The Oregon Labor Dispatch: January 18, 2023
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.
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Upcoming Events & Actions
ONA: Rally at Providence HQ to improve paid leave for caregivers in the Providence system
Providence Headquarters: 4400 NE Halsey Street
Friday, January 20 at 4:30pm
Oregon Politics
2023: New Year, New Worker Protections
Jan. 18, 2023 | Northwest Labor Press
From Oregon AFL-CIO President Graham Trainor: “Oregon has a rich history of worker activism and first-in-the-nation policy wins. From being the first state to recognize Labor Day as an official public holiday in 1887 to the most recent legislative session with a number of critical worker protections passed, Oregon’s reputation of being “Union Strong” continues to be widely visible.”
Housing, mental health: Oregon lawmakers face linked crises
Jan. 13, 2023 | The Seattle Times
“Oregon lawmakers will take up a full slate of legislation on pressing and polarizing issues from homelessness to gun control to drugs when the legislative session starts next week after midterm elections that cost Democrats their supermajority but swept in a new, progressive governor.”
Oregon Legislature will consider hospital nurse staffing levels
Jan. 18. 2023 | Oregon Capital Chronicle
“Oregon’s largest nurses union and the hospital industry are gearing up for a push – and potential fight – in the Legislature to bolster the ranks of nurses that have dwindled over the past three years.”
Strikes
The right to strike in danger at the U.S. Supreme Court
Jan. 13, 2023 | People’s World
“The right to strike is on trial today at the U.S. Supreme Court,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler warned in a Jan. 10 tweet about the case, Glacier Northwest, Inc. v Teamsters Local 174. “For nearly a century, federal law has protected workers’ right to strike in order to improve their wages, hours and working conditions.”
U.S. labor strikes went up almost 50% between 2021 and 2022
Jan. 16, 2023 | Marketplace
“The number of strikes in the United States rose almost 50% between 2021 and 2022, according to Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. That pickup in activity has momentum.”
Fighting for a Fair & Just Economy
AFL-CIO’s Redmond: Disenfranchising workers boosts ‘fascist ideology’
Jan. 17, 2023 | People’s World
“Disrespect, disenfranchisement and disinheritance of workers—of whatever race, color or creed—produces “a fertile environment” for hate and “fascist ideology.” So said Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in a speech to the AFL-CIO convention in 1961, and that’s still true today, says AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond. “
Economic data is often misunderstood, hurting Black workers: AFL-CIO chief economist William Spriggs
Jan. 17, 2023 | CNBC
“When there’s an economic slowdown, the racial employment gap grows. But mainstream economic data doesn’t always reflect the struggle, according to William Spriggs, Howard University economics professor and chief economist for the AFL-CIO.”
Closing the gender pay gap has stalled. A new study reveals why
Jan. 12, 2023 | Quartz
“Women have historically been paid less than men. But in the US in the 1980s, they began to catch up — fast. During that decade, the gender pay gap closed by about one percentage point a year. Had that trend continued, a new study finds, the gender wage gap would have reached parity by 2017.”
Organizing
Jan. 17, 2023 | Deadline
“Nickelodeon Animation Studios has agreed to voluntarily recognize The Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839, as the bargaining representative for its production workers. Last month, a majority of the 177 production workers there voted to unionize and to seek voluntary recognition.”
REI's Cleveland Workers File to Unionize, Following California and New York Colleagues
Jan. 17, 2023 | City Beat
“Trailing decisions to unionize in Berkeley, California, and New York City's SoHo, workers at Cleveland's REI location made the decision Wednesday to file for union election. The move, which follows roughly one year of deliberation, comes among complaints of "irregular scheduling" and unfair wages during what workers say is REI's largest profit margin in its 84-year history.”