Portland Jobs with Justice

Join us for our 34th Annual Dinner featuring Keynote Speaker, Francisco Aguirre!

We are approaching two years under a federal administration defined by rapid authoritarianism and systemic attacks on our communities. No one else is coming to save us, but we know we can save ourselves and we find our power within our own ranks.

This year, we look to a timeless truth: “They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds.”

Over the past year, Portland Jobs with Justice has proven that our true power is cultivated from the ground up. We mobilized thousands, bringing this year’s May Day rally back to downtown Portland, uplifting a historic community college strike, and leading the Labor Says: ICE Out mobilization – the largest multi-union demonstration in Portland in decades.

When they try to suppress us, our roots only grow deeper. Join us for an evening of celebration, defiance, and looking forward to future fights because when we fight, we win!

Thursday, October 22 from 6 – 8:30pm
World Forestry Center
bit.ly/34thdinner

If you’d like to lend a hand day-of, please get in contact with sarah@jwjpdx.org

While Sunstone Way’s top leadership burned public funds on Topgolf outings and bar tabs, the front-line workers keeping our unhoused neighbors safe were left holding the bill.

Now, as the organization faces criminal investigations and a complete shutdown, 175 shelter staff and case managers have been thrown into sudden unemployment. These are the workers who showed up every single day to provide safety, dignity, and care to Portlanders experiencing homelessness. They had nothing to do with this financial disaster, but they are paying for executive negligence with their livelihoods.

At the same time, local leaders continue to push funding into overnight shelters while systematically defunding the long-term, supportive housing and wraparound services that actually end homelessness.

We cannot let reckless nonprofit executives and broken city policy crush the people doing the real work on the ground.

The Portland Jobs with Justice Faith Labor Committee and AFSCME Local 1790 are hosting a potluck and fundraiser to support these workers, hold leadership accountable, and discuss the future of homelessness services in our city. You will hear directly from impacted staff along with union representatives and community organizers.

Show up for these workers. Bring a dish, bring a friend, or pitch in online.

It’s a potluck!

Questions? Email tania.ahmed93@gmail.com

Potluck & Worker Solidarity Fundraiser

• When: Tuesday, August 18 6-7PM
• Where: Grant Park Church (2728 NE 34th Ave.)
• RSVP HERE

Can’t make it? Donate to the Sunstone Worker Relief Fund!

August 9th marks four years since the CHIPS & Science Act was signed by President Joe Biden. Four years of Big Tech accumulating power and extracting wealth from the working class – but enough is enough.

In 2022, semiconductor manufacturers promised community benefits in exchange for massive investment from the federal government. The benefits left much to be desired, but the funding came with strings requiring affordable childcare, workforce development, and more.

Big Tech has yet to fulfill their end of the deal.

Some chip makers are going so far as to do the opposite of what they agreed to; Intel promised to create 10,000 jobs for US workers, but have laid off almost 4,500 workers in Oregon alone. These layoffs have come as Intel receives over $8 billion (and counting) from our state and federal government, and inks deals with Elon Musk’s Terafab, NVIDIA, Google, and the Department of Defense. Just last month, Intel reported a $3.3 billion increase in Q2 sales compared to last year.

Companies like Intel are recording record profits, because they’re the hardware backbone of the AI boom. The gen-AI machine is greedy, demanding mineral extraction and the air, water, and energy our communities need. The working class is being exploited at every step of the AI supply chain, and for what?

For the billionaire, and now trillionaire, class.

We are pawns in the elites’ so-called ‘AI Cold War.’ The US is in an imperialist pissing contest with China to determine who holds the reins on the global tech empire. Make no mistake – working-class folks everywhere will be the losers.

The only way we win is together. We must be in communication and coordination with each other. From supporting Filipino liberation and opposition to Pax Silica to fighting alongside workers from Hillsboro to Gwangju, we are strongest when we are united.

A year from now, we will be celebrating the wins we are sowing today.
A year from now, Big Tech will be accountable to us.

In an era when fascist politicians are carrying out a full-scale assault on democracy and equality, we remain committed to unconditional solidarity with those who resist. As has been true throughout history and across the world, when the labor movement is engaged in the fight against authoritarianism, working people have the power to fight back and win.

The most important labor story of 2026 has been the way rank-and-file workers and union members built one of the most effective grassroots networks of the 21st century to defend their neighbors from Donald Trump’s cruel campaign of mass deportation and militarized ICE raids.

We watched unions like SEIU, AFT, and CWA come together to build networks of mutual aid, support community members forced underground, and defend schools and other public institutions from federal intrusion. In Minneapolis, these efforts helped spark a General Strike that brought more than 300,000 workers into collective action, alongside consumer boycotts and education strikes. This marked a turning point. Resistance to an immediate threat helped build the relationships, confidence, and infrastructure necessary for the many fights ahead to improve the lives of working people.

Now those same activists are facing unprecedented repression for speaking out, organizing their neighbors, and daring to dissent. Fifteen rank-and-file union members have been arrested and charged with a sweeping list of offenses carrying the possibility of decades in prison. This appears to be a test case by the Trump administration to determine whether it can further criminalize resistance movements and treat civil action as terrorism, much as it attempted to do in the recent Prairieland case. We consider this an attack on all of us, and, especially, an attack on the labor movement since these workers were singled out because their activism came from a position of strength. If we find tactics that work, those threatened by worker power will try to make them illegal. Their indictments even mention the general strike, and they singled out leading rank-and-file workers who have become active in moving their unions towards collective action. It’s our effectiveness that they are attempting to destroy, but also hoping that fear will dissuade our solidarity.

Now is the time to act and speak out. As a labor organization, we believe worker solidarity is the foundation of everything we do. What is happening to these workers in Minneapolis could happen to any of us. We pledge to support these defendants in every way we can and encourage our coalition partners to pass resolutions of support and prepare to take action in solidarity with these courageous union activists.

We will continue supporting the Minneapolis Fifteen however we can, including participating in a global day of action if and when one is called and helping connect coalition members to fundraising efforts in support of the defendants. This is only the beginning of what will likely be a long fight, but every union and community organization that speaks out strengthens our collective ability to confront this alarming escalation of authoritarian repression.

In collaboration with CHIPS Communities United, Portland Jobs with Justice will be hosting Toxic Roots of the Silicon Forest: People, Power, and Pollution in the Semiconductor Industry on June 3rd and 4th! Hear from semiconductor workers, community leaders, and environmental organizers on the impact of semiconductor manufacturing in our backyard and the far-reaching influence of this industry.

If you’re fired up about the rapid expansion of data centers creating short-term solutions for workers while harming our environment or Big Tech expecting our taxpayer dollars to fund their land grabs while they lay off our neighbors, this is for you!

Join us on June 3rd for a welcome reception and a screening of Colorless, Odorless, a documentary by Korean director Eunhee Lee, illuminating the experiences of Taiwanese and Korean workers in semiconductor manufacturing’s clean rooms, and on June 4th for the Toxic Roots of the Silicon Forest conference!

Film Screening: 6:00-9:00 PM* on Wednesday, June 3, 2026 at PSU

Conference: 9:00 AM-6:00 PM* on Thursday, June 4, 2026 at PSU

*exact schedule to be announced

RSVP today to secure your spot!

Join us for JWJ’s 2026 Faith Labor Breakfast: Standing Together with our Immigrant Neighbors