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 Actions & Events
A Discussion with Anne Broyles, Author of I’m Gonna Paint: Ralph Fasanella, Artist of the People
NEXT THURSDAY: March 28 starting at 5:00pm | Oregon Labor Center in Portland
Please join the Oregon AFL-CIO and the Oregon Labor Movement for an engaging discussion with Anne Broyles, the author of I’m Gonna Paint: Ralph Fasanella, Artist of the People. Anne’s book is about the visionary folk artist and labor organizer Ralph Fasanella and is perfect for picture book readers because of its stunning illustrations. Click here to learn more & RSVP.
Must Read
March 15, 2024 | The Seattle Times
“You know a company is in deep trouble when comedians and stock analysts take similar jabs. With almost every day bringing more negative headlines about the quality and airworthiness of its products, Boeing is both a punchline and a cautionary tale. In response, the company has made a series of moves to reassure nervous airline customers, investors and the flying public. Much of it has been deemed too little, too late.”
Oregon Labor
March 21, 2024 | Oregon Nurses Association
“February 10-24 Sacred Heart Home Care Services nurses took to the curb to show their employer that they mean business. Today workers are back at the mediation table once again to fight for the contract they deserve! They need a deal that is fair to their patients, coworkers and community!”
March 19, 2024 | Portland Business Journal
“Several postdocs said they struggle to make ends meet on what they're paid by OHSU.”
March 18, 2024 | Oregon AFL-CIO
“The Oregon Legislature gaveled out of the 2024 Legislative Session on Thursday, March 7 after five weeks of fast-paced action where many of Oregon Labor’s priority bills advanced and are on their way to become law. These victories are a result of the incredible advocacy done by Oregon’s unions and their members to ensure our shared priorities were successful.“
Healthcare
March 21, 2024 | The Lund Report
“Legacy Health’s attempt to close a maternity unit last year has sparked a requirement that hospitals consider the impact to communities before reducing services.”
Politics & Legislation
March 20, 2024 | Government Executive
“A pair of House Democrats have introduced legislation that would require employers to be more transparent about their use of surveillance technologies to monitor their workers. The bill, known as the Stop Spying Bosses Act, was introduced on March 15 by Reps. Chris Deluzio, D-Pa., and Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., and would “prohibit, or require disclosure of, the surveillance, monitoring and collection of certain worker data by employers.”
March 21, 2024 | HuffPost“Liz Shuler, the president of the AFL-CIO labor federation, took to X on Wednesday to call the bill “appalling,” saying that it “attacks the fundamental freedoms” of both workers and employers. She also said that it violates “long-held precedent” under the National Labor Relations Act.”
March 18, 2024 | Government Executive
“The Office of Personnel Management last week issued new guidance aimed at helping federal agencies reinstitute forums for management and federal employee unions to work collaboratively to solve problems and, for the first time, measure how the initiative affects employee engagement and agency mission fulfillment.”
March 18, 2024 | The American Prospect
“You'd think it would be hard for Biden to top his full-on embrace of the UAW and their stunningly successful strike against the Big Three automakers. But Biden has just done it by declaring that he opposes the takeover by Japan’s Nippon Steel of U.S. Steel. The U.S. needs to “maintain strong American steel companies powered by American steel workers,” Biden declared, adding: “U.S. Steel has been an iconic American steel company for more than a century, and it is vital for it to remain an American steel company that is domestically owned and operated.”
Workplace Safety
March 18, 2024 | North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU)
“NABTU applauds the Biden Administration’s issuance of the monumentally important rule banning the use of chrysotile asbestos. Construction unions have historically been the hardest hit by diseases caused by asbestos, and it is estimated hundreds of thousands of Americans have lost their lives due to this toxin.”
March 18, 2024 | AFL-CIO
“This rule is a landmark protection for workers, banning and phasing out all current uses and imports of chrysotile asbestos, and eliminating these exposures in workplaces and throughout the supply chain. While a critical step forward, this does not eliminate all types of asbestos fibers and is only the first half of the EPA’s plans to address worker asbestos exposures, including the tens of thousands of workers—many firefighters, construction and manufacturing workers—exposed to “legacy” asbestos throughout our old buildings and infrastructure. We urge the EPA to move swiftly to address those risks as well.”
March 18, 2024 | WSVN
“The AFL-CIO, the country’s largest labor federation that includes unions, applauded the EPA’s ban for providing “landmark protection” for workers. “This action once more shows the deep commitment of the Biden administration to ensure working people remain safe and healthy on the job,” the federation said in a statement.”
Retirement Security
March 18, 2024 | Common Dreams
“Biden wants to save Social Security by having the super-rich — who have become far richer over the past several decades — pay more Social Security taxes. Let's be clear about what's at stake in this election. During a typically rambling and incoherent interview last week, Trump admitted he would cut Social Security and Medicare if reelected.”
Organizing
March 18, 2024 | The New York Times
“Volkswagen employees in Tennessee who are hoping to join the United Automobile Workers asked a federal agency on Monday to hold an election, a key step toward the union’s longtime goal of organizing nonunion factories across the South. With the union’s backing, Volkswagen workers filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board asking for a vote on U.A.W. representation, saying that more than 70 percent of the 4,000 eligible workers at the plant had signed cards supporting the union.”
March 18, 2024 | People’s World
“The United Auto Workers are unionizing at Harvard, or, to be precise, among the prestigious and influential university’s non-tenure-track research and teaching employees.”
Collective Bargaining & Strikes
March 21, 2024 | Yahoo! Finance
“The International Association Of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental, and Reinforcing Iron Workers is thrilled to celebrate a monumental stride towards revitalizing the American semiconductor industry and bolstering the nation's workforce.”
March 21, 2024 | Variety
“SAG-AFTRA is trying to avoid another strike, but the actors union nonetheless has many bones to pick with video game companies in its latest contract negotiations. Among SAG-AFTRA’s key sticking points is trying to get the gaming companies to agree to protections against use of generative AI, which was one of the biggest issues the union fought hard for in its talks with TV and film studios last year.”
March 18, 2024 | Pittsburgh Union Progress
“Workers from five unions that have been on strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for 17 months put their cause on billboards around the city. “Post-Gazette: Restore our healthcare,” the billboards read. “End the strike now.” The photo was made by Steve Mellon, one of the journalists in the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, who went on its own unfair labor practice strike on Oct. 18, 2022.”
A Fair & Just Economy
March 21, 2024 | Common Dreams
A new analysis shows that unionized workers across the United States secured historic wage increases under contracts negotiated last year, further demonstrating the power of collective bargaining. According to Bloomberg Law, 2023 union contracts "gave workers an average first-year wage increase of 6.6%"—the highest raise since at least 1988.