Skip to main content
A major union at Oregon Health & Science University has overwhelmingly voted to ratify a new labor contract, averting a major strike at Portland’s largest employer and putting it on track to have a $25 minimum wage for union members by 2028.
The union, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 328, represents more than 8,000 workers at the academic medical center based on Marquam Hill. Their work spans widely, from patient care to administration to food services.
Some union members told WW in recent weeks that they wanted to push for greater raises, and that they were prepared to reject the agreement and strike.
But in the end the vast majority of voting members found the offer acceptable. Of the 4,730 dues paying members who voted, 84%, according to the union blog. voted to support the tentative agreement, which their bargaining team had struck with OHSU in December,
The agreement immediately raises the minimum wage for union members from $18 to $20, with incremental increases up to $25 just before the contract’s mid 2028 expiration date. The deal also includes across-the-board raises for members of between 3 and 4% annually over each of the next three years, and a $4,500 ratification bonus—basically, an incentive not to strike.
Union members deserve greater across-the-board raises, said Tabatha Millican, who analyzes research grants and contracts at OHSU, and is one of the 12 members of the union’s contract bargaining team. And yet, she told WW last December, looking at the raises people doing similar work are getting elsewhere, this was the best contract the union could pragmatically get.
Millican is particularly proud of the minimum wage increase.
“We feel like our lowest earners have been left behind in the wealth that OHSU has gained and in our contracts previously and we were committed to bringing them up,” she said.
The union echoed this point on its blog. “Our $25 minimum wage will set a new standard for the city of Portland and the broader labor movement,” the union said when it announced the tentative agreement. “Other unions will build on our wins in the same way our contract builds on the work of those who came before us.”
It is unclear exactly how many people the minimum wage hike would effect. Millican said about 2,000 union members currently make under $27 per hour.
The vote is the culmination of a year of bargaining, which continued on for several months after the previous contract expired. The agreement will become the new contract on Feb. 9, the union says.
