Thursday, October 13, 2022

LOCAL

► From the UW Daily — Unionized UW librarians to strike Oct. 13 — After over a year of trying to negotiate a contract with University of Washington administrators, UW librarians will strike Thursday. The stalled negotiations come 16 months after roughly 125 librarians and other employees of the UW Libraries and Press voted to join SEIU 925 in June 2021.

► From the Seattle Times — UW Libraries, Press staff call one-day strike as negotiations stall — Librarians, professional staff and press workers from all three UW campuses will picket outside the main campus in Seattle.

TODAY at The Stand — UW Libraries and Press staff on strike Thursday

TAKE A STAND —  Join the strikers Thursday on the picket lines (see schedule) and at the rally at noon on the steps of Suzzallo Library. Also, please sign the community petition in support of UW Libraries Union workers. Follow today’s strike @UWLibUnion and @SEIU925.

► From the union-busting Columbian — Evergreen Public Schools paraeducators union members speak out at meeting — A hundred or so paraeducators and supporters from the Evergreen Public School Employees large group union gathered before Tuesday night’s board meeting to advocate for increased wages and schedule adjustments. The union — which represents an estimated 1,000 classified staff members in Evergreen, including about 650 paraeducators — has been bargaining with the school district throughout the summer and fall and is still without a new contract.

► From the PS Business Journal — PSBJ reveals region’s highest-ranked school districts for teacher pay — Nine of the 10 top-paying districts are fully or partially located in Snohomish County. Competition for teachers is fierce as school districts grapple with turnover and pressure to pay wages that keep up with rising living costs… Teacher retention rates will further deteriorate if salaries don’t reflect the rising cost of living in the state, said Larry Delaney, president of Washington Education Association:

“We don’t want people to have to take a vow of poverty because they go into education. You should be able to live in the community in which you work, you should be able to have a family.”

► From the AP — Wash. school board member, stepson charged in Capitol riot — Richard Slaughter, 40, who was elected to the Orting School Board last fall, was arrested Wednesday along with his stepson, Caden Paul Gottfried, 20, the Justice Department said.

THAT WASHINGTON

► From the AP — Social Security benefits to jump by 8.7% next year — Millions of Social Security recipients will get an 8.7% boost in their benefits in 2023. That’s a historic increase and welcome news for American retirees and others — but it’s tempered by the fact that it’s fueled by record high inflation that’s raised the cost of everyday living.

► From the AP — White House aims to speed-up pace of building infrastructure — The White House hosted a summit Thursday to help speed up construction projects tied to the roughly $1 trillion infrastructure law — an effort to improve coordination with the mayors and governors who directly account for 90% of the spending.

NATIONAL

► From Bloomberg — Starbucks illegally asked for cops to disperse pro-union staff, judge says — Starbucks violated federal law in Kansas and Missouri by firing pro-union employees, stepping up enforcement of its dress code in response to union organizing and asking for police to disperse workers with picket signs, an NLRB judge ruled Wednesday. The company acted out of “substantial animus,” according to the ruling. The judge ordered the fired workers to be reinstated with back pay.

► From HuffPost — Thinking about forming a union? Surprise! Here’s a big raise. — Suddenly raising pay or benefits is a tried-and-true way for employers to tamp down union support, since it makes some workers believe a union is no longer necessary. With pandemic-weary U.S. workers requesting union elections at a rate not seen in years, some are watching their employers scramble to improve the workplace for fear they’ll end up across from their employees at the bargaining table.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Unions raise wages. The threat of unionization is when it begins. Actual unionization is what ensures it continues. Are YOU ready to start getting a fair return for your hard work? Get more information about how you can join together with co-workers and negotiate for better wages, benefits, working conditions and respect on the job. Or go ahead and contact a union organizer today!

Just like these folks…

► From the LA Times — Amazon workers at Moreno Valley warehouse file for union election — a first in California — Amazon workers at a fulfillment center warehouse in Moreno Valley filed a petition for a union election, the NLRB confirmed Tuesday. It’s the first time workers at an Amazon facility in California have formally sought a union election. The workers are seeking to join the upstart Amazon Labor Union.

► From More Perfect Union — Workers plan to renovate Home Depot with a union — On Sept. 19, workers filed a petition to organize a union among 276 workers at a Home Depot in northeast Philadelphia. If successful, the independent union would be the first at the home repair chain, the fifth-largest private employer in the U.S.

► From Bloomberg — Lowe’s New Orleans staff petition to unionize store, extending organizing wave — Lowe’s Workers United filed a petition Wednesday with the NLRB, seeking to unionize a group of around 172 of the home improvement chain’s staff.

► From the NY Times — Battle over wage rules for tipped workers is heating up — In all but eight states, employers can legally choose to pay workers who receive tips a “subminimum” wage — in some places as low as $2.13 an hour — as long as tips bring their earnings to the equivalent of the minimum wage in a pay period. Economists estimate that at least 5.5 million workers are paid on that basis. The provision, known as the tip credit, is a unique industry subsidy that lets employers meet pay requirements more cheaply. And even in a tight labor market, it is often abused at the employees’ expense, according to workers, labor lawyers, many regulators and economists.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Thankfully, Washington is one of those eight states that doesn’t allow tip penalties.

► From the NY Times — Why you can’t find child care: 100,000 workers are missing — Where did they go? To better-paying jobs stocking shelves, cleaning offices or doing anything that pays more than $15 an hour.

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