Workers at the Oregon Historical Society voted Nov. 21 to affiliate with International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 5, the local union that represents employees at Powell’s Books.
The unit consists of 23 full-time permanent librarians, archivists, and receptionists at the non-profit’s downtown Portland museum, library, and headquarters and a storage warehouse in Gresham. The workers have been unionized since 1990, when they formed their own independent union, the Oregon Historical Society Employee Association. Now they’ll be part of a 36,000-member West Coast union best known for representing workers on the docks.
Within ILWU Local 5, they’ll maintain their own dues structure and their own officers: President Joey Beach and Secretary-Treasurer Matt Cowan.
Their current contract expires Jan. 31, 2018.
