Oregon Unions Convene Unity Team to Ramp Up Organizing

Jennifer Sargent, the Oregon AFL-CIO research and communications director, sends in this report on the state federation’s first-ever Organizing Summit.

Earlier this month, leaders from more than 20 Oregon unions, representing more than 65,000 union members, including teachers, nurses, plumbers and more, convened in Portland in the largest Organizing Summit ever held in Oregon.

The goal? To build Oregon’s union movement by strengthening the campaigns through which working men and women join unions and bargain for better pay and benefits. This strategy includes legislative goals, as well as supporting one another’s organizing efforts in unprecedented ways. Says Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain:

The energy in the room was awesome. We’ve been having separate conversations for years about organizing, and when top leaders of Oregon’s unions got together, it all finally clicked: We spent the day brainstorming, strategizing, and figuring out ways we could help each other in ways that have not been done before. The rubber is hitting the road. We’re ready to go.

Already, three organizing resolutions based on the group’s first meeting have been crafted for our 2007 convention, and union leaders have exchanged information on how they can leverage resources to assist one another on several current campaigns. The group voted to call itself the Unity Team and meet quarterly to develop strategy, determine priorities, check in on progress and more.

The session was largely planned by political coordinator Elana Guiney and facilitated by AFL-CIO Organizing Director Stewart Acuff and Chamberlain. Leaders came away knowing what resources were available from the AFL-CIO at the state and national level as well. 

The Oregon AFL-CIO has 90,000 affiliate union members plus 45,000 members of Working America, community affiliate of the AFL-CIO.

(Subscribe to the Oregon AFL-CIO’s Weekly Update by sending an e-mail to: afl-cio@oraflcio.org.)

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