For New Years, we took a look at the most important events for organized labor and working people — in Oregon, Washington and nationwide.
Biggest strikes
Continuing the new normal since 2018, workers continued to strike in larger numbers than the period before. Here are some of last year’s biggest:
- 47,000 members of International Longshoremen’s Association shut down East and Gulf Coast ports for three days in October.
- 33,000 Machinists shut down Boeing aircraft manufacturing in Washington and Oregon for 54 days, until Boeing came back offering 43.65% in wage increases over four years.
- University of California turned into one big strike school with a two-day strike by 37,000 AFSCME members, a one-day strike by 29,000 faculty, and a 14-day strike by 30,100 grad student workers.
- Oregon State University, the state’s largest, also saw 1,800 graduate teaching and research assistants walk out for nearly four weeks, returning with a 13% raise.
- The independent union at New Seasons pulled off a one -day strike Nov. 27 by 1,100 workers, and followed that with a boycott that’s ongoing.
- At the Providence hospital chain in Oregon 3,000 nurses struck for four days in June. Bargaining continues.
- 4,500 members of UFCW Local 555 struck Fred Meyer for three days in September, and settled a new contract the following month.
Nationally, United Auto Workers lifted spirits in April when workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga voted 2,628 to 985 to join; it’s the first foreign-owned auto plant in the United States to unionize.
Biggest organizing wins
Locally, union organizing continues to explode at Oregon Health and Science University — 595 nurse practitioners and physician assistants there joined Oregon Nurses Association January, and 2,000 research staff joined AFSCME in April. The year’s next biggest union organizing win in Oregon was also with AFSCME, when 366 workers at Central City Concern joined in September.
Ballot measure wins
Voters in three states raised the minimum wage and/or mandated paid sick leave. In Alaska, 58% of voters approved a ballot measure to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour, require employers to provide earned paid sick leave, and ban captive audience anti-union meetings. A Missouri measure to phase in an increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour and require employers to provide earned paid sick leave for employees passed with 58% support. And a Nebraska initiative to require employers to provide earned paid sick leave for employees passed by a resounding 75%.
Legislative wins
- Oregon lawmakers approved early retirement for 911 dispatchers and Oregon State Hospital employees, and high labor standards for any upcoming offshore wind projects
- Washington legislators passed laws banning “captive audience” anti-union meetings, allowing public employees to unionize by signing online union cards, and giving their own legislative staff the right to unionize and collectively bargain.
Bad news
- Governor Tina Kotek put Oregon’s first big proposed offshore wind project on hold over concerns expressed by tribes.
- U.S. union membership levels hit a new low in the annual report from the Bureau of Labor Statisticts: just 10.0% of workers are in a union.
- The union-endorsed candidate for president, Kamala Harris, lost in the November election. Donald Trump’s return to the White House could halt or reverse progress made on workers rights during the Joe Biden administration.
