A SMALL CITY POLICE STRIKE: KLAMATH FALLS, OREGON, 1973

MARCUS WIDENOR

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DOI: 10.2190/U74B-QWYV-L3PU-W9YW

Abstract

This article examines Oregon's first police strike, which occurred just as the state legislature was negotiating the final provisions for a comprehensive public employee collective bargaining law. It offers a narrative account of the strike itself, and an analysis of some of the organizational characteristics of the police officers' union and its job action. The strike is seen in the context of the history of police unionism, as well as in terms of the overall growth of public employee unionism in Oregon and the United States. The strike illustrated that militant police unionism was evident in smaller communities, like Klamath Falls, Oregon, as well as in larger, eastern urban communities, where it has been most carefully studied.

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