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NLRB | Dangerous work in WA woods | Saving $5 billion

Thursday, December 12, 2024

 

STRIKES

► From the AFL-CIO:

LOCAL

► From Cascade PBS — Migrant brush pickers face risks, few protections in WA woods — Workers and advocates told Cascade PBS this structure leaves pickers vulnerable to unique risks or demands from shopkeepers. They have little protection from retaliation, wage theft or other abuse. A federal judge earlier this year ordered a Washington-based company to pay $1.8 million in back wages and damages over violations discovered in the wake of a work-related vehicle crash in Cowlitz County. Brush harvesting itself can also prove dangerous as workers described solo treks deep into rough woods, harsh weather, lost co-workers, cougar run-ins and even fatal encounters with hunters.

► From the (Everett) Herald — Washington unions celebrate Kroger-Albertsons merger’s demise — Two unions, the United Food and Commercial Workers 3000 and Teamsters Local 38, represent employees at Albertsons and Kroger stores in Washington. Both groups issued statements celebrating the rulings Tuesday, with the Teamsters calling the proposed merger a “direct threat to workers, consumers and competition in the grocery industry.”

 

AEROSPACE

► From the Seattle Times — Head of the Federal Aviation Administration to resign, allowing Trump to pick his successor — Whitaker took the helm of the FAA in October 2023 after the Senate, which is frequently divided along partisan lines, voted 98-0 to confirm his selection by President Joe Biden. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, which will consider Trump’s nominee to replace Whitaker, said the successor “needs to be ready on day one to continue the job of restoring the FAA’s safety culture and providing real oversight of the aviation sector.”

 

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From the Seattle Times — Seattle Art Museum, security guards agree on contract deal — The contract includes a wage increase from $21.68 to $23.25 per hour, taking effect for the first pay period after ratification. Lead and dispatch employees will earn $25 and $27 per hour, respectively. Union members will also receive a 4% wage increase at the start of 2025 followed by additional 4% increases in 2026 and 2027. The contract also restores the pre-pandemic discretionary match program for employees’ retirement plans for the union as well as the entire museum staff.

► From the Washington Post — WNBA and players’ union meet to discuss new CBA — “Today’s meeting included preliminary conversations and constructive dialogue, with a mutual agreement to continue discussions for a transformational, new CBA,” the two sides said in a joint statement. The WNBA players union opted out of the current collective bargaining agreement , two years before its expiration in October. The current CBA will still cover the 2025 season so the two sides have a year to negotiate a new agreement.

 

ORGANIZING

► From Daily Union Elections:

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 New York Times — Labor Board Classifies ‘Love Is Blind’ Contestants as Employees — The complaint by the labor board’s regional office in Minnesota says that the show committed several labor violations, including unlawful contractual terms related to confidentiality and noncompete provisions. By classifying the cast members — who date and sometimes marry other singles on the show — as employees with certain federal legal protections, the complaint opens the door to possible unionization.

► From CBS — Fortnite and other Epic Games customers are about to get a $72 million refund. Here’s why. — As part of a settlement first announced in December 2022, the video game maker has been ordered by the FTC to pay $245 million to resolve allegations that it used unlawful billing practices involving design tricks known as dark patterns to get players to unintentionally rack up charges. It is the largest ever refund amount in a gaming case, the agency said.

► From Reuters — NLRB raises bar for employers to change work terms without bargaining — The National Labor Relations Board has made it more difficult for businesses to alter working conditions without bargaining with their employees’ unions, returning to a longstanding legal standard that was wiped out during the Trump administration. The Democratic-led board in a 3-1 decision, on Tuesday said employers can make unilateral changes to working conditions only when unions have “clearly and unmistakably” waived the ability to bargain over specific terms of employment.

► From the AP — US wholesale inflation accelerated in November in sign that some price pressures remain elevated — Higher food prices pushed up the November wholesale inflation reading, which came in hotter than economists had expected. Surging prices of fruits, vegetables and eggs drove wholesale food costs up 3.1% from October. They had been unchanged the month before.

 

POLITICS & POLICY

► From Common Dreams — ‘Crushing Blow to the Labor Agenda’ as Manchin, Sinema Block Biden NLRB Nominee — In a move likely fraught with major implications for worker rights during the impending second administration of Republican President-elect Donald Trump, Democratic-turned-Independent U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema on Wednesday blocked Democrat Lauren McFerran’s bid for a second term on the National Labor Relations Board. With every Republican senator except Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas voting against President Joe Biden’s nomination of McFerran for a new five-year term, the fate of the woman who has led the agency since 2021 was up to Manchin and Sinema.

► From the AFL-CIO:

► From CBS — The Social Security Fairness Act has bipartisan support, but time is running out for Senate vote — Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are calling on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to schedule a vote on the bill that would expand Social Security benefits to roughly 2.8 million retirees. Schumer, a Democrat and cosponsor of the legislation, could invoke a Senate rule that would skip a committee hearing and send the bill directly to a floor vote by the full Senate.

► From Common Dreams — New Rule From Agency Trump Wants Destroyed Would Save Consumers $5 Billion Per Year in Overdraft Fees — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, one of President-elect Donald Trump’s top expected targets as he plans to dismantle parts of the federal government after taking office in January, announced on Thursday its latest action aimed at saving households across the U.S. hundreds of dollars in fees each year. The final rule is expected to save Americans $5 billion annually in overdraft fees, or about $225 per household that pays overdraft fees.

► From CBS — President Biden reportedly set to block sale of Pittsburgh’s U.S. Steel to Japan-based Nippon Steel — As of Wednesday morning, a U.S. National Security Panel is reviewing the proposed $15 billion deal and the panel has to refer its decision on the merger to President Biden by Dec. 22 or 23. On Tuesday, The United Steelworkers responded, agreeing with President Biden’s reported blocking of the deal, calling Nippon’s offer of $5,000 to union members “attempted bribery.”

► From the Washington State Standard — Washington’s voter-approved natural gas measure snared in two lawsuits — The lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court, argues Initiative 2066 is unconstitutional because it runs afoul of a provision limiting citizen initiatives to no more than one subject and requiring them to contain the full text of the portion of state laws they would alter. Plaintiffs, who include Climate Solutions, Washington Conservation Action, Front and Centered, King County and the city of Seattle, also seek an injunction to prevent the initiative from being implemented. The state of Washington is the sole defendant.

 

INTERNATIONAL

► From the AP — Ontario to restrict electricity exports to US and bar American-made alcohol if Trump tariffs applied — The official in Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government said it is contemplating restricting Ontario’s liquor control board — the largest alcohol purchaser in the world and the main retailer in the province — from buying American-made alcohol. Ontario is also considering restricting exports of critical minerals required for electric vehicle batteries and preventing U.S.-based companies from the government’s procurement process, the official said, speaking on condition on anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly about the potential measures.

The Stand posts links to local, national and international labor news every weekday morning. Subscribe to get daily news in your inbox. 

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