On this episode of The Voice of Oregon’s Workers we talk with policy experts about Senate Bill 592, the Keep Oregon Workers Safe Act.  This legislation is vitally important to improving workplace safety in Oregon, and as you’ll hear on the episode will increase penalties for employers who don’t address unsafe working conditions as well as provide other critical improvements to workplace safety regulations.  Advocates from PCUN - Oregon’s farmworkers union, Oregon AFSCME, and the Oregon AFL-CIO discuss what dangers workers are facing on the job and how SB 592 will help increase safety in every workplace in our state. 

Guests

• Catie Theisen. Political & Legislative Director for the Oregon AFL-CIO
• Ira Cuello-Martinez, Policy Advocacy Director for PCUN, Oregon’s Farmworker Union 
• Odalis Aguilar-Aguilar, Political Coordinator for Oregon AFSCME 

Learn More & Get Involved 

• To learn more about Oregon Labor’s 2023 legislative priorities, please visit: https://www.oraflcio.org/legislativepriorities
• If you’d like to help get involved by contacting your legislators about SB 592, please contact us here: https://www.oraflcio.org/contact-us
• Learn more about Senate Bill 592: https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2023R1/Measures/Overview/SB592

On this month’s episode of The Voice of Oregon’s Workers we bring you a captivating panel discussion from the 2022 Oregon AFL-CIO convention titled The Clean Energy Future MUST Be Union Made. The panelists on this episode are Ranfis Villatoro from the Blue Green Alliance, Rick Levy, President of the Texas AFL-CIO, Carol Zabin from the UC Berkeley Labor Center and Micah Mitrosky from the IBEW.  

In Oregon and across the country, we recognize that the clean energy future is upon us and as union members, we have a strategic and moral imperative to be at the center of those conversations.   Climate change and its policy responses touch all of us as workers and clean energy can and should affect us all. We must make sure that workers are at the table, forming policy solutions that will work for all of us – from fair and just job transitions and retraining to making sure clean energy jobs are union jobs with fair pay, good benefits, and the safest working conditions possible.

Join us on this month’s episode of The Voice of Oregon’s Workers as we talk local politics with Lane County Commissioner Laurie Trieger, candidate for County Commission Dawn Lesley, and head of the Lane County Central Labor Chapter Jeff McGillivray!  Local politics, especially at the county level, has tremendous impacts on the lives of working people in Oregon. With the midterm elections just around the corner, it’s important that voters understand why voting all the way down the ballot matters and why who sits on county commissions has an impact in their lives. 

On this month’s episode of The Voice of Oregon’s Workers we talked with Melissa Busch, a registered nurse, union member, and candidate for the Oregon Senate in Senate District 16.  Melissa is running to represent communities across the North Coast and the Lower Columbia River areas, including Scappoose, Astoria, Seaside, Tillamook and Warren where she lives with her family. She’s a graduate of the Oregon Labor Candidate School, a unique program which provides union members with the skills they need to run for office. 

Races like Melissa’s are of the utmost importance to Oregon’s workers.  We need to elect champions who will fight for  policies that put working families ahead and who will defend the progress we have made in building a fair and just economy for Oregon’s workers. Melissa is one of those champions, and we’re proud to feature her on our podcast! 

Connect with her campaign by visiting https://www.melissafororegon.com/

Learn more about the Oregon Labor Candidate School by visiting http://www.oregonlaborcandidateschool.org/

On this month’s episode of The Voice of Oregon’s Workers we sat down with Christina Stephenson, the Oregon Labor endorsed candidate for Oregon’s Labor Commissioner!   A working mom and longtime advocate for workers’ rights, Christina Stephenson advanced to the general election in November following a successful campaign in the May 2022 primary election.  She’ll need the support of Oregon’s Labor Movement and working people across the state to win her election, and that’s exactly what we are planning to do this fall. 

The Labor Commissioner is in charge of the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries - or BOLI for short - the state entity responsible for protecting Oregon’s workers’ rights on the job.  That includes everything from enforcing minimum wage and prevailing wage laws to protecting against discrimination and harrasment on the job. As you’ll hear on the podcast, Christina’s experience, priorities and passion make her the perfect candidate to run BOLI.  

Joining us for this month’s podcast is State Representative Dacia Grayber, a union firefighter who represents House District 35 and who was named the 2020-2021 Oregon AFL-CIO Freshman of the Year for her leadership and advocacy on behalf of Oregon’s workers in the legislature.  

Links to items discussed in this episode:
Oregon Labor Candidate School
Emerge Oregon 

On this month’s episode of The Voice of Oregon’s Workers we talk with the Oregon AFL-CIO Political and Legislative team about the 2022 Oregon Legislature.  Learn about Oregon Labor’s priorities, how the upcoming election will impact the session, and what it takes for an idea to become a law in Oregon. 

The Oregon Labor Movement is ready to advocate for legislation that builds a fair and just economy for all workers in Oregon during the 2022 legislative session. We know that as the pandemic continues to disrupt our lives, it’s more important than ever to ensure workers have modern protections and are supported as much as possible - especially workers from marginalized communities and the essential workers who have kept Oregon running.  Our legislative priorities for the 2022 legislative session are a road map to a better Oregon for working people, and we’re excited to get to work to make it happen. 

To learn more about Oregon Labor’s 2022 priorities, please visit https://oraflcio.org/2022legislativepriorities

To receive action alerts about the legislature, please visit https://oraflcio.org/sign-up

Television and video productions create the stories that we all love, from Hollywood blockbusters to runaway cult classic television shows.  The wave of strikes and strike authorizations now known as Striketober was significantly propelled this month by IATSE members across the country and in Oregon demanding several on and off-set basics: Fair wages and rest breaks to name a few.  While their contract was settled with a recent tentative agreement at the bargaining table, Striketober continues. We’re seeing workers stand up and fight for fair contracts across the county, and basic workplace safety is critical for a fair contract. 

Tragically, the need for ever present safety on film productions was demonstrated by the tragic on-set death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins last week.  As we know, when experts are hired and workers have a voice on the job, workplace safety improves and that idea has become part of the national dialogue in the past week. 

Joining our podcast this month to discuss Striketober, workplace safety and what it means to work on films as a union studio mechanic is cdavid cotrill, Southern Business Agent for IATSE Local 488. 

Hosted by  Oregon AFL-CIO Communications Director Russell Sanders
Introduction by Oregon AFL-CIO President Graham Trainor