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.
Worker safety
Murder of health aide shows fears were valid
Cascadia Behavioral Health employee Haley Rogers, a member of AFSCME Local 1790-4, was stabbed to death July 16 by one of her patients.
Rule to protect Washington workers from wildfire smoke moves forward
Washington state’s workplace safety agency has proposed a new rule to protect outdoor workers from wildfire smoke.
Lawmakers end Oregon’s lowest-in-nation OSHA penalties
A bill to toughen OSHA penalties is on its way to Governor Kotek’s desk after committee room drama and a failed GOP attempt to gut the bill.
Oregon bill would let workers refuse unsafe work
SB 907 passed out of the state Senate with a bipartisan 21-8 vote on April 13 and is now being taken up in the House.
Six tips for coming home safely from your job in construction
We asked construction safety experts: What’s the most important advice you can offer building trades union members?
Labor to lawmakers: Workers’ lives matter
Oregon OSHA has the lowest fines in the nation: The average for a fatal accident is $1,077. Oregon labor wants that to change.
Assault a bus driver, commit a felony
ATU Local 757 tells Oregon lawmakers assaults on bus drivers are increasing, and asks to tighten a law classifying such assaults as felonies.
Judge tosses lawsuit against heat/smoke rules
A federal judge has dismissed a business group lawsuit that challenged new rules protecting Oregon workers from heat and smoke.
To stop harassment, make it inconvenient
Portland-area construction leaders take stock of progress toward more welcoming workplaces over the past two years.
Unions protect workers. OSHA protects … contractors?
What is a life worth? According to Oregon OSHA, it seems, $5,400. That's how much it recently fined a company after a worker was killed on the job.
Union member killed in Bend grocery shooting
UFCW Local 555 president Dan Clay says retail workers shouldn't have to fear gun violence but it's becoming increasingly common.
School employees union says workers are leaving jobs in droves
Student behavior – including assaults – are a factor in record-high classroom aide and support staff turnover.
Bus drivers, flight attendants say they’re feeling less safe
Incidents of disruptive airline passengers and abusive mass transit users have increased sharply in the past few years.
Driver targets paramedics in intentional crash
The crash is the latest evidence for what union-represented paramedics have described as growing public hostility toward ambulance workers.
For paramedics, assaults become part of the job
Assaults on paramedics and EMTs have changed the nature of a job for workers who didn’t historically face on-the-job violence.
Oregon OSHA heat and smoke rules official as of July 1
It took a few years, but Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health agency has finalized rules protecting Oregon workers from heat and smoke.
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.
Pandemic showed flaws in Oregon’s workers comp
Privately-insured and self-insured employers are rejecting worker comp claims at a greater rate than the state-chartered non-profit SAIF.
KILLED ON THE JOB IN OREGON IN 2021
Last year more than 69 Oregonians died from injuries sustained while working, not including the 169 who died after workplace COVID outbreaks.
Top on-the-job killers
Transportation-related accidents are the lead cause of workplace death— more fatalities than falls, violence and harmful substances combined.