Current Projects

Organizing Under COVID-19

We are living through an historic crisis. Nobody is coming to save us, take action with your coworkers now!

Burgerville Workers Union

BVWU is an independent collective voice of Burgerville workers whose goal is to win better working conditions by building union power on the shop floor.

Portland GDC

The General Defense Committee works to provide defense and relief to workers who are facing persecution and is currently working on monthly skills shares, security and street tactics trainings, and confronting white supremacy and fascism.

Portland IWOC

The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee  are workers who stand with all human beings behind bars. They are working for both improved conditions and an end to mass incarceration.

Call to Safety Workers Union

Call to Safety Workers Union (CTSWU) was born in 2007-2008 when there was a high level of tumult in the organization. When Call to Safety recovered, both staff & management felt it was a good idea to add formal protections for workers to prevent previous practices of workplace misconduct.

Doughnut Workers United

Doughnut Workers United are a united group of Voodoo Doughnuts employees seeking to improve the lives and working conditions of all workers.

Mirisata Workers Union

Mirisata Workers Union are the first unionized co-op in Portland, voluntarily recognized by Mirisata management of the all-vegan Sri Lankan cuisine restaurant.

Your workplace?

We believe all members of the working class deserve a union. Your boss's interests are inherently different than yours and the only appropriate response is uniting with your coworkers. We can't lead your union but we will train you and your workplace how to take action against the boss. Please contact us and tell us what's up.

Donate to the IWW

Donate today and help build a radical labor movement in Portland, Oregon

Calendar of Events

If you or your organization would like to access the IWW scheduling calendar or request meeting space at the IWW hall, please contact the chapter secretary at portlandiww@gmail.com. If you are a member of Portland DSA, you can contact one of the Communications Committee co-chairs to request calendar access.

Contact Us

You can contact us directly using the form below or emailing portland.iww@gmail.com

You can give us a call at 503-893-2382

Contact Form

Organize with the Portland I.W.W.!

  • Interested in joining the union?
  • Have questions about issues at your job?
  • If you want to organize a union in your workplace or industry, you are in the right place.

Email an I.W.W. Organizer

Or call us any time at 503-893-2382

We’ll put you in touch with an I.W.W. member, or “wobbly,” who can help answer your questions.

Tips to Remember

Here is some advice in the short term: You will want to keep any union talk, and general conversations about wages, benefits, hours, etc., out of the ears of management.

You will want to be a model employee because you do not want to give management any reason to fire you. Your job is worth defending and improving.

Unions are legal, just not popular with bosses.

IWW History Project

Learn about the IWW's history and influence on the radical labor movement in the United States.

Make the jump to a Red Card holder

Become an official card-carrying member of the Portland IWW.

Visit the IWW Store

Check out the official IWW store for apparel, books, posters and more.

About Us

 

The I.W.W. (Industrial Workers of the World) is a member-run union for all workers, a union dedicated to organizing on the job, in our industries and in our communities. Here are some I.W.W. Fun Facts:

  • Founded in Chicago in 1905
  • I.W.W. members are referred to as wobblies
  • There are general membership branches all around the world – Australia, Germany & Austria, The United Kingdom, China… just to name a few!

We are the Industrial Workers of the World because we organize industrially. This means we organize all workers producing the same goods or providing the same services into one big union, rather than dividing workers by skill or trade, so we can pool our strength to win our demands together.

Since the I.W.W. was founded in 1905, we have made significant contributions to the labor struggles around the world and have a proud tradition of organizing across gender, ethnic, and racial lines long before such organizing was popular.

We invite you to become a member whether or not the I.W.W. happens to have representation rights in your workplace. We organize the worker, not the job, and recognize that unions are not about government certification or employer recognition but about workers coming together to address common concerns. Sometimes this means refusing to work with dangerous equipment and chemicals. Other times it means agitating around particular issues or grievances in a workplace or industry.

The Portland General Membership Branch (or GMB) is one of the most established and active branches in the nation (maybe the world?). Originally chartered in Portland back in 1908, our current organization was rechartered in 1997 which makes us over 25 years old now. While currently we primarily represent the food, retail, and social service industries, our members truly come from every background – from students to self-employed, non-profit to big box workers.

The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of the working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life.

Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers of the world organize as a class, take possession of the means of production, abolish the wage system, and live in harmony with the Earth.

We find that the centering of the management of industries into fewer and fewer hands makes the trade unions unable to cope with the ever growing power of the employing class. The trade unions foster a state of affairs which allows one set of workers to be pitted against another set of workers in the same industry, thereby helping defeat one another in wage wars. Moreover, the trade unions aid the employing class to mislead the workers into the belief that the working class have interests in common with their employers.

These conditions can be changed and the interest of the working class upheld only by an organization formed in such a way that all its members in any one industry, or in all industries if necessary, cease work whenever a strike or lockout is on in any department thereof, thus making an injury to one an injury to all.

Instead of the conservative motto, "A fair day's wage for a fair day's work," we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary watchword, "Abolition of the wage system."

It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with capitalism. The army of production must be organized, not only for everyday struggle with capitalists, but also to carry on production when capitalism shall have been overthrown. By organizing industrially we are forming the structure of the new society within the shell of the old.

>> Official I.W.W. Literature and Documents

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