News

AFT-Oregon's 2015 Winter School sign up is here!

Join us for a weekend full of empowerment and educational opportunities. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet and work with other education and union leaders. Additionally, attendees will have the opportunity to attend multiple workshops to learn new skills.

Register online here: https://leadernet.aft.org/webform/aft-oregon-2015-winter-school

To view workshop descriptions click here.

Winter School 2015 is planned for January 23-25, at the Hallmark Resort. Here is the address:

744 SW Elizabeth
Newport, OR 97365

Participation is limited to the fir

While the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the importance of collective bargaining and unions to families and communities in its ruling in Harris v. Quinn, let's be clear that working people, who have aspired to the middle class and tried to make a better life for their families, have taken it on the chin for years, AFT President Randi Weingarten says.  Read more.

(Reprinted from Local 3544 (GTFF)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Teri Del Rosso, PR Coordinator: 315.552.8359
Richard Wagner: member.communications@gtff.net

Eugene--The 1,500-member Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation (GTFF) authorized our leadership to call for a strike in response to unsatisfactory contract offers from the University of Oregon Administration. Following the Administration's refusal to continue to negotiate financial packages last week, our membership called for a strike authorization vote Friday night and, over the last four days, 98% voted in favor of authorization.

Because the

Toby Dittrich, Local 2277 (PCCFFAP) member and physics instructor at Portland Community College was honored this week by the Basketball Hall of Fame, Springfield, Massachusetts, for co-invention of the “breakaway rim.” This invention revolutionized professional basketball, and made careers of many players by allowing them to show off their fancy moves, including “slam dunking” the ball, without shattering the backboard. It  has also provided safety for millions who play the game for recreation.

Dittrich, along with Arthur Ehrat (Virden, IL) both received patents on the breakaway rim and were

“This last year has been a wake-up call for many in Oregon’s labor movement,” said David Rives, AFT-Oregon President in his State of the Union address to convention delegates. Rives was referring to AFT-Oregon members’ response to a recent threat of an anti-worker ballot initiative which was ultimately withdrawn.

“AFT-Oregon worked tirelessly with locals to mobilize our members. Staff developed and conducted trainings for worksite leaders, and locals mobilized their members with an urgency we hadn’t seen before,” said Rives. It was inspiring to see a level of activity, and we don’t want to lose

Ramon Ramirez, President of the Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United (PCUN) and CAUSA brought a message of the importance of community engagement and solidarity among unions. AFT-Oregon delegates will consider a resolution this weekend in support of PCUN’s campaign to ensure safety on Oregon’s roads by expanding access to driver’s licenses to all Oregonians, 16 and older.

Ramirez shared a collaborative event where members of PCUN and Local 2278 (WOUFT), who represent faculty at Western Oregon University sold strawberries tended by PCUN members on the WOU campus last summer. The goal