Original Coverage & Source Attribution: hoodline.com
Multnomah County’s largest public employee union planned to attend Thursday’s county board meeting to deliver a no-confidence vote against Chair Jessica Vega Pederson and Chief Operating Officer Chris Neal, escalating a monthslong fight over a mandate requiring most office staff back at their desks at least three days a week. The move marks a sharp break between county leadership and the roughly 4,000 workers represented by AFSCME Local 88, the county’s largest union.
A Policy Built Without Union Input, Members Say
According to Oregon Public Broadcasting, union members voted on Oct. 21 at a meeting, with 97% in favor of no confidence in Vega Pederson and 96% voting to condemn Neal, figures reported by union spokesperson David Kreisman. Kreisman told OPB he does not believe the union has ever before voted no confidence in the county’s top elected official, calling the vote a symbolic gesture meant to show that management has lost the trust of its workforce. He said union members planned to fill the county board room Thursday morning to condemn the policy.
The dispute traces back to an Aug. 10 all-staff memo outlining the county’s Hybrid Workplace Initiative, as reported by NW Labor Press. AFSCME Local 88 has said it was not consulted on the decision or included in its planning, according to The Oregonian/OregonLive. The union says the policy was created without union input and has harmed trust and morale among members.
What the Mandate Requires, and When
The county’s plan launches in phases, with directors ordered to return to more in-person work by Oct. 19, per KOIN. Agency heads began returning to in-person work that same day. The initiative is scheduled to fully take effect by July 1, 2027, and employees will receive at least 90 days notice before they are expected to begin hybrid schedules or face a schedule change, the station reported.
Per the county’s own figures cited by Oregonian/OregonLive, about 36%, or 2,400, of Multnomah County’s 6,600 employees already work in person full time, while 39%, or 2,600, hold a hybrid schedule, and the remainder work fully remote. Kreisman offered a somewhat different breakdown specific to union membership, saying about 25% of AFSCME Local 88 members work fully remotely and about 20% work hybrid schedules. NW Labor Press has reported that the union has since filed 15 individual grievances over the mandate.
County Leaders Defend the Collaboration Rationale
Vega Pederson and Neal have said the shift is intended to improve organizational functioning while preserving flexibility, telling KOIN that their ultimate goal is to elevate how teams and the organization function as a whole while maintaining much of the flexibility people value. The pair have also said the transition will improve staff collaboration and workplace culture, according to OPB.
The push mirrors an earlier shift away from pandemic-era telework across Portland-area government. Portland itself began requiring employees to work in person at least one day a week in spring 2022 and increased that mandate to 20 hours a week the following year, per Oregonian/OregonLive. The county’s hybrid plan follows a period of pandemic-era remote work. The county’s hybrid plan also follows a full-time return-to-office directive issued by District Attorney Nathan Vasquez more than a year earlier, KOIN noted.
Chair Race Tangles With the Labor Fight
The no-confidence vote lands amid a turbulent stretch for county politics. The same union meeting on Oct. 21 saw AFSCME Local 88 rescind its prior endorsement of Julia Brim-Edwards for chair, voting 109-31 to pull its support, and instead endorse Shannon Singleton for chair by an 80-18 vote, according to the Portland Mercury. The union has not issued a public explanation for the switch, the Mercury reported.
Basic Rights Oregon’s political action committee had already walked back its own endorsement of Brim-Edwards earlier in October, accusing her of making anti-trans statements, per the Mercury. Brim-Edwards has rejected those allegations, according to OPB. Separately, Singleton has demanded a pause on the new work plan to hear from union workers, while Brim-Edwards has expressed concern about advancing the policy without staff input, OPB reported. Commissioner Sharon Meieran has not spoken publicly about the policy, per the same account.
