DAILY NEWS
UW furloughs ● Our promise on education ● Grocery workers in the dark
Tuesday, May 26, 2020
LOCAL
► LIVE from the Seattle Times — Coronavirus daily news update, May 26 — The latest count of COVID-19 cases in Washington totals 20,065 infections (7-day average of new infections per day: 208) and 1,070 deaths (7-day average of deaths per day: 10).
► From the Seattle Times — UW Medicine furloughs 4,000 more workers, citing coronavirus budget hit — UW Medicine, citing a budget shortfall caused by COVID-19, will furlough another 4,000 members of its workforce after bargaining last week with the unions that represent many of its employees, the hospital system announced Monday. UW Medicine employs about 30,000 people at its hospitals and neighborhood clinics. These reductions, along with furloughs announced for 1,500 nonunion staffers last week, mean that more than 15% of the workforce will go without pay for one to eight weeks. The workers will keep health insurance and other benefits, according to a UW Medicine news release. Furloughed workers include members of SEIU1199NW, SEIU 925, WFSE/AFSCME and the WSNA.
► From SEIU Healthcare 1199NW — We united across our union to win furlough protections at Harborview, Northwest Hospital — Together, we won a furlough MOU that will prevent as many voluntary furloughs as possible, respects seniority, and protects what we’ve already won—our jobs, staffing plans, benefits, and more.
The Stand (May 15) — UW unions stand strong, united for safety
► From the Yakima H-R — “It was definitely worth the fight.” Strikers reach agreement with Monson Fruit — Striking workers and company officials at Monson Fruit in Selah came to an agreement Friday. A committee of Monson workers said Friday that the company’s solution had focused on safety measures, and strikers would go back to work while continuing to negotiate for wage increases.
TODAY at The Stand — Striking Yakima workers’ caravan heading to Olympia today
► From the Spokesman-Review — Agricultural workers in Central Washington strike to push for greater virus protections — Workers in Central Washington’s fruit-packing industry have staged strikes and walkouts over the past few weeks in an effort to enhance safety protections against COVID-19 and to receive hazard pay. While many of those labor actions are ongoing, one group of striking workers in Monston Fruit warehouse in Selah reached a labor agreement Friday.
► From the Columbian — 65 Vancouver food processor workers have COVID-19 — The number of positive COVID-19 cases at Firestone Pacific Foods increased to 65 workers, almost doubling the amount reported Friday, according to a news release sent by the Fruit Valley fruit processor on Monday.
► From the Wenatchee World — Stemilt: 25 more workers test positive for COVID-19 — Twenty-five out of 60 people from a specialty packaging line crew at Stemilt Growers’ Olds Station facility recently tested positive for COVID-19.
► From the Columbia Basin Herald — As pandemic wanes, health officials prepare to protect health of migrant farmworkers — As Grant County readies itself to begin reopening its economy, health officials continue to work with businesses and industries to ensure that workers can return to their jobs without risking a resurgence of COVID-19.
► From the Daily World — 14 of 18 Hoquiam teachers who received layoff notices in April asked back
THIS WASHINGTON
► From the Seattle Times — State colleges and universities are girding for a tough financial future after the coronavirus pandemic — Washington’s public colleges and universities are bracing for a money crisis this fall that is likely to decimate higher education budgets… “I’m a little worried people don’t understand quite how bad this is going to be,” said Western Washington University English professor Bill Lyne, president of United Faculty of Washington State. A veteran of the 2008 recession, he believes a pandemic-induced economic downturn will be particularly hard on higher education.
► From the Seattle Times — How missed ‘red flags’ helped Nigerian fraud ring bilk Washington’s unemployment system amid coronavirus chaos
► From the Tri-City Herald — Over 300 Tri-Cities school employees are victims of unemployment scam
► From the Tri-City Herald — Protect yourself. Make an unemployment account even if you are working (editorial) — Creating an account will help protect your Social Security number from being used in a despicable fraud scheme that has stolen millions of dollars from struggling Washington state residents.
► From the (Everett) Herald — State officials’ pay raises poorly timed (editorial) — Set by a citizen panel a year ago, the raises begin just as the state needs to make deep budget cuts.
► From the News Tribune — Wrong move, GOP: Check of Inslee’s power should come via statehouse, not courthouse (editorial) — We say legislation before litigation. Bipartisan policy debate should be the first attempt at a remedy.
THAT WASHINGTON
► From the Washington Post — An indelible image of this pandemic: Trump, without a mask, on a golf course (by Eugene Robinson)
NATIONAL
► From the Washington Post — On the front lines of the pandemic, grocery workers are in the dark about risks — Despite the pandemic, grocery stores generally are not required to publicly disclose cases of coronavirus involving employees or report them to the local health departments. As states now move to reopen, many grocers are being criticized by health officials, lawmakers and store employees for not being more open with the public and their own workers about outbreaks within their stores. The Post interviewed about 40 current and former employees at more than 30 supermarkets who alleged that the companies had not disclosed cases of infected or dead workers, retaliated against employees who raised safety concerns and used faulty equipment to implement coronavirus mitigation measures.
► From NPR — UFCW estimates 3,257 members infected with coronavirus — “The so-called ‘hero,’ and hazard pay should continue until this threat has actually passed,” UFCW President Marc Perrone said. “If companies truly believe that this threat has passed, they should be willing to say that publicly on the record.”
► From the NY Times — As meatpacking plants reopen, data about worker illness remains elusive — Emails show local officials received conflicting signals from state leaders and meatpacking companies about how much information to release about outbreaks in plants.
► From the Memphis C-A — In first area labor election since start of pandemic, food processing workers join UFCW — Dozens of workers for Hearthside Food Solutions in Byhalia, Mississippi, one of the country’s leading producers of cereal and baked goods, voted Wednesday in favor of joining the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.
► From the Washington Post — Crowded housing and essential jobs: Why so many Latinos are getting coronavirus — Latinos young and old are contracting the virus at alarmingly high rates in places such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.
► From the NY Times — An incalculable loss (editorial) — America is fast approaching a grim milestone in the coronavirus outbreak. But a count only reveals so much. Memories, gathered from obituaries across the country, help us to reconnect with what was lost.
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.