteer.
Phonebank for Val Hoyle for Congress and Dan Rayfield for Attorney General
Monday October 28, 2024 at 5:30PM | Zoom
Talk to union members and likely voters about Rep. Val Hoyle who is running for re-election to Congress and Dan Rayfield who is running for Attorney General. Sign up to volunteer.
Phonebank for Lesly Muñoz and Dan Rayfield for Attorney General
Monday October 29, 2024 at 5:30PM | Zoom
Talk to union members and likely voters about Lesly Muñoz who is running for State Representative in House District 22 and Dan Rayfield who is running for Attorney General. Sign up to volunteer.
Phonebank to Get Out the Vote
Monday October 30, 2024 at 5:30PM | Zoom
Join Oregon Labor at a phonebank to Get Out the Vote. 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.”
October 18, 2024 | Northwest Labor Press
“There’s a lot at stake in this November’s elections, including who will be our next president, which party will control Congress and your state legislature, and whether a ballot measure will blow a billion dollar hole in the state budget.“
Boeing Negotiations
October 23, 2024 | New York Times
“Boeing’s largest union rejected a tentative labor contract on Wednesday by a wide margin, extending a damaging strike and adding to the mounting financial problems facing the company, which hours earlier had reported a $6.1 billion loss. The contract, the second that workers have voted down, was opposed by 64 percent of those voting, according to the union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The union represents about 33,000 workers, but it did not disclose how many voted on Wednesday.”
October 23, 2024 | CNBC
“Boeing machinists voted against a new labor deal that included 35% wage increases over four years, their union said Wednesday, extending a more than five-week strike that has halted most of the company’s aircraft production, which is centered in the Seattle area.”
Oregon Labor
October 23, 2024 | KPTV
“Healthcare workers at two Providence hospitals have voted to authorize what could be the first doctors strike in Oregon history. The Oregon Nurses Association says doctors, physician associates, nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives and clinic nurses from Providence Women’s Clinic and Providence St. Vincent Hospital voted to authorize their bargaining teams to call for a strike if necessary.“
October 23, 2024 | Tillamook Headlight Herald
“As negotiations over a new contract drag on and in the wake of a canceled mediation session, members of the Oregon School Employees Association picketed the Tillamook School Board’s monthly meeting on October 14. Kau’I Meriwether, president of the union’s Tillamook chapter, said that after reaching a tentative agreement on wages and benefits in September, the district had made a worse offer before stepping away from the negotiating table.”
October 22, 2024 | Corvallis Gazette-Times
“The union representing more than 200 local government workers planned to open a vote Monday, Oct. 21, to poll its members ahead of intensive…”
October 22, 2024 | Teamsters
“Teamsters at 20 local unions have voted to ratify the Western Regional Master Agreement with Hertz. The three-year agreement includes significant wage increases, employer pension contributions, stronger union protections, and improved just cause language.”
October 21, 2024 | OPB
“Teachers in Greater Albany Public Schools (GAPS) are one step closer to a possible strike. The Greater Albany Education Association announced Friday that it will hold its first strike authorization vote in decades, after the district “failed to agree to essential school safety protections.”
October 18, 2024 | Northwest Labor Press
“To decide who to endorse, union political staff and volunteer member committees spend hundreds of hours preparing questionnaires and interviewing candidates. We spoke with a handful of labor organizations to find out what their process is.”
Washington Labor
October 18, 2024 | Northwest Labor Press
“Pharmacy workers at a Walgreens in Vancouver voted 10-0 Sept. 3 to unionize with with the Pharmacy Guild, a new union affiliated with the healthcare arm of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM).”
October 17, 2024 | The Seattle Medium
“More than a hundred Hilton workers in Seattle have staged a walkout, demanding increased wages, fair staffing levels, manageable workloads, and the reversal of cuts made during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Unite Here union on Saturday. The Hawaiian workers have already been striking. The union announced that the week-long strike involves 374 employees from the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Seattle Airport and the Hilton Seattle Airport & Conference Center, with actions set to continue until the early hours of October 19.“
Politics
October 23, 2024 | New York Times
“We’re all protecting our hearts right now, having been through this before,” said Liz Shuler, the first woman elected to lead the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the largest federation of unions in the country. “We’ve come further, even since 2020, with women leading in ways we’ve never seen before. To not be able to cross that ultimate threshold of the highest position of power in the world would be a sucker punch.” Her union federation, one of the Democrats’ most powerful backers, is tracking a 32-point difference in support for Ms. Harris over Mr. Trump among its female members in internal surveys.”
October 22, 2024 | Fast Company
“Though former President Donald Trump presents himself as a champion of the working class with promises to cut taxes on overtime, his record as both a businessman and president paints a different picture. Trump and his businesses have faced multiple accusations of failing to pay workers overtime they were owed. Once he was in office, Trump’s Department of Labor issued a rule that reduced by millions the number of workers who would have become eligible for overtime pay under an Obama era rule. Project 2025, a Heritage Foundation blueprint for a potential second Trump term that the former president has alternately embraced and distanced himself from, goes even further. The 900-page document outlines plans for a sweeping overhaul of overtime protections that would give employers ways to avoid paying overtime to workers who have long qualified for time-and-a-half pay after 40 hours.”
October 22, 2024 | People’s World
“Two prominent Black union leaders, Communications Workers President Claude Cummings and James Curbeam, chairman of the Teamsters Black Caucus, are warning African-American voters—and everyone else–about the threat of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, and specifically about his platform, Project 2025. Their cautions were part of a wide-ranging discussion of that tome, created by the radical right Heritage Foundation, an ideological think tank which hates workers, women, LGBT people and people of color, among others. A former Trump regime official led the project and others of his ilk, plus GOP President Ronald Reagan’s Attorney General, Edwin Meese, populated it with their recommendations.”
October 22, 2024 | The Harvard Crimson
“Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Julie Su slammed former President Donald Trump for “faux populism” and hypocrisy on labor issues ahead of the 2024 presidential election at a Harvard Institute of Politics forum on Monday. Though Su declined to address the former president by name, she argued that “hypothetically,” opposition to overtime pay, sexual harassment, and support for Elon Musk are incompatible with a “pro-worker” position. “I don’t care how many McDonald’s drive-throughs you pretend to work at,” Su said, referencing Trump’s Sunday visit to a Philadelphia McDonald’s where he served fries and answered questions through the drive-through window. Su was joined by Sara Nelson, the president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO to discuss the future of the American Labor Movement. Brett Story and Stephen Maing, directors of “UNION”— a documentary film that followed the unionization of Amazon workers in Staten Island, New York — were also on the panel."
October 21, 2024 | People’s World
“From constant contact with its large ground game of activists and canvassers, the AFL-CIO reports a huge groundswell and a large lead for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris among unionists and their families. But unionists will keep pounding the pavements, making the phone calls, and distributing union literature about kitchen-table issues, federation President Liz Shuler said in an hour-and-a-half press conference on October 18, discussing election prospects and issues that move voters. That’s because, as Shuler said, unionists and their families make up a fifth of the electorate in the key swing states of Arizona, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, and Wisconsin. “We have [Republican nominee Donald] Trump at around 19% and Harris at around 64% in our field numbers, with the rest undecided,” Shuler said near the end of the discussion. “But we’re still talking to every member."
Corporate Profits
October 22, 2024 | ABC12
“General Motors reported much stronger than expected third-quarter earnings and gave an outlook that puts it on the path for record earnings in 2024 – just a year after a costly strike by members of the United Auto Workers union. The company reported it earned an adjusted profit $3.4 billion in the third quarter, up from $3.2 billion for the year ago period, which was impacted by the first two weeks of the strike that lasted more than six weeks. Adjusted earnings for the first nine months of the year reached $9.9 billion.”
October 17, 2024 | Aviation Direct
“The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA), which represents the airline's flight attendants, described the move as a "big mistake" and sharply criticized management. In particular, the fact that the flight attendants have not yet concluded a new collective agreement while the company is providing significant funds for share buybacks is the focus of the dispute.”
Organizing
October 22, 2024 | The Hill
“The push for unionization in response to return-to-office mandates is not limited to the Justice Department. The National Science Foundation is facing similar challenges from its employees, who are represented by the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3403. Following the announcement of new return-to-office plans, the union conducted a survey that revealed significant employee dissatisfaction. Many employees expressed concerns about the impact of increased in-office requirements on their productivity and work-life balance."
Collective Bargaining
October 20, 2024 | Daily Tidings
“The American Postal Workers Union (APWU) has reached a tentative deal with U.S. Postal Services in a Collective Bargaining Agreement that includes increased wages and improved working hours and conditions. The new contract was agreed to on Friday and must now be ratified by the union’s 200,000 mail carriers. The new contract, agreed to on Friday, must now be ratified by the union’s 200,000 mail carriers. The APWU started negotiations with the U.S. Postal Service in June. ‘Since then, we have met frequently to exchange proposals and make progress toward the new contract postal workers deserve,’ states the APWU."
The Gender Wage Gap
October 22, 2024 | Center for American Progress
“Women’s employment and labor force participation rates remain at record highs. Even so, gaps between men’s and women’s wages widened between 2022 and 2023, and most women of color continue to experience the largest wage gaps. This report provides an updated analysis of the annual income data published by the U.S. Census Bureau and offers key takeaways on how the gender wage gap affected women across race, ethnicity, and age in 2023."
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