PRESS RELEASE: Spirit, resolve, and solidarity at multiple CPPW pickets; signs the City may be falling behind in the City’s emergency weather preparation, public meetings, and other obligations to Portlanders

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Nov. 10, 2026) PORTLAND, Ore. – Striking workers with the 800-member City of Portland Professional Workers Union (CPPW) expanded their pickets today, braving the elements at multiple City facilities Tuesday including the Wastewater Treatment Plant, Portland Bureau of Transportation’s Stanton Yard facility, the Portland Building, and City Hall. 

Photos of Day 1 and 2 of the strike and other media available here

Mediation scheduled

State mediators scheduled the next mediation session for Friday, Nov. 13 at 9 a.m. CPPW has expressed they are willing to mediate before Friday in order to settle their contract so members can get back to work serving Portlanders. 

Atmospheric rivers to advisory committees going unattended

CPPW members on the picket line have concerns about their work going undone with mediation not scheduled until Friday. 

Impacts include lack of appropriate staffing on City emergency response efforts with an atmospheric river pending. “While we’re on strike, the number of people who are able to operate our emergency operation center is cut in about half,” says CPPW member Ben Weaver, a duty officer on the operations team with the Bureau of Emergency Management. “Right now, a whole bunch of severe weather preparation is supposed to be ongoing, but that is all on pause, and we are anticipating an atmospheric river later this week. When there’s a severe weather event or another emergency like the Centennial Mill Fire earlier this year, the emergency operation center is the centralized location in which we coordinate the resources moving around in different bureaus.” 

CPPW members include public engagement staff and other coordinators who run time-sensitive community meetings and help facilitate community advisory bodies. Meetings such as the Bicycle Advisory Committee were canceled or picked up by managers unfamiliar with the details of the projects. 

Community education events are also on pause. Zaraid Cancinos is a CPPW member and a water resources education coordinator with the Portland Water Bureau. “We were supposed to take Franklin High School students up to the Bull Run Watershed, so that’s not happening. Their bus had to be canceled. And if we’re in mediation on Friday, that means that our classroom education for next week – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday – is also on the line. I’m hoping that this gets resolved before that so we don’t have to cancel on more kids.”

CPPW members say the managerial staff asked to take over workers’ responsibilities can’t keep up with the added workload, which could lead to delayed benefits administration for first responders injured on the job, says Kim McLean, a CPPW member and senior disability analyst with the Fire and Police Disability and Retirement Bureau. 

“We manage all of the claims for any firefighters or police officers who are injured on the job. We manage their claims, make sure that they are receiving benefits while they’re off work, and that their medical is getting covered. We also administer their pension and their post-retirement benefits. Without us being there, my manager is the only one who is certified in the state of Oregon to do our job, so she’s going to be covering for people, and I have concerns that our first responders are going to have delayed benefits because she can only do so much.” 

CPPW remains committed to reaching a fair agreement, and is hopeful the City will return to the table with a proposal that includes wages that keep pace with true inflation and genuinely respects the workers who keep Portland running.

Solidarity on the line

CPPW workers have been greeted with an outpouring of support and solidarity from community members and labor supporters, particularly from fellow city staff, including PROTEC17, AFSMCE Local 189, and LiUNA Laborers 483 members who have joined CPPW colleagues on the line while off the clock and donated to the union’s hardship fund.

Picketing will resume Thursday, Nov. 12 at City facilities following the Veterans Day holiday.

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