IAM strike | AI energy | 99% strike vote

Monday, September 23, 2024

STRIKES

► From My Northwest — SPEEA union president: ‘We stand with the machinists,’ ‘We don’t do furloughs’ — “So we see this as a tactic to undermine our brothers and sisters in the machinists union. And we will not. We stand with the machinists 110% and we support what they’re asking for, for them fighting for a good contract, and that the jobs that are just not paying enough for what the cost of living is, especially in Washington state. But also we have our own negotiations with the Boeing Company in two years, so we’re keeping an eye on that.”

► From the AP — A strike by Boeing factory workers shows no signs of ending after its first week — “I’ve never seen Boeing do [furloughs] before. They might be feeling the pinch, feeling the hurt a little bit, you know — trying to save some money after spending so much money on four CEOs in 10 years that all walked away with multiple golden parachutes,” said Muriekes, who went through four previous Boeing strikes, including the last one, in 2008.

► From the Guardian — Boeing accused of being ‘unprepared’ for federal mediation as strike continues –“We will not mince words – after a full day of mediation, we are frustrated. The company was not prepared and was unwilling to address the issues you’ve made clear are essential for ending this strike: Wages and Pension,” the union’s negotiating committee said in a letter to members.

► From KOMO News — Boeing employees continue strike as negotiations stall — The machinists’ union said mediations broke off on Wednesday with no future discussions scheduled. The union said it is ready to return to the table—either for direct talks with the company or with a federal mediator. Ninety-six percent of union members rejected a contract offer from Boeing on Sept. 12, telling the company that they’re holding out for higher wages, annual bonuses, and their pension to return.

Here’s how you can support Machinists holding the line.

LOCAL

► From the South Seattle Emerald — OPINION | It’s Time to End the Sub-Minimum Wage — Now the 10 years are up, and it’s time for all businesses to pay up. The coming raise will give around 200,000 tipped workers in Seattle relief as we struggle to pay rent, buy groceries, and afford health care. But not if the local restaurant lobby has anything to say about it. The Seattle Restaurant Alliance (SRA), one of the same business groups City Hall appeased in 2015, is now lobbying to make the sub-minimum wage permanent in Seattle in an attempt to preemptively rob the workers who power their industry.

► From the Spokesman Review — Spokane child psychiatrists are in short supply as the nation’s youth mental health crisis persists — Without enough psychiatrists, regional health care is affected. Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center closed its Psychiatric Center for Children and Adolescents two weeks ago, saying the shortage was among the reasons why the center, which was licensed for 24 beds, could only offer eight.

Editor’s note: as reported previously in The STAND — Sacred Heart nurses rally against closure — Moving forward, kids with mental health needs are expected to be admitted to the pediatric emergency department and placed on other units and floors within the hospital. But Providence has not provided additional staff such as counselors, nurses, or psych triage to manage the change.

AEROSPACE

► From Simple Flying — 99% Of Frontier Airlines Flight Attendants Vote On Strike Authorization — Amazingly, 99.6% of the flight attendants represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA voted to authorize a strike versus the 0.4% who disagreed. This was when 92.7% of the flight attendants participated in the vote. It shows employees’ unhappiness with their current business model.

ORGANIZING

► From the Northwest Labor Press — Boilermakers union blitz at Gunderson — Workers at a Portland barge-maker could soon be union. On Sept. 13, Boilermakers Local 104 filed a petition asking the National Labor Relations Board to hold a union election at the shipyard known as Gunderson Marine, at 4350 NW Front Ave. The unit would consist of about 220 welders, fitters, riggers, crane operators, carpenters, painters, janitors, forklift operators, and others. Workers there speak multiple languages, including Vietnamese, Russian, and Ukrainian.

► From Yahoo News — U.S. Secretary of Labor celebrates all-union Las Vegas Strip with Culinary — “Workers, regardless of their immigration status, are protected by the labor laws in this country for a reason. It’s not only the right thing to do, if you create a whole group of workers who are vulnerable because of their status, it increases exploitation,” she told the Current. “It just creates a group of people who are so vulnerable to abuse of any kind, and rhetoric, or a plan of mass deportation, feeds into that.”

READY FOR A VOICE AT WORK? Get more information about how you can join together with co-workers and negotiate for better wages and working conditions. Or go ahead and contact a union organizer today!

NATIONAL

► From the Washington Post — U.S. pitches ban on Chinese tech in driverless and connected vehicles — Modern vehicles in many cases are effectively wheeled computers, with their on-board systems constantly connecting to their manufacturers or to critical infrastructure such as charging stations while gathering voluminous audio and video data on drivers’ personal habits, said national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

► From the AP — The benefits of a four-day workweek according to a champion of the trend — There’s a lot of evidence to suggest we need to do something fundamentally different in the way we work. We have issues of burnout. We have a recruitment and retention crisis in many industries. We have increased stress within our workforce. leading to health issues, issues with work-life balance, work-family conflict. We have people sitting in cars for long periods, contributing to a climate crisis. We have certain parts of the population that are able to work longer hours and therefore be rewarded for that, creating further inequity within our societies.

► From the Seattle Times — AI boom is driving a surprise resurgence of U.S. gas-fired power — “We were poised to shift away from the energy system of the past, from costly and polluting infrastructure like coal and gas plants. But now we’re going in the opposite direction,” said Kendl Kobbervig, advocacy director at Clean Virginia, which promotes green energy in the state. Electricity use by data centers is poised to rise as much as 10 times current levels by 2030.

► From the AP — FBI finds violent crime declined in 2023. Here’s what to know about the report — Law enforcement agencies in the biggest municipalities in the U.S. — communities with at least 1,000,000 people — showed the biggest drop in violent crime last year — nearly 7%. Agencies in communities between 250,000 and 499,999 people reported a slight increase — 0.3%— between 2022 and 2023.

► From the Washington Post — California accuses ExxonMobil of lying about plastics being recyclable — “For decades, ExxonMobil has been deceiving the public to convince us that plastic recycling could solve the plastic waste and pollution crisis when they clearly knew this wasn’t possible,” [CA Attorney General] Bonta said in a statement. “ExxonMobil lied to further its [record]-breaking profits at the expense of our planet and possibly jeopardizing our health.”

POLITICS & POLICY 

► From NBC News — Poll: Newly popular Harris builds momentum, challenging Trump for the mantle of change — A double-digit increase in popularity, rising Democratic enthusiasm and an early edge for representing “change” have vaulted Vice President Kamala Harris forward and reshuffled the 2024 presidential contest, according to a new national NBC News poll.

► From the AP — Spending deal averts a possible federal shutdown and funds the government into December — At the urging of the most conservative members of his conference, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had linked temporary funding with a mandate that would have compelled states to require proof of citizenship when people register to vote. But Johnson abandoned that approach to reach an agreement, even as Trump insisted there should not be a stop-gap measure without the voting requirement.

► From the Washington Post — Vance floats new health plans for chronically ill, reopening ACA debate — Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) this week said the Trump campaign wants to roll back the Affordable Care Act’s approach to how chronically ill Americans shop for health insurance, with the Republican vice-presidential candidate reopening a health-care debate that Democrats are eager to have — and resurrecting a fight that has repeatedly burned the GOP.

► From the Seattle Times — Gas prices or pollution? The high-dollar fight over WA cap and trade — In 2023, Redmond hedge fund manager Brian Heywood devoted more than $6 million to an effort to get a slate of initiatives — including one repealing the climate law — before voters. This year, his group, Let’s Go Washington, has spent nearly $5 million more to persuade voters to pass the initiatives. While Washington has higher gas prices compared to the national average, the price per gallon of regular gas in the state is $4.13 as of Thursday, slightly down from $4.18 in late February 2023, when the first auctions for the carbon market were held.

► From the Seattle Times — Burien $20 minimum wage measure qualifies for February special election — The measure would override the city’s recently approved ordinance, which requires large businesses on Jan. 1 to start paying $3 more than the state’s minimum wage, currently set at $16.28 an hour. Smaller employers must pay $2 more starting in July, and businesses with 20 or fewer workers are exempt from the ordinance. Notably, the city’s ordinance allows companies to use tips and benefits to count toward a worker’s required wage increase. (The state’s minimum wage law does not allow businesses to use tips or benefits as part of their pay.)

INTERNATIONAL

► From the AP — Scholz’s Social Democrats hold back the far right in German state vote — The vote took place three weeks after the far right made gains in two other states in eastern Germany.

The Stand posts links to local, national and international labor news every weekday morning. Subscribe to get daily news in your inbox.