News

All the resources you need on immigration and ICE

Federal immigration actions are rapidly expanding, with deadly consequences. The killings of poet Renee Nicole Good and nurse Alex Pretti by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis have brought intense focus on the use of excessive force. An AFT webinar, co-hosted by AFT President Randi Weingarten and AFT Massachusetts President Jessica Tang on Jan. 28, featured experts on immigration and the law. It highlighted AFT resources and showcased how our locals are showing up to minimize fear and trauma.

Today we mourn one of our own union siblings in the labor movement, Alex Jeffrey Pretti, an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA Hospital. A healthcare professional who dedicated his life to caring for our nation’s veterans in their most vulnerable moments.

As nurses and healthcare professionals, we see what others don’t always see. We see how poverty becomes illness, how injustice becomes injury, how a broken system breaks human bodies and minds. We don’t just treat symptoms, but we witness their causes. And when you witness suffering day after day, you can’t help but ask ourselves: what can I do

Solidarity With Minnesota Unions Statewide Shutdown Jan. 23

I have watched in horror as federal armed agents have terrorized Minnesotans over these past few weeks. Our members have been subjected to flash-bangs, tear gas and physical force by masked aggressors. Innocent people have been abducted by anonymous agents without badges or warrants. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have gone door to door, leaving children terrified, and have brandished their weapons against peaceful protesters—including students and educators on school property.

We cannot look away. Our members in Minnesota are proudly and bravely speaking up for safe communities

It is clear that higher education is under attack. The Trump administration has frozen funding for science, from cancer research to reproductive care; has hamstrung student financial aid programs; has stripped colleges and universities of diversity, equity and inclusion programming; has strangled affirmative action designed to expand access to college; and is demanding that some institutions sign a “compact” that forces them to adopt Trump’s ideology in exchange for federal funding.

Dr. Byrce Pulliam spends his nights in a community emergency room in Southern Oregon, where the line between life and death can come down to seconds—and insurance coverage.

“I show up 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year with one goal in mind: to provide excellent care for patients in crisis. Being a doctor is often challenging, but it has become harder because our nation’s healthcare system is on life support,” he said before a House hearing on Oct. 8.

Some healthcare professionals standing for a photo.

Educators and nurses are professionals. Their work is some of the most sacred work people can do, and their professional judgment should be respected. But this administration wants to undermine these workers’ stature in society to pay for the tax cuts the rich got this summer in Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”—the same bill that cut healthcare and caused the skyrocketing Affordable Care Act premiums this December.

Here’s the deal: A proposal by Education Secretary Linda McMahon is now circulating that would eliminate the “professional” status for advanced degrees for nurses, physician assistants

We are collaborating with our coalition partner Portland Jobs With Justice to revive their Workers’ Rights Board to hear from Labcorp workers, providers, and experts about how conditions inside this for-profit lab are impacting patient care — and why these workers are fighting for their first contract. Join us Thursday, Dec 11 at 6pm! RSVP Here.

Background: Labcorp is a for-profit corporation that buys and runs hospital labs. They understaff them and underpay their employees with negative consequences for patient care. This is happening at multiple hospitals around Portland where Labcorp

Support Options After a Paycheck Affected by a Strike

Participating in a strike is one of the most powerful actions you can take as a union member: Showing the employer how essential your work is by withholding your labor, fighting for a contract that protects your ability to provide high quality patient care and earn a dignified income while doing so.

We know a strike is a short term sacrifice for a long term reward -- but the cost of a smaller paycheck can still be understandably challenging, especially when the last four years of wage increases were minimal and the cost of every day living continues to rise. Please see some of the options below

Clarity on the October 1st Wage Increase

We want to provide clarification on the language in Section 3.E.4 of the National Agreement regarding wage increases that take effect on or after October 1, 2025.

Some members have asked whether Techs and RDHs should have or will receive a wage increase on that date. They will not, and here’s why:

The language in Section 3.E.4 only applies if there is no successor National Agreement. We are already in active negotiations for that successor contract right now. Once we reach a tentative agreement, the across-the-board (ATB) wage increases we negotiate will apply to all OFNHP-represented units

AFT Interest Free Loans for Strikers

Worried About Finances During the Strike?

OFNHP members have access to interest-free loans through their national union – the AFT.

A strike can mean day-to-day financial challenges and anxiety. AFT has responded by partnering with the AFL-CIO Credit Union to offer interest-free loans to help members with expenses if their regular pay is interrupted.

How It Works

Members are eligible after 5 days on the strike line and one payday is missed.
The AFT will pay the interest on loans up to $600 per week for the duration of the strike.
The AFT will pay the interest on loans repaid within one year.
The

All the resources you need on immigration and ICE

We Mourn for the Death of Alex Jeffrey Pretti, RN

Solidarity With Minnesota Unions Statewide Shutdown Jan. 23

We rise up to save higher education

ER doc to Congress: ‘Our healthcare system is on life support’

How "Deprofessionalization" Hurts, and What We Can Do About it

The Community is Putting Labcorp on Trial Dec. 11th

Support Options After a Paycheck Affected by a Strike

Clarity on the October 1st Wage Increase

AFT Interest Free Loans for Strikers