Workers and activists got on the bus June 30th to support workers’ rights all over the Portland area.  In a meticulously planned and executed all day bus tour, supporters went to seven actions to support workers’ rights.  June 30th was important because thousands of workers had collective bargaining agreements expiring that day.

150 union members and community supporters boarded three buses at 9:30 am.  We joined other workers at each of the seven stops along the way.  Every action had its own unique flavor and creative twist.  In between stops, participants were briefed on the next struggle and got a chance to practice chants and songs.

The buses’ first stop was a Georgia Pacific facility, represented by the Inland Boatman’s Union/ILWU where contract talks have been stalled.  The owners are the infamous Koch brothers, so a piece of the action was singing “I’d Like to Buy the Kochs a World”, as well as a delegation to the employer.

Stop 2 was the

Continue reading Portland Rising Bus Tour Supports Workers’ Rights

Portland Jobs with Justice has led the building of a statewide network to strengthen the movement for a single payer health care system.  With the addition of all the Oregon Jobs with Justice chapters (Southern OR, Central OR, Eugene Springfield Solidarity Network, and Mid-Willamette Valley) adopting single payer health care as a priority campaign, Oregon JwJ activist are gearing up to fight for a just healthcare system that puts people before profits.

On January 29, over 450 single payer advocates from around the state of Oregon gathered at the First Unitarian Church in Portland to network and advocate for an improved, expanded Medicare for All program to fix our broken health care system.

The conference opened with a plenary talk by Dr Margaret Flowers, Physicians for a National Health Program’s Congressional Fellow.  She presented the basics of what a single payer plan does and explained why the recent federal reform, while making a few positive changes, further entrenches the for-profit insurance industry, while failing to provide universal access to good care or to control skyrocketing insurance and

Continue reading Fighting for Single-Payer Health Care in Oregon

(Portland, Oregon)  State Senator Chip Shields chaired a public hearing on February 21st,  on the problems besetting the U.S. Postal Service in the Portland area.  Over one hundred people crowded into the Augustana Lutheran Church in Northeast Portland to hear testimony from customers, mailers, and postal employees.    Speakers revealed a postal service in crisis:  deteriorating customer service, substandard working conditions, threatened post office closures, and financial debt.   Notwithstanding the doom and gloom, many of those at the microphone brought forward ideas for positive change.

Portland Area Workers Rights Board

“The issues facing the public postal service are of deep concern to all community members,” said Senator Shields.  “I found particularly troubling certain management practices, especially with regard to under-staffing and “transitional” employees, but I also came away with a sense of hope because of some great ideas for the future.”

Jim Cook, president of the local National Association of Letter Carriers, a 33-year year postal employee, declared that “National postal management has refused to allow local hiring of career letter

Continue reading Crowded Hearing Reveals Postal Service in Crisis

Portland Area Worker Rights Board hear testimony from Securitas worker and community members

Portland Jobs with Justice has been working hard to support Securitas workers who are organizing with Service Employees local 49.  Since July we have helped organize for and participate in three delegations to management and organized a Workers’ Rights Board hearing and follow up from it.

Securitas,a multi-national corporation headquartered in Sweden, has signed a global agreement with UNI, the international union federation.  This agreement commits them to remain neutral when workers organize and to recognize unions when workers organize.  When presented with copies of the global agreement, local management didn’t know anything about it.  Requests to discuss the situation were met with encouragement to call a phone number in Chicago.

In September, the 600+ workers in Portland reached majority support for their union and went back to local management asking that they recognize the union.  Local management has thus far not recognized the union.

On December 9th, workers testified before a Workers’ Rights Board panel about their wages and working conditions

Continue reading Support for Securitas Worker Organizing in Portland

The workers at the Portland Convention Center, members of UNITE HERE Local 9 employed by Aramark as servers, concession stand workers, and kitchen workers, finally won their year-long battle for a new contract in early September.  Portland Jobs with Justice was proud to stand with the workers as they stood up for health care benefits, living wages, and to keep management from taking their gratuities.

Workers built a strong committee and active participation from all parts of the bargaining unit.  The whole union fought for increased wages for the lowest paid kitchen staff, and other key issues were health care and gratuities.  Even though a number of workers were entitled to health care, they had not been getting it.  A delegation presenting petitions from the workers and community early in the contract campaign won coverage for several additional workers.  When the contract was settled, health benefits were expanded and improved.  Under the old contract, management kept 25% of workers’ gratuities.  The workers, for the first time ever, put a cap on the amount of gratuities management could keep, and got transparency about where the gratuity money goes. 

Continue reading Worker Victory at the Portland Convention Center

Last night, just a few miles away from Nike’s global headquarters, two Honduran workers spoke out strongly about how Nike’s destructive labor practices have hurt them, their families and their co-workers. Gina Cano and Lowlee Urquía testified in front of members of the Portland Area Workers’ Rights Board and a crowd of more than 100 community members.

Both women had worked in Nike-contracted factories for many years in Honduras before being laid off without notice, and without legally mandated severance pay in January 2009. “We’re here in Oregon, the home of Nike, because we want to put a face to the consequences of Nike’s behavior”, said Lowlee Urquía. “We’re saying to Nike that it is responsible every step of the way.”

The two women represented over 1,700 workers who are owed $2.2 million in severance pay. The workers are also owed health care premiums, which were deducted from their wages but never paid to the health care system. This meant that workers could not access health care in the four months

Continue reading Honduran Workers Demand $2.2 Million from Nike at Portland Area Workers’ Rights Board Hearing

Continue reading Oregon Unions Save Services, Tapping Voter Anger to Tax Wealthy