As reported in the Northwest Labor Press, here are the biggest developments for the labor movement in Oregon and Southwest Washington in 2025.
Top strikes
- PROVIDENCE HEALTH It was the biggest health care strike in Oregon history: Over 4,600 nurses, physicians, and other healthcare workers walked out Jan. 10 at eight Providence hospitals — and stayed out for 47 days. They returned with new contracts that included immediate raises of 16% to 22%.
- KAISER PERMANENTE Roughly 45,000 workers at Kaiser facilities in Oregon, Washington, California, and Hawaii struck for five days in October but were still without a new contract as of year’s end. The strike included 4,000 Kaiser workers represented by the Oregon Federation of Nurses & Health Professionals (OFNHP).
- UNIVERSITY OF OREGON Roughly 4,000 undergraduate student workers struck for 10 days in April and May and won a first contract.
Biggest organizing wins
Oregon saw the continuation of a tremendous wave of union organizing in health care in 2025, with unit after unit voting by overwhelming margins to unionize — especially at the Legacy Health system, which went from largely non-union to largely union almost overnight:
- LEGACY Nearly 2,800 registered nurses, nurse practitioners, and physicians joined Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) at Legacy hospitals and clinics, including Legacy Emanuel, Randall Children’s Hospital, and Legacy Good Samaritan. Meanwhile, nearly 600 pharmacists, behavioral health clinicians, social workers, and support workers joined AFSCME at Legacy hospitals and clinics, including Good Samaritan, Mt. Hood, Emanuel, and Randall Children’s Hospital. And 24 skilled maintenance workers joined Operating Engineers Local 701 at Legacy Salmon Creek, Legacy Silverton, and Legacy Meridian Park.
- PROVIDENCE 1,099 CNAs and other support workers at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center joined SEIU Local 49.
- LABCORP 114 workers at a diagnostic lab formerly operated by Providence joined OFNHP. The campaign came after Providence outsourced its lab operation, much like when 435 lab workers joined OFNHP in 2024 after Legacy outsourced its lab work.
Notable bargaining wins
- NEW SEASONS MARKET A union campaign that began in 2022 culminated in a first union contract for New Seasons Labor Union, bringing immediate raises of up to 16.5% to its roughly 850 members at 10 stores.
- OTHER important GAINS Nearly 30,000 employees of the State of Oregon got 6.5% raises over two years in contracts with SEIU Local 503 and Oregon AFSCME. About 7,000 Alaska Airlines flight attendants won raises of 24.6% to 34.3% in a deal with Association of Flight Attendants that runs through March 2028. About 2,000 heavy equipment operators won increases totaling $9.50 over the next three years in a new agreement between Associated General Contractors and Operating Engineers Local 701. At the City of Portland, 1,100 workers represented by AFSCME Local 189 got 3% raises plus COLAs in a three-year deal, 800 workers represented by City of Portland Professional Workers got 2% plus COLAs in a first contract, and around 200 trades workers in the District Council of Trade Unions got COLAs plus 1 to 8.5% raises over three years. United Academics of the University of Oregon won raises totaling 10% over three years for 1,700 teaching and research faculty. Roughly 800 workers employed by Vigor Industrial at the Portland shipyard got $5.14 an hour in raises over three years in a new contract with the Portland Metal Trades Council. About 500 Metro employees won a 2.67% raise plus COLAs in a new four-year contract with AFSCME Local 3580.
State legislative wins
- OREGON LEGISLATURE Oregon lawmakers passed legislation to let strikers collect unemployment benefits, tackle wage theft in construction, extend the state prevailing wage law to pre-fab construction components, and give Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries a budget increase that will allow the long-underfunded workers rights enforcement agency to burn through its backlog of cases.
- Washington LEGISLATURE Washington legislators passed laws letting strikers collect unemployment benefits, increasing penalties for violating youth labor laws, and addressing abuses in Washington’s workers comp system.
Organizational unity
- SEIU RETURNS In a big deal for labor cohesion, SEIU rejoined AFL-CIO nationally and in Oregon, adding more than 1.8 million members to the national labor federation’s existing 13 million affiliated members.
