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NEWS ROUNDUP

Strike support | Aramark’s exploitation | Ferry engineers

Thursday, September 26, 2024

 

TODAY’S MUST-WATCH

► From More Perfect Union — What the Eagles, Phillies & 76ers Don’t Want You to Know — “I work all three buildings, and I probably work 95% of the events I’m offered. I’ve never qualified for healthcare through Aramark. It’s plain corporate greed. I spoke one time in negotiations to ask their lawyer, I said ‘I work in all three buildings, and I do not get healthcare. The citizens of Pennsylvania have to subsidize my healthcare.’ I asked him, how does he feel about that? He said, ‘…So?'” — Carlton Epps, striking workers and member of UNITE HERE local 274. 

 

MACHINIST STRIKE at BOEING

First, the latest from IAM 751:

 

► From the Seattle Times — With Seattle-area costs, how are Boeing strike workers getting by? — While working at Boeing, Collins also takes on an array of supplemental gigs. She drives for DoorDash on weekends, earning $50 to $200 a day depending on how lucky she gets with orders. She also donates plasma once or twice a week, which adds about $100 to her weekly income. She has to be careful about donating plasma, though. While it’s a typically safe procedure, it can make donors feel fatigued and put them at a heightened risk of getting sick if overdone.

Editor’s note: if you’re able, please consider donating to the IAM 751 Hardship Fund to support the strikers. 

► From Quartz — Striking Boeing workers would like the company to stop negotiating in public — The union representing striking Boeing machinists is criticizing the company’s efforts to rally support for a contract that workers deem insufficient. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) says that it wants to work toward an agreement at the bargaining table or nowhere.

► From the Guardian — ‘As long as it takes’: on the frontline of the Boeing strike, workers brace for a long battle — “We are feeling pretty good, and we feel that we have the strength,” said Maden, 39, a 12-year quality control employee at the Renton facility. He believes the public, by and large, is behind them. “It looks like we always want money, but behind the scenes, it is a lot more than that,” Maden said. “I believe that the public is getting more understanding of why we are on strike and what has been done to us.”

► From Reuters — Boeing, striking union to resume contract talks on Friday — Negotiators from Boeing and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) will meet with federal mediators in a bid to break the deadlock, after two days of previous talks collapsed a week ago.

 

STRIKES

► From CNN — Port workers from Maine to Texas are set to strike Tuesday. Expect shortages and higher prices — “My ILA members are not going to accept these insulting offers that are a joke considering the work my ILA longshore workers perform, and the billion dollar profits the companies make off the backs of their labor,” said Harold Daggett, the ILA’s international president and chief negotiator, in a statement. Shipping rates soared during and immediately after the pandemic, as supply chains snarled and demand surged. Industry profits topped $400 billion from 2020–2023, according to analyst John McCown, which is believed to be more than the industry had previously made in total since containerization started in 1957.

 

LOCAL

► From the Seattle Times — Amazon Logistics under investigation for alleged labor violations — Seattle’s Office of Labor Standards is investigating Amazon Logistics — the company’s vast network of delivery services — for alleged violations of labor laws, including the city’s ordinance requiring paid sick time for gig workers that went into effect this year.

► From RANGE Media — The stakes for employees of SRHD’s opioid Treatment Services — “The biggest thing is their pension.The workers right now have a defined benefit pension through PERS, which is the Public Employment Retirement Service, which is a Washington State plan. It’s one of the healthiest pensions in the nation. It is a great benefit for people. When they get to retirement age, they’re guaranteed money to pay them back for all the time they spent in public service. So that would be a huge loss and that issue hasn’t gone away.”

► From the Yakima Herald-Republic — HR investigation finds inappropriate workplace conduct at Sunnyside Police Department — During the investigation, Sunnyside Police Department employees described to HR other incidents of inappropriate workplace behavior over the years. An officer told HR that after she was harassed by fellow officer years prior, there were comments made that “she liked to be felt up,” the report said. A Latino detective said many jokes are made about his race, including that he is a “papered Mexican.” When he brought in cherries to share at work, someone commented, “Oh, did you pick these?” the report said.

► From the Washington State Standard — Free entry at Washington’s national parks this Saturday — The annual event is meant to encourage volunteer participation in the country’s national parks. The National Park Service is celebrating the day by offering free admission to every park across the country.

 

AEROSPACE

► From the Seattle Times — Facing skeptical Senate committee, FAA chief defends Boeing oversight — Before the hearing by the subcommittee, Senate staff released a document alleging continued safety lapses at Boeing’s factories this year and that mechanics are still facing pressure to prioritize schedule over quality.

 

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From Cascade PBS — Proposal for WA ferry engineers, oilers falls short of pay parity —  “We don’t have any levers to pull to get an equitable negotiation on pay. When we are at the table, they know we can’t win,” said Marshall Warner, assistant engineer on the Cathlamet, currently tied up at Washington State Ferries’ maintenance facility in Eagle Harbor. “If we could strike, everyone would have higher wages.”

► From Trains.com — Amtrak conductors ratify new contract — The deal, retroactive to July 1, 2022, runs through Dec. 1, 2028. It includes an unspecified “general wage increase;” addition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a paid holiday; 10 weeks of paid parental leave; and increases in training pay, certification pay, away-from-home terminal expenses, and overtime pay for employees on three- and four-day yard assignments on relief days, among other details.

 

ORGANIZING

► From The Hollywood Reporter — SAG-AFTRA Launches Bid to Organize Intimacy Coordinators — On Wednesday, the performers union said it had filed a petition for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board. SAG-AFTRA is seeking to bargain nationally on behalf of intimacy coordinators employed by Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers member companies, the entertainment industry’s top studios and streamers. The move arrives after the union has spent years attempting to regulate the burgeoning professional space, which ascended in the wake of the #MeToo movement.

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 Yahoo — JBS Meat Giant Abused US Immigrant Workers, Union Alleges — The United Food and Commercial Workers said workers at the JBS plant in Greeley, Colorado, have been subject to human trafficking, paying rent for squalid conditions, dangerous work conditions, threats and intimidation. As many as 500 Haitian and Benin workers may have been impacted, the union said.

► From the AP — The number of Americans filing for jobless aid falls to lowest level in 4 months — The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications for jobless claims fell by 4,000 to 218,000 for the week of Sept. 21. It was the fewest since mid-May and less than the 224,000 analysts were expecting. Last week’s figure was revised up by 3,000. The four-week average of claims, which evens out some of weekly volatility, fell by 3,500 to 224,750.

► From the Seattle Times — Free at-home COVID tests are back. Here’s how to get them in WA — Americans can receive the nasal swab test kits by submitting their name and address at covidtests.gov, and the kits will start shipping as early as next week. The tests can detect current virus strains, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. You can get results within 30 minutes.

 

POLITICS & POLICY

► From Michigan Advance — In swing states that once went for Trump, unions organize to prevent a repeat — Nick Webber, a political organizer for the North American Building Trades Unions, said, “It’s unprecedented the amount of interest in people in getting involved” as he marshals  union canvassers this fall for the Democratic national ticket. He said in his conversations he’s hearing union members say “not only, ‘am I going to be voting,’ and [that they’re] tuned in, but ‘how can I get involved’ and ‘doing my part.’”

► From the Washington Post — Sweeping bill to overhaul Supreme Court would add six justices — A sweeping bill introduced by a Democratic senator Wednesday would greatly increase the size of the Supreme Court, make it harder for the justices to overturn laws, require justices to undergo audits and remove roadblocks for high court nominations.

► From the Spokesman Review — Northwest lawmakers help Congress pass short-term spending bill, averting government shutdown — Referring to a GOP effort to attach the funding bill to separate legislation that would require proof of citizenship to vote, [Senator Murray] added, “It is getting a little exhausting to watch some House Republicans push again and again for the most extreme partisan cuts and policies – stuff that is not realistic at all – before learning the same lessons the hard way yet again.”

► From the Cascadia Daily News — Social issues separate candidates in District 42 House race –Pelletti, a political newcomer, is also focused on public safety, particularly ensuring police are fully funded, and affordable housing, but is concerned about parental rights in education, “gender ideology” in schools and transgender students entering “biological women’s spaces.” [State Rep. Alicia] Rule said she thinks there are more pressing issues affecting Washingtonians than transgender athletes competing in sports.

Editor’s note: the WSLC endorsed Rep. Alicia Rule in May. She had a 93% labor voting record in the 2024 Legislative session.

 

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

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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!