ILA strikes | Moses Lake IAM | Make polluters pay

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

MACHINISTS STRIKE at BOEING

► From KEPR — Boeing Union leaders praise Moses Lake-based factory workers as strike enters third week — “Our membership in Moses Lake is very strong. They perform some storage and preservation of 737 aircraft and perform other work as well,” said Jon Holden, who serves as the President & Directing Business Representative for District 751 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. “Many of them moved over to the west side but there were also hundreds of direct hires into Moses Lake as well. It’s a very strong group, very proud of them and they’ve helped send a strong message to the company through us as well.”

► From the (Everett) Herald — As Boeing cuts health care, WA offers options for striking workers — Boeing will stop paying health benefits for about 33,000 striking machinists by the end of the day Monday. The state is stepping in to help. “This is crucial to ensure Washingtonian workers, and their families, can still access health and dental services during the strike period,” Ingrid Ulrey, CEO of the exchange, said in a press release Monday. “We are so grateful to the Sen. Keiser and the Legislature for providing this option to support those who are affected by the strike.”

► From KUOW — LISTEN: IAM 751 President Jon Holden gives a strike update — “The only solution here is a negotiated resolution to this strike…There is no way to pass proposals through the media and believe there is going to be any meaningful discussion. It was an attempt to bypass the union, to bypass the membership, and use the public to pressure our members. And that’s just not going to work.”

► From the Labor Tribune — YOUR LETTERS: Solidarity and respect: AFL-CIO stands with Boeing machinists — Since its merger with another manufacturer, McDonnell Douglas, Boeing executives have put profit over people. They’ve cut corners on workplace and product safety — putting our workers and passengers at risk. They’ve threatened our jobs, and squeezed every last dollar for their own bonuses, regardless of workers. The more than 12.5 million members of our federation are united with IAM members. We have their back in this fight because this is about something way bigger than one company. It’s about all of us, standing together, to win our dignity and respect.

STRIKES

► From the Huffington Post — Major Longshoremen Strike Hits East Coast Ports — The Taft-Hartley Act enables the president to intervene in strikes that impact national security, requiring work to continue amid an 80-day “cooling off” period. Robyn Patterson, a White House spokesperson, said in an email that senior officials had been in touch with the Maritime Alliance over the weekend, “urging them to come to a fair agreement fairly and quickly.” “We’ve never invoked Taft-Hartley to break a strike and are not considering doing so now,” Patterson said.

► From the AP — Dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas go on strike, a standoff risking new shortages — Local ILA president Boise Butler said workers want a fair contract that doesn’t allow automation of their jobs. Shipping companies made billions during the pandemic by charging high prices, he said. “Now we want them to pay back. They’re going to pay back,” Butler said. He said the union will strike for as long as it needs to get a fair deal, and it has leverage over the companies.

► From the New York Times — Port Strike Begins on East and Gulf Coasts — The I.L.A. last walked out across all East and Gulf Coast ports in 1977, snarling container shipping for more than six weeks. The deal that ended the strike included wage raises well above those proposed by employers, increased contributions to pension plans and took steps to address the I.L.A.’s concern that new technology could cause job losses. West Coast ports are open. Longshoremen there belong to a different union and agreed last year on a new contract that includes a significant increase in wages.

LOCAL

► From the Olympian — Washington’s minimum wage will rise to $16.66 per hour on Jan. 1 — Washington state’s minimum wage will rise to $16.66 an hour next year, a 2.35 percent increase over 2024, the state Department of Labor & Industries announced. Housing and food costs increased over the past year, leading to the increase in the CPI-W, according to L&I. Cities can set minimum wages higher than the state. Seattle, SeaTac, Tukwila, Renton, Bellingham and Burien all will have higher wages in 2025, according to L&I.

► From the Spokesman Review — 29 city of Spokane employees told Friday they may be laid off — This is not a guarantee that these employees will lose their jobs, nor that more couldn’t be added to their ranks as financial projections become clearer in coming months, Brown stressed in a Friday interview. Negotiations with city unions continue, potentially yielding other cost -saving measures as were agreed to with Spokane’s police and managerial professional unions.

► From the Cascadia Daily News — Bellingham considers ordinance to limit ‘junk fees’ impacting renters — An ordinance brought forward by council member Jace Cotton on Monday, Sept. 30 would cap rental application fees at $25, prevent move-in fees and security deposits from exceeding one month’s rent, prohibit “pet rent,” cap late fees at $10 a month and more.

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From the Washington State Standard — Thousands of state and community college workers in WA reject new contract — Members of the Washington Public Employees Association voted down the tentative agreement, which contained a proposed 5% pay hike. Union negotiators derided this as a pay cut, saying it would not enable worker salaries to keep pace with rising costs of food, housing and health care.The Washington Federation of State Employees, which represents 50,000 state government, higher education and public service workers, approved the tentative agreement in voting that concluded Monday. The federation had 14 negotiated contracts getting voted on.

NATIONAL

► From Common Dreams — Endless Stream of Climate Disasters Bolsters Demand to ‘Make Polluters Pay’ — “Emissions from burning oil, gas, and coal are cooking the planet and super-charging deadly heatwaves, floods, and storms,” the international NGO Global Witness said in a statement. “Several major fossil fuel firms knew for decades about the climate impacts of their products, but they ignored scientific advice and denied the climate crisis was happening.” “It’s obscene that communities across North Carolina are suffering and dying from the reality of the climate emergency while Donald Trump denies that it even exists,” Brett Hartl, political director at the Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund, said in a statement.

► From the American Prospect — Private Equity Is Taking Your Calls — Union busting and widespread unfair labor practices have taken place on the government’s dime at several call centers. Today, the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) announced a major unionization drive under way at call centers across the country to try to rectify what has been wrought in this sector. They’re demanding better pay, training resources, and benefits for interpreters.

► From Prism — Unionized workers at SPLC call for CEO’s removal — Lisa Wright, the chair of the SPLC Union and a long-serving member of the organization, highlighted significant inconsistencies in Huang’s communication regarding layoffs. “We believe Baynes-Dunning hired Huang in 2020 to bust our Union,” Wright said. “The layoffs have been riddled with inconsistencies, errors, and confusion.”

► From The New York Times — Justice Department to Analyze the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre — Greenwood was a culturally and economically thriving neighborhood that came to be known as Black Wall Street. On May 31, 1921, a white mob gathered outside a Tulsa County courthouse, where a young Black man had been accused of assaulting a young white woman. (He would later be cleared.) When the white mob confronted a group of Black men, shots were fired and a fight broke out. “We feel very very strongly that if you cannot recognize what happened to Mother Fletcher and Mother Randle as children, then no one is safe in America,” he said. “If you can be bombed and no one investigates it or holds anyone accountable, then none of us are safe.”

► From the AP — US job openings rise to 8 million as labor market remains sturdy — When the Labor Department releases its jobs report for September on Friday, it is expected to show that employers added 143,000 jobs last month and that the unemployment rate remained at a low 4.2%, according to a survey of forecasters by the data firm FactSet.

POLITICS & POLICY

► From the Yakima Herald-Republic — Introducing Yakima Valley Votes 2024, providing free election coverage in English and Spanish — In 2020, in one of the most crucial presidential elections in the nation’s history, voter turnout in Yakima County stalled at 75.95%. But in nearby Benton County, it hit 82.16%. Whatcom County, soared to 87.94%. All those counties have populations of between 200,000 and 300,000. Statewide, voter turnout in the 2020 general election was 84.14%. The stakes Nov. 5 at the local, county, state and national level are just as high as 2020 – maybe higher. So it’s even more important to help people in the Yakima Valley understand the importance of their vote.

► From OPB — Oregon voters will be asked whether to give cannabis workers easier route to unionize — Under Ballot Measure 119, United for Cannabis Workers Act, employers at cannabis retail and processing businesses would be required to sign a “labor peace agreement” with a labor union to receive a license from the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission. In that agreement, employers must agree not to interfere with organizing efforts if their employees choose to unionize.

► From the New York Times — What to Watch For in Tuesday’s Vance-Walz Debate — For both campaigns, the debate is largely a proxy fight for who can better define and defend the visions of the candidates at the top of the ticket — and point out inconsistencies. The two candidates will be standing and, unlike in the presidential showdown, no microphones will be muted, raising the possibility of lively exchanges of ideas and insults.

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