News

When the president of Colorado WINS learned that the president of the United States might be targeting Denver next in his anti-immigration campaign of terror, she knew how she’d begin to mobilize. One simple thing Diane Byrne does is deck out her activists in matching T-shirts. Wearing union colors promotes team spirit and builds confidence, she says. The AFT Public Employees program and policy council, meeting in New York City Feb. 5-6, abounded with tips to help locals mobilize. PPC chair Gary Feist, president of North Dakota Public Employees, recommended finding members who can tell a personal story to draw media attention. With more media on the issue, he said, legislators will become more motivated to fix the problem.

Federal immigration actions are rapidly expanding, with deadly consequences. The killings of poet Renee Nicole Good and nurse Alex Pretti by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis have brought intense focus on the use of excessive force. An AFT webinar, co-hosted by AFT President Randi Weingarten and AFT Massachusetts President Jessica Tang on Jan. 28, featured experts on immigration and the law. It highlighted AFT resources and showcased how our locals are showing up to minimize fear and trauma.

It is clear that higher education is under attack. The Trump administration has frozen funding for science, from cancer research to reproductive care; has hamstrung student financial aid programs; has stripped colleges and universities of diversity, equity and inclusion programming; has strangled affirmative action designed to expand access to college; and is demanding that some institutions sign a “compact” that forces them to adopt Trump’s ideology in exchange for federal funding.

Dr. Byrce Pulliam spends his nights in a community emergency room in Southern Oregon, where the line between life and death can come down to seconds—and insurance coverage.

“I show up 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year with one goal in mind: to provide excellent care for patients in crisis. Being a doctor is often challenging, but it has become harder because our nation’s healthcare system is on life support,” he said before a House hearing on Oct. 8.

Pediatric physicians at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital announced today that they voted to unionize with Northwest Medicine United to have a stronger voice in decisions affecting patient care. The 100 physicians at Mary Bridge (part of the MultiCare system) said they voted to unionize so they can formally engage with hospital administrators through a collective bargaining agreement on decisions that will improve patient care. This effort is part of a growing movement of physicians across the country who are unionizing to protect patient care, address staffing levels and oppose corporate control in medicine.

May 9, 2025

Unionized physicians from six Legacy Health hospitals in Oregon and Washington held a news conference on May 9 to discuss yearlong stalled contract negotiations and the significant issues Legacy refuses to address that are affecting safe patient care. The hospitalists joined Northwest Medicine United, AFT Local 6552, in late 2023, but negotiations with Legacy have stalled, with the hospital system canceling several bargaining sessions, offering proposals that would make things worse for patients and refusing the union’s proposals to improve patient care and the recruitment and retention of physicians.

April 16, 2025

Pediatric physicians at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital said today they are asking the hospital to agree to allow them to form a union with Northwest Medicine United, negating the need to file cards with the National Labor Relations Board and hold a vote.

March 25, 2025

(Tualatin, Ore.) - To reflect the addition of new bargaining units and growth of membership, the Pacific Northwest Hospital Medicine Association (PNWHMA) will now be known as Northwest Medicine United (NWMU). Since 2022, nine additional bargaining units have been organized under NWMU, and three of those units settled their first contracts in recent months. The bargaining units now include adult, pediatric, OB and palliative care hospitalists, ED providers, urgent care providers, adult and pediatric subspecialists, and primary care and women’s health providers. In response to the exponential growth, the executive team of the union approved a name change to better reflect the diversity of providers and practice locations it represents.