Unite Oregon Workers Join ILWU Local 5
December 19, 2025
Contact information
ILWU Local 5
local5@ilwulocal5.com
www.ilwulocal5.com
Unite Oregon
communications@uniteoregon.org
https://www.uniteoregon.org
Unite Oregon Workers Join ILWU Local 5
Unite Oregon Voluntarily Recognizes Union
[Portland, Oregon. December 19, 2025] In a shared commitment to equity, justice and dignity, nonprofit Unite Oregon and ILWU Local 5 are proud to jointly announce voluntary recognition of the Unite Oregon Workers Union.
As an organization that empowers our workers to be agents of change alongside our communities, Unite Oregon’s mission to build a movement led by immigrants and BIPOC communities and workers rights goes hand-in-hand. Unionization and shared decision-making are a natural extension of this—continuing our work to transform how power is practiced, not only internally, but within relationships and society as a whole.
In joining this union, Unite Oregon recognizes a deep respect for the voices of all of our staff, and is committed to reflecting the values of pro-Blackness and Black liberation, decolonization, collectivism, joy, and intercultural solidarity through this collaboration. It is with this shared goal and commitment that Unite Oregon, the Unite Oregon Workers Union, and ILWU Local 5 enter this partnership together.
In solidarity with workers across sectors, we believe this is one step closer to building the liberated working class. This is a win, not only towards democratizing our workplace at Unite Oregon, but as nonprofit workers building solidarity and contributing to the labor movement, locally and transnationally.
“We’re excited to work towards more stability for ourselves and our coworkers during challenging times, and we’re thankful that our leadership will be collaborating with us in that shared goal”. - Unite Oregon Workers Union Organizing Committee
“Unite Oregon is proud of the labor that our employees have contributed to help build the organization over its 23 years. We're especially thankful that we're moving into this new chapter at Unite where leadership and workers can forge strong relationships to ensure living wages and working conditions that organizers can thrive in. We're in a dangerous era under authoritarian rule, where workers are under attack and many of us and our loved ones fearkidnapping going about our everyday lives at work or school. We feel blessed for their collaborative approach and are excited to build with ILWU and the Unite Oregon Workers Union at a time, now more than ever, when multi-racial class solidarity is necessary to mount a formidable resistance to such right wing forces.” - Pam Phan, Unite Oregon Executive Director
“ILWU Local 5 celebrates the workers of Unite Oregon organizing to form themselves a union! By doing so they are showing solidarity with each other, their future coworkers, & the broad struggle of all working people. We are glad the management of Unite Oregon has agreed to voluntarily recognize the union effort & we look forward to working with them at the bargaining table. The workers of more & more social justice non-profits are uniting together to organize in a united front within Local 5. Together with the workers of Unite Oregon we will continue building those movements!”- Benjamin McPherson Ficklin, ILWU Local 5 President
About Unite Oregon
Unite Oregon is a statewide nonprofit organization led by people of color, immigrants and refugees, rural communities, and people experiencing poverty, we work across Oregon to build a unified intercultural movement for justice. Our six pillars of work are reimagining community safety, housing justice, economic justice, climate justice, health equity, and education equity with four chapters spanning across Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington, and Rogue Valley. www.uniteoregon.org
About ILWU Local 5
ILWU Local 5 proudly represents many workers engaged in the mission of building a movement towards justice—including the workers of Northwest Workers Justice Project, Neighborhood Partnerships, Urban Gleaners, Raphael House, and now Unite Oregon. With the workers at Unite Oregon officially joining our union, we are proud to now represent more workers engaged in statewide community organizing and advocacy work. Building a just future in our society, including in the context of the workplace, is at the forefront of our mission and we look forward to working together to achieve those goals, now and into the future! www.ilwulocal5.com