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Monthly Archives: March, 2020

Worker safety

Transit: Ridership plummets, but no workers are facing layoff, and cleaners are working overtime

In Eugene and Salem, bus service is now free. In Portland, new machines are disinfecting buses and trains with peroxide mist nightly.
Union Organizing

Citing coronavirus, Trump-appointed NLRB suspends all union elections

Even mail ballots are out, because NLRB agents count them in front of observers; verifying them while maintaining six feet of distance could be a challenge.
Our Jobs

COVID-19 prevention leads Daimler to close Portland truck plant

The closure impacts roughly 700 members of four unions, and comes amid concerns that workers can't all maintain six feet distance.
Worker safety

Grocery stores respond to epidemic: Sneezeguards, raises, bonuses, and a hiring spree

With grocery workers on the front lines of the coronavirus response, Safeway/Albertsons is raising pay $2 an hour, while Kroger is paying $300 bonuses.
Union Organizing

At Portland icon Voodoo Doughnuts, workers announce they’ve formed a union

Feeling unsafe at a crowded and stressful donut shop that pays at or near minimum wage, workers have nowhere to go but up.
Union Organizing

Even the coronavirus can’t stop union organizing

Immigrant rights group Causa agrees to recognize union immediately. Affordable housing non-profit Casa of Oregon will have to think about it.
Workers Rights

Vancouver’s Columbian newspaper terminates union supporters

Of the three workers laid off March 16, two were leaders of the union campaign and were serving on the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild bargaining team.
Worker safety

The coronavirus pandemic is turning life upside down for working people 

From worried nurses to overwhelmed grocery workers, from layoffs to the stock collapse’s impact on pensions, a look at the epidemic’s impacts on working people and union members.
Workers Rights

Judge lowers ILWU jury award

ILWU is now supposed to pay terminal operator ICTSI $19 million, after a federal judge said the evidence did not support a jury award of $93.6 million.
Collective bargaining

OHSU grad workers win first contract

The unanimously ratified contract includes an immediate $80-a-month increase, three annual raises of 3%, dependent health coverage, and caps hours of work.
Collective bargaining

Support your transit workers!

Local 757 says TriMet plans to eliminate mechanic apprenticeship programs and privatize bus service for the benefit of big companies like Amazon and FedEx.
National

Construction industry exempted in final rule on Industry-Recognized Apprenticeship Programs (IRAPs)

After a huge union outcry, the Trump administration backed off a plan that would have weakened apprenticeship programs—in construction anyway.
Collective bargaining

Legal Aid workers Rally for Fair Wages

The union says low wages have hindered Legal Aid’s ability to attract and retain the staff they need to provide legal services to low-income Oregonians.
Comment

Women’s fighting spirit

The history of the Labor Movement was written by and continues to be driven by leadership and courageous actions of women.
Collective bargaining

SPEEA workers at Boeing split in narrow votes on contract extension

A unit of over 12,000 engineers narrowly voted to accept a four-year contract extension, while a unit of 5,000 technical workers voted to reject it.
Workers Rights

Rat spotted in Vancouver, Washington

General Labor & Industrial Staffing Services' response to the arrival of a giant inflatable rat? Call the police and threaten legal action.
Training the Next Generation

Bricklayers Local 1 apprentices compete

The annual contest in bricklaying, tilesetting, marble, and pointer/cleaner/caulker requires participants to build a project from a blueprint in five hours.
Workers Rights

IBEW Local 48 members now get pregnancy benefits 

Pregnant members can get up to 26 weeks of benefits, starting 13 weeks before their due date, and ending 13 weeks after the birth.
Training the Next Generation

New construction tech debuts at Local 701’s Canby facility

For a week in early March, journeymen and apprentices in Operating Engineers Local 701 got hands on with a new breed of high-tech heavy equipment.
Union Organizing

A union for bank workers

The bank owned by Tom Steyer, billionaire presidential candidate, agrees to union neutrality.
Union Organizing

Safeway.com drivers become the first home grocery delivery workers to unionize

Workers stood strong for their union in the face of union-buster ride-alongs in their trucks.
Oregon

Union-backed initiatives would punish GOP walkout

The measures would fine Oregon lawmakers who fail to show up — and disqualify them from running for re-election.
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Northwest Labor Press is an independent union-supported newspaper founded in 1900. Our print version is mailed twice a month to about 45,000 members of over three dozen local unions in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Our online version has been maintained here since 1997.

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