The union has spent months building a citywide organizing apparatus it calls HEAT, and leaders say that level of readiness is meant to strengthen bargaining leverage ahead of the contract's July 2026 expiration. According to the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, the union has appointed HEAT captains, assembled teams in every hotel and scheduled trainings so members can mobilize quickly if talks stall.
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.
"Amazon, Jeff Bezos, and their political allies are betting on a techno-authoritarian future, but this Make Amazon Pay Day, workers everywhere are saying: enough," said Christy Hoffman, general secretary of UNI Global Union. "For years, Amazon has squashed workers' right to democracy on the job through a union and the backing of authoritarian political figures. Its model is deepening inequality and undermining the fundamental rights of workers to organize, bargain collectively, and demand safe, fair workplaces."
One week into its open-ended unfair labor practices (ULP) strike, Starbucks Workers United is escalating its action, with hundreds of baristas in 25 additional cities joining picket lines. More than 2,000 Starbucks baristas are now striking at 95 stores in 65 cities, and new stores continue filing for union elections including five non-union shops that submitted petitions this week. The strike began Nov. 13 at about 65 unionized Starbucks stores in more than 40 cities under the banner Red Cup Rebellion.
Labor Day, which became a US national holiday in 1894, was once a very big deal. Photos such as this one taken in Buffalo, NY, in 1900 speak to the tens of thousands of workers who would march on Labor Day to be counted and to stand up for their rights.
