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.
Tag:
AFSCME
Union democracy
Oregon AFSCME leader joins national leadership
Corey Hope Nicholson will represent AFSCME’s six-state Northwest Region as vice president on the union’s national executive board.
Collective bargaining
Yamhill County Employees Association declares impasse, may strike
The union representing nearly 400 Yamhill County workers said cost of living raises proposed by the county are insufficient.
Training the Next Generation
AFSCME behavioral health apprenticeship nets federal funding
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici and former Rep. Kurt Schrader requested the funding through the federal government spending bill Congress approved in December.
Comment
The lessons of 1968 still matter today
Dr. King’s vision of unifying economic and racial justice cannot be forgotten.
Oregon
Labor-backed alliance to push bold agenda in the state capitol
2015 could be a breakthrough year for pro-worker legislation
Collective bargaining
New contract for AFSCME members at Metro
If ratified, 300+ workers will get 2.82% raises, and pay an extra 2% of health insurance premiums
Politics
Labor tallies a raft of wins in local primary elections
Labor stopped the Bull Run Takeover, saved two incumbents, and sent a union rep to the state house
Politics
Eight reasons Portland union members should vote ‘no’ on the Water District measure
Soaked by high water bills, 26-156 might sound like a good idea … ’til you know the details.
Workers Rights
After years of delay, Obama DOL says home care workers will get minimum wage, overtime
A decades-old exclusion ends for nearly 2 million workers.
National
We are the 99 percent: Unions get behind the Occupy movement
Unions line up in support of Occupy Wall Street as the movement explodes.
Oregon/Washington
Oregon AFL-CIO 52nd Convention
At a time when labor is under attack, delegates put aside differences to declare “We are one”
Oregon/Washington
Oregon public employee unions reach deal with state
Union bargainers agree — for the first time — to give up fully-paid health coverage.
Portland
Portland bus brigade travels to rallies at 8 worksites
With 8+ union contracts expiring June 30, activists thought, “Why not get all the unions together?”
Oregon/Washington
Oregon Legislative session 2011 a mixed bag for labor
Oregon lawmakers wrapped up the 2011 Legislative session June 30. If there was anything memorable in it for working people, it was that lawmakers finally cut corporate tax breaks down to size … except when they were giving out new ones. It was also the year that the Oregon Legislature gave state agencies a new aspirational goal: Lay off managers, not just front-line state employees. In a state with 9.6 percent unemployment, the closest lawmakers got to passing a jobs bill was a pilot project that will employ some workers on energy efficiency retrofits of public schools, or maybe the new law removing procedural roadblocks to pipelines and other “linear” construction projects.
Oregon/Washington
AFL-CIO’s Union Summer returns to Portland
Portland has been selected one of eight cities to host Union Summer, a 10-week national AFL-CIO internship program for college students.