The Oregon Labor Dispatch: October 9, 2025
UPCOMING EVENTS
NO KINGS: Neighbors & Labor March Together
Oct. 18
On October 18, millions of working class people are rising again to show the world: America has no kings, and the power belongs to the people. Since June, the Trump administration’s authoritarian actions have ramped up, with the deployment of national guard troops to California, D.C., and Oregon. The Oregon AFL-CIO is sponsoring six marches across Oregon.
Support OFNHP on the Strike Line!
OFNHP members at Kaiser are fighting for the future of care and safe staffing, preparing to potentially go on strike next week, if the healthcare giant doesn’t reach a fair contract agreement before their 10-day strike notice is up. Sign up to help support them on the strike line and donate to their hardship fund.
MUST READ
Oct. 6, 2025 | OPB
Portland remains in the national spotlight and a federal judge, nominated by Trump, twice sided with the state this weekend in temporary rulings.
AFL-CIO Demands Trump End the Shutdown, Fix the Health Care Crisis, Put Working People First
Oct. 7, 2025 | AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler called on President Trump today to stop “squeezing working people until they abandon demands to address a mounting health care crisis.” and immediately fund the government, fix the health care crisis, and put America’s working people first.
The wealth of the top 1% reaches a record $52 trillion
Oct. 3, 2025 | CNBC
The bottom 50% have about $4 trillion.
OREGON LABOR NEWS
Trump picks former Oregon state senator for labor department role
Oct. 7, 2025 | Oregon Capital Chronicle
An Oct. 2 notice on the U.S. Senate’s Executive Calendar shows that Bonham has received a “privileged nomination” to the labor department.
Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries lifting income threshold for wage claims
Oct. 1, 2025 | Statesman Journal
The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries is lifting its income threshold on wage claims a year after it first implemented the limit amid a growing backlog of cases.
FEDERAL ATTACKS
Mass Layoffs Trump Is Threatening in Shutdown Fight May Be Illegal
Oct. 7, 2025 | The New York Times
“It’s clearly unlawful,” said Rushab Sanghvi, the general counsel of the American Federation of Government Employees, one of the unions that have sued.
White House Signals It May Try to Deny Back Pay to Furloughed Federal Workers
Oct. 7, 2-25 | The New York Times
Everett Kelley, the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said the White House had offered a “frivolous argument” about back pay and an “obvious misinterpretation of the law,” noting that the government itself appeared to take a much different position in public guidance.
Senate Crypto Bill Faces Backlash from AFL-CIO Over Worker Safety Gaps
Oct. 8, 2025 | Coin Central
A major U.S. labor union has voiced strong concerns over a Senate bill designed to regulate the cryptocurrency market. The AFL-CIO, the largest federation of trade unions in the U.S., argues that the proposed legislation lacks critical safeguards to protect workers and the financial system.
ATTACKS ON IMMIGRANTS
Judge Poised to Free Abrego Garcia if Officials Can’t Supply Deportation Plans
Oct. 6, 2025 | The New York Times
A federal judge said on Monday that she was inclined to release Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man now being held in U.S. immigration custody after wrongfully being removed to El Salvador, if the federal government cannot quickly produce evidence it has plans to deport him soon.
THE LABOR MOVEMENT
‘Willingly Forgoing Paychecks’: Federal Workers Support Shutdown Fight
Oct. 1, 2025 | Labor Notes
35 union locals, nationals, or other levels of union bodies in the federal sector signed on to an extraordinary Federal Unionists Network letter September 29 urging the Democrats to fight Trump administration cuts, even at the price of a government shutdown.