By Dave Crone RT steward SMC

Kaiser Respiratory Therapists (RTs) have been speaking up about woefully lagging wages for years. Despite a sit-in and march on the boss and after weeks of silence we were told KPNW, “does not have an interest in negotiating an adjustment to Respiratory Therapist wage scales,” according to VP of HR, Todd Lindamood.

While Mr. Lindamood claims to appreciate Respiratory Therapists’ passion and dedication to members and Kaiser Permanente, inaction speaks louder than words. Appreciation would look like a respectful partnership, timely responses, working together in good

By Chris Stafford Ortho Tech steward SMC/SYB    

Kaiser Orthopedic Technologists have been speaking up and fighting for restoration of safe orthopedic and podiatric care. We are standing in lockstep with our provider and allied staff partners voicing our collective concern and outrage via our, “We care, KP Exploits it!” wristband campaign and our safe staffing petition. Despite these actions Non Clinically Trained KP administrators Bo Lockhart and Tony Juarez have targeted Orthopedic Technologists and our highly valued technical skills in the name of profits over safe patient care.

Prior to

We are excited to host our first-ever social media activism training! As many of you have seen, we often take action online at the same time we engage in worksite actions as a way of enhancing and broadening the visibility of our message. These actions often include members posting on their own personal social media using features like "tagging" and "hashtags" to help connect the various posts. But if you have never engaged in this kind of social media activity, these features might be entirely new to you.

So we have created a short training you can attend to learn how you can participate in

While we are offering a Zoom option for our General Membership meeting on March 16th, we know that one of the best elements of our all-member events is the chance to connect, catch up, and build relationships. That is why we are hosting an in-person social event later the same day at Lucky Labrador Pub - Hawthorne (915 SE Hawthorne Blvd., Portland) 4:30-6:30pm. Please RSVP by March 6th.

Join us on our March 4th to Protect Our Kids Day of Action as we wear Red for Ed to show solidarity with fellow union members who serve kids in our schools. 

🚨 The Trump administration’s plan to gut the U.S. Department of Education and slash federal funding would devastate millions of students—especially those in underserved communities. 🚨

If enacted, these cuts would:

❌ Strip 26 million vulnerable kids of critical educational services.

❌ Deny 7.5 million students with disabilities the special education support they need.

❌ Make college unaffordable for 10 million working-class families by

Around 120 Labcorp laboratory workers serving Providence Portland won their union election yesterday evening, with over 77% of workers voting “Yes” and nearly 90% turning out for the vote. These healthcare workers chose to join the nearly 7,000 member Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (OFNHP), a local affiliate of the 1.8 million member AFT national union. These lab workers are employed by the for-profit company Labcorp, which is contracted by Providence to provide the Portland hospital’s lab services.

“We are incredibly excited about this victory, and looking forward to