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.
Labor History
Looking back at the late great Labor Day parade
Parades were once a big part of what it meant to celebrate Labor Day.
Plasterers Local 82 marks 125 years of craft and solidarity
When Local 82 first received its charter on Aug. 23, 1901, Portland was a town of 90,000 with two wooden bridges.
Street named for labor leader Cesar Chavez may come down
Instead of returning to 39th Ave., City Council could change Cesar Chavez Boulevard to Campesinos Boulevard — at a cost of about $200,000.
NO ROAD TO GLORY: Labor leaders rarely get public honors
Once all the Cesar Chavez street signs come down, few streets will remain that honor the contributions of organized labor.
Laborers Local 737 throws a party to celebrate its 10th birthday
Formed from the merger of three unions, the local now tops 2,900 members and spans construction, roads, shipyards, and public works.
Against the odds, 125 years of telling labor’s story
It’s one of the last of its kind, but the Northwest Labor Press is in reasonably good health.
Honors for recording our labor history
Jim Strassmaier worked to curate an archive of recorded interviews of prominent labor leaders and activists.
Late Labor Press editor Gene Klare profiled in The Oregonian
The April 3 profile covers the bitter 1959-1965 strike that ended in the destruction of the union at Oregon’s largest newspaper.
Remembering the Seattle WTO protest
25 years ago, unionists and greens made history in the streets of Seattle protesting against corporate-written rules for international trade.
Painters Local 10 is turning 125
It began in 1899, when 44 painters and wallpaper hangers met at the Portland hall of a fraternal order called the Improved Order of Red Men.
104 years later, Centralia IWW fight continues
Whether the American Legion or Industrial Workers of the World was to blame for a 1919 gun battle is still in dispute.
Springfield plans public celebration unveiling new labor mural
A failed campaign to save a Springfield labor history mural ended up spawning a successful campaign for a new one.
When collective begging turned to collective bargaining
The union rights Oregon public employees have today were won because workers struck in the lead up to a landmark bill in 1973.
When Vancouver teachers went to jail for striking
Return to work or go to jail. That was the ultimatum a judge gave teachers at Evergreen School District 50 years ago this month.
When the Labor Press battled the Klan
Here's the story of how this newspaper led a gutsy crusade against the hate group a century ago—then abruptly fell silent while the Klan rose to power.
A new self-guided tour of Portland Labor History
It includes Francis Murnane Memorial Wharf, a public memorial to a longshore union leader; a labor history mural at PCC Sylvania; and more.
SEIU Local 49 celebrates 100 years
The union's history began in Portland's performance venues in 1922, when theater and dance hall janitors decided to improve their working conditions.
Solidarity Forever
In honor of Labor Day, the Labor Press commissioned artist Jim Kettner to produce a graphic look at labor’s anthem, and the man who wrote it.
A forgotten strike
105 years ago, well before any law recognized union rights, a paper mill strike spread like a match to paper across Oregon and Washington.
They believed in what they believed in
The example set by Bunny Kuiken reminds us that the immigrant working class is an integral part of our history.
