Wednesday, June 23, 2021

COVID-19

► LIVE from the Seattle Times — Coronavirus daily news update, June 23 — The latest count of COVID-19 cases in Washington totals 448,142 infections (7-day average of new infections per day: 479) and 5,843 deaths.

► From the Seattle Times — Focused approach will help Washington state’s COVID-19 vaccine uptake, Inslee says — Gov. Jay Inslee toured an Auburn pop-up clinic on Tuesday as the state continues to take a targeted approach to vaccinate harder-to-reach populations in areas where vaccination rates are down in Washington.

The Stand (June 16) — Union members can do this: Let’s all get vaccinated — Ready to get vaccinated? Visit Washington state’s Vaccine Locator to find vaccine appointments near you.

► From the Washington Post — 153 people resigned or were fired from a Texas hospital system after refusing to get vaccinated — Houston Methodist was one of the nation’s first health systems to impose a coronavirus vaccine mandate.

► From HuffPost — The only person not killed or hospitalized in this COVID outbreak was vaccinated — A deadly outbreak in Manatee County, Florida, offers a cautionary tale.

THIS WASHINGTON

► From KUOW — This heat wave will be ‘historic,’ Washington climatologist says — This weekend, the mercury will creep up toward the 90s, even triple digits in some parts of Washington state. Meanwhile, most of the western U.S. is in considerably worse shape. And that can have serious environmental and agricultural consequences. How long such heat waves last could mean a more active wildfire season (which has already begun) and “brutally” high temperatures in Eastern Washington.

► From the Columbian — Lack of child care slowing economic recovery (editorial) — On July 4, Washington residents submitting unemployment claims must once again actively search for jobs in order to receive payments. That requirement was suspended early in the coronavirus pandemic, and the hope is that reinstating it will help ease a labor shortage throughout the state. Yet while the provision might help incentivize people to return to work, a full post-pandemic economic recovery will depend on adequate, affordable child care. The American child care system long has been chaotic, and the pandemic has exacerbated its shortcomings.

► From KING 5 — Inslee expected to announce ‘short-term’ eviction moratorium extension Thursday — The eviction moratorium is set to expire on June 30, but Gov. Jay Inslee said the state needs time for rental services to catch-up.

VOTING RIGHTS

► From the NY Times — Republicans block voting rights bill, dealing blow to Biden and Democrats — Republicans on Tuesday blocked the most ambitious voting rights legislation to come before Congress in a generation, dealing a blow to Democrats’ attempts to counter a wave of state-level ballot restrictions and supercharging a campaign to end the legislative filibuster. President Biden and Democratic leaders said the defeat was only the beginning of their drive to steer federal voting rights legislation into law, and vowed to redouble their efforts in the weeks ahead.

► From the AFL-CIO — Senate’s failure to proceed on voting rights legislation damaging to democracy — AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:

“When an American citizen is denied the right to vote, whether by a court, a state legislature or business as usual in Washington, we become a lesser nation. When more than 60 million people would vote for a voice on the job today, but only one in 10 workers are union members, something is terribly wrong. The For the People Act and the PRO Act would restore democracy to America’s polling places and workplaces after decades of destructive attacks. These bills have broad support and limitless potential for good. Procedural roadblocks must be removed. Paths must be cleared. And laws must be signed. The American people voted for change. It is time for Congress to protect and honor that vote with action.”

► From The Hill — ‘Killibuster’: Democratic angst grows as filibuster threatens agenda — After achieving a unified government for the first time since 2010, Democrats pledged to go “big’’ and “bold” after four years of the Trump administration. But they are watching as their wish list of bills runs straight into a familiar buzzsaw: the Senate’s own rulebook.

THAT WASHINGTON

► BREAKING from the NY Times — Supreme Court rules against union recruiting on California farms — The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that a California regulation allowing union organizers to recruit agricultural workers at their workplaces violated the constitutional rights of their employers. The vote was 6 to 3, with the court’s three liberal members in dissent. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for the majority, wrote that “the access regulation grants labor organizations a right to invade the growers’ property.” That meant, he wrote, that it was a taking of private property without just compensation. The ruling was the latest blow to unions from a court that has issued several decisions limiting the power of organized labor.

► From Reuters — Biden to nominate union lawyer to key seat on U.S. labor board — Biden plans to tap David Prouty, general counsel of SEIU Local 32BJ, the largest labor union for property service workers in the country with over 175,000 members, to fill the seat currently held by Republican William Emanuel, the White House said. Emanuel’s term is set to expire Aug. 27. Biden last month nominated veteran union lawyer Gwynne Wilcox for a vacant seat on the NLRB. If both are confirmed, Democrats would take control of the five-member labor board.

► From The Hill — White House digs in as infrastructure talks stall — A busy afternoon of meetings between senior White House officials and Senate moderates failed to achieve a breakthrough Tuesday after senior Biden advisers made it clear they do not support several of the senators’ strategies for paying for new infrastructure investment.

► From TruthOut — 20 Attorneys General urge Postal Commission to reject DeJoy’s plan to slow mail — The statement of position, signed by two cities, a county, the District of Columbia, and attorneys general from states, such as New York and California, says that the postal commission should be focused on undoing the problems with the United States Postal Service caused largely by Dejoy’s actions from last year, not creating new problems with the service.

► From HuffPost — COVID-19 rescue plans sent personal income spiking nationally — Some of the biggest hikes were in states whose Republican senators voted against $1,400 stimulus checks, according to new government data.

NATIONAL

► From Vice — Teamsters announce coordinated nationwide project to unionize Amazon — The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, one of the country’s largest and most powerful unions, has said in an official resolution obtained by Motherboard that unionizing and building worker power at Amazon is the top priority moving forward. The announcement comes on Prime Day, one of Amazon’s busiest days of the year. At their virtual convention on Tuesday, Teamster delegates from roughly 500 local Teamsters unions will also receive a copy of the resolution, which will receive a vote on Thursday, and is expected to pass resoundingly. The resolution states the Teamsters plan to create a special Amazon Division, specifically to aid Amazon workers in unionizing and defending standards in the logistics industry — and will fully fund the project.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Why wait? Find out more information about how you can join together with co-workers and negotiate a fair return for your hard work. Or go ahead and contact a union organizer today!

► From AL.com — Striking Alabama coal workers take protest to Wall Street — Chanting “no contract, no coal,” the miners today launched the latest step in a strike that began April 1 for a new contract with Warrior Met Coal. United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts and union members plan to protest in front of the Manhattan offices of several hedge funds the union says are the reason the contract negotiations are stalled.

► From the Washington Post — L.A. mayor’s chief of staff mocked labor icon Dolores Huerta as a ‘jealous old lady.’ Now she’s suspended.

The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.