Story and photos by Pete Shaw A petition signed by over 350 Recreation employees was presented the Portland City Council on December 2, asking for a $15 an hour minimum wage, benefits, and more opportunity for year-round jobs. “I’ve seen excellent employees struggle with low wages and a lack of access to full time work,”…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw The good news is that Senator Ron Wyden keeps backtracking on his support for Fast Track legislation that would let the Congress abdicate its constitutionally mandated authority over trade and give that power to President Obama. The bad news is that he is backtracking further toward the multinational corporations…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw Building janitors, City workers, and supporters held two coordinated rallies in downtown Portland on June 17 demanding a raise in the minimum wage to $15 an hour and greater respect for workers’ rights to unionize. The rallies marked the most recent of many local actions and were also part…
Story by Pete Shaw The friendliest store in town is not so friendly after all. At least not to its workers. That was the message sent by a crowd of over 30 people outside the New Seasons on SE Hawthorne on April 21. Coming together on April 21 in support of raising Oregon’s minimum wage…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw Over 300 Portland workers rallied on April 15 in solidarity with workers from 230 cities who took to the streets in a day of awareness, action, and strikes in support of increasing the minimum wage to $15 and fighting for the right to form a union. The event followed…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw With a unanimous vote, the Portland City Council on February 18 approved a resolution updating the City’s Fair Wage Policy to a $15 per hour minimum. Its passage will affect over 100 janitors, security guards, parking attendants, concessions workers, and others who work for companies that contract with the…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw The members of the unions making up Portland’s District Council of Trade Unions (DCTU) have soundly rejected the contract tentatively agreed to between the City of Portland and the DCTU bargaining team. In doing so, they have sent a message to both the City as well as the leaders…
Story by Pete Shaw Photos by Farrell Richartz The first item on the agenda as City Council went into session on Wednesday October 30th was a remembrance of Nohad Toulan, the founder of Portland State University’s School of Urban Studies and Planning, and his wife, who died on Monday. During the memorial, Councilman Nick Fish…
Story and photo by Pete Shaw After two years of attempts to receive compensation for injured General Motors workers, protesters are bringing the fight to GM dealerships, the real points of profit for GM. On Saturday November 2, a group of 15 activists gathered at Wentworth Chevrolet on SE Grand Avenue as part of the…
By Jamie Partridge Eleven protesters invaded the office space of Portland’s senior US Postal Service management on September 18. Slipping past security barriers on the third floor of the Main Post Office, the group occupied the hallway outside the offices of Brenda Jackson, transportation manager for the Portland district. Demanding a meeting with Jackson, the…
