About 20 workers at Community Cycling Center in Portland have become the city’s first union-represented bike shop employees.
On April 2, a group of 17 workers asked the nonprofit’s executive board to voluntarily recognize the Community Cycling Center Workers Union, an affiliate of ILWU Local 5. The board agreed within two days. The unit includes shop mechanics, retail staff, and workers who run community and youth programs.
Community Cycling Center is a nonprofit that operates a bike repair and maintenance shop on Alberta Street. The center also runs programs to teach kids and adults bike safety and basic repair. In a prepared statement, Interim Executive Director Steph Routh said the nonprofit is grateful the staff unionized, because it levels the workplace power dynamics and “expands our organization’s toolkit” to collectively address challenges.
The center is the third nonprofit to voluntarily recognize Local 5 in the last year. Neighborhood Partnerships recognized the union for its 11 workers in March, and Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice recognized the union for its three workers last year.
