Worker safety

A regulator with a life-and-death mission: Keeping workers safe

For over 15 years, Michael Wood has been at the helm of Oregon OSHA. The Labor Press caught up with him by Zoom April 8.

Providence nurses demand COVID safety

Nearly 100 union nurses from multiple Providence facilities were joined by Oregon AFL-CIO President Graham Trainor and Multnomah County Commissioner Sharon Meieran at a...

Teachers union blasts Governor Brown for reversal on school reopening

Oregon took months to develop guidelines for safe reopening. Now they won’t be enforced, Governor Kate Brown announced.

Oregon OSHA’s COVID rule is now in force

Oregon OSHA now says employers must protect workers from COVID-19 in all workplaces. Letting them know about it will be the next challenge.

Oregon OSHA says employers must protect workers from COVID-19

Not a moment too soon, Oregon OSHA's COVID-19 rule arrives as outbreaks are under way at 76 Oregon workplaces.

UFCW forms PAC to push for COVID-19 workers comp

Local 555 has put $190,100 into a new political action committee that's educating union members about their rights and running online ads.

Mohlis elected chair of SAIF board

The retired leader of the Oregon State Building Trades Council will oversee Oregon’s not-for-profit workers compensation insurance company.

Oregon Building Trades COVID task force lauded as potential model

Since June, the task force has been sharing and promoting best practices, and visiting construction job sites.

Help for workers exposed to COVID? Not in Oregon

Oregon labor has been calling for essential workers who test positive for COVID-19 to be automatically covered by workers’ comp.

Heat kills

A warming planet is increasing the risk of dying from heat, but OSHA has ignored calls to protect workers.

Reopening schools: What do teachers think?

Is it possible for schools to reopen safely? Can online learning replace in-person instruction? We asked Portland teachers union president Elizabeth Thiel.

COVID-19 has killed more workers in a shorter time than any other health emergency in OSHA's 50-year existence, but the agency has refused to require employers to take any specific action to protect workers.

Fund set up for two ironworkers hurt in roof collapse

James Sackett and Justin Rothgeb, members of Iron Workers Local 29, were badly injured June 10, when a roof partially collapsed on the new Portland General Electric headquarters under construction in Tualatin.

AFL-CIO sues OSHA

COVID-19 has caused more deaths among workers in a shorter time than any other health emergency in OSHA's 50-year existence, yet the agency hasn’t required employers to take any action to protect people on the job.

When are elected officials going to get serious? Unions condemn the continued mask shortage

Remember the proverb about the kingdom that was lost for the want of a horseshoe nail? Today, America is in crisis over the want of a 60-cent mask.

Building Trades offers national medical screening program for nuclear weapons construction workers

Thousands of construction workers unwittingly put themselves at risk as they worked on sites involved in nuclear weapons research or production.

Masonry workers working COVID safe

BAC Local 1 held a video contest showing how masonry workers are finding ways to work COVID-safe—like a hydraulic arm lifting concrete blocks in place.

Pandemic effects ripple across the construction industry

Across the building trades, opinions vary about whether to stay working or stay at home in the midst of a pandemic.

On-the-job fatalities in Oregon in 2019

Fifty-nine Oregon workers lost their lives on the job last year. Here are their names and occupations.

Health care workers on the front lines

As hospitals prepare for an expected surge in serious respiratory illnesses from the coronavirus, medical staff are sounding the alarm.

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