Oregon

Support and maintenance workers at St. Charles Medical Center in Bend voted 267 to 261 to unionize.

A member of Bakers Union Local 114 is behind a bill in the Oregon Legislature.

The Oregon Single Payer Conference drew attendees from around the state.

Norman Malbin is in-house counsel for the IBEW Local 48.

Duke Shepard has been Oregon AFL-CIO political director since January 2006.

Oregon’s citizen legislature convenes Feb. 1.

A new group, 6,000-member International Association of Machinists District W24, is born of merger.

Oregon AFSCME staff rep Randy Ridderbusch has been named to Governor-elect John Kitzhaber’s transition team regarding the Department of Human Services, the Department of Corrections and the Oregon Youth Authority.

Oregon Governor-elect John Kitzhaber campaigned on job creation, and even before taking office announced the formation of five teams aimed at helping grow Oregon’s economy. Each team will develop statutory and regulatory recommendations for the legislative session that begins Feb. 1.

In Oregon, organized labor’s get-out-the-vote campaign propelled Democrat John Kitzhaber to the governor’s mansion. Kitzhaber defeated political newcomer Chris Dudley by the narrowest of margins. Labor-endorsed candidates also fared quite well down the ticket.

Oregon voters mostly returned labor-backed Democrats to office, bucking the national Republican tsunami in the midterm elections. But for Washington's union movement, election night was bittersweet.

In an Oregon governor's race close enough to hinge on union member turnout, organized labor is pulling hard for John Kitzhaber, while Chris Dudley lacks any union endorsement. That’s because Kitzhaber’s platform is much closer to what the union movement has been advocating in Salem. It’s also because Kitzhaber has sought union support, and Dudley has not.