A new movement making new demands

Photo by Gordon Lafer taken at a UO stuent 

workers union meeting.

 

"Oregon labor is still strike ready," says Oregon AFL-CIO President Graham Trainor. I hope so, but...

Our Oregon AFL-CIO President Graham Trainor had a prescient opinion piece published in The  Northwest Labor Press under the date of February 19, 2024. The piece is forward-looking in the immediate sense that it anticipated the strike at PeaceHealth, classified staff at the Salem-Keizer School District winning a tentative argreement without striking, the tentaive agreement reached covering state higher ed classified workers, and some other union-won victories. It is also forward looking in the sense that it forecasts widespread interest by working-class people in what unions are doing in our state and in the sense that the article is a kind of preliminary report-back from the first-ever Oregon Strike School. The school was one of a few experimental efforts held around the United States intended to help build capacity for organizing and winning strikes, and as such it demonstrates that we're reaching a new stage in Organized Labor. I am going to repost Brother Trainor's piece in its entirety below and provide a few additional comments of my own below that.

Oregon labor is still strike ready

By GRAHAM TRAINOR, Oregon AFL-CIO president

On January 27, over 100 trade unionists gathered for the first-ever Oregon Strike School, a day-long training focused on building stronger and more effective contract campaigns and powerful strike threats throughout Oregon labor. With attendees from over 30 different unions from across Oregon’s economy, it was clear that our movement isn’t satisfied with the history-making action of 2023. In fact, based on the energy and the focus at Strike School, and what we continue to see in the first few months of 2024, last year’s labor action was just the beginning.

In my article last month, I highlighted how strikes and collective action reached incredible heights in 2023. We saw double the number of workers who went on strike in 2022, the highest seen in over a decade. And countless other groups of workers built powerful, strategic, and credible strike threats as well, winning big before needing to strike.

Just over the last 12-18 months, we’ve seen nurses and health care workers win big using a multi-faceted strategy including legislative victories, strike threats, and powerful and well-timed strikes, all with a backdrop of constant new organizing. We’ve seen public service workers and woodworkers win big by using their most powerful weapon. We’ve seen autoworkers wage an inspirational campaign that not only won a game-changing contract, but has been the spark for new organizing throughout the automobile industry and supply chain. We’ve seen building trades unions build some of the most credible strike threats that I’ve seen in my career, and winning big because of it. We’ve seen actors and writers around the country take on powerful corporations and CEOs, spotlighting the real fears and concerns about artificial intelligence disrupting their industry and undermining their jobs. We’ve seen hundreds of thousands of package delivery and warehouse workers leverage their collective power in Oregon and across the country to win a historic agreement at UPS. At the end of 2023, we saw the first teachers’ strike in Portland’s history drawing national attention to the need for more robust funding for public education and achieving the schools our children deserve. Last month, we saw graduate employees at the University of Oregon use the threat of a well-organized strike to win a historic contract. And right now we’re seeing more healthcare professionals say “enough is enough” in Lane County, walking the line for a fair contract and higher education workers across the state holding practice pickets as their contract campaign heats up.

This brief summary showcases something really important. Strikes — and well-organized, credible strike threats — work. They win life-changing contracts.

Amidst this excitement and momentum, we must never lose sight of just how unfair and imbalanced the economy is as the working class continues to be squeezed by inflation, the lack of affordable housing, the student debt crisis, all while facing hostility and backlash from the multi-billion dollar union-busting industry every time we try to organize unions. Understandably, working people are looking to see who’s fighting for them, who’s on their side.

And when they see the labor movement consistently in the streets, in state legislatures, and at bargaining tables holding the line for our shared values, it comes as no surprise that we’re seeing historic union favorability statistics and nine out of 10 young people supporting our movement.

This is our time to push back with every ounce of our being on the rigged economic system and win what’s ours from the wealth our labor creates. This is the moment to strategize, to dig deep, and to build the strongest contract campaigns our movement has ever seen. And as we do that, it won’t just be our movement that is better for it. The working class and our democracy will be better for it as well. See you on the picket line!

And here is my take on Brother Trainor's article:

As I said above, this is a forward-looking article on several counts. I hope that there will be more Strike Schools coming and that they will help unite union members across union and geographic lines, and across racial, gender, and social and political lines as well. It is good to hear labor leaders speak plainly about a "working-class" and not limit themselves and our movement to talk about a middle-class and the even more vague "working families." There is a strong opening here to continue building labor-community coalitions not only on the basis of temporary shared interests, but on long-term shared interests as well. I hope that the logic expressed here will help build towards a win for the working-class in November and for either a revitalized all-people's and grassroots-driven Democratic Party or a new political formation that better expresses progressive and working-class-led needs. Please see this and this for updates on Oregon AFL-CIO endorsements in key legislative races. 

Now, I have been on strike many times, though only one of those strikes was completely union-authorized, and I have participated in scores of other strikes over the past fifty-two years. There was often a thin or porous line separating union-led and community-supported or community-initiated strikes in the coalfields when I was a younger person, and if you had relatives or friends or neighbors on strike then you hit the picket lines with them. This often resulted in arrests and in getting fired, but it was always worth the trouble. There were people in my generation---I was one of them---who came to idealize striking.And there were union members---my father was one of them---who reactively took pride in never having voted for a union contract. We looked tough and we talked tough, but I have come to realize over the years that many of the most "strike-happy" folks do not make good union builders and organizers.

Harlan County, Kentucky mine workers organizing.

The context that prevails today is very different than what we saw in the 1970s, when part of the labor movement was still on the offensive from the late 1960s, and it is also quite different than what was taking place from the early 1980s to around the turn of the cenrury, when we took some heavy defeats, went on the defense, and often shot ourselves in our feet and blew off most of our toes. It took the Battle of Seattle (1999), Occupy (2011), Black Lives Matter (2013), the George Floyd protests (2020), and other social movements to begin to push unions in the right direction. This coincided with a strengthened and new push to organize from within labor, a combination of restive union members pushing and some union leaders being willing and able to listen and act. And after twenty-five or thirty years we still don't have the critical numbers of activists and union members needed to successfully turn the tide in our favor. The AFL-CIO set a goal at one point of organizing and gaining one million new union members, but our magic number needs to be closer to ten or eleven million.

With all of the above in mind, then, I think a great deal about how the pieces might fight together to win over ten or eleven million people to becoming union members and how to inculcate disciplne, solidarity, and building leadership in a society that stresses individualism and seems to be tearing at the seams, a country that seems closer to civil war right now than it does to class conflict and far from reinventing itself as a capable democracy. Truth be told, we're not going to bring in critical numbers of people and still maintain our leadershiop and the way we do things. Union members and leadership need to choose within the conundrum which side we're on. 

I'm encouraged to read Brother Trainor writing that "Amidst this excitement and momentum, we must never lose sight of just how unfair and imbalanced the economy is..." and

And when they see the labor movement consistently in the streets, in state legislatures, and at bargaining tables holding the line for our shared values, it comes as no surprise that we’re seeing historic union favorability statistics and nine out of 10 young people supporting our movement.

Brother Trainor ends on exactly the right note when he says "This is our time to push back with every ounce of our being on the rigged economic system and win what’s ours from the wealth our labor creates."

It's in finding the balance between a "labor movement consistently in the streets" and in the "state legislatures, and at bargaining tables" where some of our biggest difficulties and contradictions set in. In practical terms, I think, this means a very different way of formulating our demands. Can we figure out how to put forward demands that represent our communities as well as union members? Can we get to Project Labor Agreements without giving up the right to strike? Can we build union density in the service and logistics industries and still win more than the minimum and dues check-off? Can we find new ways of working with seniority that keeps recently-hired women and people of color working in majority-male and majority-white workplaces when there are layoffs?

Continuing on, I believe that the way we do politics now is backwards. We chase candidates who are in the system, we compare scorecards, and we work through PACs to support them. I want to suggest that we instead test people within our movements and allow ourselves to be tested as well---and strikes can be a primary means of doing this---and see who emerges as leaders over time and make them our candidates. The money for campaigns will then likely flow from the movements, but the funds needed may be less because at that point we're building people power at the base. Here is Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates speaking to the points I'm making here:

My last point in responding to Brother Trainor's post may sound pessimistic, but I want to put it forward as a real concern. Strikes need to be militant, lively, fully inclusive, realistic, and disciplined in order to win. We should all be in the habit of striking or protesting regularly, if only to hone our skills. Shawn Fain, the President of the United Auto Workers union, is arguing for what might effectively be a general or mass strike on May Day of 2028. That will take heavy and structured mass organizing to accomplish, and I don't know if the AFL-CIO unions have that in them or not. But beyond that, we need to think through what our fall-back will be when striking doesn't work and when we hit the outer limits of militancy. Strikes will not change the balance of power or bring in the millions of people we need by themselves. I can imagine large numbers of union members missing out on understanding the differences between tactics and strategies and getting more caught up in the means (striking) than in the ends (our goals) and our hoped-for forward movement becomiong a backward step. What then? How do we save those moments from becoming defeats and work them into continuing the work that must be done?  

The views expressed here by the author are not those of the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter or the Oregon AFL-CIO.

Black History Movie Night In Portland On Thursday, Feb. 29 at 7:00 PM

 

Join SEIU Local 503 AFRAM Caucus, the Oregon Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, and Portland Rising for a Black history movie night at the SEIU Local 503 office on 2/29 at 7pm. Representative Travis Nelson and Oregon AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Sarina Rohrer will be leading the event.

"Right-To-Work" is taking some hard hits. What does that mean?

 The AFL-CIO reported yesterday that

Top Cut:
The New Hampshire House of Representatives on Thursday voted down H.B. 1377—this legislative session’s attempt to pass “right to work”—by a margin of 212–168.

Why It Matters:
In a clear display of how New Hampshire residents feel about these legislative attacks on workers’ rights, more than 1,400 members of the public testified or signed on to register their position on the bill over two days of testimony, and only about 50 were in support of the right to work. The House postponed the entire topic for the rest of 2024.

New Hampshire AFL-CIO President Glenn Brackett said in a statement, “While out-of-state billionaires and D.C. lobbyists continue to enlist legislators to introduce identical bills, year in and year out, our elected representatives of both political parties have voted to defeat them. That is what happened today. It happened because the people of New Hampshire, and the members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, know what we know, that ‘Right-to-Work’ is STILL wrong for New Hampshire.”

The same AFL-CIO report mentioned the following:

Top Cut:
Georgia union members and leaders spent Thursday morning lobbying state House of Representatives members against S.B. 362, a bill that would prohibit employers receiving state economic development incentives from voluntarily recognizing employee unions.

Why It Matters:
The bill, which is championed by Gov. Brian Kemp, is similar to a law passed in Tennessee last May and a cookie-cutter piece of legislation drafted by corporate lobbying group American Legislative Exchange Council. Alabama and South Carolina also have passed related laws. But, despite these coordinated special interest attacks on workers across the South, Georgia teachers, electricians, painters, glaziers, film crew members, public college employees and other workers across industries showed up in full force to push back and urge lawmakers to do the right thing in the state.

This followed a February 14 report by the AFL-CIO that said the following:

Top Cut:Michigan officially got rid of “right to work” on Tuesday, making it the first state in nearly 60 years to repeal the law.

Why It Matters:
Originally enacted in 2012 by then-Gov. Rick Snyder, after the bill was passed during a lame-duck session of the Legislature, the repeal of right to work is a huge step to expand and protect workers’ rights in Michigan. Tuesday also saw multiple other pro-worker pieces of legislation signed into law, thanks to the democratic trifecta in Lansing, including restorations of prevailing wage and organizing rights for graduate student research assistants.

There was some worthy press coverage of the real of "right-to-work" in Michigan. PBS did a good story. That story says in part that

Michigan had the nation’s seventh-highest percentage of unionized workers when the “right-to-work” law was enacted in 2012, but that dropped to 11th in 2022. Over the past decade, union membership in Michigan has fallen by 2.6 percentage points as overall U.S. union membership has been falling steadily for decades, reaching an all-time low last year of 10.1%.

Michigan becomes the first state in 58 years to repeal a “right-to-work” law, with Indiana repealing its in 1965 before Republicans there restored it in 2012. In 2017, Missouri’s Republican Legislature approved a “right-to-work” law, but it was blocked from going into effect before voter’s overwhelmingly rejected it the next year.

In total, 26 states now have “right-to-work” laws in place. There were massive protests in Indiana and Wisconsin in recent years after those legislatures voted to curb union rights.

“If we want to make Michigan a place where people want to come and raise a family and build their careers for the long haul, it is critical that we have got these strong workplace protections,“ Ron Bieber, president of the Michigan State AFL-CIO, said. “By standing up and taking their power back, at the ballot box and in the workplace, workers have made it clear Michigan is and always will be the beating heart of the modern American labor movement.”

Truthout and the Economic Policy Institute also carried good coverage. The New Republic carried a strong analysis of what's wrong with "right-to-work" in the first place. 

Many of us will read the headlines and think that we are being told what we already know or will feel justified in our long-standing opposition to "right-to-work" and leave it at that. Perhaps this is why there is so little coverage of what happened in Michigan and New Hampshire and what is happening in states like Georgia and Tennessee even in the progressive press. But I think that there is a deeper story here.

The strikes and near-strikes of 2023 have to find an expression in politics, and I think that that is what we are seeing taking place in muted form in some states and nationally right now. We have young and progressive pro-labor candidates stepping up and pro-worker legislation being moved from the grassroots in many places. These trends ae one key part of defeating the Republican agenda in November and each victory along the way helps build momentum for other new wins. It's true that workers and union members are more driven by issues than we are inspired by either political party, but it's also true that it's Democrats---and particularly young, progressive and women of color Democrats----who are leading on our issues right now. The Squad looks more like The Troop this week, and might look like The Battalion soon if if this trend continues.

Significant numbers of union members understand what is going on. The United Electrical Workers' (UE) report on their union's recent General Excutive Board meeting contains the following:

In his Political Action Report, President Rosen noted that close UE ally Congresswoman Summer Lee (D-PA), along with many other of the most pro-worker members of Congress, are under attack by deep-pocketed right-wing forces and will be facing well-funded opponents in their primaries this spring. Congressman Chuy Garcia (D-IL), another close UE ally, may also be facing a similar primary challenge. UE will be issuing a leaflet to make sure members know about Lee’s record of standing up for workers.

GEB members also discussed the dilemma that will face workers in the fall, as they will be forced to choose between the disappointing incumbent, Joe Biden, or Donald Trump, who has vowed to use the government to punish his perceived enemies if he is returned to office.

 

Photo from UE.

Many union members understand the complex moment we're in but some don't. One of my fears is that our closest political friends won't receive the support from us that they deserve in the names of what seems expedient or practical. Another is that the counter-attack from the right will hit hard and turn our world upside down. And there is the pernicious racism and sexism that has historically divided us at key moments in the past and still threatens our unity. Every nay-sayer and defeatist seemsto be gettig the press coverage and seems to picking up the mic these days, and they're doing lots of damage. 

Where are you standing in relation to this? Are you keeping your hands on the plow and your eyes on the prize or are you somewhere else? Here's a reminder about we're headed if we have everyone on our side keeping focused on our goals.

Photo from The New Republic

The opinions expressed above belong solely to the author and are not those of the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter or the Oregon AFL-CIO.

Two views on Oregon's 2024 legislative session so far

Our first take on Oregon's 2024 legislative session comes from the Northwest Workers Justice Project (NWJP). NWJP modestly describes their work in the following terms:

NWJP protects workplace dignity by supporting the efforts of low-wage, immigrant and contingent workers to improve wages and working conditions and to eliminate imbalances in power that lead to inequity.

In fact, NWJP does much more and meets their goals and does movement-building. They show up when and where it makes a difference and they ae a more-than-competent progressive voice for worker rights. I am not partial to non-profits, but NWJP is a winning exception. Please support them with a contribution today. Their legislative update says:

We are in an even-numbered year, so that means a short session at the Oregon Legislature. The 35-day session kicked off on February 5th. As most of you probably know, the focus is on housing and Measure 110 (related to drug decriminalization.) Very few bills related to workers were introduced, and even fewer are moving forward on the tight timeline of the short session. We submitted testimony regarding a bad bill that would have undermined Oregon’s strong Pay Equity Law by creating a vague “business necessity” exception. We supported the Oregon AFL-CIO’s successful effort to stop this bad bill from becoming law. NWJP is focused on supporting efforts to fund a number of programs that our client community needs: the Climate Change Fund, the Home Fund and Universal Representation. These funds are part of the larger Oregon Worker Relief Fund, which advocates created during the pandemic to help undocumented Oregonians survive when workplaces were shuttered. The Climate Change Fund grew out of the rulemaking on extreme heat and wildfire smoke. Advocates realized that Oregonians who do not qualify for unemployment insurance, including undocumented workers, need a way to be paid when they have to miss work due to climate emergencies. We are asking for $9 million to replenish this fund. The Home Fund provides financial relief to immigrant Oregonians at risk of eviction and homelessness. NWJP hears from workers every week who are at risk of eviction or who have recently been evicted. We are asking for $6 million for this fund, which is a drop in the bucket of what is needed during our current housing crisis. Finally, Universal Representation (U-Rep) is the idea that all immigrant Oregonians need legal support during immigration proceedings. Studies make clear that immigrants without legal counsel are more likely to be deported. Oregon passed U-Rep in 2022, but the current funding does not meet the great need for this support. The request is $7.5 million. Please send an email as soon as possible to your elected representatives in support of these important budget requests through PCUN’s action alert here. Our second legislative update comes from Oregon AFL-CIO President Graham Trainor. The strength of this report is that it demonstrates how so much of our labor political work is about the nuts-and-bolts of policies that affect our daily lives as workers, things that we often forget until we or someone close to us says, "Hey, I need that!" This is why I keep paying dues to three unions and donating to our poitical action funds. Please join me in doing that. In a press release dated February 23 Brother Trainor offered the following: The 2024 Oregon Legislature is moving at a rapid pace, with many of Oregon Labor’s priority bills moving out of committee, into the budget committee, and onto the floor for votes. We’re excited to see bills defending healthcare workers, education workers, and public employees among many others get closer to becoming law, as well as our priority bill to ensure labor standards are a part of all offshore wind development. With only a few weeks left in this 35-day session, unions and worker advocates are working diligently to ensure as many of our priorities pass as possible before the gavel falls. Here’s an overview of where Oregon Labor legislative priorities are at this point in the short session: HB 4080: Offshore Wind - Strong Labor Standards and Roadmap Directive Led by the Oregon AFL-CIO and a priority of a number of our affiliates, HB 4080 ensures that if and when Offshore Wind Development comes to Oregon, there are strong labor standards required. Oregon has a few opportunities to influence the process to develop Offshore Wind development in federal waters. In addition to strong labor standards like apprenticeship utilization, prevailing wage and living wages and family supporting healthcare, the bill also includes a robust roadmap process to support engagement between offshore wind developers and impacted organizations, communities and tribes. The bill passed on a party-line vote out of the House Business and Labor Committee. SB 1552: Supporting All Education Workers A priority of OSEA, this education omnibus makes important technical fixes to support workers in K-12, higher ed, early learning and redefines educators to finally include classified instead of just teachers. This bill passed unanimously out of the Senate Education committee. SB 1594: Behavioral Health Worker Safety SB 1594 is a priority of Oregon AFSCME to require behavioral health safety plans and include minimum staffing levels and protocols for addressing safety risks at these facilities. These adjustments will help keep clinicians safe and reduce burnout. Furthermore, funding for apprenticeships and training programs will provide more students with the knowledge they need to be successful as clinicians. This bill passed unanimously out of the Senate Health Care committee. SB 1595: Debt Collection Reform Led by a coalition of unions and consumer advocates, SB 1595 offers protections for families and ensures that they can meet their basic needs while facing debt by increasing the amount of take-home pay protected from court seizure or garnishment, protecting the first $2,500 in an individual’s bank account, and increasing the value of a home protected from seizure. These adjustments will offer some stability for working people in times of extreme stress, and better allow them to take care of themselves and their families. The bill passed on a party-line vote in the Senate Labor and Business committee and unanimously in the Senate Finance and Revenue committee. SB 1578: Healthcare Interpreter Portal A priority of Oregon AFSCME, SB 1578 creates a portal for health care interpreters to help streamline the process and give these workers much better wages and benefits, while also improving patient outcomes. This bill passed on a party line vote out of the Senate Health Care committee. HB 4006: Equity for Construction Workers & Contractors A priority of the Ironworkers, HB 4006 requires a contracting agency to accept from contractors surety bonds in lieu of retainage for construction projects and public improvement contracts. This will help ensure that historically and currently marginalized contractors and workers have a fair shot at getting ahead. After a unanimous vote in the House Business and Labor Committee, the bill passed unanimously on the House floor. HB 4045: PERS “High Risk” Tier HB 4045 is a priority of the Firefighter and Oregon AFSCME to help over 3,200 public safety workers qualify for improved retirement benefits. The bill includes state hospital workers and 911 operators into PERS and lowers the retirement age for firefighters. The bill passed unanimously out of the House Emergency Management General Government committee and in the Ways and Means subcommittee. HB 4050: Pay Equity Subversion (opposition) Brought by Oregon Business and Industries, HB 4050 would have subverted Oregon's pay equity law which ensures that women, people of color, and other workers from protected classes are not paid unfairly. We successfully made sure that this bill in its current form does not move forward this session. HB 4077: Incident Reporting Access in Schools A priority of OSEA, HB 4077 takes a massive step toward ensuring education workers feel safe at work and is the next common-sense bill for OSEA’s Work Shouldn’t Hurt campaign. The bill increases access to incident forms after a worker is injured on the job by making an online form that can be completed on a smart phone and computer. This bill passed unanimously out of the House Education committee. HB 4085: Immigration Legal Assistance HB 4085 provides grants to help individuals and families afford immigration legal assistance. In Oregon, we know our communities are most successful when we all feel safe, respected and welcomed. Proactive affirmative immigration legal services will create pathways to citizenship and provide safety, security and stability for our immigrant and refugee communities. This bill passed unanimously out of the House Early Childhood and Human Services Committee. HB 4088: Addressing Violence Against Healthcare Workers HB 4088 creates a pilot program to address and prevent hospital workplace violence and make assaults on hospital workers a Class C felony. This is a priority of ONA, AFSCME and other unions representing healthcare workers. This bill passed nearly unanimously in the House Judiciary Committee. HB 4112: Clean Energy Tech Supply Chain HB 4112 has the potential to make Oregon a regional leader in clean tech manufacturing while promoting good high skilled manufacturing jobs through state procurement preference. This is a priority of the Blue Green Alliance and a number of Building Trades affiliates. This bill passed out of the House Climate, Energy and Environment Committee on a bipartisan vote. HB 4124 & SB 1582: Post-Pandemic Funding for the Arts HB 4124 and SB 1582 allocate funding to help cultural and arts programs who are struggling to bounce back after the pandemic. As union workers at many of these facilities, this is a priority of IATSE and AFM among others. These bills passed nearly unanimously out of the House Economic Development committee and Senate Business and Labor committee. HB 4125: Adjunct Faculty Trend Study Bill AFT-Oregon's priority bill, HB 4125 funds a report on higher education workforce to understand trends and information on the quality of the jobs and governance systems nationwide. This bill passed nearly unanimously out of the House Higher Education Committee. HB 4130: Protecting Against Corporate Control of Healthcare HB 4130 protects against corporatization by closing the LLC/LLP loophole in our current laws. HB4130 also bans non-competes, non-disparagement clauses, and stock transfer restriction agreements to bolster physician independence. These changes will strengthen Oregon’s existing protections against corporate control of healthcare. By doing so, our state will be preventing increased healthcare corporatization and keep healthcare costs low for Oregonians. After a bipartisan vote in the House Health Care committee, it also received a bipartisan vote on the House floor. HB 4158: Expanding Child Care Capacity for Home-Based Providers, Small Centers, and Rural Areas A Fair Shot for All priority, the bill helps fund childcare infrastructure to provide financial assistance grants to child care providers. The bill passed nearly unanimously out of the House Early Childhood committee. Thank you for everything you do to build power for working people! If you have any questions about legislative priorities or how the Oregon AFL-CIO can support your union’s priorities in Salem, please contact Catie Theisen, our Political and Legislative Director. In Solidarity, Graham Trainor President, Oregon AFL-CIO He/Him/His

SEIU Local 503, OPEU has a tentatve agreement covering state higher ed staff

An announcement from SEIU Local 503, OPEU today contains the following good news. Worker labor and community solidarity ws clearly a party of this win. We can support one another---and support makes all of the difference!

Thanks to the incredible power workers have been building on our campuses—signing strike pledges, practice picketing, rallying, delivering our petitions to administration, and more—we have moved management to come to a tentative agreement that includes historic cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs), protects our contracting out language, moves us forward on building our union, and a $1,500 one-time payment in our April paychecks (prorated by FTE).

More details will be shared soon, but here are the headlines:

15% COLAs in the next two years
$1,500 one-time payment in our April paychecks
No takeaways on contracting out language

None of this goes into effect before union members vote to ratify the agreement. We will share more information about ratification votes in the days to come.

Remember, we fought to protect our health insurance and steps in the agreement that members voted to ratify in 2022.

Only members can vote in the ratification – if you aren’t a member, join today!

In Solidarity,

SEIU 503 Higher Ed Bargaining Team
Ashley Wase (PSU), Colleen Martin-Low (SOU), Darryn Stevens (OIT), Jo Hickerson (EOU), Johnny Earl, Chair (UO), Louie Vidmar (UO), Mark Dunbar (OSU), and Samantha Brubaker (WOU)

Tesla workers in Sweden and CBS digital workers in the United States---What's the connection?

What's the connection between Tesla workers in Sweden and CBS digital workers in

 the United States? We're part of one global working-class and we have a shared interest

 in building strong unions. We have much to learn from one another. We're entering a new moment in labor solidarity together.

Support the Salem-Keizer Education Association and their fight for a fair union contract

The Salem-Keizer Education Association (SKEA) and their fight for a fair union contract picked up some positive mention on Oregon Public Broadcasting on February 16 and February 24. A statement from SKEA president Tyler Scialo-Lakeberg was quoted by the OPB reporter covering the story on February 16 as saying, "The Association views the District’s (contract) proposal as simply articulating the status quo... Students and staff cannot persist under the status quo. It is time for a change.”

The union is asking for public support and is suggesting the following:

One way you can support us is by emailing the seven (currently six) members of the School Board about your priorities and the way that SKEA's proposal addresses those priorities.

At this website: https://salkeiz.k12.or.us/about/school-board, you can find information about each member. Their email addresses all follow the same format: lastname_firstname@salkeiz.k12.or.us (just like your students' teachers!).

Tell them what your priorities are:
—Small class sizes
—Safe schools
—Teachers who are valued
—Support for special education and gifted education
—School nurses, counselors, and social workers

Ask them to look carefully and critcally at the two proposals—they represent the COMMUNITY, and they provide DIRECTION to the District. Not the other way around!

Ask them to clearly support SKEA’s proposals and critically consider the District’s messaging.
Later, check out our other posts about contacting Superintendent Casteńeda, attending upcoming events, supporting local businesses, and reassuring your students.

AND:

One way you can support us is by emailing Superintendent Casteńeda about your priorities and the way that she can direct the District's response to SKEA's proposals on these priorities.

We KNOW that our educators' work environment IS our students' learning environment. Smaller class sizes are important because we can serve your students better! Smaller case loads mean your student's case manager can work more closely with them and support them more. More nurses, counselors, and social workers mean your students' social and emotional well-being is prioritized. Share your authentic experience with Superintendent Casteńeda and let her know you support SKEA's proposals.

The Salem-Keizer Education Association has an active Facebook page and website. One page of the union's website tracks press coverage and there are a number of short and helpful video messages and updates as well.

Superintendent Andrea Castañeda can be reached here. It is my understanding that the Board has been told that they should refrain from being involved in contract negotiations or taking sides and that a majority of the Bord members have acquiesced. A good starting point in our communiations might be to remind our Superintendent and the Board members that unions are an important part of our commuinity, not a special interest, and that we expect them to be familiar with all of the community and represent all of the community in their deliberations. They can't do this if they are not actively engaging with labor.

Graphic from SKEA

The opinions expressed in this post are not those of the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter or the Oregon AFL-CIO.

AFSCME Council 28/WFSE Sets A High Bar For The Rest Of Us. Let's All Try To Get There Together!

AFSCME Council 28--Washington Federation of State Employees is doing some great organizing, they're moving legislation forward, and they're building a stronger community presence. You can catch up with their latest news here and on Facebook. They have a diverse membership and a progressive leadership. I greatly appreciate that Council 28 is encouraging support for the Poor People's Campaign. 

The photos below come from Council 28 and the call to action comes from the Washington State Poor People's Campaign. We could use a Poor People's Campaign here in the Mid-Willamette Valley, I think. 

From the front lines of the fight to win a union contract for state higher ed classified staff

 

The Associaton of Salem Keizer Education Support Professionals has a tenttive agreement

 

We worked late into the night Wednesday and Thursday along with District Leadership to secure an agreement that we all deserve! We did this together!! COLA 7%, 3.75%, 4% Retroactive to July 1st, 2023. $100, $40, and $25 towards insurance. $5000 Recognition & Retention Stipend for all full time members and $2500 to less than half time members. 4% Bilingual Differential. New and improved Health & Safety language. ...and so much more! Your dedicated commitment to showing up and standing up to have your VOICE heard is what won US an historic contract! Stay tuned for more information about an all-member meeting. It will be scheduled in the coming days to discuss the full contract and ratification process... WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER

FARM WORKER WOMEN IN OREGON AGRICULTURE: Achievements and Gender-Based Inequities---Presentation in Salem on Sunday, March 3

Learn from and Support our Oregon Women Farm Workers in this Community Forum sponsored by PCUN, Farm Worker Ministry Northwest and the St. Mark Lutheran Church Social Ministry Committee.

Our GUEST SPEAKERS from PCUN, Oregon's Farm Worker Labor Union, will discuss FARM WORKER WOMEN IN OREGON AGRICULTURE: Achievements and Gender-Based Inequities
Guest presenters Marlina Campos and Martha Lopez of PCUN / Farmworkers and Latinx Working Families United will speak about local women advocating for justice in their workplace and community. Farm worker women face sexual harassment, health concerns, inadequate childcare, harsh working conditions and more, such as limited life expectancy.

Learn more PCUN's work for women's empowerment in the community & the Oregon Legislature and what allies can do.

Sunday Morning Forum for Church & Community

Sunday, March 3, 2024

11:15 am--12:15 pm

St. Mark Lutheran Church Lounge

790 Marion St., Salem, OR 97301

PLEASE SHARE THIS INVITATION IN YOUR NETWORKS
Information: Ed Brandt, 503-917-1326 call or text edgarbrandt74@gmail.com. Thank you!

DONATIONS WELCOME for PCUN's organizing, political advocacy, education efforts and speakers' costs www.pcun.org, click on "donate" for online donation or checks payable to PCUN, mail to PCUN, PO Box 38, Woodburn, OR 97071. Thanks also for cash or checks at the event.

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Thanks for participating in this forum and celebrating Women's History Month!

Humanitarian Aid for Gaza Educators and Students

https://www.gofundme.com/f/humanitarian-aid-for-gaza-educators-and-students

The impact of the armed conflict between Israel and Hamas has caused loss of human life in both Israel and Gaza and has left education communities and the whole world in shock. The National Education Association (NEA) extends its unwavering support to all students and educators in the region, and we are committed to advocating for a peaceful resolution, the protection of schools, universities, and educational personnel, and the prioritization of education in relief efforts.

NEA is working with Education International (EI) and EI affiliates in the West Bank to help provide support to meet the most urgent needs of educators and students in Gaza. This includes the distribution of food and blankets, as well as books and toys for children.

While EI affiliates primarily operate in the West Bank where their members actively engage in advocating for the rights and well-being of educators, they have forged connections with teachers in Gaza. These EI affiliates are collecting and will distribute resources.

All donations will benefit Education International’s Solidarity Fund for Gaza.


Cecilia Evans
Chief Financial Officer
NEA Member Benefits

Text from the NEA GoFundMe page and photo from Education International. This post does not reflect the opinions of the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter or the Oregon AFL-CIO.

The Salem-Keizer Education Association Gives Their Side Of The Story

The American Federation of Government Employees is on the move

These photos come from the American Federation of Government Employees, a union that is rebounding after years of attacks from the Trump administration, the right-wing, and others who want to privatize government services and who object to the very concept of a srong federal government. The photos tell a story: AFGE is becoming one of the leaders in the broad coalition needed to defeat the right-wing and the anti-government forces in November. 

  

Starbucks Workers United is making history today!

Starbucks Workers United is announcing their biggest filing day for union elections in Starbucks Workers United history - workers atTWENTY-ONE new stores are announcing their organizing efforts together today!

The National Labor Network for a Ceasefire has an important program this Thursday

 

Labor journalist Hamilton Nolan and union leader Sara Nelson spoke in Corvallis yesterday. Here's what I heard them say.

Labor journalist Hamilton Nolan  and Sara Nelson, International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO since 2014 spoke in Corvallis yesterday as part of a book tour publicizing Nolan's book "The Hammer." The book is described as "A timely, in-depth, and vital exploration of the American labor movement and its critical place in our society and politics today, from acclaimed labor reporter Hamilton Nolan." I attended the talks, but I have not read the book. The following notes contain some of my take-away thoughts. I want to encourage others with differing points of view to send in their comments or do some posting here or elsewhere with their take-aways.

I have often disagreed with Nolan and In These Times, the publication where I most often read what he is thinking. It's more difficult to disagree with Nelson because she gives inspirational speeches and she can draw on her considerable experience in union leadership. The Association of Flight Attendants is making great progress with her leadership, and just last week the AFA made headlines with once more leading a militant movement of flight attendants and other airline industry workers in protests in advance of union contract negotiations and increasing union organizing. In fact, both Nelson and Nolan have union organizing experience and this made their presentations especially important. At least half of the audience in Corvallis were union members. I imagine that more union members will attend their talks that are being given in Portland today.

Nolan and Nelson are syndicalists, but of a non-revolutionary sort. Syndicalism is a long-standng and difficult-to-define way of thinking about workers, unions and social change. I have intentionally provided a link to a liberal definition of the term because syndicalism is usually (and mistakenly) associated with anarchism in the United States. We have the conservative syndicalism of the building trades unions that uses forms of capitalist market-based mechanisms to build union stability and power, the traditional liberal syndicalism of the American Federation of Labor that has been focused on working-class mutual aid and integration, the industrial unionism of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and the anarchist-revolutionary syndicalism of the Industrial Workers of the World that is focused on overthrowing capitalism and establishing a kind of decentralized socialism. Syndicalism decenters politics in favor of formsof "workers' control," strong unions, working-class solidarity of different kinds, and forms of direct action in order to achieve goals that fall within and outside of mainstream union contract bargaining. I doubt that Nelson and Nolan think of themselves as syndicalists, but it seems to me that they land somewhere in that tradition.

Nolan was an early leader in the relatiely successful movement to unioinize workers employed in digital media. He learned some hard truths in that effort: unions are not always prepared to organize, there isn't one plan in place within organized labor to reverse union declines, and there is not always a desire among union members and leaders to organize non-union workers. He sees two choices available to unions as we think through how to reverse the years of decline and take on the widespread economic inequality that the decline of union membership has brought on. Either we work on reforming government and social policies or we rely on workers leading mass organizing campaigns. Nolan did not say this---and this may be covered in his book---but it seems that he's thinking of this as an either/or proposition while others, myself included, think that this is an "and" proposition. He' right when he says that "Unions have a great opportunity---we just need to seize it," but he's less clear when he talks about "giving workers their power back."

"The Hammer" apparently features Sara Nelson, although it sounds as if the book is also built around case studies of union organizing campaigns and activism. We cycle through prescriptions on how to rebuild unions every few years. Awhile back it was Andy Stern, a few years ago it was Jane McAlevey, and it's also been Joe Burns and a few others. Kim Kelly is an emerging voice. But some of the best voices have either been marginalized or have to fight for the mcrophone in order to be heard. I'm thinking of Frank Emspak and Bill Fletcher, Jr. here. In any case, the talks in Corvalis became a kind of Nolan-Nelson conversation or interview.

Photo from Getty Images and AFA-CWA.

Nelson knows how to move a room. She trained as an educator and she has been a guest lecturer in many universities and she never turns down an interview. She understands how workers think and what moves workers to act. I have never heard her speak without her going to her own and other's emotions. Corvallis is her home town and she had a friendly audience to work with.

Nelson has a story that most of us can identify with even if we did not experience what she did during 9/11 and in the period immediately following the terrorist attacks. She lost friends and union siblings when the towers in New York were hit, and airline industry greed and a helpful intervention by Senator Ted Kennedy helped push her to taking a more active role in her union. Nelson could build on growing up in a working-class family in Corvallis and having already achieved some level of social success as she constructed both her union leadership and her political consciousness. She pointed out that "There is not incredible inequality in Oregon as there is in other places," and she could rightly highlight the democratic advances that we have won here, as a way of talking about rising inequality and the need for union organizing.

Nelson referred to leadership in the airline industry as "crisis capitalists" and talked about how 9/11 was used by these industry leaders to redefine work in the airline industry. This was her "real schooling," she said, and she used that to point out the barbarity of capitalism and point to how high union density in the airline industry has forced the companies to appear as progressive entities and how this, in turn,  brought them into conflict with the Trump administration. Effective union leadership at any level needs to be able to tell such a story and give real-life examples. Where Nelson stumbles, I think, is when she says "The idea that we're a divided nation is utter baloney" after telling her story. It's precisely the barbarity of capitalism that she describes that divides us. 

From that Nelson argues that union leadership must be results-oriented. She goes on to say that union members want more money and better union contracts, but that we also want a voice at the table. It is at this point where some of the other limitations in her thinking become apparent, I think. She's correct in pointing out that the decline in union power and presence has meant a decline in participation by working-class people in politics, but she is so issue-oriented that she believes that greater union power will somehow "balance out" what happens in politics. Union organizing then becomes the means to check what she acknowledges is a barbaric system and not replace it with something else. 

For his part, Nolan claims tht ninety percent of people can't or won't talk union because what we're doing is not relevant to them. He wants to reframe what politics means, and he seems to want polititicized strikes that are not tied to political parties and yet somehow produce working-class political power. I see a contradiction in how Nolan thinks of strikes and possible strike outcomes, but I am more interested in how Nolan sees us moving from a situation in which masses of workers reject us to a situation in which those workers are willing to join strikes that become politicized in positive ways. He cites the Las Vegas culinary workers  as a model, but I'm not sure that this is a good example for him to use in making his case.

Image from In These Times.

   

Nelson and Nolan take on some other tough issues. They're opposed to unions endorsing Republicans, even those who claim to support union programs, and Nelson made at least one comment indicating that she supports President Biden and said that she thinks Representative Katie Porter is what a candidate should look like and be. They're taking on union leaders and members who can't visualize us organizing ten million new members and they're holding out for the kinds of sizeable investments that are needed to make this organizing possible. They reject American Compass and that attempt by the right-wing to pose as being pro-labor. Nelson well understands how the current popularity that unions have has to be joined to action, but not everyone on our side will agree on what "action" means or is willing to do what that entails. They support the call for a ceasefire in Palestine/Israel and see this as a labor issue. On the other hand, they're not really rooted in the traditional left-wing of the labor movement. They reject forming a labor party on the grounds that that is divisive and they're cautious about general strikes.

But where are Nolan and Nelson going here? They understand that a working-class movement can be built from common working-class interests and through action aimed at winning positive results. They get that using union power builds union power. Nelson gets the importance of building rank-and-file leadership and moving every valid working-class issue into the mainstream of the labor movement. She and Nolan do not seem to think that the AFL-CIO can build such a movement. They take the historic labor concept of "an injury to one is an injury to all" to its logical and broad conclusions. The AFA lives this out by actualizing women's union leadership, by requiring leadership to put in blocks of time working with others not in the AFA, and by engaging in organizing that may double the union's ranks if it is successful. Nelson accepts that new members mean changes in unions.   

Nelson and Nolan both highighted a need for non-profits to take the lead in organizing workers, and Nelson is engaged with Unioin Now. She spoke of this as a coalition of non-profits supporting one another in organizing, but it was not made clear where the large amounts of money needed for mass organizing will come from or what interests have to be negotiated in order to get and use that money. Nolan mentioned using college students and leveraging government funding in order to carry on organizing. All of that is intriguing, but it means that unions as we know them will disappear, it raises many questions about class interests (will wealthy people and government really pay for union organizing?), and it leaves alone the questions of how we convince our union siblings that new union organizing benefits all of us and how anyone---unions, non-profits or something else---can organize in industries or markets that they don't know. It's a fact, I think, that it takes unions about a decade to learn the dynamics of every new industry they seek to organize, so why would non-profits have an easier time of it? Missing from the talks were points about the special role of Black labor in organizing and leadership, a troubling omission. And what happens if Nolan and Nelson lead critical numbers towards non-profits and another kind of labor movement and we have a repeat of the Change to Win disaster?

I still disagree with Nolan on many things, and I found reason to disagree with some of what Nelson had to say, but I found it more difficult to articulate my disagreements as I listened to them. They're raising real issues.

Does anyone want to read "The Hammer" as part of a group?

Harlan County, Kentucky miners organizing in 1939.

   

The opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter or the Oregon AFL-CIO.