Recognizing May Day
Unite Oregon stands in solidarity with workers worldwide on this May Day. Today, we remember and honor generations of countless struggles and sacrifices made by workers in their fight for fair labor practices, better working conditions, and the right to organize.
Today, we recognize workers' ongoing struggle, particularly in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, where many have been deemed essential but have been denied the necessary support and protections to ensure their safety and well-being. Many workers from Black, Indigenous, People of Color, immigrants, refugees, and rural communities lacked the support during the pandemic to care for themselves and their families. Many continue to struggle as pandemic resources start to dwindle. As an organization, we strive to generate opportunities for our communities to access the necessary aid to recover and thrive fully.
Some of the ways we are working to support the rights of workers are:
Forming partnerships to connect our members to various living wage jobs, in areas such as green technology and union trade jobs.
Advocate at the legislature to expand funding to help grow childcare businesses, as many members informed us that childcare was hard to come by.
We will be converting our 122nd Avenue office space in East Portland to accommodate the growth of childcare businesses, workforce center, and small business incubation.
Many members of Rogue Valley lost their homes due to the Almeda wildfires in 2020. We are supporting some members who are interested in starting wildfire clean-up businesses.
We offer a 4.5-day work week, a competitive healthcare benefits package, remote work accommodation for the past 2.5 years and for the foreseeable future, and skills development allocation for each staff.
We stand with workers in their fight for fair wages, job security, and the right to unionize. We support efforts to ensure that workers are treated with dignity and respect and that their voices are heard and valued in decision-making processes. Let us use this May Day as a reminder that the struggle for workers' rights is ongoing and that we must continue to stand together in solidarity until all are treated fairly and equitably.
