Legislative bills to let striking workers collect unemployment benefits are halfway to the finish line in Oregon and Washington. The Oregon Senate passed Senate Bill 916 on a 16-12 vote March 20. And the Washington Senate passed Senate Bill 5041 on a 28-21 vote March 7. Each bill now awaits action in the state’s House of Representatives. As amended, the bills in both states would require a 14-day waiting period before striking workers become eligible. Weekly benefits max out at $836 in Oregon and $800 in Washington. The maximums are adjusted annually.
SB 916 is this year’s top legislative priority for organized labor in Oregon. According to the Oregon AFL-CIO, more than 500 Oregonians submitted testimony in favor of the bill over the course of six public hearings and information and work sessions.
After three public hearings and two informational meetings, the Senate Labor and Business Committee amended the bill so that striking workers would have to wait 14 days to apply for benefits, instead of the seven days other unemployed workers wait, as originally proposed. The bill as amended would also require workers to repay benefits if back pay is included in a strike settlement.
“We have to make sure we are supporting workers’ rights to strike and bargain collectively — while also protecting against unintended impacts on our small businesses or cities, counties and school districts,” said Sen. Khanh Pham (D-Portland), explaining her support for the amendments.
New Jersey and New York are the only other states that allow strikers to collect unemployment benefits, and they also require a 14-day waiting period.
“Striking is a last resort when employers refuse to bargain in good faith and use delay tactics to drag out contract negotiations,” said Oregon AFL-CIO President Graham Trainor in a statement after the Senate committee vote. “SB 916 will ensure that no one has to go hungry or miss rent payments and create a more level playing field between workers and employers.”
When the bill got to the Senate floor, Republican opponents pushed a substitute that would have made striking workers eligible for unemployment benefits after three weeks — but would also have barred strikes by all public employees. The substitute failed on an 18-10 party-line vote, with two Republicans absent.
In the 16-12 vote on the bill itself, Democrats Jeff Golden of Ashland and Janeen Sollman of Hillsboro joined the 10 Republicans present in voting no.
“Now is not the time to be adding more uncertainty and more expenses, which Senate Bill 916 would certainly do,” said Sollman, a former Hillsboro School Board member, explaining her vote.
Golden, a former Jackson County commissioner, cited similar concerns about local government finances. (The bill applied to both private and public sector strikers.) The League of Oregon Cities joined Oregon Business & Industry and other business groups to oppose the bill.
The Oregon Employment Department has taken no position on the bill. Director David Gerstenfeld told the senate committee March 6 that based on Oregon’s experience in the past decade, the bill would have resulted in an estimated $4.4 million drawn from the unemployment insurance fund if it had been law. The fund currently stands at $6.4 billion.
“That amount is not close to triggering a rate change,” he said. In other words, making strikers eligible for unemployment benefits won’t mean that employers have to contribute more to the fund.
On the same day as the Oregon Senate vote, Gov. Tina Kotek named Gerstenfeld as director of the Department of Revenue, the state tax collection agency.
SB 916, having passed the Oregon Senate, is also a top priority for Oregon State Representative Dacia Grayber (D- SW Portland), chair of the Labor and Workplace Standards Committee.
“As we have this increasing corporate imbalance, working people are left with few ways to stand up to an oligarchy,” Grayber said. “Striking is one of them.”
Grayber is a firefighter with Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue and a member of International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 1660.
As in Oregon, Washington senators also weakened the striker unemployment benefits bill before passing it. Benefits for strikers will be limited to 12 weeks, whereas other unemployed workers are eligible for up to 26 weeks. Strikers’ right to unemployment benefits will also expire after 10 years, unless lawmakers vote to renew them.
Under SB 5041, workers would become eligible for benefits on the second Sunday after a strike begins, plus a one-week waiting period.
The Washington House passed a similar bill in 2024 but the Senate failed to act.
Washington’s session ends April 27; Oregon’s on June 29.
