IAM power | Amazon goes nuclear | CEO pay

Wednesday, October 16, 2024

MACHINISTS STRIKE at BOEING

► From Reuters — Boeing strike enters second month as workers rally in Seattle — “We want Boeing management to know that we’re strong and united, and their scare tactics aren’t going to work,” said Matthew Wright, a 52-year-old electrician who works on the 767 jet. “We’re not afraid of them.”

► From the Seattle Times — Machinists push Boeing to bargain as month-old strike endures — On Tuesday, April Sims, president of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, pushed back on the idea that the strike has led to Boeing’s current financial woes. “I’ve heard that Boeing is claiming poverty,” Sims said. “I would suggest, and some might agree with me, that any problems the company has are self-inflicted.” She pointed to Boeing’s stock buybacks, telling workers the company can do that but “they can’t give you your due. That sounds like some bull (expletive) to me.”

► From KIRO — Over a month in, negotiations stall between Boeing, machinists union — Rep. Jayapal said she hoped her presence, and the presence of other lawmakers, would help put pressure on the company. “You are doing this not just for your family to have decent wages, pension benefits, but also for future generations,” she said of her message to union members. “Also for the safety and security of the United States of America.”

► From CNN — Boeing strike has already cost the company and workers $5 billion, new analysis shows — Boeing’s workers and shareholders make up the bulk of the strike losses, at $3.7 billion, the new analysis shows. Not a single plane has been worked on at the company’s production facility in Everett, Washington, since the IAM members walked off the job, triggering the first strike at the company in 16 years. Prior to Ortberg coming on as CEO in August, Boeing pleaded guilty to defrauding the FAA — after it failed to disclose a system upgrade to its 737 Max fleet which resulted in a design flaw — causing two 737 Max planes to crash, one each in 2018 and 2019. The plea deal with the Department of Justice resulted in fines to the company of nearly $1 billion.

Editor’s note: what was it Prez Sims said about self-inflicted problems? Oh, right. 

► From the IAM:

Day 33 – Strike Update
October 15, 2024

Holding the Line in Seattle!

At today’s Strike Rally in Seattle, hundreds of striking workers packed the Union Hall chanting, “One day longer, one day stronger!” Many thanks to all who joined us today.

Let’s not forget that this contract… pic.twitter.com/5ZG0KFy6sY

— IAM Union District 751 (@IAM751) October 16, 2024

STRIKES

► From the Hollywood Reporter — SAG-AFTRA and Video Game Companies to Resume Talks Amid Strike — The return to in-person negotiations is a long time coming. The union’s Interactive Media Agreement expired in November 2022 and reportedly the last time the two parties met in person was in November of last year, not long after the union concluded its historic 118-day strike against film and television companies.

LOCAL

► From the Seattle Times — Providence cuts staff who make house calls for patients with speech and language disabilities — The Renton-based Catholic nonprofit hospital chain announced plans this week to sunset its augmentative and alternative communication specialty service at Providence Home Health Portland. The program provides in-home care for patients with Lou Gehrig’s disease, developmental disabilities, cerebral palsy or severe traumatic brain injuries.

► From the Seattle Times — Here’s the list of WA stores with meat products recalled for listeria — Listeria infection, known as listeriosis, can cause fever, muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance and convulsions, as well as diarrhea and other gastrointestinal symptoms. It can cause miscarriages or premature delivery during pregnancy and can be fatal for people with weakened immune systems. It is treated with antibiotics.

► From the Tri-City Herald — Amazon’s big plans for small modular nuclear reactors in Eastern WA and beyond — In Washington state, Amazon has signed an agreement to pay for the initial feasibility phase to develop a small modular reactor project near the Northwest’s only commercial nuclear power plant, the Columbia Generating Station.

► From the Washington State Standard — Oregon’s Land Board approves plan to put state forest in a carbon market — Oregon’s leaders decided for the first time to dedicate an entire state forest to storing harmful greenhouse gases to combat climate change while generating revenue from selling carbon credits. The decision makes Oregon the second state nationwide to enroll an entire state forest in a plan focused on storing harmful emissions in exchange for carbon credits, after Michigan.

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From Airline Geeks — Nearly All Frontier Pilots Vote to Strike — The vote, which concluded on Tuesday, saw a 97% participation rate of the carrier’s 2,200 pilots, with 99% casting ballots in favor of strike authorization. The pilots’ collective bargaining agreement became amendable in January 2024, and the union and airline have been engaged in mediation since then.

► From The Olympian — Port of Olympia has reached a tentative deal on first contract with new union — The Port of Olympia has reached a tentative agreement on a first contract with its new union, Executive Director Alex Smith announced at Monday’s port commission meeting. That union is International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 47B. Smith said the port and union have a tentative deal on “all terms, all provisions of a contract, including wages.”

NATIONAL

► From the AP — What’s behind the widening gender wage gap in the US? — Although women who lost or left their jobs at the height of the [COVID-19 pandemic] have largely returned to the workforce, a recent finding points to the price many paid for stepping back: In 2023, the gender wage gap between men and women working full-time widened year-over-year for the first time in 20 years, according to an annual report from the U.S. Census Bureau.

► From the Washington Post — CEO pay fell last year. It’s still way higher than yours. — Despite the dip in 2023, CEOs were still paid 290 times what the average worker earned that year, according to an analysis from the Economic Policy Institute. CEO compensation has soared 1,085 percent since 1978, according to the EPI’s analysis, compared with a 24 percent rise for the typical worker, so the idea that corporate boards have suddenly gotten more disciplined about CEO pay is “a little hard to believe,” Bivens said.

► From Common Dreams — IEA Report Underscores Urgency of Fossil Fuel Phaseout as Electricity Demand Surges — The International Energy Agency on Wednesday released a major report showing that the world’s nations are not on track to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with 2030 targets and doing so will be made more difficult by growing demand for electricity. This year’s WEO projects a 6% higher rate in global electricity demand by 2035 than did last year’s, with the surge “driven by light industrial consumption, electric mobility, cooling, and data centers and [artificial intelligence].”

POLITICS & POLICY

► From the Washington Post — Opinion | Dan Osborn, an independent, could win Nebraska’s Senate race — In fine Nebraska style, Osborn doesn’t fit the mold, even if this is a state known to send the occasional Democrat to Washington. But he’d like to become the mold. “I want to pave the way for nurses, teachers, plumbers, carpenters and other working people to run for office. I want to show that you don’t have to be a self-funding crypto billionaire to run.”

► From The New Republic — Trump Completely Trashes Autoworkers in Disastrously Bad Interview — “They get away with murder because they say, ‘Oh yes, we’re building cars.’ They don’t build cars. They take ’em out of a box, and they assemble ’em. We could have our child do it,” Trump added. The former president may have handed an easy campaign ad for the Harris campaign to use not only in Michigan but also in Ohio, which is home to several auto industry plants.

► From the Spokesman Review — Campaign for state Senate graffitis political slogan on downtown Spokane sidewalks, Riverfront Park — Spokane Parks and Recreation staff were responsible for removing the slogans on the Post Street bridge and around Riverfront Park. Hut said it took eight staff from this department a collective 10 hours of their workday Monday morning to remove the graffiti, some of which still remained around the Rotary Fountain and street corners near the park on Tuesday morning. One staffer from City Hall spent over two hours scrubbing the slogans off the pavement outside City Hall, Hut said. Markings made outside of the Central Library required attention from library staff.

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