Month: April 2025

The City of Portland recently announced that the contract for Multnomah Safe Rest Village (MSRV) will be transferred from Sunstone Way, represented by AFSCME Local 1790, to Urban Alchemy, a non-union employer with concerning practices as an employer and service provider.

Write Mayor Wilson and the Portland City Council and tell them to ensure the City of Portland continues to contract Sunstone Way to run MSRV in the interest of prioritizing unionized labor and providers who lead with a trauma-informed approach.

Mark your calendar for the Keep Oregon Nuclear-Free Day of Action on May 19. Whether you can make it to Salem to meet with your legislators in person, or join a virtual meeting, we need your help to ensure that the Oregon legislature hears loud and clear that Oregonians do not want costly and dirty new nuclear reactors in our state.

HB 2410, would exempt Umatilla County from the statewide moratorium on building new nuclear reactors, allowing small modular nuclear reactors to be built in the county.

HB 2038 would require the Oregon Department of Energy to study nuclear power. This is an unnecessary distraction from the real challenge of meeting Oregon’s clean energy goals. 

These bills divert funding from energy efficiency, renewable energy, and storage technologies that are safer, less expensive, and faster to deploy. RSVP for the Day of Action here – attend virtually from home if you can’t make it to Salem!

Write your legislators here.

Read the letter that eight Portland City Councilors wrote in support of HB 2966.

From our friends at Cultivating Solutions: Oregon’s House Bill 2966 aims to establish a task force that will study and recommend options for public banking and other public financing solutions in our state. Publicly-owned financial institutions have a proven track record of reinvesting in affordable housing and community development, fostering growth and resilience in local economies.

Public financial institutions have the potential to address systemic inequities by prioritizing underserved communities, including low-income residents and minority-owned businesses, in their lending and investment practices. In addition, they ensure that public dollars are used to benefit the people they serve, offering greater oversight and alignment of financial activities with community needs.

States across the political spectrum—including Arizona, California, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—are exploring or implementing similar options. Let’s get this done for the good of all.

WASHINGTON, April 29 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), alongside Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), today introduced the Medicare for All Act. Hundreds of nurses, health care providers and workers from around the nation joined the lawmakers for a press conference in front of the Capitol. Read the rest of Bernie’s press release here.

Senate Bill 951, which safeguards physician-led care by limiting corporate influence over medical decision-making in Oregon, passed the Senate on April 8th. SB 951 is scheduled for a public hearing in the House Committee on Behavioral Health and Health Care on Tuesday, April 29, from 3:00 to 5:00 PM.

We expect opposition from large corporate entities that profit from the current system, so we need clinicians, advocates, and patients to show up and speak out about why this bill matters!

Submit written testimony here.

Contact members of the House, especially those on the Behavioral Health and Health Care Committee (emails listed here). Phone calls or individual emails are best. Be sure to email your own Representative and mention that you’re a constituent. Learn more about SB951 here.

KGW: Portland City Council tentatively agrees with appeal against PGE plan to cut trees in Forest Park

“All 12 Portland city councilors Thursday voted to tentatively grant the appeal from opponents of a Portland General Electric (PGE) plan to expand its transmission line footprint in Forest Park.

On Thursday afternoon, those opponents presented their appeal to Portland City Council, decrying the environmental impact of PGE downing trees and filling in wetland areas. They argued that a city hearings officer mistakenly decided the project’s environment review.” Read more here.

If you’re a union member, sign the petition to keep the Portland Police Association out of the NW Oregon Labor Council!

Historically and to the present, police serve as strike-breakers across the nation and in Portland, always siding with bosses against organized workers—with the police association lining up with their commanders.

The effort to bring the PPA into the Labor Council represents a total repudiation of core labor values, which are grounded in solidarity, racial & social justice, and collective action.

From our friends at JwJ: On March 26, Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez was violently kidnapped by ICE. An inspiring union leader of a growing movement in Washington to organize workers for justice, this brazen targeting of immigrant communities and the organized labor movement cannot stand.

On Saturday, Portland unionists joined Coalition of Independent Unions in a rally led by Mark Medina, JWJ Worker Center and Coalition of Independent Unions organizer to draw attention to Lelo’s detention. Pressure halted Lelo’s deportation, now we must demand his release from detention!

Call Washington Attorney General’s office: 360-753-6200

More calls, donate link, and actions to take at this link!

From our friends at Portland DSA: Willamette Week just reported that local real estate ghoul Greg Goodman is organizing our local billionaire and mega-millionaire class against Preschool for All. We need your help to fight back!

• Do you have children enrolled in Preschool for All and want to share your story?
• Are you a preschool teacher or childcare worker at a PFA location who can speak to the benefits it has brought you?
• Do you have any friends with kids in PFA or who work at a PFA site that you can point our way?
• Or would you like to help out with the campaign to preserve it, using your social media and organizing skills?

If so, we want to hear from you!

Tell state regulators to reject the proposed joint venture between Providence Health and Compassus to keep your healthcare driven by your needs, not corporate profits!

ALSO:

• Email hcmo.info@oha.oregon.gov 
• Leave a voicemail at 503-945-6161 
• Fill out the public comment form

Background:

Providence is attempting to spin off its nonprofit home health, hospice and community palliative care programs into a joint for-profit enterprise run by private-equity-owned Compassus.

Right now, this Providence/Compassus joint venture is being reviewed by Oregon’s Health Care Market Oversight program. Healthcare workers and community members are speaking up to share their concerns about transparency, patient care, and the potential negative effects on health outcomes in Oregon’s vulnerable communities with this joint venture.

For-profit, private equity healthcare generally leads to higher prices, lower access and worse healthcare. Research shows private equity corporations consistently cut staffing and services, increase patients’ costs and illness, and contribute little to our communities’ long term health and wellbeing. The bottom line: Partnering with private-equity will lead to higher costs and worse care. Now is the time to act!