Building our communities

Hot chocolate. Warm winter coats. And a chance to climb into Engine 8.

Students at Marshall Elementary in Vancouver got a visit from fire fighters—and Santa Claus—Dec. 6 as part of a union effort to provide coats for kids.

Presents from Partners

The annual charity drive is a way to make holidays a little brighter for union families that find themselves in hardship.

Presents from Partners set for Dec. 17

Labor’s Community Service Agency will hold the annual event in which the union community donates holiday gifts to families in need.

Hogs for dogs

Harleys - including those owned by Machinists members - hit the road for a fundraiser to train seeing-eye dogs.

Machinists reach out to veterans in need

Machinists hosted a barbecue at a transitional housing village for veterans in a growing partnership between the union and nonprofit Do Good Multnomah.

AFSCME sends solidarity funds from Oregon to Amazon Union

A local AFSCME affiliate and its Oregon statewide council are contributing $10,000 to support the independent Amazon Labor Union.

LCSA helps homeless union members get back into housing

Labor’s Community Service Agency, a nonprofit connected to United Way and local labor groups, is helping union members get back into housing.

Fire, possibly arson, at Voz day laborer center

Early morning April 6, a fire destroyed a minibus and damaged offices of nonprofit Voz Workers Rights Education Project.

Some serious union gumbo 

For $20, attendees got seafood gumbo, corn bread, and dessert. This year, they sold out of gumbo after 350 bowls, and had to lock the doors. 

Labor heroes honored at sold-out Vancouver Hilton awards dinner

For Southwest Washington’s labor community, it was the first full-sized live labor gathering since the pandemic.

Union holiday stockings spark angry confrontation

Sheet Metal Local 16 organizer Darrin Boyce says the company owner’s daughter was furious: The union was giving out Christmas stockings!

At Local 29 hall, a night on Santa Lane

Weather couldn’t stop the Iron Workers holiday event. Over 175 cars and 700 people came out for gifts, hot chocolate, and photos with Santa.

Another season when local unions came together to help families in need 

On a chilly Saturday, over 50 unions joined together to deliver food, gifts and toys to the doorsteps of over 500 children.

LCSA raising funds for annual Presents from Partners event

LCSA reports many union families are still struggling due to the impact of the pandemic and are in need of assistance. 

Marion-Polk-Yamhill Labor Chapter chooses four holiday projects

The chapter won’t hold its annual Holiday Party at the Elsinore Theatre again this year. Instead, it's supporting four regional projects.

Union apprenticeship programs to compete in toy drive for union families in hardship

Labor’s Community Services Agency’s (LCSA) Presents from Partners holiday event takes place in mid-December. 

Lieutenant governor honors union leaders Ed Barnes and Roy Jennings for public service 

The Labor Roundtable of Southwest Washington held a scaled-down annual awards banquet after a hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Fill the Boot is back

In Vancouver, Fire Fighters Local 452 will raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association Sept. 9 and 10.

IBEW Local 48 hosts ‘drive thru’ picnic for 6,700 members

Members pre-registered and were assigned time slots and the picnic was held in shifts over two Sundays in July.

SW Washington Labor Council hands out 650 boxes of food in 45 minutes

The council has been operating a food bank since just before Christmas for 152 union members who were laid off because of COVID-19.