Politics

Portland reaches contract agreement with its largest labor union, cooling off strike threat

By Alex Zielinski (OPB)
PORTLAND, Ore. Jan. 30, 2025 4:45 p.m.

The deal only deters one potential city labor strike. The District Council of Trade Unions also gave the city a strike notice Monday.

FILE - Portland City Hall, Nov. 15, 2024. The city reached an agreement with one of its workers unions, averting a citywide strike.

FILE - Portland City Hall, Nov. 15, 2024. The city reached an agreement with one of its workers unions, averting a citywide strike.

Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB

The looming threat of more than 1,000 city of Portland workers going on strike lessened early Thursday morning when their union reached an agreement with city management.

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According to an email sent to Portland elected officials from Human Resources Director Tracy Warren, the city and the Local 189 chapter of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, reached an agreement around 2 a.m. Thursday — 17 hours after the two parties started the day’s mediation session.

The announcement came a day after nearly 90% of city AFSCME members voted to authorize a strike, giving union leaders the ability to call a strike at any time.

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The deal isn’t final. An AFSCME representative told OPB that the union will need its members to vote on the agreement before it’s official. Portland City Council will also need to vote to approve.

AFSCME is the city’s largest public union, representing more than 1,000 workers across nearly every city department. It’s been in contract negotiations with the city since April, yet talks broke down last month over the union’s requests for higher wages.

The city, which is facing a $100 million budget deficit, argued it had little money to put toward raises. AFSCME said it simply wants its lower-paid workers to earn a living wage, which the union characterized as just over $27 hourly. According to the city’s current compensation plan, under a dozen AFSCME Local 189 members collect earnings below that rate.

The details of Thursday’s agreement haven’t been made public.

In the email to city officials, Warren wrote that the city will be releasing a joint statement with AFSCME about the agreement later this week.

The deal only deters one potential city labor strike. The District Council of Trade Unions, which represents about 200 city employees, gave the city a strike notice Monday. That union’s members could walk off the job as soon as Feb. 6.

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