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NEWS ROUNDUP

WA swings left | Minimum wage wins | Union turnout

Thursday, November 7, 2024

 

STRIKES

► From 80.lv — Striking NY Times Tech Workers Ask People to Stop Playing Wordle & Connections — The workers are asking management to address concerns related to remote and hybrid work, “just cause” protections, which newsroom workers have had “for decades,” and “pay equity/fair pay.” The Times Tech Guild, which includes 600 workers, has filed unfair labor practice charges against the company. The alleged labor law violations include “implementing return-to-office mandates without bargaining and attempting to intimidate members through interrogations about their strike intentions.”

► From the NYT Tech Guild:

LOCAL

► From the union-busting Columbian — Train derailment spills estimated 660 gallons of diesel near Columbia River — About 660 gallons of diesel fuel spilled near the Columbia River south of Wallula after a Union Pacific train derailed about 3:20 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 6. Containments efforts are underway with both hard and soft booms placed in the river. Ecology officials are coordinating cleanup efforts with Union Pacific contractors and are monitoring the site.

AEROSPACE

► From the AP — Boeing’s machinists strike is over but the troubled aerospace giant still faces many challenges — As the machinists get back to work, management will have to address a host of other problems. The company needs to get on better financial footing. But while doing so, it also needs to prioritize the quality of its workmanship and its relationships with employees and suppliers, analysts said. Boeing has been managing itself to meet short-term profit goals and “squeezing every stakeholder, squeezing every employee, every supplier to the point of failure in order in order to maximize their short-term financial performance,” Mukunda said. “That is bad enough if you run a clothing company. It is unacceptable when you are building the most complex mass-produced machines human beings have ever built.”

 

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From the Cascade PBS Union:

Editor’s note: support the workers by signing their petition 

 

ORGANIZING

► From the Alaska Beacon — Staff at Alaska’s largest newspaper approve new union, election results show — Newsroom staff at the Anchorage Daily News, the state’s largest newspaper, have voted to unionize, according to election results published Tuesday by the National Labor Relations Board. The successful vote gives the ADN the only unionized newsroom in Alaska. Union members have said they intend to advocate for fair wages, financial transparency and a sustainable workplace environment. The new union will be part of the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild, a member of the AFL-CIO.

► From Reuters — Amazon must face third union election at Alabama warehouse, NLRB judge rules — A National Labor Relations Board administrative judge has ordered a third union election at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama, ruling that the company had again engaged in a series of illegal practices to thwart unionizing. RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum criticized Silverstein’s decision to deny the union’s request for additional remedies, including an opportunity to hold 30-minute meetings at the warehouse ahead of the next election and a requirement that Amazon train managers and supervisors on workers’ legal rights. “There is no reason to expect a different result in a third election – unless there are additional remedies,” Appelbaum said.

 

LOCAL POLITICS

► From the Seattle Times — WA bucks national trend and swings further to the left — And in downtown Seattle, Gov. Jay Inslee celebrated a slew of statewide wins for blue candidates and causes, calling Washington’s next Democratic leaders — Ferguson and Attorney General-elect Nick Brown — “the best duo to defend” against Trump’s hard-right plans. Surveying the national and state election results, the outgoing governor said they could provide “a light of inspiration” to liberal people nationwide. Washington law protects abortion access, among other liberal priorities. “People do fear for themselves and their families,” Inslee said. “What we’re doing today is to say, ‘We have erected substantial protections for them.’”

► From the Washington State Standard — Democrats on cusp of expanding majorities in WA Legislature — Democrats are on course to grow their majorities in the Washington Legislature but Republicans are positioned to sweep seats in one of the state’s most watched districts. Here’s where things stood in those battlegrounds Wednesday. Results will change as more votes are counted.

► From the Washington State Standard — Race for WA Supreme Court seat is very close — Only about 1,000 votes separate two candidates vying for a seat on the Washington state Supreme Court. Dave Larson, who had 49.78% of the vote, was leading Sal Mungia, who had 49.73% of the vote in Tuesday’s results. Larson had 1,116,230 votes while Mungia had 1,115,134 votes. More votes will be counted throughout the week, possibly solidifying a winner or a need for a recount in the race. A machine recount is required when the difference between candidates is less than 2,000 votes and also less than half of 1% of the total number of votes cast for both candidates.

► From the Seattle Times — WA congressional race too close to call with House majority still in play — With more ballots tallied Wednesday night, Kent still trailed Gluesenkamp Perez by a 52% to 48% margin, or a little over 12,000 votes. On election night, Gluesenkamp Perez led Kent by about 11,800 votes. Tens of thousands of additional ballots remain to be counted in the race, according to estimates by county elections offices and the Secretary of State. Additional counts will come on Thursday.

► From Cascade PBS — Everett voters likely to boost minimum wage among highest in US — Initiative 24-01 was passing with 58% of the vote Tuesday night. If it succeeds, large employers in Everett with over 500 employees will begin paying the $20.24 minimum wage beginning July 1, 2025. For companies with 15-500 employees, the minimum wage will be phased in, beginning at $18.24 on July 1 and reaching the same rate paid by large employers by 2027, which will be adjusted annually for inflation.

► From the Seattle Times — Trump’s return could be bad for WA trade and workers, good for tech — Tech company leaders hoping to gain Trump’s good graces congratulated him on his win. Wall Street analysts expressed optimism that his administration won’t put guardrails on the tech industry. But Trump has also called for tariffs as high as 20% on all items imported into the United States, and as high as 60% for goods from China, causing trepidation for ports, shipping companies and a Washington state agricultural industry still recovering from the tariffs Trump imposed in 2018.

► From the OPB — Oregon Measure 119 appears to pass. It will give cannabis workers an easier route to unionize — Ballot Measure 119, the United for Cannabis Workers Act, appears to have passed, based on vote tallies as of Wednesday morning. The measure will require employers at cannabis retail and processing businesses to sign a “labor peace agreement” with a labor union to receive a license from the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission.

 

NATIONAL POLITICS 

► From POLITICO — Unions to Democrats: Don’t blame us for Tuesday’s losses — Despite persistent fears that labor might break for former President Donald Trump, exit polling showed Vice President Kamala Harris winning voters in union households 55 to 43 percent, roughly on par with President Joe Biden’s performance in 2020. (A separate survey from NBC News had Harris up 10 points among union voters.) “There were much bigger issues afoot for Democrats in this election, but if you’re looking for bright spots, labor was one of them,” said Steve Smith, the AFL-CIO’s deputy director for public affairs.

► From the Guardian — ‘We are not defeated’: US labor unions react to Harris election loss — “Our call was to rally a strong, multiracial voting bloc, and that’s what we did. We worked tirelessly, despite the voter suppression and structural barriers that have come to define our political system. And I’ll be honest, today is hard, but I’m holding on to hope,” Jessica Bolmer, a home care worker in Illinois and SEIU member, said in a statement to union members.

► From Yahoo Finance — Massachusetts voters allow Uber, Lyft drivers to unionize — With 94% of precincts reporting, 53.9% of voters endorsed a novel framework that would allow ride-share drivers who are considered by the companies to be independent contractors to organize and bargain collectively over pay and benefits, according to the Associated Press, which called the vote mid-Wednesday.

► From the Alaska Beacon — Alaska voters favor minimum wage hike, sick leave mandate, with most votes counted — Alaska voters favored a ballot measure backed by labor unions by a margin of 12.46 percentage points with roughly 70% of the ballots counted early Wednesday. Voters weighed in on Ballot Measure 1, which would provide three new protections for workers: an increase in the minimum wage, a mandate for paid sick leave and protection against employer-required attendance at political or religious meetings or events unrelated to job duties.

► From NPR — Former DACA recipient wins New Mexico legislative seat, making history — Democrat Cindy Nava, a former DACA recipient and official in the Biden administration, has won a seat in the New Mexico Legislature according to a race call by The Associated Press. Nava is one of the first former DACA recipients to win public office. Her parents came to the U.S. when she was seven years old. As a teenager, Nava advocated for policies to support other undocumented youth before the 2012 program created federal protections for those brought to the country illegally.

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