Some photos from the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter Holiday Party

 These photos were taken by Sarah Rohrs. They capture the mood of the party perfectly.

Stacey Vieyra-Braendle, Chair of our Labor Chapter

Members of the Oregon Chapter of the Coalition of Black 

Trade Unionists

Norman Sylvester and another band member from

 the great Norman Sylvester Band

State Senator James Manning talking with Oregon School Employees 

Association member leader and Labor Chapter delegate Sella Bemrose

 and Jake Weigler from the Manning campaign. Senator Manning is

 running for Secretary of State.

Storyteller and union activist Donna Erbs held our attention as she 

told a heartwarming victory story. Unions should consider storytelling

 at our events and bring Donna in to lead and teach doing that. 

Student sit-in supporting teachers on December 15 and a higher ed worker support rally at WOU on 12/15 also

This student support action will take place at the same time as a rally at Western Oregon University supporting classified staff who are having a hard time in their union contract negotiations. Go to one or go to the other event if you possibly can, but please do something to stand in solidarity with our union siblings, youth and community members. We need a strong solidarity movement in Marion, Polk and Yamhill counties to follow through with these actions.

Here is a message from a SEIU Local 503, OPEU activist describing the dimensions of the union's efforts in higher ed:

We at SEIU 503 hope you are well and can take a moment to check out our Community Support Petition linked below.

Our 4,500 repped classified workers at the Seven Oregon Public Universities are in a very tough bargain and hope you can sign off on this support request. Classified workers are the non-teaching campus staff who make the Universities run on time – in academic support; IT; housing; health centers; food services; admissions; facilities; grounds and more. And we hope you can share with your allied folks in the coming days and weeks. It will be an important message to eventually send to the University Presidents; their Trustees and the University communities – as well as the bargaining table where we are finding some serious roadblocks.

Our members have bargained and held boisterous rallies this fall at campuses at OIT in K-Falls; U of O in Eugene and OSU in Corvallis and have plans for a big rally this Friday at PSU (12pm at the Urban Plaza – 1819 SW 5th Ave PDX – on campus) and then at WOU in Monmouth on Friday, December 15th at noon as well.

Click here to support and sign on: https://bit.ly/47GurBt

Solidarity & News From Unions And Friends

 

The photo above comes from the National Union of Healthcare Workers website. These are some of the California hospice workers who are coming into the union in large numbers there. Read about them here.

Marion-Polk-Yamhill Solidarity & Fun: Our Labor Chapter will be participating in the Salem parade this coming Friday evening, December 1st, and you and your friends and family are invited to participate. Please bring your union gear. We are going to meet near the intersection of State and Court streets in Salem at around 5:45 PM. We will be giving out some toys, distributing some treats, waving at the crowd and having a good time. I think that the route is a bit less than one mile, but don't hold me to that. Good times!

Second, our annual holiday party will be held on Saturday, December 9, starting at 9:00 AM and going to noon. We will be at the Ken Allen AFSCME union hall located at 1400 Tandem Ave., NE in Salem. There will be great music, activities for kids, Caesar The No Drama Llama, storytelling, gift bags, and snacks. There will also be a table for folks who want to organize a union or join a union associate membership program. The holiday party will be more fun.

SEIU Local 503, OPEU higher ed workers at WOU and PSU: At our last Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter meeting we heard a report from a union activist at WOU. Negotiations for a new union contract in our state's higher ed system are not going well. We supported a call to rally in support of the union at WOU at noon on Friday, December 15. If you can attend, please do so. The union has since posted a November 17 update on negotiations here.

Portland Jobs with Justice reports this from Portland State University:

Classified workers have started contract negotiations with administration at the seven Oregon public universities. These workers keep students fed, facilities and infrastructure cleaned and maintained, and so much more. Like so many other workers, classified staff are barely keeping up, choosing which bills to pay, and watching the value of their paychecks erode while the new PSU president is paid more than half-a-million dollars per year (plus a $96,000 yearly housing allowance). Community members and other allies are encouraged to join SEIU 503 workers for a rally to demand a fair contract for the people who make PSU work.

Where: PSU Urban Plaza, 1819 SW 5th Ave., Portland, OR 97201
When: Friday, December 1st, 12-1 pm

Photo taken from a PBS 2021 story about the Teamsters

 at Amazon.

Amazon's legal troubles continue. Read about one fight in Washington State here and one in Canada here. Meanwhile, workers at Starbucks continue to organize despite great pressure from the company. See this story. 

Starbucks Workers United

Doctors are organizing. Jacobin magazine has a great article on doctors in Minnesota and Wisconsin who are organizing a union of physicians. Another effort is underway in Oregon, California and Washington State with the Union of American Physicians and Dentists.

Are you TRAPped? Are you one of the hundreds of thousands of "bank workers, salespeople, dog groomers, police officers, aestheticians, firefighters, mechanics, nurses, federal employees, electricians, roofers, social workers, paramedics, truckers, mortgage brokers, teachers and metal polishers" and others working under a "stay or pay" contract clause, often also known as a training-repayment-agreement provision (TRAP), that charges you if you leave your job? The Sunday New York Times Magazine of November 26, 2023 carried a long article by Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein on these oppressive agreements and that's where the incomplete list of occupations where workers are TRAPped comes from. It's possible that as many as one-third of U.S. workers work under such agreements and are forced to either work on jobs where they face burnout, poor safety conditions, harassment and low pay or pay employers and collection agencies what can amount to large penalty payments if they leave their jobs. This is what happens when unions lose power. Towards Justice may be able to help if you're a victim of TRAPping.  

Union holiday shopping: If you are doing holiday shopping, check out Union Plus before you get deep into spending money. It really will save you money. If you or the people you're shopping for are readers, the University of Illinois Press is having a holiday sale. They publish some of the best labor history books in the United States. International Publishers is also having a holiday sale and they have some great labor offerings. I recommend reading William Z. Foster's American Trade Unionism. Use coupon code IP@100 when you check out.

Our Upcoming Children's Holiday Party