News

PORTLAND, OR - After over 16 months bargaining their first contract, New Avenues for Youth (NAFY) workers have reached a tentative agreement with management on a three year contract, averting a one

SALEM, OR – Understaffing, extreme overtime and lack of safety protocols are creating untenable situations in the workplace, based on member survey results released today by Oregon AFSCME in their

PORTLAND, OR – Newly sworn-in Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez recently referred to Oregon’s public defense crisis as a “work stoppage” in an OPB interview.

The 1965 Voting Rights Act worked. In the years and decades that followed its implementation, the law helped minority voters make their voices heard, especially African Americans who had been discriminated against at the polls. As a result, our democracy became stronger.

But in 2013, despite bipartisan reauthorization of the law by Congress, the Supreme Court gutted it, ruling 5-4 that a key provision was no longer necessary because the Voting Rights Act had worked and the problem was fixed.

Despite high levels of stress on the job, many state and local workers say they highly value serving the public and their communities and feel generally satisfied with their jobs.

This finding, from a national survey commissioned by the National Institute on Retirement Security, will not surprise many AFSCME members, who work in state, county and local governments and never quit on their communities.

Our bargaining committee meetings are every other Thursday at 6025 E Burnside after work (5:30 pm start, come when you can). Our wages, hours and working conditions are too important to only rely on a handful of folks - our bargaining committee will drive the whole process.

This body will be:
*drafting language
*prioritizing bargaining issues
*directing the five table delegates
*crafting arguments in defense of changes/additions/subtractions

AFSCME members who work in health care and social services jobs face workplace violence daily. Now they are closer to having it.

Election Day 2019 was a big victory for working families. In states and cities across the country, they made their voices heard, electing pro-worker candidates for state and local government and providing further evidence of growing political momentum for working people.

Last year, nearly half a million workers went on strike across the nation, the largest number since 1986, when the country’s union membership rate was considerably higher (17.5%) than it was in 2018 (10.5%).

A bill that has been introduced in the House of Representatives would simplify the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program for current and would-be participants.