Oregon’s largest union, SEIU 503, rejoins labor federation AFL-CIO after nearly 20 years

By Julia Shumway, Oregon Capital Chronicle

SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) -- After nearly 20 years apart, two of Oregon’s largest labor groups will officially join forces again. 

Service Employees International Union Local 503, which represents about 72,000 caregivers, announced Wednesday that it will rejoin the Oregon AFL-CIO, a federation with more than 300,000 unionized Oregonians in industries including construction, education, health care and manufacturing. 

The partnership comes as the majority of SEIU’s members prepare to bargain for new contracts and as the labor movement braces for anticipated attacks from the federal government under Republican president-elect Donald Trump, who in his first term appointed anti-union officials to the Department of Labor and National Labor Relations Board and limited overtime protections. 

Mike Powers, the former president of SEIU 503, told reporters that officially joining forces would help the unions protect workers more than they could on their own. 

“Our members understand the threats we all face as workers, and that by re-affiliating we will strengthen Oregon labor against attacks on workers’ rights, attempts to roll back safety protections and efforts to weaken labor unions as a whole,” he said. 

Nationally, SEIU and the Teamsters union split from AFL-CIO in 2005, citing disagreements over how to stem the decline in union membership and the AFL-CIO’s focus on national politics over labor organizing. The Oregon affiliate, SEIU 503, followed its national organization.

SEIU members spent the past year, following 2023’s “summer of strikes,” talking about what they wanted out of the labor movement, which has grown and seen workers emboldened by a tight labor market push for higher wages and better benefits. One key theme was that they wanted to be in solidarity with other workers, SEIU 503 Executive Director Melissa Unger said. 

“That doesn’t mean just showing up,” Unger said. “It means being an organization together, because we know when we build organization, we build power.”

Role in elections

The two groups have long worked together in Oregon, where union members contributed to electing and maintaining the state’s Democratic majorities in the Legislature, Congress and statewide offices, passing legislation at the ballot to limit legislative walkouts and defeating ballot measures that sought to weaken Oregon’s decades-old sanctuary state law and block public funding for abortions.  

Oregon’s labor leaders don’t yet know what to expect from the federal government, Unger said, and they’re focused on what they can do to protect Oregonians — including making sure workers, whether protected by union contracts or not, can afford to live in the communities where they work and that the state creates policies that protect workers and their families. 

Graham Trainor, president of Oregon AFL-CIO, said his federation and SEIU 503 are “powerful, sophisticated organizations” that will become stronger by joining together. 

“We know that attacks are coming through the Project 2025 agenda and beyond, and Oregon labor is more committed than ever today to resist these attacks on our unions, our communities and our fundamental freedoms, no matter how they show up in Oregon,” he said. “No one, not Donald Trump or J.D. Vance or Elon Musk or any boss or CEO or anti-union Congress can stop solidarity and the unwavering resilience of the Oregon labor movement.”