PORTLAND, Oregon — The summer of 2023 has seen a wave of strikes, near-misses and other labor movement actions as employees across the country express frustration with their employers. The trend has been highly visible in Portland as well, with employees across a range of industries holding votes to unionize or authorize strikes.
Workers at a Beaverton Starbucks store went on strike in early August. Employees at Powell’s Books voted to authorize a strike around the same time, and nurses and doctors throughout Portland have also expressed recent frustration, most visibly in the form of a weeklong strike by Providence nurses in June.
"More and more workers are standing up and saying this isn't working for us," said Keith Cunningham-Parmeter, a Lewis & Clark College law professor specializing in labor relations.
He said higher costs of living are also creating tenser working relationships, calling inflation "an absolute paycheck killer." Higher inflation is leading to higher rents, he said, but wages are trailing even as people have to spend more money.
"The compensation packages really haven't kept pace," said Berrin Erdogan, a management professor at Portland State University.
Erdogan said low pay, poor working conditions and limited job security are the main reasons many workers are not satisfied.
"In unionized workplaces, we're seeing this in strikes or unionization efforts," Erdogan said. "In non-unionized workplaces, we saw this in the form of great resignation and the quiet quitting."
Workers at the Beaverton Starbucks said they hope the company takes notice of their early August strike.
"I think it'll definitely send a message to the company," said Starbucks employee Remy Switzer.
National Labor Relations Board records show that 55 unfair labor practice charges have been filed against Starbucks in Portland’s district since the start of the year. Starbucks workers said they want higher pay, better health care and more time working.
"I definitely need more hours,” Starbucks employee Emily Pickering said. "I think it's really important."
In a statement, Starbucks said it’s committed to a contract with union representatives who bargain with professionalism.
At local hospitals, nurses went on strike for better wages and working conditions, and said staffing levels have gotten too low and become unsafe.
Cunningham-Parmeter said about a third of strike activity in 2022 was in the health care field, which was the highest of any industry.
Striking teachers accounted for the second-most strike activity. Experts noted both professions were hard-hit by COVID-19.
"Nurses were talking about staffing,” Cunningham-Parmeter said. “This was not safe. It wasn't safe for the nurses, it wasn't safe for the patients."
Despite a seemingly high number of strikes, union membership continues to drop nationally. Data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed around 10% of workers are union members nationwide. In Oregon, 16% of workers were union members in 2022.
"The bottom line is, it's about a tight labor market," Cunningham-Parmeter said. "The tight labor market is really the leverage that's making all of this happen."