In August, a group of eight employees at Newport Fire & Rescue
became the first in Oregon to make use of a new state law that requires
public employers to recognize a union based on “card check.”
Once the Oregon Employment Relations Board determines the appropriate
definition of the bargaining unit, a new union, the Newport Professional
Fire Fighters Association, will be recognized. The group would be
an affiliate of the International Association of Fire Fighters and
its Oregon affiliate, the Oregon State Fire Fighters Council.
The new law, passed by the Oregon Legislature earlier this year, makes
it easier for public employees to unionize; when a majority of workers
in a given workplace sign that they want to belong to a union, that
union gets automatic recognition. The national labor movement has
been pushing Congress to pass a similar law to cover private- sector
workers.
