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i am sad to say that the Portland IWW is a toxic organization with no accountability. I am still dedicated to the cause of labor but I can no longer call myself a wobbly
as an organizer with the @BVWU_IWW for over three years I saw firsthand how the @PortlandIWW repeatedly marginalized, pushed out, and outright harmed large portions of its own membership through a toxic work culture and zero processes for accountability. #1u
the Portland IWW mostly had a bad reputation in town before the BVWU, because a couple decades ago this dynamic played out in a really nasty way that i will not detail out of respect for the people involved. the point is that this problem is not new.
the actions of members of the Portland IWW last year triggered a psychotic episode which could've gotten me killed, then interned me at the abusive and transphobic Cedar Hills hospital. I then had to leave my home and experienced months of housing insecurity.
one of the people involved did say sorry. i'm not angry at them anymore. but two of the other people involved, very prominent members within the organization—one of them a member during the org's incident decades ago—these people have not apologized.
instead they silenced me and gaslighted me. i stopped going to union meetings because I no longer felt safe, because the person who harmed me might be there. nobody in the union seemed to think this was a problem. nobody in the union checked up with me about it.
I should be clear and share that for years I was the admin for the @BVWU_IWW twitter account, and was a shop-floor organizer who brought a shop public and organized many shopfloor actions and multiple strikes. I was, in my opinion, a good and thoughtful organizer.
the broader @IWW also has many well-documented problems with accountability and misogyny. my interactions with the broader union beyond the Portland local have often been great, but just as often rife with toxicity and outright hostility.
I ran the @BVWU_IWW account for years but my access was revoked today after I tweeted from the account that the Portland IWW is a toxic organization with zero accountability. My access was revoked without a word, with no contact made by anybody. #1u
So a word of advice to people in Portland: if you want to organize a union, do NOT go with the @PortlandIWW. There are so many other good unions in this town to organize with. The Portland IWW does not deserve your time until they sort out their shit. #1u
