Politics News Archive

Within minutes of the end of voting on Measures 66 & 67, SEIU 503 members got the best news they could imagine: Oregonians had said yes to services and fairness in a historic election.

On Thursday, January 7th, workers at 18 Oregon Nursing Homes joined thousands of public workers in stickering up for the campaign to VOTE YES on Measures 66 an 67.

Frequently asked questions about voting in Oregon

Find out how your community would suffer from the drastic funding cuts that would be required if we don't vote YES on Measures 66 and 67.

Investment bankers are spending millions to try to keep Oregon's minimum corporate income tax at $10, but they are up against different kind of bankers: SEIU 503 phone bankers.

The Vote Yes campaign has launched a new ad about what is at stake for Oregon's students, seniors, and families. Be one of the first to see the brand new ad:

Send an animated holiday card to friends and family to remind them to vote YES on Measures 66 & 67. 

Many of our clients, family and friends rely on Medicare to get the care they need. As Congress debates health care reform SEIU care providers can help make strengthening and improving Medicare a priority…

The No on 66 & 67 Campaign sent thousands of letters from a Tillamook Dairy farmer urging Oregonians to vote no on Measures 66 & 67. Here is the real story.

The Yes for Oregon campaign's first ad on Measures 66 & 67 zeroes in on the fact that while costs have soared for middle-class families since 1931, the corporate minimum income tax has remained just $10.

The YES Campaign for Tax Fairness is rolling along well. Ninety-three organizations have already endorsed YES on 66 and 67.

Thirty-five of Oregon’s 90 legislators have received grades of straight A or above in three key areas by the 2009 SEIU 503 Legislative Accountability Report.

This January we can VOTE YES to protect services, safeguard jobs and make sure that corporations and the richest Oregonians pay their fair share.

Our CAPE council consists of 48 locally elected member representatives that drive SEIU Local 503’s voice in politics. Nominations are open August 10 through September 10.

Make sure the people who represent you in Washington, D.C., know that if health care isn’t affordable for ordinary working
people, the health care system isn’t working.

“Thanks in large part to an avalanche of member activism, we have had some great victories in the last couple of weeks in the Capitol,” SEIU 503 political director Arthur Towers reports.

After the marching and slogans and speeches and songs, the message came down to a simple chant rising from Terry Schrunk Plaza and echoing off the Portland skyscrapers around it: “What do we want? Fairness! When do we want it? Now!”

There is a record and growing demand for public services in the face of a $4 billion shortfall between what would be required to find current service levels in 2009-11 and the revenue the state anticipates it will have.

Join SEIU members and community, political, religious and labor leaders who will converge from across the state in a huge march in downtown Portland on Sunday June 7.

Legislators are holding hearings in eight Oregon communities between April 20 and May 1. Please plan to attend a hearing to tell our community and legislators why we need to protect and adequately fund the services we provide.

The fiscal crisis that is threatening jobs, services and Oregon's way of life brought SEIU 503 members, allies, and legislators together in Gresham April 11 to discuss strategies for dealing with the state budget shortfall.

In an effort to tell legislators to fix our broken healthcare system and support legislation aimed at making that happen, hundreds of members of SEIU Local 503 and coalition groups in support of healthcare reform rallied on the Capitol, April 8.  

This year, SEIU Local 503 continued its tradition of filling the Capitol in Salem with an “army of purple.”  More than 500 members from around the state visited the building during 14 designated SEIU 503 lobby days to promote our goals:

Members of SEIU, other labor unions and allies in the progressive movement marched on the World Trade Center in downtown Portland, March 19, echoing a message others were delivering all across America.

Representatives of good-government groups joined SEIU 503 members March 9 to testify at an Oregon House committee hearing in support of two bills designed to increase transparency, quality, and accountability in the letting of public contracts.

Child care providers and state workers descended on the capitol February 19 to deliver messages about dealing with the state’s budget crisis in ways that prioritize working families and treat workers fairly in an atmosphere of shared sacrifice.

Workers’ rights advocates call on Burger King and Goldman Sachs (one of BK’s largest owners) to stop using tax dollars for executive bonuses while workers rely on public assistance for health care.

Hundreds of SEIU care providers came to the capitol February 4 to make their voices heard.

SEIU 503 members have a word for the 2009 sessions of the Oregon Legislature and the U. S. Congress: Quality!

SEIU 503 members converged on the Salem capitol this week, kicking off the 2009 Lobby Days! Members were at the capitol Wednesday morning to talk with legislators about their concerns around client care and how the proposed budget will negatively affect services.

SEIU members, staff and community supporters celebrate the Obama inauguration on Tuesday night, January 20 at SEIU 503 headquarters in Salem. Similar celebrations were held in the Portland and Eugene offices as well.

SEIU 503 members and staffers staged lunch-hour actions at McDonald’s fast food emporiums across Oregon December 18 as part of a national campaign to alert employees and customers to the chain’s anti-worker posture. The company later said it would back off previously announced opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act.

DAS locals from Agriculture, Education, Consumer & Business Services, Treasury and Human Services located on the Capitol Mall sponsored a rally at the Capitol to bring attention to the parallels between quality public services, good contracts and the November election. Speakers included member Karen Miller (DHS), and Dennis Green (Employment).

The 2007 Legislature gave workers a voice at work with bargaining rights for child care workers and adult foster care workers, and new legislation allowing public employees to form unions through majority sign-up.