Tuesday, July 12, 2022

LOCAL

► From the Seattle Times — Starbucks to close 5 Seattle stores over safety concerns — Starbucks will close six Puget Sound-area stores where the company says crime rates have climbed recently as part of a broad initiative to boost security at the cafes. Workers at the stores that are closing can ask to be reassigned to neighboring stores, the company said. The stores at Union Station and East Olive Way are unionized, and employees who relocate to unionized stores will continue to be represented.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Some reporters who don’t work for the Seattle Times are noticing that 1% of Starbucks stores nationwide are unionized, but 19% of the stores they are closing for “safety” are union. This company is already facing federal charges for breaking the law and denying its employees their legal rights. This appears to be more of the same.

► From the LA Progressive — Union workers make workplaces safer — Unions empower workers to help build safer workplaces and ensure they have the freedom to act without fear of reprisal. Workers forming unions at Amazon and Starbucks, among other companies, want better wages and benefits. But they’re also fighting for the workplace protections union workers enjoy every day. Amazon’s production quotas resulted in a shocking injury rate of 6.8 per 100 warehouse workers in 2021. That was more than double the overall warehouse industry rate and 20 percent higher than Amazon’s 2020 record, according to an analysis of data the company provided to OSHA. Unions fight against all of this.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Ready for safer working conditions? 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!

THIS WASHINGTON

► From KUOW — Charter school ordered to repay state $790,000 for misappropriating kindergarten funds — The state’s charter school oversight agency said Impact Public Schools misappropriated state funds by enrolling more than 60 4-year-olds in kindergarten and must repay approximately $790,000.

► From the (Longview) Daily News — Unions back proposed Columbia County renewable diesel facility NEXT — NEXT Renewable Fuels is awaiting state and federal permits so it can start building a $2 billion site at the Port Westward in Columbia County, with garnered approval from local unions and government officials. Longview-Kelso Building Trades Council, Columbia Pacific and Northwest Oregon make up some of the unions who have said they approve the project, which proposes to create more than 3,000 short- and long-term jobs during its construction. NEXT in a news release said it signed a letter of understanding with Columbia Pacific, the Construction Trades Council and the Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters “to ensure local and union hiring are prioritized.”

► From KING — Washington State Ferries running on alternate schedules ‘until further notice’ during its busiest season — Washington State Ferries said it hired dozens of new crewmembers, but it takes time to train new employees for the highly technical job.

AEROSPACE

► From Reuters — Japan’s ANA finalizes order for 20 Boeing 737 MAX jets — Japanese airline ANA Holdings Inc. said on Monday it had finalised an order for 20 Boeing 737 MAX jets first announced in January 2019 that also includes options for another 10 of the narrowbody type.

ELECTION

► From the Seattle Times — Man suspected of hate crime for allegedly threatening to kill U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal — A 48-year-old South Seattle man was arrested Saturday on suspicion of a hate crime for threatening to kill U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, according to King County prosecutors.

► From the (Everett) Herald — Rep. April Berg: Confrontation with campaign worker was racial, not political — A campaign field director, who is Black, videotaped as a white man told him to leave neighborhood: “I don’t want you here.”

THAT WASHINGTON

► From Vox — Democrats’ latest attempt at resurrecting Build Back Better, explained — Thus far, they’ve reached an agreement on a proposal aimed at lowering prescription drug costs, but are still working through more contentious climate and tax policies. This still-nascent package is Democrats’ latest attempt at advancing a bill via the budget reconciliation process, which enables policies that affect taxes and spending to pass with 51 votes in the Senate, rather than the 60 needed if a bill is filibustered under normal rules.

► From The Guardian — U.S. employers’ support for workers’ abortion care leaves serious gaps — Millions of Americans rely on their employers for health insurance and while some firms have stepped up, others have not, with those on low incomes most likely to suffer.

NATIONAL

► From CNN — Dodger Stadium workers authorize strike ahead of MLB All-Star Game — About 1,500 food and other concession workers could go on strike at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles during the upcoming All-Star Game festivities. The threat of the strike was announced by Unite Here Local 11, which represents the hourly workers at the stadium. The union said 99% of its members voted Sunday to authorize a strike.

► From Jacobin — Automation on the docks means fewer jobs — and often no improvement in productivity — A new report finds that automation has led to significant job losses on West Coast docks. We spoke to an automation specialist and trade unionist who works at a fully automated terminal to see what that transformation looks like for those at the heart of it.

► From Roseville Today — University of California nurses ratify new three-year contract — California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) says the new agreement addresses key patient care and workplace safety issues while focusing resources to recognize, recruit, and retain nurses across facilities in the UC system.

► From the Fresno Bee — Strike avoided: Fresno bus drivers cut new deal with city

► From the Washington Post — Gerald McEntee, longtime president of AFSCME labor union, dies at 87 — The son of a Philadelphia street cleaner, he led the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees for three decades.

► From Reuters — Amazon issued 13,000 disciplinary notices at single U.S. warehouse — Internal Amazon documents, previously unreported, reveal how routinely the company measured workers’ performance in minute detail and admonished those who fell even slightly short of expectations – sometimes before their shift ended.

► From NBC News — What a Korean restaurant worker union win says about future of labor movements — “We hope the unity between migrant communities, between Asians and Latinos, can bring us to a better future for the workers who are sustaining this industry,” the union president said.

INTERNATIONAL

► From the Washington Post — Uber promised South Africans better lives but knew drivers risked debt and danger — The company enticed drivers in the developing nation with lucrative subsidies, then undermined these workers with policies that made their jobs more perilous, documents in the newly unearthed Uber Files show.

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