Portland and trade unions reach deal averting strike

PORTLAND — The head of the District Council of Trade Unions said Wednesday that union members have approved an offer by Portland officials, avoiding a major strike of city workers slated to start Thursday.

City negotiators made their final offer to the coalition of labor groups last week which included a 1.6% cost-of-living adjustment retroactive to July 1, 2021, and an additional 5% cost-of-living adjustment this July, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.

The approximately 1,100 city workers that make up District Council of Trade Unions voted on the offer, and the tally was announced Wednesday with a majority of members voting to accept the city offer, according to DCTU head Rob Martineau.

The District Council of Trade Unions is includes six trade unions representing about 16% of Portland’s city government workforce, so a strike could have had a wide-reaching impact on basic city services.

The city and the labor coalition have been in talks over wages for nearly two years. The union has argued that the adjustments for cost of living proposed by city negotiators fell short compared to rising inflation.

For months, the city had been preparing for a strike, which was expected to strain bureaus across the city. The water, development services and police bureaus would have been among the hardest hit, each home to over 100 employees expected to walk off the job.