PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - Both unions representing Portland Community College employees voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike for the first time in the college’s history.
The Federation of Faculty and Academic Professionals (PCCFFAP) says their members, along with workers with the Federation of Classified Employees (PCCFCE), voted on Monday to authorize the strike after negotiations over wages and benefits stalled.
94% of the PCCFFAP and PCCFCE members who casted ballots voted in favor of the strike.
The PCCFFAP represents over 1,600 full and part-time faculty at PCC, while the PCCFCE represents nearly 700 classified workers.
Bargaining began back in May 2025, and both sides are currently in the 30-day cooling-off period after submitting their final offers in the first week of February.
The unions will legally be allowed to strike as early as March 10, according to the PCCFFAP.
If the strike takes place, the PCCFFAP says it would be the first strike at a community college in Oregon, and the first time faculty and support workers have jointly conducted a strike at an Oregon institution.
“Like all workers, our members are facing the affordability crisis. We refuse to watch our wages lose ground to inflation. And we know that unions are the anchor that can prevent the entire working class from losing ground. We’re in this together,” PCCFFAP President Ben Cushing said in a statement.
The unions say the PCC administration allocated less than 1% of their biennial budge for bargaining while raising the President’s Office budget by $17 million and “allocating large sums to non-student-facing special projects and contingency funds.”
A rally and practice picket at PCC’s Rock Creek Campus is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 12:30 p.m.
Source: KPTV-KPDX
