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Scabs assaulted strikers | Two-thirds back KBJ | An Oscars slap in the face

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

 


LOCAL

 

► From the Olympian — Workers at Olympia’s Cooper Point Starbucks went on strike last week. Here’s why. — A month after employees of an Olympia Starbucks filed to join a union, workers at the Cooper Point Road location went on strike after what they say was intimidation, threats and more from management. According to a letter sent to The Olympian, employees began their strike at 7 a.m. Thursday to protest anti-union efforts taken by Starbucks management. In their strike notice, employees said efforts to join the Starbucks Workers United Union have been met with retaliatory behavior from management, including cut hours, intimidation, threats, false statements and more.

TODAY at The Stand Starbucks workers ‘burnt out, sick and tired’ — As the company continues union-busting tactics, employees go on strike in Olympia and another store in Seattle files to unionize.

► From Q13 — Judge: Seattle concrete companies intentionally drove into striking workers at picket line — A King County Superior Court Judge has ruled in favor of striking concrete workers, who filed a lawsuit against the Seattle companies that attempted to block union members from protesting.  According to Teamsters Local 174, five concrete companies — Gary Merlino Construction, Stoneway Concrete, Cadman Materials, Inc., Lehigh Cement and CalPortland — assaulted striking members and/or “blocked union members’ constitutional right to protest.” A judge also found that during the strike, there have been multiple instances “at concrete company sites where non-union drivers of trucks, leasing from or serving the companies, “have ‘charged’ into picketers thereby causing bodily injury and creating a significant danger to the picketers.”

► From the (Everett) Herald — Concrete-driver strike affecting Lynnwood light rail work — Union members have held out for better benefits and pay since December. Missed concrete deliveries have delayed work.

► From the (Longview) Daily News — School district, union reach tentative agreement on wages for service employees — The Longview service employees union reached a tentative agreement Monday with the Longview School District, promising fairer wages and steps for longevity, the union said. Shawn Nyman, representative for the SEIU 925, said both sides agreed to higher wages and better benefits for employees who spend decades as paraeducators in the school district. The union represents Longview service employees like bus drivers, food service and maintenance workers.

The Stand (March 29) — SEIU 925: Longview schools staff has tentative agreement

 


THIS WASHINGTON

 

► From KUOW — Cascadia bullet train on track for big bucks to get rolling, but big uncertainty remains — For more than five years, Washington state, Oregon and British Columbia have collaborated on studies of a possible Cascadia bullet train to run between Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, Canada. This winter, the Washington Legislature approved money for yet more studies. But state lawmakers also set aside a much bigger sum to attract federal support that could advance the bullet train dream toward being shovel-ready.

► From the South Seattle Herald — Rep. Kirsten Harris-Talley: Why I am not seeking reelection — I am not the only legislator leaving right now. This is a moment that Democrats will see huge changes that should be embraced as opportunities. And with that, leadership has some decisions to make to meet this moment and move forward. For the first time in over a decade, we will have a new majority leader with Rep. Pat Sullivan’s retirement. Having a leader of color elevated to that role could bring long-overdue transformation. Leadership needs to heed years of advocacy, and invest in Legislative Black Caucus staff and infrastructure. We are the largest assembly of Black legislators in Washington’s history and our presence strengthens the caucus as a whole.

► And then, there’s this…

 


SUPREME COURT

 

► From The Hill — 2 in 3 in new poll support Jackson’s Supreme Court nomination — A new poll released Wednesday found that 66 percent of respondents said they support Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson‘s nomination to the Supreme Court and 34 percent said they were opposed.

TAKE A STAND — If you haven’t already done so, please sign this petition and call your U.S. Senator — to support Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination as U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

► From the NY Times — Collins to back Jackson for Supreme Court, giving her a GOP vote — Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said a second meeting with Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson alleviated her concerns. It is unclear if other Republicans will join her.

► From NPR — Legal ethics experts agree: Justice Thomas must recuse in insurrection cases — Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, Ginni, find themselves increasingly in the eye of an ethics storm over her repeated texts urging then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to take steps to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

 


THAT WASHINGTON

 

► From the Washington Post — 21 states sue Biden administration to end transportation mask mandate — Twenty-one mostly Republican-led states filed suit Tuesday seeking an immediate end to a federal mandate that requires people to wear masks when traveling on airplanes, buses, subways and other modes of public transportation.

► A related story from the ATU — Remember Our Fallen — As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the ATU mourns the deaths of those 219 members (includiong six from Washington state) who put their lives on the line as essential frontline workers during this global crisis. We send our deepest sympathies and condolences to their families, extended families, friends, their Locals, and all who knew them.

► From The Hill — Manchin shoots down Biden’s new billionaire tax plan — Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) says he doesn’t support the president’s plan to tax the unrealized gains of billionaires, which would set a new precedent by taxing the value an asset accrues in theory before it is actually sold and converted into cash.

► From Politico — Trump calls on Putin to release dirt on Hunter Biden — It’s the latest example of the former president soliciting foreign governments to intervene to damage his domestic political rivals.

 


NATIONAL

 

► From ABC News — Severe staffing crisis in Sacramento schools leads teachers, staff to go on strike — Teachers and classified employees, of the Sacramento City Teachers Association and the SEIU, began their strike on March 23, but have been bargaining with the district since October.

► From the LA Times — Sacramento teachers’ strike is not just about money. It’s about respect for public education (by Anita Chabria) — These teachers, cafeteria workers, bus drivers and instructional aides are fed up with being asked to do more with less. It’s a problem that goes beyond the Sacramento City Unified School District, with 48,000 students in 81 schools. Frustration among teachers and school workers is rampant across California — pushed to a breaking point by the pandemic and a shortage of more than 11,000 credentialed teachers and thousands of support staff as the state tries to expand pre-kindergarten and bring 10,000 mental health counselors on campuses.

► From Pasedena Now — Negotiations to resume Wednesday between SoCal grocers, workers — Contract talks will resume Wednesday in hopes of avoiding a walkout by thousands of Southern California grocery workers who have already authorized their union to call a strike if negotiations break down.

► From Yahoo News — BuzzFeed Union votes to authorize newsroom strike amid escalating tensions

► From CNBC — COVID upended the labor market, and now these workers are using their leverage to push for unions — The pandemic pushed Americans to reconsider how and where they work, resulting in a tight labor market, rising wages and what’s been dubbed the Great Resignation. It also spurred workers, many of them younger, at big companies such as Amazon and Starbucks to flex their newfound leverage with union movements. Warehouse and store employees seeking union membership feel they have no seat at the table. They’re looking for better pay and working conditions, and they want a say with management in day-to-day operations. “Employees are feeling powerless, and this solidarity gives them some power,” said Catherine Creighton, director of Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations branch in Buffalo, N.Y.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Want a seat at the table? Get 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 the Pittsburgh P-G — AFL-CIO’s Elizabeth Shuler says fed-up employees are leaving the workforce — Workplace disgust has also created a rare opportunity to expand unions at a time when overall membership is down, and a younger generation of baristas, librarians and university faculty have been embracing the labor movement, AFL-CIO President Elizabeth H. Shuler said Tuesday at the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Convention.

► From the Washington Post — Vogue, Bon Appétit and other Condé Nast staffers form union“It comes down to prestige doesn’t pay the bills,” said one Vanity Fair staffer.

► From Hollywood Reporter — Jay-Z’s Oscar Gold Party picketed by labor union outside Chateau Marmont — Protestors didn’t stop Emily Ratajkowski, Rosario Dawson, Michael B. Jordan, Zoe Kravitz and plenty more from crossing the picket line. They’d shown up after the billionaire musician had declined to move his event from the grounds of the legendary Sunset Strip property, which has been embroiled in controversy since 2020, when Chateau Marmont owner André Balazs laid off nearly all of his employees at the onset of the pandemic without providing severance packages or extended health insurance. Months later, more than 30 staffers described long-simmering workplace issues, including allegations of systemic racial discrimination and sexual misconduct. UNITE HERE Local 11 has led a boycott of the hotel since 2021 and made public appeals for Jay-Z to respect the boycott after the Gold Party’s location was revealed.

 


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

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FIND OUT HOW TO JOIN TOGETHER with your co-workers to negotiate for better wages, benefits, and a voice at work. Or go ahead and contact a union organizer today!