Why We Get Involved in Politics

Our wages, benefits, working conditions, health and safety and whether we even have jobs at all are in the hands of the Governor, members of the Oregon Legislature and local elected officials.

Oregon AFSCME is proud to be an organization that is powered by the strength, resilience, and dedication of our members. We’ve seen the power of solidarity, and we know that when we stand together, we are stronger and can affect real and lasting change in pro-worker legislative policy.

To learn more about Oregon AFSCME, visit our main website: https://oregonafscme.org/

Politics at Oregon AFSCME Looks Like:

  • Policies made at the local, state, and national levels directly impact our working conditions, wages, benefits, and our rights as employees.

  • Our goal is not to align ourselves with a particular political party. Worker rights are universal; party lines have no impact on who stands up for workers’ rights.

  • After each legislative session, we release a legislative scorecard to highlight which legislators are AFSCME champions and which are labor opponents.

How We Endorse Candidates

Our political team invites all viable candidates to complete an endorsement questionnaire. Once we receive the questionnaire, we schedule an endorsement interview with the candidate, Oregon AFSCME Regional District Vice Presidents and Oregon AFSCME members. All candidate interviews are open to all Oregon AFSCME members.

Following the interview, the Regional District VPs make a recommendation to the statewide Political Action Committee (PAC), which votes on the candidate’s endorsement. Once approved by the member-led PAC, the endorsement is voted on by our member-led Executive Board, which governs the union.

PAC members are Oregon AFSCME members who have been elected at Oregon AFSCME’s biennial Convention to serve on the PAC, in addition to members appointed by the Council President who have expressed interest in participating.