Skip to content
Current information

Follow our strike hub for the latest update.

Read dated announcements and current instructions alongside this background guide.

Visit the strike hub
Editorial accountability

How we source and correct strike information.

Members need reliable information when making decisions about work, income, benefits and household needs. These guides link factual claims to records readers can inspect and identify questions that need an individual answer.

Sources checked: Sept. 19, 2026. Use the latest written instructions from our union for current strike and participation guidance.

Source priorities

Use the authority for the specific claim

A law, a benefit program, a bargaining announcement and a food pantry answer different questions. We identify which source supports a statement and avoid treating one source as authority over an unrelated program.

Law and workplace rights

Use Oregon statutes, Employment Relations Board guidance and the applicable contract. Distinguish Oregon public employee rules from federal private sector rules. Link a legal condition to the relevant provision and refer individual applications to our representatives. [1]

Pay, taxes and benefits

Use the Internal Revenue Service for federal tax treatment, Oregon Employment Department for unemployment rules, and the administering program for other benefits. Use our union’s dated written instructions for union payments. A reporting-form threshold must not be described as an income-tax exemption. [2] [3]

Current bargaining and logistics

Use dated written updates from our bargaining team or local leadership. Keep member voting, formal legal notice and operational instructions distinct. The strike hub is the starting point for current announcements; background pages should link there.

Food, housing and local services

Use providers and official directories. State when the directory was checked, and distinguish that check from a provider confirming an appointment, shelter bed or available funding. Link members to current intake instructions. [4]

History and data

Use original records, government data and established historical collections. Describe the coverage limits of statistics and identify historical context separately from predictions about a future outcome.

Meeting notes and questions

Use notes and transcripts to identify what members need answered. Verify dates, figures, legal statements and program rules against a written source before presenting them as guidance. Repeated or unclear transcript language is not confirmation.

Review status

What the source-check date means

Sources checked identifies the date the listed material was consulted for this page. It is not a promise that laws, program rules, schedules or capacity will stay the same.

A source-check date is not a determination of individual eligibility or a substitute for written strike instructions. Where payment administration, participation requirements or individual benefits need confirmation, the guides identify the question and direct members to the appropriate union representative or administering agency.

Before updating guidance for members

  1. Match each important claim to evidence. Check the original wording, publication or effective date, population covered and relevant exceptions.
  2. Resolve conflicts. When meeting notes and written guidance disagree, obtain a clear correction. If the answer remains unresolved, identify it and provide a contact instead of publishing a guess.
  3. Review local instructions. Confirm contacts, benefit applications, participation requirements, accessibility arrangements and current strike status with the team responsible.
  4. Check how members will use the page. Review links, mobile layout, readable source notes and screenshots alongside the copy. A correct answer must also be easy to find.

When a source changes or a reader reports an error

Compare the report with the original record and the current administering agency or union instructions. Correct material errors in the page and any linked FAQ or summary that repeats them. Update the source-check date only for work actually completed, and explain a correction where members may have relied on the previous answer.

Changes in law, contract language, bargaining status, payment instructions or service access should trigger another review. Questions about a person’s claim, medical needs or employment status should go to the appropriate representative through a suitable private channel.

Correction contact: [email protected]. Send the public claim and source; ask how to provide sensitive personal information rather than including it in a general correction message.
Primary sources

Where the guides verify consequential claims

These are examples of source authorities, not endorsements of these guides or substitutes for the source lists on individual pages.

  1. Oregon Legislature, ORS Chapter 243 and Oregon Employment Relations Board, Dispute resolution process — public employee bargaining and strike conditions.
  2. Internal Revenue Service, Publication 525 — taxable and nontaxable income, including strike and lockout benefits.
  3. Oregon Employment Department, Striking Workers — unemployment guidance; Oregon Department of Human Services, Benefits — food, medical, cash and child care programs.
  4. Community Action Partnership of Oregon, Find Help and Oregon Food Bank, Food & Support Network — local assistance directories.