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:
Oregon AFSCME
Training the Next Generation
Drug counselor apprenticeship program launches, with BOLI support
The AFSCME-supported apprenticeship helps workers become Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselors (CADC) through on-the-job training and classroom education.
In Memoriam
Gary Gillespie, 1951-2022
Gillespie, a former president of Oregon AFSCME, served Oregon working people and Eugene residents for more than three decades.
Workers Rights
Homeless nonprofit fires whistleblower
Things aren’t ‘all good’ at All Good Northwest, which runs tiny house villages for the homeless in Portland.
Union Organizing
Support workers at tiny house villages for homeless vote to join AFSCME
In ballots counted June 2, a group of 46 employees who operate tiny house villages for the homeless in Portland voted 15-3 to unionize.
In Memoriam
Ralph Groener, 1941-2022
Ralph Groener, a lobbyist for AFSCME for 28 years, had a knack for being in the right place at the right time.
Union Organizing
Old Town homeless village will close in June
Weeks before a union ballot count at Portland homeless services provider All Good NW, the nonprofit decided to close one of its villages.
Union democracy
New president at Oregon AFSCME
The Oregon AFSCME Executive Board has named one of its members, Fred Yungbluth, Jr. as president until the union’s April 2023 convention.
Building our communities
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.
Worker safety
Workers at tiny house villages want a union for safety
So-called “safe rest villages” in Portland are highly unsafe for staffers, leading workers to seek union representation with AFSCME.
Union Organizing
Suicide hotline workers vote to unionize
More than 160 employees of nonprofit behavioral health provider Lines for Life are now members of AFSCME Local 1790.
Collective bargaining
First union contract for behavioral health workers in the Columbia Gorge
After 16 months of negotiating, employees of the Mid-Columbia Center for Living will see pay increases totaling 13% over the next three years.
Training the Next Generation
Apprenticeship is catching on
A new union program is skilling up behavioral health workers, and even lawyers are looking at apprenticeship as an alternative to the bar.
Union Organizing
Suicide hotline workers to vote on joining Oregon AFSCME
At Lines For Life, a Portland nonprofit led by former U.S. attorney Dwight Holton, a strong majority of the 160 employees want a union.
Oregon
An early look at Oregon labor’s 2022 legislative agenda
The Oregon Legislature’s “short session” begins Feb. 1 and ends by March 10. As ever, Oregon labor will promote a set of pro-worker bills.
Workers Rights
Multnomah County votes for labor harmony
At non-profit county contractors, union-busting is about to get a little harder.
Union democracy
New leader takes presidency at Oregon AFSCME
Elizabeth Goetzinger, president of 430-member AFSCME Local 3580 at the Metro regional government, was elected president of Oregon AFSCME.
Union Organizing
Hillsboro clinic the latest to unionize with AFSCME
A recent vote adds 61 workers at Lifeworks NW' Hawthorn Clinic to Oregon AFSCME, part of a wave of union organizing in behavioral health.
Union Organizing
Workers at Hillsboro library join AFSCME
BY THE BOOK CAMPAIGN: Unlike for private sector workers covered under federal law, Oregon law makes getting a union for public workers—like those at Hillsboro’s Shute Park library, above—as easy as signing cards.
Union Organizing
Medical interpreters unite
Oregon AFSCME will work to win better pay and standards for about 500 medical interpreters—those who translate for Medicaid patients.
Union Organizing
Lifeworks NW workers file for union election
A group of about 60 workers at a Hillsboro mental health and substance abuse crisis center is ready to join Oregon AFSCME.
