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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Worker justice delayed: The NLRB Blues
A recent surge in unionizing is bringing awareness to the National Labor Relations Board election process and employers' anti-union tactics.
Reproductive justice is a labor issue
As the Supreme Court prepares to overturn Roe v. Wade, the labor community has a responsibility to stand up and fight back.
Manchin, Sinema, Kelly: Which side are you on?
Last month's U.S. Senate derailing of President Biden’s nominee David Weil was a sobering loss for the union movement.
Why Oregon labor is backing Christina Stephenson
One of the most significant elections for working Oregonians on the upcoming May ballot is the race for Oregon’s labor commissioner.
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
The AFL-CIO made a mistake, displaying the Ukrainian flag upside down. So did we. But union haters used that—in bad faith—to slam labor.
‘The union,’ or ‘Our union’?
When members call their organizations “the union," instead of "our union" it frames the union as an outside “third party."
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
What caused labor's decline, and is key to its revival? No answer has been more persuasive than the one I got from a guy named Joe in 2011.
Let ‘partners’ become partners
Have you noticed we don’t have workers in America anymore? Instead, we have associates, team members, crew members, and partners.
We’re here now, and we must act
When Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, it excluded farmworkers, who at the time were primarily African Americans.
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
Why do unions always support Democrats? It’s a really good question, and one that a lot of union members have asked over the years.
Biden’s new NLRB shows what real enforcement looks like
Under Jennifer Abruzzo, the “new sheriff in town," Amazon, Starbucks and others have learned that powerful companies are not above the law.
Now is not the time
As much as we all want to move on, to put the pandemic behind us, now is not the time to relent. We must push on.
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
I’ve been given a sacred responsibility— renewing this 122-year-old labor institution so that it can help rebuild our labor union community.
Don’t Mourn. Publicize.
We can get our stories told more often and more fairly if we are persistent, creative, and cultivate relationships with journalists.
We’re just getting started
Strikes and collective action are spreading like wildfire, and workers are just getting started.
Winning at Kaiser
Workers were prepared to take a stand in what would have been one of the largest strikes in history at Kaiser Permanente.
NWSL players’ fight for change is our fight too
Oregon labor was proud to show solidarity with the Thorns players at their Oct. 6 game, the first game back after the weekend’s pause.
This strike is so much bigger than one bakery
Workers are fed up, and they are doing something about it: Strikes, shop floor actions, civil disobedience, and work stoppages.
OPINION: Millions of Americans are employed because of natural gas
Renewable gas projects are predicted to create 7.3 million jobs by 2050. These are family-wage jobs that come with healthcare and pensions.
Rich would want us to not miss a beat
Rich Trumka believed in the potential of strong local and state labor movements, and invested and supported state federations like ours.
