The Portland City Council canceled its weekly meeting Wednesday after a small group of municipal workers launched a three-day strike with a demonstration outside City Hall .

Employees of the city’s police watchdog office , represented by Oregon AFSCME Local 189, walked off their jobs as months of negotiations between city leaders and the union continued to stall.

“This was a very straightforward decision for me, personally — I don’t cross picket lines,” said Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney, a onetime labor union organizer. “While there are workers striking outside my workplace, I will do my job elsewhere.”

Eleven unionized staffers from the city’s Independent Police Review want to hold onto their jobs as Portland continues its years-long process of switching to a new police o

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