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NEWS ROUNDUP

SeaTac hotel strike | Boeing’s buybacks | Indigenous voters

Monday, October 14, 2024

 


MACHINISTS STRIKE at BOEING

► From Common Dreams — After Gorging on Stock Buybacks for Years, Boeing Announces Mass Layoffs — Boeing, which is currently facing a machinist strike, spent an estimated $68 billion on executive-enriching share repurchases and dividends between 2010 and 2019—spending that critics say refutes the company’s claim that layoffs and inadequate worker compensation are necessary.

► From KING 5 — Boeing strike enters second month, costs company more than $1 billion — Union leaders remain resolute, insisting their demands are reasonable.  “Our members are demanding things that are important to them, and that’s our job, to negotiate those,” said Jon Holden, International Association of Machinists District 751 president. “We’re ready to be here as long as it takes,” said Edward Feetham, a striking machinist on the picket line. “We’re not going to back down.”

Join IAM 751 for a rally tomorrow, Tuesday 10/15, at 12pm in Seattle (9135 15th Place S, Seattle, WA 98108). 

 


STRIKES

► From UNITE HERE Local 8

► From KIRO News — 400 hotel workers walk off the job in Seatac, demanding better conditions — The union states that hotel room rates are at record highs, but many properties have kept their cuts made during the pandemic, resulting in bigger workloads for staff. The union says they are also asking for religious accommodations for the growing number of Muslim workers on staff. Striking workers include baristas, servers, hosts, cooks, housekeepers, market assistants, bellmen, dishwashers, and front desk agents. The strikes follow months of contract negotiations and two-day strikes over Labor Day Weekend.

 


TODAY’S MUST-READ

► From the AP — Indigenous Peoples Day celebrated with an eye on the election — In 2020, Native voters proved decisive in the presidential election. Voter turnout on tribal land in Arizona increased dramatically compared with the previous presidential election, helping Joe Biden win a state that hadn’t supported a Democratic candidate in a White House contest since 1996.

 


LOCAL

► From the Seattle Times — WA’s older forests capture carbon better than nearly any other — Globally, forests suck up about a third of all annual fossil fuel emissions, according to a 2011 study by the U.S. Forest Service. Right here at home, the moist forests of the Pacific Coast are the most carbon dense in the country, according to a 2024 scientific journal, and among the most carbon dense on Earth, scientists determined in 2009.

► From the Washington State Standard — In a rural stretch of Washington, a ‘constitutional sheriff’ and his growing volunteer posse provoke controversy — Songer is a central figure in the “constitutional sheriffs” movement, founded on the theory that county sheriffs have the authority to decide which state or federal laws they can enforce. He cemented his place in that movement — drawing national attention in the process — by publicly refusing to enforce gun control laws and pandemic-era public health rules. If federal or state authorities attempted to confiscate civilian firearms on his turf, Songer has warned that he would call upon the posse to help him fight back — a hypothetical showdown he once compared to the Bundy family standoffs in Nevada and Oregon a decade ago.

 


ORGANIZING

► From the Huffington Post — Starbucks Could Owe Millions To Baristas Who Unionized — To make workers whole, the general counsel wants Starbucks to pay workers the wages and benefits they would have earned if their schedules hadn’t been cut. Since there are several thousand workers covered in the complaint, the amount of money owed could climb into the tens of millions of dollars, said Michael Dolce, an attorney representing the baristas’ union, Starbucks Workers United.

► From In These Times — Unions Are Hot—Just Ask the Chippendales — Freddy Godinez, Stabler’s coworker, husband and business partner, is a relative newcomer to the glittery world of Las Vegas live entertainment. Before donning the Chippendales uniform, he spent ten years working in hotel operations in California while earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of Nevada Las Vegas and an executive master’s in urban planning from the University of Southern California. After Godinez moved to Las Vegas, he found a job as a bartender, and through that was introduced to the Culinary Union. He became a member, and his union education advanced rapidly from there.

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 AP — Clean energy workers are desperately needed, but many don’t know these jobs exist — More than 3.3 million people work in the clean energy industry and the number is growing fast. But Robinson, a building trades instructor, is concerned that’s not widely understood. “A lot of low income people don’t even know these jobs exist … it’s all about getting the word out,” he said. In addition to expanding an important workforce, solid career opportunities also reduce recidivism. Robinson’s own transition into the clean energy workforce and ultimately to this nonprofit, the Energy Coordinating Agency, came during his time in prison.

► From the New York Times — Lilly Ledbetter, Whose Fight for Equal Pay Changed U.S. Law, Dies at 86 — Lilly Ledbetter, whose lawsuit against her employer paved the way for the Fair Pay Act of 2009 and who dedicated decades of her life to fighting for equal pay, died in Alabama on Saturday, her family said in a statement.Ms. Ledbetter filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1998 and a lawsuit against Goodyear in 1999. In 2003, she won her case at a federal court in Alabama, with the jury awarding her $3.8 million. (In a 2009 interview with NPR, Ms. Ledbetter said that the sum was reduced to a $300,000 cap and $60,000 in back pay.)

► From the New York Times — Meteorologists Face Harassment and Death Threats Amid Hurricane Disinformation — Meteorologists’ role of delivering lifesaving weather forecasts and explaining climate science sometimes makes them targets for harassment, and this kind of abuse has been happening for years, weather experts said. But amid the conspiracy theories and falsehoods that have spiraled online after Hurricanes Helene and Milton, they say the attacks and threats directed at them have reached new heights.

► From the Washington Post — Kids and teens who get covid more prone to diabetes, study finds — Children were 50 percent more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes at the six-month mark if they had endured a coronavirus infection compared with children who had another respiratory infection, according to findings published in JAMA Network Open. “This is a huge spike,” said Pauline Terebuh, the study’s lead author and epidemiologist at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland. “If a child is getting diagnosed with diabetes, they have a long life to carry that chronic disease.”

 


POLITICS & POLICY

► From the Seattle Times — As AG, Bob Ferguson vastly expanded his office to focus on consumer lawsuits — His office has racked up more than 800 lawsuit wins and $2.8 billion in recoveries from corporations alleged to have wronged Washington residents. That includes settlements from drug companies accused of fueling the opioid epidemic, hospitals that charged illegal fees and food companies that fixed prices.

► From the Spokesman-Review — Tested by conflict and diplomacy, Carmela Conroy says she is ready for Congress — Today, Conroy is the Democrat candidate hoping to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and represent Eastern Washington in Congress. While she’s never run for office before, Conroy believes her wealth of experience overseas dealing with conflict has prepared her.

Editor’s note: The WSLC endorsed Carmela Conroy in May. 

► From the Tri-City Herald — Are taxes on WA ballots worth it? Here’s how much cash they brought to Tri-Cities — As political pressure ramps up to convince voters whether Washington’s capital gains and Climate Commitment Act taxes are worth keeping, the numbers show the Tri-Cities has been one of the areas that’s seen the most benefit from those funds.

 


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CHECK OUT THE UNION DIFFERENCE in Washington: higher wages, affordable health and dental care, job and retirement security.

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!