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Portland

Week Three: Oregon’s Largest Healthcare Workers Strike

January 28, 2025 Lyn Neeley, Workers World. , , , , ,
Portland, Oregon - Providence Health & Services’ health care workers are entering the third week of the largest nurse’s strike in Oregon’s history. Nearly 5,000 nurses, physicians, clinicians, midwives and other medical professionals from eight Portland area hospitals are demanding decent health care benefits, safe staffing, competitive wages and the hiring of more caregivers. Providence pays some of the lowest wages, and its workers have among the worst health care benefits in the region. When sick, nurses are forced to use their vacation days, stay home without pay or come to work sick, because Providence doesn’t provide sick time!

Portland: Workers Fight Sizzle Pie’s Union-Busting Tactics

December 28, 2024 Jey Clayton, Workers' World. , , ,
On December 21, following months of struggle and firings of pro-union employees, a group of workers picketed one of the Sizzle Pie locations in Portland. Supporters held signs in front of the restaurant and handed out a statement explaining the situation to customers. Some potential customers were deterred from entering and patronizing as they appeared shocked and even disgusted by the company’s tactics. Several passersby shouted support and jeered Sizzle Pie for its anti-worker policies. After asking for basic protections, including regular work hours for decent pay, Sizzle Pie employees have been met with legal threats against them for attempting to form a union.

Portland Continues To Demand An End Of US Aid To Israel

November 13, 2024 Omar Gil, Fight Back! News. , , , , , ,
Portland, OR – On Saturday November 9, nearly a hundred people gathered at Sunnyside Park in southeast Portland for a rally and march organized by Portland for Palestine (P4P). Protesters took to the streets to showing solidarity with Palestine and refusing to allow the election outcome to undercut the struggle for Palestinian liberation. P4P member Kacey DeSantis opened with, “The election has been called but our demands remain the same! End all U.S. aid to Israel! End the billions of unrestricted taxpayer dollars being sent to the settler state committing a genocide! Palestine and the death of an estimated 200,000 women, men and children is not an afterthought!

Portland Grocery Workers Strike Together

October 30, 2024 Paul Kirk-Davidoff, Labor Notes. , , , , ,
Over Labor Day weekend, 5,500 grocery workers in Portland, Oregon, went on strike across 38 stores—and two unions. A thousand workers at 10 New Seasons Markets, members of an independent union seeking a first contract, struck for one day on September 1, in their first union-wide strike. And 4,500 members of Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 555 walked out of 28 Fred Meyer supermarket-department stores August 28 on a seven-day strike. This month they reached and ratified a tentative agreement. Though the two unions did not coordinate their strike plans—both chose Labor Day because it’s a big grocery shopping weekend—workers at New Seasons donated leftover food from their one-day strike to Fred Meyer picket lines

Thousands Of Portland Grocery Workers On Strike

September 7, 2024 Lyn Neeley, Workers World. , , ,
Thousands of grocery workers in Portland, Oakland, at 28 Fred Meyer stores walked out at 6 a.m. on Aug. 28, beginning a week-long strike. Workers are demanding better wages and pension plans in addition to good faith bargaining. On the third day of the strike, workers told this reporter that Fred Meyer’s sales have plummeted 69%. Kroger bought Fred Meyer in 1998 and also owns Albertsons and Safeway in Oregon. Kroger is the largest supermarket chain in the U.S. and the country’s fifth-largest retailer. Inside the Fred Meyer stores, the meat, bakery and deli departments have closed. Stores are opening two hours later than usual.

Portland Votes To Divest From Companies Doing Business With Israel

September 6, 2024 Emma Davis, Maine Morning Star. , , , , ,
Portland’s city council adopted a resolution Wednesday night urging the city to divest from companies doing business with Israel in response to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The city council unanimously approved the resolution — put forth by councilor April Fournier and sponsored by the Maine Coalition for Palestine and Maine’s chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace — in a packed chamber following more than three hours of public comment. Councilors also said individually that they’d received thousands of emails from constituents regarding the resolution. More than 80 companies are included in the divestment list, including the major corporations Volvo, Boeing, Chevron and Intel, which the resolution calls complicit in Israel’s violation of international law.

Striking Nurses: ‘Patients Over Profits’

June 30, 2024 Lyn Neeley, Workers' World. , , , , ,
Portland, Oregon - Over 3,000 nurses from six Providence Corporation hospitals across Oregon completed a three-day strike on June 20, carrying signs saying, “Patients over profits.” Since December, the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) has been in negotiations with Providence for a contract that ensures safe staffing ratios, better hours, higher pay and improved health care benefits. The striking nurses shouted: “Heroes treated like zeros!” Providence, one of Oregon’s largest corporations, owns one-quarter of Oregon’s health care market. The yearly income of Providence CEOs has risen to $10 million.

How Portland Teachers Led The Longest K–12 Strike In Decades

May 4, 2024 Melissa Blount and Matt Reed, Rethinking Schools. , , , , ,
We’ll never forget the day when we knew that we would win. It was 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 21, more than three weeks into the first-ever Portland, Oregon, teachers strike. We were rally marshals, tasked with walking ahead of the march to troubleshoot potential issues. Accompanied by the dull hum of a nearby freeway and the caws of seagulls above the Willamette River, we stood on the sidewalk waiting — hoping that a parade of educators would soon join us. They had every reason not to. As frustration mounted with district leaders and their refusal to address our demands for safe, equitable, and sustainable schools, so did skepticism of our union’s strategy.

Portland State University Will ‘Pause’ Donations From Boeing

May 2, 2024 Middle East Monitor. , , , , , , ,
Portland State University (PSU) will temporarily halt donations from Boeing, responding to student calls to cut ties with the giant aerospace and missile manufacturer amidst Israel’s war on Gaza. President Ann Cudd stated in an open letter released Friday that PSU plans to organise a forum in May to address student concerns regarding their affiliations with the multibillion-dollar weapons manufacturer. She wrote: “PSU will pause seeking or accepting any further gifts or grants from the Boeing Company until we have had a chance to engage in this debate and come to conclusions about a reasonable course of action.”

Strike Threat Wins In Confrontation Over Remote Work

March 13, 2024 Michelle DuBarry, Labor Notes. , , , , , ,
When “Reclaim your Momentum” was unveiled as the theme for Portland Community College’s 2023 in-service training, it struck a discordant note with members of my union, the PCC Federation of Faculty and Academic Professionals. We hadn’t lost our momentum so much as we’d been subjected to two years of organizational restructuring in the midst of a global pandemic. The reorganization had concentrated power at the top, and now the college president was rolling out her plan to end the flexible work arrangements developed for the pandemic.

As Israeli Genocide Continues: Protesters Stay In The Streets

December 8, 2023 Toni Arenstein, Workers' World. , , , , , , , , ,
Hundreds demonstrated in Center City Philadelphia on a rainy evening Dec. 3.  Called by the Philadelphia Palestine Coalition, the event started with a rally and prayer service in Rittenhouse Park, followed by a march that ended at 40th and Market streets for a solidarity rally with the Save UC Townhomes Coalition. Two sound trucks led the way, followed by lead banners calling out the murderous genocide, carried out by Israel but funded by the U.S., that has taken the lives of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza. Along the route, protesters stopped to call out two Zionist-run restaurants. They marched by the University of Pennsylvania campus, where activist students are under attack by university trustees with major investments in Israel.

Portland City Government Privately Compromised With Oil Industry

August 27, 2023 Nick Cunningham, DeSmog. , , , ,
In the summer of 2022, it seemed that the days of an oil-by-rail facility in Portland, Oregon, were numbered. The previous year, the city had rejected a land use permit for a company called Zenith Energy, which receives crude oil shipped by rail from as far away as North Dakota. Zenith had appealed the decision, but had already suffered a string of defeats in the state.  Climate activists and community associations, who were concerned about the risks associated with oil-by-rail shipments, counted the city’s rejection of the permit as a major victory, and were tantalizingly close to prevailing over the company.

PDX Maintenance Workers ‘Sit Down! Fight Back!’

July 2, 2023 Lyn Neeley, Workers World. , , , ,
Portland Airport (PDX) wheelchair attendants, baggage and service workers, cabin cleaners and janitors held a militant picket and sit-down protest June 28 on the United Airlines departures roadway. PDX maintenance workers are fighting for the right to sit down between tasks on the job. They are demanding respect, the right to a union at United, health insurance and more. A Passenger Service Agent told demonstrators: “Our jobs involve hard physical repetitive labor that puts us at risk of workplace injuries. We are also at risk of contagious diseases. Our public health care is insufficient, and workers comp is so complicated, we need a lawyer to use it.”

Portland Supports Postal Workers

February 25, 2023 Lyn Neeley, Workers World. , , , ,
Portland, Oregon - Dozens of Portland postal union members, union and community leaders rallied Feb. 20 in support of postal workers, demanding “good service, good jobs and a good contract.” Drivers passing by honked and showed support. “Our U.S. Postal Service is under attack,” read one of the rally leaflets. Signs and chants called for dumping Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who is trying to privatize the Postal Service. Speakers told how cuts to the Postal Service are creating mail delays and understaffing and forcing postal workers to work excessive overtime.

Portland Workers End Strike After Tentative Agreement With City

February 9, 2023 April Ehrlich, OPB. , , ,
Portland, Oregon - A strike among Portland city workers ended after they reached a tentative agreement with the city Saturday. The agreement came after 12 hours of mediation between the city and workers represented by Laborers Local 483. It remains tentative until the Portland City Council approves it. More than 600 Portland workers went on strike early Thursday after nearly a year of negotiations broke down over wages. They had been without a contract since June. Local 483 includes people responsible for fixing sewage leaks, cleaning trash at city parks, and clearing streets of ice and snow, among other tasks. “I think there’s a lot of work yet to be done, but this is a great foundation to build upon for our membership and really for working standards in the whole Portland community,” said Local 483 field representative James O’Laughlen.
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