Around DC5

In Oregon, we worked with state officials to secure Executive Order 24-31, signed by Gov. Tina Kotek, which requires Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) on large publicly funded construction projects. This landmark step ensures that union labor remains central to the state’s infrastructure investments, guaranteeing fair wages and safer worksites.

We also helped pass HB 2680, a long-fought effort that requires contractors on large-scale public projects to use certified professionals when installing or repairing glass. This measure improves safety, fairness, and quality on the job while protecting skilled trades from unfair competition.

Finally, through collaboration with allies in the legislature, we secured additional enforcement funding for wage and workplace standards under Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries. This protects workers and holds bad actors accountable.

In Washington, we continued to strengthen the foundation for fair construction by extending the Underground Economy Task Force, a critical mechanism for keeping the playing field level by cracking down on wage theft and tax fraud.

Additionally, we expanded the definition of “interested party” under the state’s prevailing wage laws, empowering joint labor-management committees and Taft-Hartley trusts to access employer payroll records. This allows greater access to an employer’s payroll records, making wage theft a far riskier gamble for employers who try to skirt the law.

We also backed legislation to provide unemployment benefits for striking workers, an important milestone in the fight for economic justice.

While the “Escalator Bill” to raise contract wages did not cross the finish line this session, we fought hard and we’re not done. We’ll be back in 2026.

In Idaho, we thwarted a pair of bad bills that would have hurt unions’ ability to collect dues through paychecks and would have made collective bargaining optional. We also supported legislation that increased safety for Teamsters while providing cancer medical coverage for firefighters.

In Utah, House Bill 267 passed the Legislature to effectively ban collective bargaining for public sector unions including teachers, firefighters, transit workers and more. Labor groups responded by launching a referendum campaign and gathered more than 320,000 signatures in 30 days. The measure is now on hold and will go to voters in November 2026.

In Alaska, we continue to deliver real job and organizing wins through our Community Workforce Agreement with the Municipality of Anchorage and our Student Community Workforce Agreement with the Anchorage School District, requiring that 15% of total project hours go to workers in registered apprenticeship programs. We also helped pressure lawmakers to override the governor’s vetoes on education funding — benefitting students, educators, and working families across the state.

Moving Ahead

When unions engage, our trades win. The victories of 2025 are proof of what happens when we stand together, from PLAs to prevailing wage enforcement and expanding worker protections to defeating anti-union legislation.

As we enter this new legislative cycle, IUPAT DC5 remains committed to making sure every construction dollar works for the public good and puts union members back on the job.

Recruiting Matters

I started in residential, just a kid trying to learn a trade and make a living. After a few years, it hit me: there was a ceiling. You could put in the hours, do clean work, and still not get any farther ahead.

Then one day on a prevailing-wage job, a simple conversation changed the direction of my whole life.

A guy from another trade asked me if I was in the union. I told him painters didn’t have one. He laughed and said, “Kid, the only reason you’re making prevailing wage today is because of the unions. You just don’t know it yet.”

On my way home, I grabbed the phone book, found the number, tore out the page, and went straight to the hall. That one choice opened every door that came after. I started paying more attention, asking why painters had fallen behind in the trades, and what it would take for us to earn the respect, wages, and conditions our skill deserves.

Since then, I’ve stood with thousands of painters fighting for exactly that. Painters talking to painters is how things actually change. One conversation is all it takes to get something started.

Meeting People Where They Are

There are painters out there right now standing in the same spot I once stood, working hard, doing good work, but not seeing that there’s a better path. That’s why Local 10’s Volunteer Organizing Committee (VOC) shows up on job sites, early mornings, catching folks as they head in.

We talk with non-union painters at shops, paint stores, and food carts around town. Most painters already know they have the skills. We just show them what the union makes this a career: solid training, real benefits, and wages you can raise a family on.

And you’ve seen these same painters around town. You probably talk to them already. Those conversations matter more than anything else we do. When painters hear from painters, it lands differently. 

At the end of the day, this isn’t complicated. We’re trying to strengthen the trade and make sure every painter, union or non union, knows there’s a better path in front of them.

The Value of Growing in Your Craft

Our training center in Portland exists for one purpose: to invest in our members by making painters better at their craft and opening up more opportunities. It teaches the kind of work a lot of folks never get to touch because their boss keeps them doing the same thing every day, refusing to invest in their workers. 

When a non-union painter walks into that training center for the first time, sees the gear, the mock-ups, the instructors, they see a path they didn’t know existed. They see how far they can actually go in this trade.

Why Recruiting Matters

People don’t always join after the first talk. Sometimes these talks just plant the seed. So we keep showing up, keep talking about the training, the benefits, the work, and the expectations. Just the truth about what being union is about.

Recruiting isn’t about hitting numbers. It’s about giving people a real shot at better wages, safer jobs, and a future they can count on. It’s about reminding painters that their skill has value and that value grows when we stand together instead of alone.

This is how we win back our trade: one conversation, one painter, one early morning job site at a time.

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Together, we build stronger communities, protect workers' rights, and create opportunities for success. Stay united, stay strong with IUPAT District Council 5!