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Boeing hiring | Starbucks organizing | Tech bosses crack the whip

Monday, January 30, 2023

 


AEROSPACE

 

► From the Seattle Times — Boeing added 15,000 jobs in 2022, with more hiring ahead — With attrition and retirements, Boeing’s worldwide workforce grew last year by nearly 14,800 net, bringing the total to 156,354. And this year, Boeing says it plans to hire 10,000 more, mostly in manufacturing and engineering jobs. A state-by-state breakdown of Boeing’s employment figures posted annually on the company website and updated Friday shows that Boeing employment in Washington state grew 8% in 2022, adding more than 4,400 net jobs.

► From the PS Business Journal — Boeing meets hiring goals at Renton factory with lots riding on 737 production — Boeing’s fortunes for the coming year will rely heavily on its ability to deliver jets from its 737 line in Renton. Washington remains the largest outpost for Boeing, with over 60,000 of its 156,000 employees. That includes more than 4,400 workers added in the state last year. On Friday, Boeing said it aimed to hire another 10,000 employees across its business units this year.

► From Reuters — Boeing’s 747, the original jumbo jet, prepares for final send-off — The last commercial Boeing jumbo will be delivered to Atlas Air in the surviving freighter version on Tuesday, 53 years after the 747’s instantly recognizable humped silhouette grabbed global attention as a Pan Am passenger jet.

► From the Seattle Times — This ‘incredible’ dad built Boeing’s first 747. His son finished the last. — Kelvin Anderson is an Incredible, one of the original mechanics who built the first 747s in the 1960s. His son Vic has worked on 747s for the past 34 years and, as team lead on the center fuselage, helped finish the last one. The pair’s close bond was touchingly apparent as they bantered in November about their Boeing careers and the 747, then toured the assembly line.

► From the Seattle Times — Look at how the Boeing 747 has changed since 1968

 


LOCAL

 

► From Reddit — Starbucks store manager: You should all unionize as quickly as you can — “Unionize quickly so they can’t take more from you, it’s all threats and together you are stronger. They want to stall so unions lose momentum but, it’s just a game to them and replacing you is easier than treating you right. Good luck partners.”

EDITOR’S NOTE — Ready for a voice at work? 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 WFSE — UW unions, community celebrate SEIU library staff’s first contract — “I support SEIU Local 925 in their fight for a fair contract,” said Carson Ivins, a UW carpenter and member of WFSE Local 1495. “From carpenters to custodians to librarians, we keep the university running, and we are strongest when we stand together for dignity and respect in the workplace.” Before the strike was called off by SEIU 925, numerous WFSE members had arranged to take vacation pay today so as not to cross the picket line.

The Stand (Jan. 25) — Strike averted at UW Libraries and Press — With three hours until strike, tentative agreement reached in marathon negotiations.

 


THIS WASHINGTON

 

► From NPR — WA lawmakers debating ways to address surging traffic fatalities — State lawmakers in Olympia are debating a suite of possible new responses. Those include authorizing photo radar in highway work zones, prohibiting right turns at many red lights, and lowering the breathalyzer limit to convict for drunk driving.

EDITOR’S NOTE — SB 5272, sponsored by Sen. Marko Liias (D-Everett), is part of this package of traffic safety bills. This bill would protect road workers by authorizing the use of speed safety camera systems in state highway work zones. It is strongly supported by multiple unions, including the Plumbers & Pipefitters, Operating Engineers, Laborers, Carpenters, Washington State Building & Construction Trades Council and the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO.

► From the Spokesman-Review — Legislature considers a bill that would prevent pre-employment cannabis testing — A bill sponsored by Sen. Karen Keiser (D-Des Moines) would prevent testing for cannabis for pre-employment, though employers still would be able to test workers while they are employed.

► From the Seattle Times — Inslee wants WA to borrow $4B to build housing and shelter. How would that work?

 


THAT WASHINGTON

 

► From The Hill — White House blasts McCarthy for comments on strengthening Social Security, Medicare — The White House hit back after Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said he wants to “strengthen” Medicare and Social Security, arguing on Sunday that the House GOP leader and his conference actually want to slash spending on the entitlement programs. White House spokesman Andrew Bates:

“For years, congressional Republicans have advocated for slashing earned benefits using Washington code words like ‘strengthen,’ when their policies would privatize Medicare and Social Security, raise the retirement age, or cut benefits. House Republicans refuse to raise revenue from the wealthy, but insist they will ‘strengthen’ earned benefits programs.”

► From the AP — Biden, McCarthy to discuss debt limit in talks on Wednesday — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Sunday he is looking forward to discussing with President Joe Biden a “reasonable and responsible way that we can lift the debt ceiling” when the two meet Wednesday for their first sit-down at the White House since McCarthy was elected to the post.

 


NATIONAL

 

► From the Washington Post — Black Memphis police spark dialogue on systemic racism in the U.S. — The race of the five officers charged in the Nichols killing has prompted a complex grappling among Black activists and advocates for police reform about the pervasiveness of institutional racism in policing. Nichols died three days after he was pulled out of his car Jan. 7, kicked, punched and struck with a baton on a quiet neighborhood street by Black officers, whose aggressive assault was captured on body-camera videos released Friday.

► From Bloomberg Law — College, university strike wave continues its swell into 2023 — University of Illinois Chicago faculty members struck for nearly a week before their union came to terms with the administration over the weekend. A union representing professors at New York City’s Fordham University also set a Jan. 30 strike deadline before agreeing to a new labor contract last week.

The Stand (Jan. 25) — Strike averted at UW Libraries and Press — With three hours until strike, tentative agreement reached in marathon negotiations.

► From Vice — Managers are already trying to bust eBay’s first union, organizers say — Workers at eBay-owned trading card seller TCGPlayer filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge on Friday, claiming that management at the company had for the past two weeks been violating federal labor law. The charge comes just two days after workers at the company filed to unionize with CWA with a proposed unit size of 282. It’s the first unionization effort by any group of eBay workers.

► From the LA Times — The real aim of big tech’s layoffs: bringing workers to heel (by Brian Merchant) — A common refrain from analysts and reporters is that the companies are “tightening their belts” after profligate pandemic hiring sprees, in order to streamline operations. The fact all these layoffs are happening in such rapid succession gives the companies some cover — making them seem elemental, inevitable. So what’s really going on here? The answer may actually be pretty simple, says Malcolm Harris, author of the forthcoming book Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism and the World:

“Controlling labor costs via periodic layoffs is like breathing for Silicon Valley: cyclical, necessary for life. (The layoffs) very little to do with long- or even medium-term strategy except as it pertains to cultivating an insecure workforce.”

► From Bloomberg — Big Tech layoffs are hitting diversity and inclusion jobs hard

 


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

CHECK OUT THE UNION DIFFERENCE in Washington: higher wages, affordable health and dental care, job and retirement security.

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!