Boeing strike enters week 3 | More Labor news

Friday, October 4, 2024

MACHINISTS STRIKE at BOEING

► From the (Everett) Herald — Nearly 3 weeks into strike, resolve remains for Boeing workers — Tim Nielsen, another machinist picketing outside the factory Wednesday, has been a Boeing employee for 37 years. The union’s high morale gives him reason for optimism. “I’ve been on strike lines since 1989 and this has been one of the most fortified, I can’t believe the resilience of the kids,” Nielsen said. “They’re holding out for things like pension and wage increases.”

From IAM 751:

Day 21 – Strike Update
October 3, 2024

Holding the Line in the Kitchen, too!

As we enter the third week of our strike against Boeing, it’s important to reflect on our progress. Our members continue to stand strong across Puget Sound, Portland, California, and Moses Lake. We’ve… pic.twitter.com/ZLH6QUsRoK

— IAM Union District 751 (@IAM751) October 4, 2024

► From KING 5 — Three weeks into strike, Boeing machinists miss their first paychecks — “As far as leverage, yeah, I think we got leverage right now. The company is in bad shape right now, but they did that to themselves,” [striking Machinist] Billedo said. “They’re going to make people suffer a little bit before they really come back to the table.” The union said it will stay on the picket lines as long as it takes. “The company I believe is hoping that the economic pressure of not having that paycheck or having our healthcare run out is going to make our members confidence waiver and it’s not,” Holden said.

Help Machinists hold the line — check out this list of Strike HQs, head to one close to you and hop a shuttle to a picket line.

STRIKES

► From the AP — Dockworkers’ union suspends strike until Jan. 15 to allow time to negotiate new contract — A person briefed on the agreement said the ports sweetened their wage offer from about 50% over six years to 62%. The person didn’t want to be identified because the agreement is tentative. Any wage increase would have to be approved by union members as part of the ratification of a final contract. Talks now turn to the automation of ports, which the unions says will lead to fewer jobs, and other sticking points.

► From the New York Times — Union Agrees to Suspend Port Strike — In the resumed talks, the issue of how much automation can occur at the ports could divide the sides. The union has also been pressing for improved retirement benefits. Another potential sticking point is the pay of longshoremen who are just starting out and don’t earn the top wage rate.

LOCAL

► From the Washington State Standard — Six Washington airports want to charge ahead preparing for electric aircraft — The electric aircraft that would potentially plug in locally in the future are not the type to whisk you across the country, but Rakes said they could carry you across the state. A visualization his airport presented to legislators and staff portrayed a new terminal with vertical takeoff and landing hexacopters outside capable of carrying four to six passengers. “We’re talking 30-minute flights,” Rakes said. “Here in the Northwest, that provides a lot of opportunity for us.”

► From the Seattle Times — Amazon plans to hire 5,000 WA warehouse workers for holiday season — Of the 5,000 workers Amazon expects to hire in Washington, 4,000 will be in Seattle, Bellevue and Tacoma. This year’s holiday hires can make an average of $18 per hour, Amazon said in its Thursday announcement.

Editor’s note: minimum wage in Washington is $16.28 an hour. Seattle’s minimum wage for large employers is $19.97. Amazon(‘s workers) produced more than $30 billion in profit in 2023. 

► From the Tacoma News Tribune — Worker fatally crushed by mill machine had called for help 4 times, WA officials say — A mill worker tried to call for help four times before he was fatally crushed by a packaging machine in Washington, officials said. His death could have been prevented, labor officials said. Now, Georgia-Pacific is being fined $648,292 for violating safety rules, the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries said in an Oct. 2 news release.

► From the Spokesman Review — Spokane’s funding in jeopardy for a program crucial to keep people out of homelessness — Local organizations were instructed Tuesday to immediately halt referrals to a crucial housing voucher program as overwhelming demand sapped the city’s funding for it, effectively preventing more people in Spokane from getting off the streets. At least 19 organizations that receive funding from the Spokane Housing Authority will no longer connect people to homes through the federally funded housing choice voucher program meant to find safe and stable housing for low-income families, older adults, people with disabilities and the homeless.

AEROSPACE

► From the AP — Senators ask Justice Department to take tougher action against Boeing executives over safety issues — In a letter dated Wednesday and sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said the department’s past efforts to effect change at Boeing have failed “because of its continued refusal to criminally prosecute responsible individuals.”

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From the Hollywood Reporter — The New Yorker Union Members Unanimously Authorize Strike Ahead of Festival — In a vote that took place Wednesday, The Hollywood Reporter has learned, 100 percent of voting members of the bargaining unit opted to authorize a strike. According to the union, out of 101 eligible voters, 100 participated in the contest and voted yes.

► From Polygon — The specialists who authenticate trading cards for eBay are rallying for a union contract — TCGplayer workers, who have been unionized with Communications Workers of America for about a year, told Polygon eBay isn’t paying its hourly workers a fair wage for the work they do; Giacona said their role starts at $16.25 per hour, a number they called insulting for the specialized nature of the job. (They said the other departments, like shipping, tend to be “critically underpaid,” too.)

► From AFA-CWA:

Endeavor Flight Attendants are picketing outside Delta HQ to demand an end to tiers in aviation. They fly the same routes as Delta mainline — it’s time they get paid the same, too.

It would only cost Delta .47% of their 2023 operating profit to bring Endeavor wages up. pic.twitter.com/8l5ghJ6yNG

— AFA-CWA (@afa_cwa) October 3, 2024

ORGANIZING

► From KQED — San Francisco Amazon Warehouse Workers Join Growing Union Drive with Teamsters — More than 100 Amazon warehouse workers in San Francisco have asked the company to voluntarily recognize their new union with the Teamsters, a move that experts said is unlikely to yield a contract deal without additional government or community pressure. Employees at the Amazon DCK6 facility in the city’s Bayview neighborhood, who have been organizing with the Teamsters since last year, said they are pushing for better pay and safer conditions.

► From The Hill — Amazon faces complaint from NLRB amid battle with Teamsters –The NLRB also alleges that Amazon threatened employees with job loss while holding unlawful captive audience meetings and intimidated employees with security guards in addition to other illegal retaliation against the group of newly unionized workers. Amazon has filed claims against the board in New York arguing that its structure violates the U.S. Constitution. The company has filed a federal lawsuit against the entity with Starbucks, SpaceX and Trader Joe’s, which are also facing complaints.

NATIONAL

► From the AP — North Carolina town that produces quartz needed for tech products is devastated by Helene — Spruce Pine quartz is used around the world to manufacture the equipment needed to make the silicon chips that underpin all our digital devices, Vince Beiser, author of “The World in a Grain,” said in an email. “To make silicon chips, you need to first melt down a highly-purified material called polysilicon. That can only be done in crucibles that are themselves made of a material so pure it will not react chemically with the polysilicon and is also able to withstand enormous heat,” he said. “The best material for those crucibles is ultra-pure quartz. Spruce Pine is the source of the purest natural quartz ever found on Earth.”

► From the Washington Post — Employers added 254,000 jobs in September, reflecting strong gains as election nears — The last several months of steady job growth have been plenty enough to keep the American labor market firmly out of recession territory, economists say, especially as GDP growth remains hardy, productivity is strong and consumers continue to spend.

► From PBS — Postal workers union sounds alarm about USPS staffing, service and election preparedness — Postal workers are warning of what they call ‘substandard performance’ by the U.S. Postal Service. The American Postal Workers Union is calling for the public’s help in demanding improved staffing, better customer service and more opportunity for public input. It comes ahead of an election where millions will vote by mail.

► From the Washington Post — The IRS is expanding its free tax filing service. Do you qualify? — The new participating states are Alaska, Connecticut, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Some of those states had already said they intended to join after the Biden administration announced in May that it would make Direct File permanent and invited every state to participate. Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming already participated.

POLITICS & POLICY

► From the Seattle Times — Bill Nye ‘the science guy’ backs WA’s carbon market as it faces repeal — “But take a look at Initiative 2117,” he says, as the text of the initiative pops up on the screen. “It’s written to confuse you. The mega-millionaires behind it don’t want you to know it will mean more air pollution, threaten clean water and put our health at risk.” “You don’t have to be a science guy to know that 2117 is a bad deal for Washington,” he concludes while holding a model brain.

Editor’s note: 100% of voters born between 1985-1995 are about to vote NO on 2117, I can feel it. 

► From the Washington State Standard — Let’s Go Washington makes case it did not violate campaign finance law — Assistant Attorney General Chad Standifer, who represents agency staff, said because details on spending did not emerge until after the initiatives were certified it deprived the public of critical information. “A voter reviewing the committee’s reports would have no way of knowing what initiative a particular expenditure supported,” he said in his closing argument.

JOLT OF JOY

We’re all energized by 45,000 dockworkers winning 62% raises. Kind of the blockbuster news of the day. But it’s the Communication Workers of America’s meme game that really tickled me this week:

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