Oregon has expanded free health insurance that mirrors Medicaid to all residents who qualify, regardless of their immigration status. The move took effect July 1. It marks an expansion of a Medicaid-type program for immigrants last year for residents who don’t qualify for the Oregon Health Plan because of their immigration status. The program, Healthier […]
OPB: Federal appeals court refuses to rehear Grants Pass homelessness case
The original 2020 decision had implications for regulating homelessness across the West.Wednesday’s ruling stems from a decision in July 2020, when a court in Medford decided that Grants Pass’s ordinances regulating homelessness were unconstitutional, due to what they considered cruel and unusual punishment and excessive fines. The city appealed that decision to the 9th Circuit […]
AXIOS: Summer of strikes heats up
It’s shaping up to be a summer of strikes: Workers are walking off the job across a remarkable range of industries from Starbucks baristas to factory workers making parts for jets to Amazon drivers. Why it matters: The worker activism sparked by the pandemic seems to be increasing, thanks in part to a still-tight labor […]
Statesman Journal: Oregon lawmakers approve major health care changes as controversial legislative session ends
Despite a record-breaking, six-week walkout, the 2023 Oregon legislative session ended with many major health care bills making it to the governor’s desk. Behavioral health and health care were among lawmakers’ legislative priorities this session, with bills addressing concerns like staffing shortages, mental health care caseloads, abortion, gender-affirming care access and substance use disorder treatment. […]
We the People: Health Care for All Oregon
On We the People for July 5, Jason Houk talks with Wes Brain about latest efforts to ensure health care for all Oregonians. We also discuss Starbucks union efforts. https://archive.org/details/we-the-people-202307050900
REUTERS: Los Angeles-area hotel workers strike over wages, housing
LOS ANGELES, July 2 (Reuters) – Thousands of Los Angeles-area hotel workers went on strike on Sunday demanding pay hikes and improved benefits in a region where high housing costs make it difficult for low-wage earners to live close to where they hold jobs, union officials said. Unite Here Local 11, which represents 15,000 workers […]
USA TODAY: UPS strike update: Teamsters and UPS closer to a deal, strike not off the table
UPS and its workers’ union are closer to reaching a deal that could improve conditions for more than 340,000 employees nationally. Over the weekend, the Teamsters union announced it has reached a tentative agreement with the company on “three major economic issues” — a final piece in what the union has called “the largest collective […]
KPTV: Portland-area unionized Starbucks workers on strike Friday
PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) – Unionized Starbucks partners in Oregon and Washington will strike on Friday in protest of the company’s actions during Pride Month. In a statement from Starbucks Workers United on Thursday, they asked the Seattle-based company to “end its attacks on LGBTQIA+ workers as part of its relentless union-busting campaign that includes threatening […]
Providence to Oregon AG: Deny nurses’ request to investigate
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Days after the Oregon Nurses Association wrote a letter to Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum asking her to investigate Providence, the hospital responded with a letter of their own on Tuesday. A five-day strike led by nearly 1,800 healthcare workers at three Providence facilities ended on Friday evening, but ONA is […]
OHSU nurses picket for better hospital conditions as contract is set to expire
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Just days after nurses at three Providence facilities ended a strike against the hospital system, healthcare workers at Oregon Health and Science University have launched a demonstration of their own. The Oregon Nurses Association announced that nurses at OHSU, OHSU Hillsboro and OHSU partner Columbia Memorial Hospital were organizing “a series […]