Oregon School Employees Association (OSEA)

The Oregon School Employees Association (OSEA) is a left-of-center labor union representing school employees other than licensed teachers in Oregon public schools. The union is affiliated with the left-of-center American Federation of Teachers and the Oregon AFL-CIO. The group’s number of dues-paying members decreased significantly following the 2018 Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court ruling that removed the ability of government worker unions to compel nonmembers to pay union fees and has been a target of campaigns organized by the right-of-center Freedom Foundation notifying union members of their rights to not pay those fees. 1 2

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At-A-Glance

Type: Labor Union, Local Union
Issue Areas: Labor Policy
Website: www.osea.org
Affiliated with:

American Federation of Teachers (AFT)

President:

Sarah Wofford

Location: Salem, OR View on map

Contents

    Background

    The Oregon School Employees Association represents school employees other than licensed teachers, such as custodians, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, teaching assistants, and administrative employees. The group is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers as AFT Local 6732. The group is also affiliated with the large left-of-center labor federation the AFL-CIO, with which the AFT is affiliated at the national level, and is a member of the Oregon AFL-CIO. 3

    The OSEA claims to represent over 24,000 such non-teacher school professionals on its website, 3 although its annual report to the Department of Labor for the fiscal year ending May 2024 reported 12,770 dues-paying members. 4 The union is comprised of 138 local chapters that act as independent collective bargaining units. The union is also divided into seven zones, with each zone electing members to the statewide board. 3

    Activity

    The Oregon School Employees Association endorses candidates in state and local races, endorsing predominately Democratic candidates, Gov. Tina Kotek (D) 2022. 5 The union states that its endorsements prioritize candidate stances on issues including school funding, worker safety, and unemployment insurance access. In 2024, the union endorsed solely Democratic candidates for statewide offices. 6

    The union also lobbies for state legislation friendly to labor unions. The group supported a “record-breaking” school funding bill in 2023 that totaled $10.2 billion and, according to the union, would make it “much harder for school districts to claim budget shortfalls during future bargaining sessions.” 7

    The group also supported legislation making certain classes of the union’s members eligible for unemployment insurance and a 2023 “workforce omnibus package” that included several provisions the union had lobbied for several years including “Just cause provisions to protect staff in K-12 school districts and education service districts (ESDs) from unfair discipline and termination; Minimum 5-hour workday for classified who work with special education students; $5 million for de-escalation and other training for classified staff; and Ongoing work group to create statewide minimum wage scales.” 7

    The OSEA operates a political action committee called the Education and Labor Advocacy Fund (ELAF), which allows the union to fund candidate campaigns and ballot measures. 8

    Membership Challenge

    The Oregon School Employees Association’s number of dues-paying members decreased significantly following the 2018 Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court ruling, and the right-of-center Freedom Foundation has targeted OSEA in campaigns to notify union members of their rights to not pay public sector union dues. The Freedom Foundation noted in 2019 that “the union has been forced to close three field offices, drastically cut back spending, and accept a $400,000 handout from its parent organization, the American Federation of Teachers, just to make ends meet.” 1

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    References

    1. “OSEA’s Membership Decline Among the Nation’s Largest.” Freedom Foundation. September 27, 2019. Accessed February 21, 2025. https://www.freedomfoundation.com/labor/oseas-membership-decline-among-the-nations-largest/
    2. “About OSEA.” Oregon School Employees Association. Accessed February 21, 2025. https://www.osea.org/our-union/about-osea/
    3. “Membership, Chapters & Zones.” Oregon School Employees Association. Accessed February 21, 2025. https://www.osea.org/our-union/about-osea/membership-chapters-zones/
    4. Teachers AFL-CIO State Association Oregon Local 6732 OSEA (Parent), DOL File Number 514-601, Annual Report of a Labor Organization (Form LM-2), 2024, Question 20 https://olmsapps.dol.gov/query/orgReport.do?rptId=898894&rptForm=LM2Form
    5. “OSEA’s Bipartisan Endorsements for the 2022 Election.” Oregon School Employees Association. Accessed February 21, 2025. https://www.osea.org/news-releases/oseas-bipartisan-endorsements-for-the-2022-election-2/
    6. “Election 2024 Endorsements.” Oregon School Employees Association. Accessed February 21, 2025. https://www.osea.org/our-union/government-relations/election-2024-endorsements/
    7. “How OSEA Advocacy Changes Lives.” Oregon School Employees Association. Accessed February 21, 2025.  https://www.osea.org/news-releases/how-osea-advocacy-changes-lives/
    8. “Education & Labor Advocacy Fund.” Oregon School Employees Association. Accessed February 21, 2025.   https://www.osea.org/our-union/government-relations/support-osea-advocacy/education-labor-advocacy-fund/