BerniePDX / Portland for Bernie

Sign the pledge here, and support the strike fund here.

Members of Portland State University’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors (PSU-AAUP) have been bargaining and rallying tirelessly to win just wages, stronger job and layoff protections, reasonable workloads, racial equity compensation, and enhanced member benefits for faculty and staff. For over 100 hours of bargaining, PSU administration has continued to stall on key issues for settling a fair contract, forcing nearly 1,200 members to prepare for an upcoming strike. Impasse could come as soon as Thursday.

Tell the company that not presenting a viable economic offer is bad for business – sign the No Contract, No Coffee pledge!

Fresh off the largest-ever strike in Starbucks’ history, SBWU baristas are united. We’re calling Starbucks out for failing to support the baristas who are central to the company’s turnaround. Starbucks backtracked on the path forward, and offered no raises or benefits increases specifically for union baristas in the first year of the contract. They knew that an offer that low wouldn’t lead to ratified contracts. They failed to meet their own deadline for a foundational framework by the end of 2024.

By Lisa Balick, KOIN

“Zenith needs a new air quality permit from the state, and to get that, it needs another city council permit. Dozens of members of the public also weighed in on whether the city should give Zenith the new permit.

In response, the new city council members — not career politicians — told city staff and Zenith that they want a lot more background on this along with clearer explanations.

‘Oil trains derail, spill, and explode, just like one did near the Columbia Gorge town of Mosier in 2016 forcing students to evacuate a nearby school,’ Damon Motz-Storey, the director of the Sierra Club’s Oregon chapter said. ‘Zenith Energy is not needed in Oregon and has an untrustworthy reputation. It is up to Portland leaders to do the right thing and insist upon clarity, consistency, and a livable climate future for all people, animals, and places.’

…This decision from the city council demonstrates a fresh approach in asking a lot of questions, digging deeper into some of these big issues, and demanding a lot more information before giving any approvals.” Read more here.

“Officials from the United States, Israel, Qatar, and Hamas say a deal to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages has been reached.This is welcome, long-overdue news.

Both sides must honor the deal and implement it as quickly as possible. The senseless killing must stop. The hostages must be released. The United Nations and other aid organizations must finally be allowed unfettered access to all areas of the Gaza Strip in order to provide the massive amounts of humanitarian aid that is desperately needed. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people are struggling to survive, lacking food, water, and medical care in the middle of winter. Innocent lives hang in the balance.” Read more of Bernie’s statement here.

Sign up to join a picket, sign the petition to Providence, and support the strike fund here! 

Nearly 5,000 healthcare professionals at the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) are calling on Providence Health & Services to return to the bargaining table and put their patients before profits by offering a fair contract to frontline caregivers. Nurses, doctors, physician associates, certified nurse midwives, nurse practitioners, clinical staff, and other healthcare professionals are striking Providence beginning Jan. 10.

ONA members are holding this historic and courageous strike because of Providence’s unfair labor practices, dangerously understaffed hospitals, the need for more time with patients, affordable employee healthcare, and competitive wages and benefits to help recruit and retain more caregivers.

Join the picket lines and stand in solidarity with healthcare workers fighting for better care for their patients and a stronger future for caregivers!

“We are the wealthiest nation on Earth. There is no rational reason as to why we are not the healthiest nation on Earth. We should be leading the world in terms of life expectancy, disease prevention, low infant and maternal mortality, quality of life and human happiness. Sadly, study after study shows just the opposite. Despite spending almost twice as much per capita on healthcare, we trail most wealthy nations in all these areas.

If we’re going to reform our broken and dysfunctional healthcare system and ‘Make America healthy again’, this is some of what we must do.” Read more here.

Join the picket line at 1250 NW Swigert Way in Troutdale!

“All health care systems require administration, which costs money, but a private multipayer system requires massively more than other approaches, especially the single-payer system favored by the American left.

To get your head around why this is, think for a second about what happens to every $100 you give to a private insurance company. According to the most exhaustive study on this question in the United States — the Congressional Budget Office single-payer study from 2020 — the first thing that happens is that $16 of those dollars are taken by the insurance company. From there, the insurer gives the remaining $84 to a hospital to reimburse them for services. That hospital then takes another $15.96 (19 percent of its revenue) for administration, meaning that only $68.04 of the original $100 actually goes to providing care.

In a single-payer system, the path of that $100 looks a lot different. Rather than take $16 for insurance administration, the public insurer would only take $1.60. And rather than take $15.96 of the remaining money for hospital administration, the hospital would only take $11.80 (12 percent of its revenue), meaning that $86.60 of the original $100 actually goes to providing care.” Read more here.

Please click here to send a message to all the Metro Councilors urging them Say No to Cutting $17.5 million for building affordable housing and ending homelessness and housing insecurity!

Metro Council is poised to vote on a ballot measure to adjust the Supportive Services Measure passed in 2020 to assist households experiencing homelessness or severe rent burdens.

We support changes improving cross-county alignment of strategies for alleviating our affordable housing crisis; investing a portion of funds to expand permanently affordable housing; and extending revenue collection beyond 10 years.

However, these changes will not succeed in alleviating our crisis if Metro follows through on a 10% tax cut on earnings above 125 K for single households and above 200K for joint filing households in 2026, followed by a 25% cut in 2031.It is predicted that such a deep tax cut will lead to a $17.5 million annual loss in revenue!

Learn more about this issue on Welcome Home’s website.