Oregon AFSCME members on the Independent Police Review team for the City of Portland held a practice picket at City Hall on Sept. 17. Credit: Photo by David Kreisman
At a 2023 campaign rally in Michigan, President Donald Trump addressed blue collar workers: “I want a future that protects American labor, not foreign labor.”
"Last month in Oregon labor" is a monthly installment by Aurora Biggers covering all things Oregon labor.
Since his inauguration, the Trump administration has continued to ramp up its “pro-worker” stance, emphasizing resources and power to the Department of Labor for a daily onslaught of propaganda targeting working class people in the U.S.
Videos, images and articles fill the Department of Labor’s social feeds with mottos like “American Workers First,” “Hire American” and “Welcome to the Golden Age of the American worker.” Many of the images are seemingly 1950s-inspired AI-generated posters, depicting variations of white, good ol’ boy-esque men in workwear. They pose with cranes, oil drills and other traditional Americana iconography with patriotic slogans like, “build your homeland’s future,” “your nation needs you” and “blue collar boom!”
The messaging promotes the future conservatives want — a white nationalist U.S. labor force. Accompanying the Trump administration’s labor rhetoric are a slate of supposedly “pro-worker” policies and actions.
The administration has imposed hefty trade tariffs, and rolled out restrictions on immigration and unprecedented ICE raids — all in the name of supporting U.S. workers.
Exit polls show white voters without a college degree in labor unions turned out in support of Trump during the election, but saying you’re pro-worker can only get you so far. Now we’re seeing the other shoe drop.
The Trump administration’s actions cut out union workers and, ultimately, harm the entire working class, slyly lining the pockets of the ultra-wealthy.
Since Trump imposed his trade tariffs, U.S. manufacturing has contracted for seven months, the value of the U.S. dollar has dropped 11% (a 50-year record) and job creation is on a steep decline, with approximately 32,000 lost in September.
The administration issued several executive orders that strip collective bargaining rights from a million-plus federal workers. Trump’s appointments to the National Labor Relations Board have systematically rolled back worker protections. His administration and those within it have halted heat safety rules, rescinded overtime rules and threatened to remove child labor laws.
The U.S. House Committee on Ways & Means called Trump’s so-called “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” an “economic lifeline for working families.” In reality, the bill cuts nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid, ends the Affordable Care Act subsidies that keep insurance plans affordable and makes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program harder to access — all to grant higher tax cuts to the ultra-wealthy.
Now, a new report shows that the top 1% in the U.S. hold a record $52 trillion in wealth, while the bottom 50% account for only $4 trillion.
It’s time for workers to look at the facts. Does any of this really sound like a Golden Age for the working class?
Labor actions
On Sept. 1, Labor Day, working people held protests all over Oregon, many organized by the 50501 Movement. From Portland, Salem, and Corvallis, to Bend, Madras, and Hood River, workers rallied and marched as part of the “Workers Over Billionaires” movement.
After 18 months of bargaining, the Northwest Medicine United hospitalists at Legacy utilized Labor Day to rally at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Northwest Portland for a fair contract.
The Oregon Federation of Nurses & Health Professionals held a rally Sept. 17 at the union’s Tigard office ahead of a bargaining session with Labcorp. In the lead-up to the action, OFNHP pinpointed a specific change in Oregon’s health care laboratory system as why workers have organized for union contracts.
“Two years ago … a large, for-profit corporation purchased 40% of the state’s lab facilities,” the union said on social media. “This shift moved many labs from non-profit, care-centered environments into a system driven by different priorities. Since then, laboratory professionals across Oregon and Southwest Washington have unionized to stabilize the care system, ensure safe staffing levels and protect the high standards of patient care that our communities rely on.”
On the same day, Oregon AFSCME members on the Independent Police Review team for the City of Portland held a practice picket at City Hall, following a strike authorization vote. In 2020, voters passed a new Office of Community-Based Police Accountability program, which will replace the Independent Police Review program as it is. Oregon AFSCME says the city isn’t committing to retaining the union jobs from one program to the next.
Continuing the fight to save Oregon’s media landscape, the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild and the Central Oregon NewsGuild held an informational picket at Peace Corner in Bend with the Bend Bulletin news workers Sept. 20 to demand a fair contract from the new owner, Carpenter Media.
Taking advantage of a flurry of students and parents on campus, Portland State University faculty held an informational picket on move-in day Sept. 25 to pressure PSU President Ann Cudd.
“President Cudd is asking for $35 million in additional cuts to ‘academic programs, academic support units, administrative areas, and centers and institutes,’” the PSU American Association of University Professors said in a message to members. “Help stop the cuts and ask President Cudd to prioritize fundraising for mission-critical faculty, researchers, and academic professionals.”
Following their election wins and a new location filing, Starbucks Workers United held a practice picket at the Stucki Avenue store in Hillsboro on Sept. 28 as part of their pressure on the company for a fair first contract.
The government shutdown effects on workers
After the federal government shutdown on Oct. 1, we have seen devastating impacts on workers. The NLRB is closed due to a lapse in appropriated funds. That means all cases, petitions, elections, hearings and decisions are halted. The agency is already heavily burdened and underfunded. Once government operations resume, their mounting backlog will be even greater.
The effects on federal workers are devastating, with nearly 750,000 federal workers furloughed, approximately 30,000 being Oregon workers. Most recently, Trump has questioned whether federal workers will get back pay when the government resumes operations.
Almost 200,000 Oregonians could lose their health care coverage as a result of the federal budget bill, a major sticking point between Democrats and Republicans as the former party pressures conservatives to include an extension of the Affordable Care Act subsidies in the federal budget.
New campaigns and elections
Workers at Friendly House in Portland filed with the NLRB on Sept. 2 to join the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 5. On Sept. 25, they voted 29-8 in favor of the union.
On Sept. 5, Harvey & Price Co. workers in Eugene filed to join the Sprinkler Fitters Local 669.
After filing to join Starbucks Workers United in July, workers at the Southeast Powell Boulevard Starbucks location in Portland voted 9-2 on Sept. 8, winning the election.
Drivers and mechanics at First Student Inc. in St. Helens voted 22-12 on Sept. 16 to join the Teamsters Local 206.
Continuing a streak toward wall-to-wall unionization at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Company Management Department employees at the festival voted unanimously Sept. 16 to join the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 154.
Patient logistics registered nurses at St. Charles Medical Center in Bend voted unanimously Sept. 18 to join the Oregon Nurses Association.
Registered nurse case managers at the Hillsboro Medical Center voted 8-2 on Sept. 22 to join ONA.
Fiber optic technicians for Northwest Fiber, doing business as Ziply Fiber, voted unanimously Sept. 23 to join the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 89.
On Sept. 26, while Starbucks announced plans to close several hundred locations, including 14 in Oregon, workers at a Portland location filed to join SBWU. NLRB records don’t specify which location is seeking unionization.
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