Oregon labor saw another slow month in June but still reached new historic heights, with nurses carrying the headlines.

Despite having five fewer union election wins, Oregon nurses continued their campaign streak with nearly 300 more health care workers joining a union. After announcing their union in May, citing tumultuous working conditions, Portland Japanese Garden workers voted nearly unanimously to unionize.

The state also saw a dip in new campaigns this month, with six fewer than in May. Again, the Oregon Nurses Association, or ONA, carried the filings, forming new units in Bend and Portland.

June’s labor action tally dragged only slightly behind May’s, with one less action taking place. However, what was lost in numbers, ONA made up for with force. Over 3,000 Providence nurses went on strike this month, possibly breaking records.

New campaigns and elections

LifeWorks NW workers in Beaverton voted 7-0 to join the Oregon local branch of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees on June 3.

Registered Nurse Case Managers at St. Charles Medical Center in Bend filed with the National Labor Relations Board, or NLRB, to join the ONA on June 5.

Portland Japanese Garden Cafe and Gift Shop workers voted 13-1 to join the Laborers International Union North America Local 483 on June 6.

Behavioral Health Therapists at Legacy Health’s Unity Center for Behavioral Health in Portland filed to be included in an existing unit represented by ONA on June 7.

Operators for Portland General Electric in Tualatin voted 28-1 to join the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 125 on June 13.

Chaplains, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, therapists, pathologists and dieticians at Providence ElderPlace Irvington Village and nurses at ElderPlace Cully and ElderPlace Glendoveer voted 135-39 to join ONA on June 18.

Labor actions

Adjunct professors, staff, graduate workers, non-tenure-track faculty, students and custodians at Portland State University, or PSU, held a bargaining kick-off rally June 5. The American Association of University Professors represents over 1,200 academic professionals at PSU. The union said workers are “demanding PSU's Board stop the cuts” and invest in better learning and working conditions.

On the same day, the Oregon School Employees Association held a rally at the Eugene School District’s Education Center to demand the district include classified staff in meetings regarding student Individual Education Plans.

“Classified staff are the people who directly support students with specialized needs in our schools,” the union said in a facebook post. “If we’re not included in meetings to change a student’s Individual Education Plan (IEP), it will lack important information about supporting the student’s mental and emotional wellbeing and hinder their academic success.”

Later in the month, over 3,000 ONA-represented nurses at Hood River Memorial, St. Vincent Medical Center, Milwaukie Hospital, Willamette Falls Medical Center, Newberg Medical Center and Medford Medical Center held a three-day strike between June 18-20 against Providence as part of ongoing contract negotiations. This strike outsizes prior strikes, setting a new record for Oregon’s largest nurse strike.

The main sticking point, the union said, is over the hospital allegedly failing to comply with Oregon’s Safe Staffing Law. Nurses hope the hospital system will propose a contract that includes measures to ensure hospital management follows safe staffing metrics while prioritizing “affordable, quality healthcare,” ONA said in a statement.

Nurses continued to picket for two more days after the strike ended, as Providence implemented a lock-out of all striking nurses until June 23. ONA said it filed an unfair labor practice with the NLRB, as the lock-out likely violates the National Labor Relations Act.

On June 26, Lake Oswego Municipal Employees, represented by the Oregon chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees held a rally to demand the city increase its wage proposals in bargaining.

“Wage levels remain low as Lake Oswego has recently faced the highest inflation rates in decades,” the union said in a June 26 press release. “The severe inflation has left many employees struggling to support their families as cost of living adjustments have failed to keep pace with the rising costs.”

The current contract expired on June 30.

Negotiations

Magic Tavern dancers unionized with Actors’ Equity in September 2023, but nine months later, the dancers said the owner of the Northwest Portland strip club still hasn’t met workers at the bargaining table.

The NLRB regional office issued a complaint against Magic Tavern, in May, for refusing to bargain, Actors’ Equity representative David Levy told Street Roots.

“Magic Tavern didn't respond to the complaint, so we are expecting a final order of default from the NLRB soon,” Levy said. “Assuming Magic Tavern continues to refuse to bargain in violation of the NLRB order, we will likely end up in federal court in the next few months seeking a contempt order.”

The New Seasons Labor, or NSLU, Union finished another month of bargaining on the growing independent union’s first contract. However, the union said it hasn’t made much progress with management.

NSLU said the company “continues to stall on economics,” has refused to counter propose on the union’s customer harassment policy and declined to implement the reportedly better Paid Time Off and Time in Role policies already extended to non-union stores.

“We’ve now filed two unfair labor practices over this, as it is illegal to withhold improvements for workers solely on the basis of whether or not the staff has chosen to unionize,” NSLU said in an Instagram post.

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