NEWS ROUNDUP
Flight crews | SF, Vegas strikes | Overtime
Friday, November 22, 2024
STRIKES
► From the Las Vegas Review Journal — 57 arrested in Culinary strike at Virgin Las Vegas — Hospitality workers at Virgin Hotels, a resort-casino located about a mile east of the Las Vegas Strip, were arrested for blocking traffic around 6 p.m. when about 57 people, including Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge and President Diana Valles, sat on Paradise Road in a nonviolent protest. The display was meant to call attention to their strike, now on its seventh day.
► From the San Francisco Examiner — Striking SF hotel workers march as conflict nears 2 months — Organizers with the Unite Here Local 2 union representing the workers warned Wednesday that hotel employees could walk off another nine hotels as a result of the “extreme” negotiating positions taken by the hotels’ representatives in contract talks.
LOCAL
► From the Seattle Times — Uber Eats under investigation in Seattle after driver pay complaints — Seattle’s Office of Labor Standards opened an investigation into Uber Eats, a subsidiary of rideshare company Uber, last week following complaints from workers that they were not receiving the correct pay for certain deliveries in Seattle, according to a spokesperson for the city agency. The office is also investigating Amazon Logistics for its Flex program, which relies on gig workers to make deliveries from its vast network of warehouses to customers, for violations of the same rules.
► From the Tacoma News Tribune — ‘People are going to die.’ Why Tacoma firefighters are upset over city’s proposed budget — Tacoma firefighters are upset over the city’s decision to cut 16 positions in its proposed upcoming budget, accusing city leaders of risking lives and being unresponsive to the needs of overworked crews. The 2025-26 biennial budget, which city officials met to discuss this week, increases funding for the Tacoma Fire Department by about 10%. But it also calls for eliminating funding for 16 roving firefighters tasked with covering shifts of colleagues unavailable for work due to unplanned leave and other reasons.
► From Cascade PBS — Washington low-income home buying program underused, auditor says — Auditors found that both tenants and project owners had confusion about the program. Some tenants did not know about the option to purchase, and other tenants had varied understanding of how the program works. According to auditors, most tenants who were interviewed wanted more information about how the program worked. Project owners also faced challenges like limited guidance from the state for how to properly transfer property to tenants.
► From the Seattle Times — WA windstorm: Many school districts still without power — More Seattle-area schools plan to reopen for classes Friday, but ongoing windstorm closures and power outages have kept a number of districts from welcoming students back just yet.
AEROSPACE
► From the Seattle Times — FAA eyes new Boeing 737 MAX pilot instructions after smoke emergencies — The Federal Aviation Administration is weighing whether to require all pilots of 737 MAX aircraft to take off with the air flow from the main engines into the aircraft’s interior turned off — to avoid a risk of smoke flooding the plane if one of the engines hits a bird. Such a change in takeoff procedure for pilots would be temporary until Boeing comes up with a permanent fix. Devising that could further delay certification of the Renton-built MAX 7 and MAX 10 models.
CONTRACT FIGHTS
► From Reuters — Focus: US airline flight crews confident and angry as unions seek richer contracts — Flight attendants have been negotiating with more confidence this year, encouraged by improved airline earnings and bumper pay deals negotiated by pilot unions in the past two years and Boeing factory workers this year, according to interviews with a dozen airline crew and union officials.
► From Deadline — WGA Puts Pressure On PBS Management Ahead Of Potential Strike With Solidarity Pledge From 200+ Animation Writers — Writers at PBS member stations are still hoping to secure a new union contract before the clock strikes midnight on Friday, and the 94-member bargaining unit strengthened its plea ahead of a potential strike with a pledge from more than 200 PBS animation writers who have agreed not to cross their potential picket line. It is signed by 222 writers across more than 20 animated series that are not currently covered by the Writers Guild of America Public Television Freelance Agreement as a show of solidarity.
ORGANIZING
► From In These Times — Wall Street Took Over a Vital Sign Language Service—And Started Union Busting — VRS interpretation is considered such an essential service that it is funded by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) through a small fee all phone users pay as a part of their monthly bills. Yet the companies that receive this federal funding are far from publicly accountable. Instead, VRS services are dominated by private equity, a notoriously opaque industry often associated with ruthless cost-cutting and profit maximization.
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 Mission Local — Cal Academy cuts youth program after teens show solidarity with union — The three youth group members handed out the flyers, which they designed themselves, to visitors, and also left some on museum benches to spotlight wage disparities within Cal Academy, according to a 17-year-old San Francisco high school student and one of the three members. Specifically, the fliers pointed to the salary of the museum’s executive director, Scott Sampson, who took home $632,626 in the 2023 fiscal year. After 9 p.m. on the same day, all 14 youth members received a call or voicemail from a Cal Academy administrator, asking them not to come to the building for the rest of the week. And the youth group never officially met again.
► From Bloomberg Law — Overtime Rule’s Demise Has Employers Mulling Pay Raise Reversals — Management-side attorneys say employers can legally lower salaries of workers who got pay bumps that made them ineligible for overtime, so long as they are mindful of state laws or individual contract provisions. They could also make scheduling changes to assign more hours without additional pay to workers who were made eligible for overtime under the defunct rule.
► From Grist — Can unions save offshore wind from Trump? — To bolster the case to state governments for doubling down, there is growing support in the region from a somewhat unlikely corner: New England’s industrial unions, a group of whom published a report last week, in partnership with the Climate Jobs National Resource Center, outlining an ambitious vision for supplying the region with not only offshore wind turbines but a locally based industrial manufacturing base to support it.
POLITICS & POLICY
► From the Washington Post — Amazon and SpaceX aim to defang the federal labor board. Trump may help. — “These companies are trying to get the act overruled,” said Seth Goldstein, a labor lawyer who has represented Trader Joe’s and Amazon workers, referring to the 1935 law that established the NLRB. “And labor better wake up, because it’s coming.” Musk has previously said he disagrees “with the concept of unions” and joked this summer in a conversation with Trump on the social media platform X about firing striking workers.
► From Trains — Rail labor seeks regulations to protect workers from technological advancements — In a broadside against technological advances — including automated track and train inspection systems, automated train dispatching software, the use of remote control locomotives on main line trackage, virtual block signal systems, automated locomotive smart cruise control, and Parallel Systems’ autonomous, battery-electric intermodal cars — the TTD said the Federal Railroad Administration should deny all railroad safety waiver requests that would permit the testing of “unproven technology.”
► From the (Everett) Herald — Local lawmakers urge changes to proposed federal hydrogen energy rules — U.S. Reps. Suzan DelBene, D-Medina, Kim Schrier, D-Sammamish, and Rick Larsen, D-Everett, argue a strict section of the proposed rule undermines the intention of supporting the country’s growth of a hydrogen energy market. They say tight federal guidelines may be counterproductive in states that already have clean energy policies, like Washington. The current rules would set back climate change progress, halt billions in private sector investments and stop the creation of thousands of sustainable, high-paying jobs, they argued this week.
► From the New York Times — Linda McMahon, Trump’s Education Secretary Pick, Named in Sexual Abuse Lawsuit — The lawsuit claims that the five boys were sexually abused by the organization’s ringside announcer and ring crew chief, Melvin Phillips Jr., who died in 2012. It was filed in Maryland against Mr. McMahon, Ms. McMahon, W.W.E. and TKO Group Holdings. The suit accuses the McMahons and the other defendants of criminal negligence by allowing Mr. Phillips to remain at the company for years. The plaintiffs are not named.
► From the Washington State Standard — Three WA Senate Democrats are leaving their jobs. Here’s what happens next — Keiser will leave behind a 30-year career in the state Legislature. “I’m feeling a little liberated,” she told the Standard last week. Keiser represents the 33rd Legislative District, which covers communities south of Seattle, including SeaTac, Des Moines and Kent. The local Democratic party will meet this Saturday for a candidate forum where they will hear from people interested in the Senate appointment.
JOLT OF JOY
National Apprenticeship Week — aka “how a union trade can change your life” week — offers no shortage of inspirational stories to warm your heart on this stormy Friday. Click through to the WSBCTC Facebook page or check the #NationalApprenticeshipWeek hashtag on any social media platform and prepare to feel a strong rush of union pride and optimism for the future.
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