On July, 13th, Oregon AFSCME member Zola Neal and her partner narrowly escaped an apartment complex fire in NE Portland, just blocks from the union’s Portland office. While, lucky and thankful to escape unharmed, the couple did lose all of their belongings in the fire and without renter’s insurance, their situation was even tougher. Zola’s community stepped up for her, creating a GoFundMe page and assisting her with housing and support.

In the final days of session, the Legislature passed a bill that they referred to as a “Cost Containment” bill.  The bill had many provisions but, one that received very little scrutiny and no public hearing was a provision to no longer allow two public employees that are covered under either the state healthcare benefit plan, PEBB, or the school district health plans, OEBB, to both be covered as dependents of each other.  While the bill had several good things and some that caused concerns, we opposed it due to the elimination of double coverage for members.  As soon as we heard rumo

On Sunday, April 30th, our 2017 Oregon AFSCME Convention wrapped up with the swearing in of our officers and executive committee. Members began embracing, saying goodbyes, snapping their last selfies, and packing up their belongings to make the journey home. It was a quiet and nice end to a convention that began with a rally in the Capitol Rotunda that shook the walls, and a fire-branded speech from AFSCME International President Lee Saunders.