Monday, June 12, 2023

LOCAL

► From the Cascadia Daily News — Workers at Bellingham REI unionize — REI workers in Bellingham voted to unionize on June 9, joining the outdoor recreational store in Berkeley, California, as the only REI locations on the West Coast to join a union. Bellingham employees voted 40–12 to join UFCW 3000, which represents retail, health care and grocery workers. REI worker Johnny Cook said staff at the Bellingham store reached out to UFCW after management started reducing hours for most workers:

“We were running into each other at the food bank. Some of us had to sell back our gear to cover rent. Only a select handful of people were getting enough hours to even remotely help them pay their bills… We want consistency and reliability in our scheduling.”

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!

One week longer, one week stronger! We’re back on the picket lines until UW agrees to fair contracts. #FairContractsUW #UWPostdocsRSEs #UWworksBCWeDo pic.twitter.com/CmHtuOG1Vi

— UAW 4121 Academic Workers ON STRIKE (@UAW4121) June 12, 2023

► From the Seattle Times — Secretary Cardona cancels UW commencement speech amid researchers strike — Hours before he was scheduled to give the commencement speech to the University of Washington’s graduating class of students, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona canceled his appearance, citing a strike by graduate and postdoctoral researchers. “Secretary Cardona will not cross the picket line to give the commencement address,” a spokesperson for Cardona said in a statement.

The Stand (June 7) — UW Postdocs, Researchers are on STRIKE!

TAKE A STAND — Check out the strike linktree where you’ll find information about how to contribute to the strike hardship fund, picket shift signups, solidarity petitions and letters, and more. Get the latest updates via Twitter @UAW4121.

► From Maritime Executive — Port of Seattle suspends container operations due to ILWU actions — Container operations at the Port of Seattle were suspended on Friday, June 9, and did not resume on June 10, according to a statement from the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA). The organization which represents the terminal operators is citing “coordinated and disruptive work actions,” led by the ILWU as part of the ongoing disruptions related to the union’s contract negotiations.

EDITOR’S NOTE — The ILWU responds that it is committed to negotiating a fair and equitable agreement and calls on PMA to do the same. The union says the PMA continues using the media to leverage one-sided information in attempt to influence the process: Said ILWU President Willie Adams:

“Despite what you are hearing from PMA, West Coast ports are open as we continue to work under our expired collective bargaining agreement.”

► From KUOW — Seattle aims for cleaner buildings over next 25 years — Seattle’s biggest buildings would have to reduce their impact on the climate starting eight years from now under a proposal announced Thursday by Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell. Seattle officials say the “Building Emissions Performance Standards” would make a major dent in the city’s pollution, while some critics say the plan lacks the urgency needed in a climate emergency.

The Stand (June 2) — Labor, environmental groups seek ‘Living Hotels’ in Seattle

► From KGW — 1,800 nurses warn of strike starting June 19 at Providence Portland, two other facilities — Roughly 1,800 nurses at Providence Portland Medical Center and two other Providence facilities will stage a five-day strike starting June 19 unless progress is made in contract bargaining, the Oregon Nurses Association announced Friday. Providence told KGW on Friday that it will not bargain with the union while the strike is pending or in progress, but will resume bargaining after the strike ends.

THIS WASHINGTON

► From the Olympian — John McCoy, Tulalip tribal leader who served in WA legislature for 17 years, has died — Former Washington State Sen. John McCoy, a Tulalip tribal leader, died Tuesday of natural causes. He was 79. McCoy, a Democrat, served in the state Legislature representing the 38th District covering Marysville, Tulalip, and parts of Everett for 17 years. He served as a Washington House Representative from 2003-2013, and as a state Senator from 2013-2020 before retiring.

THAT WASHINGTON

► From NPR — Children as young as 12 work legally on farms, despite years of efforts to change law — Amid discoveries of 13-year-olds cleaning saws in meatpacking plants and 10-year-olds working in the kitchen at a McDonald’s, the Biden administration has vowed to crack down on child labor violations in the U.S. But largely absent from those discussions are the estimated hundreds of thousands of children who are legally working in equally hazardous conditions on farms.

► From the Washington Post — Trump’s Miami court date brings fears of violence, rally plans — Federal and local authorities on Sunday amped up security preparations ahead of Donald Trump’s first appearance in federal court on criminal charges in Miami, monitoring online threats and potential gatherings of far-right extremists while marshaling more police officers to be on duty. He is facing a 37-count federal indictment, 31 of which allege he willfully kept classified documents in his possession after leaving the White House.

► From Politico — Trump vows to stay in the race even if convicted

NATIONAL

► From the Wall Street Journal — How striking writers are disrupting Hollywood shoots — The Writers Guild walkout enters its guerrilla-tactics phase, as picketing screenwriters rattle filming for Ghostbusters, “Billions” and other productions.

► From Varierty — ‘The Simpsons’ reunion WGA picket highlights the strike stakes for writers — Matt Groening, creator of “The Simpsons” (and graduate of The Evergreen State College), was on hand Friday with a picket sign in one hand and a few Sharpie markers in the other. He drew a few custom toons on picket signs for his fellow WGA members, and he used the backs of blue and red WGA T-shirts as a canvas as well, to the delight of his fellow scribes.

► From the LA Times — Thousands of Southern California workers authorize the largest hotel strike in modern U.S. history — Southern California hotel workers who voted overwhelmingly to authorize their leaders to call a strike if their employers don’t agree to major wage boosts in contract negotiations covering 15,000 workers in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

► From the LA Times — Child-care providers by day, Amazon drivers by night. Workers fight for living wages — On Thursday, Adriano Lorenzo will travel to Sacramento to lobby legislators to raise the amount the state pays for the more than 290,000 child-care vouchers offered to low-income families, and to overhaul the way those rates are set. It’s the latest fight in a two-decade crusade by child-care workers in California over pay and benefits.

► From the Washington Post — William Spriggs, economist who highlighted racial disparities, dies at 68 — Dr. Spriggs, an economics professor at Howard University and chief economist for the AFL-CIO  who was widely known for his fervor in fighting for racial and economic justice, died June 6 at a hospital in Reston, Va. He was 68. President Biden called Dr. Spriggs “a towering figure in his field, a trailblazer who challenged the field’s basic assumptions about racial discrimination in labor markets, pay equity, and worker empowerment. His work inspired countless economists, some of whom work for our Administration, to join him in the pursuit of economic justice.”

► From Payday Report — Despite DeSantis’ anti-union law, Florida’s teachers’ union gains 5,000 members — Last month, DeSantis passed a provision that stripped public employees’ unions in the state of the ability to collect dues automatically from union members’ paychecks. (Police and firefighters unions, backers of DeSantis, were exempted from the provisions.) The Florida Education Association says that it actually gained 5,000 members in the month since DeSantis signed the bill in May. Indeed, many non-union teachers, particularly younger teachers, startled by DeSantis’s attacks on gays, immigrants, and minorities, have sought to join the union to fight back against the governor’s attacks.

► From the Hollywood Reporter — Broadway musical ‘Here Lies Love’ reaches agreement with Musicians’ union over live music — Producers of Here Lies Love say they have reached an agreement with the musicians’ union, Local 802, over the use of pre-recorded music in the show. The show, which was first conceived of 17 years ago by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, had previously been performed to a pre-recorded track.

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