Portland Community College faculty and staff commence historic strike over wages
Source: OPB.org
After 11 months of failed contract negotiations, hundreds of Portland Community College faculty and classified staff say they are ready to strike.
By Tiffany Camhi (OPB)
March 11, 2026 9:31 a.m. Updated: March 11, 2026 8:11 p.m.
Rain did not deter hundreds of Portland Community College faculty, staff and students who rallied across four Portland-area campuses Wednesday morning to show support for a historic strike at the state’s largest higher education institution.
At the Cascade campus in North Portland, more than 300 hundred people, clad in raincoats and rain boots, came out to support PCC’s faculty and classified unions. They carried signs that read “living wage now” and “COLAs not cuts,” chanted messages of solidarity and marched across the campus grounds.
PCC and its two unions have been negotiating over compensation and other benefits for nearly a year. But all sides have been stuck for months on salary increases and how much the college has to spare for such increases.
Neither union has gone on strike before. This is the first strike to occur among any of the state’s 17 community colleges.
Ben Cushing, sociology faculty at Portland Community College and PCC’s Federation of Faculty and Academic Professionals president, raises his fist while speaking to a crowd of PCCFFAP and and PCC Federation of Classified Employees union members striking on the Portland Community College Cascade campus in Northeast Portland, Ore., on March 11, 2026.
Eli Imadali / OPB
Read more: https://www.opb.org/article/2026/03/11/portland-community-college-faculty-staff-union-strike/