#unfair-labor-practice

#unfair-labor-practice

Yesterday, the Mercury reported a story revealing that as the Portland City Council was discussing entrenched racism in local politics at a meeting last week, a local real estate broker and a handful of connected political activists were texting racist messages to each other about progressive councilors of color. The Mercury obtained photos of the texts, which include racist, sexiest, and homophonic slurs used over the course of two hours.

A new union representing Portland City Council aides and operations staff filed an unfair labor practice (ULP) complaint against the city for alleged anti-union conduct from Councilor Loretta Smith's office. The complaint, filed January 13, alleges Smith retaliated against and fired a former aide due to his role in organizing the Council staff union. The aide, Adam Murray, worked as a policy staffer in Smith's office for about nine months until he was fired last week.

As if it hadn't seen enough already, the state transportation package could face yet another weird hurdle just days after Governor Tina Kotek signed the bill into law on Monday. House Bill 3991 is supposed to raise $4.3 billion (that's a million dollars 4,300 times over) across the next decade, which is a critical amount of money if Oregonians want to keep roads clear and safe, not lay off a bunch of employees, and send funding to cities for their own public transit projects.

The Patent Office Professional Association (POPA) has filed a charge against the USPTO regarding denied representation during discussions about employee policies, alleging violation of fair labor practices.