Save Our Services: Celebrating Public Service Workers

After months of organizing, speaking out, and standing together, Oregon AFSCME members gathered this past weekend to celebrate a major victory: protecting hundreds of public service jobs from proposed budget cuts.

This picnic brought together members from Multnomah County (Local 88), City of Portland (Local 189), Portland metro area behavioral health and social service non-profits (Local 1790), and Prosper Portland (Local 3769), who worked tirelessly to help preserve 263 public service positions. Throughout the campaign, members attended elected officials' meetings, packed budget hearings, and submitted public testimony to ensure decision-makers heard directly from the workers who provide essential public services.

Over 200 members attended elected meetings, 280 attended budget hearings, and 83 public comments were submitted during the city and county budgeting processes.

One of those members, Adolfo Jimenez, a Mental Health Consultant for Multnomah County and Local 88 member who supports community members who have been affected by gun violence, reflected on the importance of having union support throughout the campaign.

"It really helped me a lot to have all your support...to be able to advocate for myself and for my colleagues as well."

Jimenez said the campaign demonstrated what is possible when members from different locals organize together. "Each individual has power... and how we show up. Every little thing that we do impacts our community."

Oregon AFSCME Executive Director Joe Baessler also emphasized that the victory was driven by working people making their voices heard.

"Politics has to be about the people. They can buy as many lobbyists as possible, but they can't have thousands of folks show up at the Capitol or at city council and county commission meetings talking about what's going on with real people."

The event was more than just a celebration; it also served as a reminder of what collective action makes possible. By organizing together, showing up, and speaking out, workers protected vital public services and the people who provide them.

The fight for strong public services continues, but this victory is proof that when AFSCME members stand together, their voices are impossible to ignore.