The Oregon Labor Dispatch: July 24, 2025
UPCOMING EVENTS
Rally to Support Healthcare Workers at Kaiser
August 7 in Portland
We’re standing in solidarity with 60,000 healthcare professionals nationwide in the fight for living wages, safe staffing, and a real voice on the job. This powerful event will feature healthcare workers, community activists, union siblings, and political leaders all coming together to demand better for caregivers and patients alike. Sign up now and be part of this critical show of solidarity!
TAKE ACTION
Reporters and photographers for The Bulletin and Redmond Spokesman in Oregon are negotiating a first contract. The current owners of The Bulletin want to lay off more journalists. Send a letter opposing these cuts and urging the Publisher John Carr and Carpenter Media Group CEO Tim Prince to propose a reasonable wage.
MUST READ
Another betrayal of working people
July 15, 2025 | NW Labor Press
In his latest article for the NW Labor Press, Oregon AFL-CIO President Graham Trainor breaks down the national budget reconciliation bill’s devastatingly cruel impacts on working class people and reaffirms the power of the labor movement to fight and win against such attacks.
OREGON LABOR
Kotek calls special session for transportation funding fix
July 22, 2025 | KGW
The governor said she's directed ODOT to postpone layoffs until September so lawmakers have a chance to avert them with a transportation funding package.
Bend Bulletin newspaper union fights Carpenter Media Group layoffs
July 21, 2025 | OPB
The union that represents reporters at Central Oregon’s 122-year-old newspaper is negotiating its first contract with the corporation that bought the outlet last fall.
FEDERAL ATTACKS
Supreme Court allows Trump to remove consumer product safety regulators
July 23, 2025 | The Washington Post
A divided Supreme Court on Wednesday cleared the way for President Donald Trump to remove the Democratic members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, allowing the administration to continue to seize control of the federal bureaucracy while litigation continues in the lower courts.
Trump administration pauses student loan forgiveness
July 22, 2025 | The Washington Post
Without much notice, the Education Department has suspended student loan forgiveness under a long-standing repayment plan, offering no timeline for resumption and little explanation for the decision.
Trump’s Labor Department proposes more than 60 rule changes in a push to deregulate workplaces
July 22, 2025 | AP
“People are at very great risk of dying on the job already,” Rebecca Reindel, the AFL-CIO union’s occupational safety and health director, said. “This is something that is only going to make the problem worse.” The proposed changes have several stages to get through before they can take effect, including a public comment period for each one.
ATTACKS ON IMMIGRANTS
Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries warns employers that threats to call ICE are illegal
July 23, 2025 | Central Oregon Daily News
Threatening to call federal immigration authorities on employees after they raised concerns about their working conditions is considered illegal retaliation, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries is warning employers.
THE LABOR MOVEMENT
July 23, 2025 | AFL-CIO
Guess how much more the nation’s top CEOs made compared to their workers last year. The average S&P 500 CEO made 285 times what the median worker made in 2024—a whopping $18.9 million each in total compensation on average. Check out the AFL-CIO’s annual Executive Paywatch report to see how much your CEO took home last year.
GRAPHICS TO SHARE
National Budget Reconciliation Bill: “Another betrayal of working people” Toolkit