DAILY NEWS
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Tuesday, April 14, 2020
LOCAL
► LIVE from the Seattle Times — Coronavirus daily news update, April 14 — More than 500 people in Washington state have died of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, and more than 10,500 have been diagnosed. While the number of infections continues to rise, more people are also starting to recover from the disease.
► In the Tri-City Herald — Dozens of Tri-Citians sick with coronavirus from outbreak linked to beef plant — At least 39 people may have COVID-19 as the result of an outbreak at the Tyson Fresh Meats plant south of Pasco. At least 28 are plant employees.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes at least 20 column inches of Tyson’s PR team talking about everything they are doing to keep employees safe and healthy, but no comment from any workers there.
► From Crosscut — Undocumented workers fend for themselves with little COVID-19 help — Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for unemployment. Immigrants without work permits also do not qualify for the federal government’s direct cash payments — up to $1,200, even if they pay taxes or their children are U.S citizens. On top of all that, low-income immigrants often lack savings and health insurance. With an estimated 250,000 undocumented immigrants in Washington state, advocates argue that’s too big of a segment of the labor force to leave behind.
EDITOR’S NOTE — From the WSLC’s COVID-19 Resources for Washington Workers (también disponible en español):
Benefits Information for People Without Immigration Status — Prepared by Columbia Legal Services.
OneAmerica’s Resources for Immigrants — A list of resources in Washington state to ensure everyone in our communities are able to receive the care and necessities they need.
Relief Fund for Undocumented Individuals in Washington State — To support our community, the Washington Dream Coalition, in partnership with Scholarship Junkies, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, and Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network are providing financial relief to undocumented individuals.
► In the Seattle Times — Lengthy legal fight over Seattle’s Uber unionization law comes to an end — A legal fight that dragged on for years over Seattle’s novel law allowing Uber and Lyft drivers to unionize has come to an end for now after the city, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Uber subsidiary Raiser LLC agreed to dismiss the case. Meanwhile, Mayor Jenny Durkan and the City Council moved on last fall to a different set of driver-focused laws, promising a new minimum wage for drivers and other protections… It’s unclear whether drivers will seek to unionize under the original law. Teamsters 117, the union that backed the ordinance in 2015, said in an email drivers “moved on” to backing the new protections while the legal fight played out.
► In the Seattle Times — Terminal 18 resumes operations after coronavirus concerns halted work — The region’s largest container terminal is back online after a labor arbitrator ruled Thursday evening that terminal operator SSA Marine must find a way to more thoroughly disinfect equipment between shifts, resolving a dispute over equipment sanitation that halted cargo operations earlier in the day.
► In the Kitsap Sun — Kilmer calls for incentive pay, increased protection for shipyard workers — U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer is asking the Navy to boost pay for shipyard workers and provide them additional personal protection amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He asked that “incentive pay” follow the same guidelines by the federal Office of Personnel Management that enhances retention “of up to a certain percentage of basic pay to a group or category of employees.”
► In the (Bezos-owned) Washington Post — Amazon fires two tech workers who criticized the company’s warehouse workplace conditions — Amazon has fired two Seattle employees who were outspoken critics of its climate policies and who had publicly denounced the conditions at its warehouses as unsafe during the coronavirus pandemic. Amazon fired the workers for “repeatedly violating internal policies,” a spokesman said. Amazon’s external communications policy prohibits employees from commenting publicly on its business without corporate justification and approval from executives.
EDITOR’S NOTE — AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka tweets: “It’s outrageous that Amazon would rather fire workers coming forward than fix the conditions they’re blowing the whistle on. Amazon needs to stop retaliating and start making sure employees are safe, working in sanitary conditions with proper protections.”
AEROSPACE
► In the News Tribune — Three area aerospace companies announce temporary layoffs — Tool Gauge and Machine Works is issuing temporary layoffs to 76 workers at its Tacoma site to take effect April 16, while Toray Composite Materials America issued temporary layoffs to 361 on April 9. LMI Aerospace in Auburn also announced temporary layoffs affecting 74 starting April 13. Another site division in Everett listed 25 affected by layoffs at that location.
THIS WASHINGTON
► In the Seattle Times — State to furlough at least 950 prisoners in bid to limit coronavirus outbreaks — Corrections Secretary Stephen Sinclair will grant emergency furloughs to inmates in minimum-custody settings who meet certain criteria in order to provide more physical distance and limit any potential outbreaks behind prison walls.
THAT WASHINGTON
► From Buzzfeed — People are buying stamps, praising mail carriers after the USPS said it needs a coronavirus bailout — So far, the USPS hasn’t received cash in the stimulus plans aimed at propping up other types of US businesses — prompting some people on Sunday to show support by buying stamps, sharing tributes to mail carriers, and starting discussions about why the mail is such an important part of American life.
The Stand (April 13) — Tell Congress to support our Postal Service!
► From The Hill — Aides expect Schumer, Mnuchin to reach deal on coronavirus relief — Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) are expected to reach a deal this week on an interim coronavirus relief bill that would provide money to businesses, hospitals and state governments.
► In the Washington Post — More than 2,100 U.S. cities brace for budget shortfalls due to coronavirus, new survey finds, with many planning cuts and layoffs — The bleak outlook — shared by local governments representing roughly 93 million people nationwide — led some top mayors and other leaders to call for greater federal aid to protect cities now forced to choose between balancing their cash-strapped ledgers and sustaining the public services that residents need most.
► From Politico — Rural hospitals shut out of stimulus loans face financial crisis — As virus spreads in the heartland, the most vulnerable hospitals may not have enough money to make it.
NATIONAL
► From HuffPost — Grocery workers say inconsiderate shoppers are endangering them in the pandemic — “When I’m stocking the meat counter and people are crowding around me … that’s not social distancing,” said Kroger employee Aaron Squeo on a Monday call with reporters arranged by his union, the United Food and Commercial Workers, which represents 900,000 grocery store employees. Several other grocery workers on the call shared similar experiences in recent weeks as the number of coronavirus cases has shot up. The UFCW estimates that around 30 of its members have died so far during the pandemic. With best practices changing and the rules varying from one locality to the next, the UFCW is asking that shoppers abide by a few basic rules to keep everyone inside busy stores safe during the pandemic. They even launched a ”Shop Smart″ campaign in hopes people will use common sense.
► In the Washington Post — Liberal challenger defeats conservative incumbent in Wisconsin Supreme Court race — A liberal challenger easily defeated the conservative incumbent for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, a key race at the heart of Democratic accusations that Republicans risked voters’ health and safety by going forward with last week’s elections amid the coronavirus pandemic.
► In the Washington Post — South Dakota’s governor resisted ordering people to stay home. Now it has one of the nation’s largest coronavirus hot spots. — Stay-at-home edicts to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus, Republican Gov. Kristi L. Noem said disparagingly, reflected a “herd mentality.” It was up to individuals — not government — to decide whether “to exercise their right to work, to worship and to play. Or to even stay at home.” Now South Dakota is home to one of the largest single coronavirus clusters anywhere in the United States, with more than 300 workers at a giant pork-processing plant falling ill.
TODAY’S MUST-SEE
It’s Blue Collar Americans that are driving America forward.
It’s time to recognize the Essential Workers in America.
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It’s the workers that are going to save America from this #COVID19 pandemic. #1u pic.twitter.com/PoeKndMte1
— AFL-CIO ✊? (@AFLCIO) April 10, 2020
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.