Posts tagged Oregon
Portland hospital workers vote to organize, join service employees union
July 9, 2025 // More than 1,100 caregivers at Portland's Providence St. Vincent Medical Center have voted to unionize, joining the Service Employees International Union Local 49. Hospital staffers, including certified nursing assistants, cooks, lab assistants, pharmacy techs, environmental workers and patient representatives, will soon begin collective bargaining with management over a new work contract.
Jewish teacher suing Portland teachers union over alleged antisemitic curriculum
June 10, 2025 // “He remains anonymous because what happened to him was so horrifying and caused him so much PTSD that he doesn't want to come out with his name,” said Freedom Foundation Litigation Counsel Shella Alcabes. “He's scared of the kind of retribution he's going to get.” Alcabes told The Center Square, their client, a high school math teacher-opted out of paying union dues to PAT, but is still required to be represented by the association in collective bargaining negotiations with his employer. “He worked for one school where he was bullied and harassed. He eventually was able to move to another school, but that doesn't change that PAT still represents him,”
Oregon Won’t Enforce LPA Requirement After Law Declared Illegal – Similar Laws in Other States Are Also Ripe for Challenge
June 10, 2025 // While several other states (such as Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island) have LPA requirements, this ruling applies only to the Oregon law. Similar laws in other states are also ripe for challenge, and challenges are underway in some other states. Some industry players, however, have shied away from contesting the laws because of a desire not to upset the regulators upon whose good will they need to operate.
5.9% of Washington Workers Are Union Members, 6th Most in the U.S.
June 9, 2025 // Union membership in the United States has declined to its lowest point in decades. In 1979, unions represented 24.1% of the American workforce. By 2024, that share had fallen to just 9.9%, according to figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and UnionStats. In absolute terms, this represents a drop of roughly 6.7 million members—from a peak of 20.9 million in 1979 to around 14.2 million in 2024.
Opinion: Readers respond: Union bill opens floodgates to lawfare
April 23, 2025 // The nonpartisan Legislative Counsel confirmed that existing Oregon laws already protect unions from legitimate false impersonation— which is what proponents say is the intent of the bill. But those laws don’t allow them to sue their biggest political opponent, the Freedom Foundation, because the Freedom Foundation doesn’t falsely impersonate unions, as our testimony explained. But with HB 3789, Oregon’s largest special interest group has written themselves new rules that would open the floodgates for state sanctioned lawfare against their largest opponent.
Commentary: Is bill a state-led worker’s board, or a gift to SEIU?
April 7, 2025 // A secret ballot election for unionization requires a certain percentage of the bargaining unit to sign so-called “showing of interest” cards. When an organization allegedly has resorted to forgery is tasked with gathering and submitting these cards, it calls the integrity of the process into question. SB 1138 and HB 3838 present themselves as measures to improve workforce standards for care providers, but they have but one purpose — growing SEIU 503’s membership and influence. By embedding the union into training programs, handing it access to personal contact information and placing itself in workforce oversight, SEIU is positioned to grow its ranks at the expense of worker autonomy.
Oregon and Washington workers may soon be able to claim unemployment benefits when they go on strike
April 7, 2025 // Oregon’s measure would make it the first state to provide pay for picketing public employees — who aren’t allowed to strike in most states, let alone receive benefits for it. Washington’s would pay striking private sector workers for up to 12 weeks, starting after at least two weeks on the line.
Oregon: Clackamas County’s largest public employee union votes to strike
April 4, 2025 // The union represents more than 1,000 public employees. They work in a variety of departments, including public health, parole and probation and the parks district. Union leaders have yet to provide the county with a formal 10-day notice that they intend to strike, but said in an email that members have authorized them to provide the notice “at any time.”
Opting Out: Public Employees Speak Out
March 3, 2025 // Not only did the deductions continue after her promotion, but she also discovered that she was now being charged for contributions to SEIU 503’s political action committee (PAC) —something she never agreed to. At this point, it was no longer just about the money; it was about principle. She had explicitly opted out, but SEIU 503 ignored her request, gave her false information and then enrolled her in additional dues categories without her permission. To make matters worse, when she contacted her payroll department for help, they told her it wasn’t their problem and directed her back to SEIU 503 — without even providing contact information.
Providence, nurses union reach new tentative deal in 6-week-long strike
February 26, 2025 // The strike, which started Jan. 10, is the longest in Oregon’s health care history. Nearly 5,000 nurses walked off the job at Providence’s eight hospitals in Oregon in Hood River, Medford, Milwaukie, Newberg, Seaside and Oregon City and two in Portland. The strike also included nurses, physicians and other staff at Providence’s six women’s clinics in the Portland area and hospital physicians at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in southwest Portland. The physicians and clinic union members approved their deals but the nurses rejected the early agreement by more than 80%.