Nurses, not AI | Contract at Hawaiian | Town halls

Monday, March 17, 2025

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From Simple Flying — Hawaiian Airlines Reaches Tentative Agreement With Flight Attendants On Contract Extension — Hawaiian’s cabin crew will be better compensated thanks to a range of new benefits, according to AFA Hawaiian Master Executive Council. The new agreement is valid through February 2028, granting flight attendants with the airline improved compensation for years to come. Key improvements include better base pay, conditions for reserve cabin crew, and safety education…While the airline’s flight attendants have not yet voted on the contract, each side seems optimistic regarding the agreement.

AEROSPACE

► From Forbes — Elon Musk Hit With First Formal Conflict Of Interest Complaint Over FAA-Starlink Deal — The Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint Thursday with the inspector general overseeing the Department of Transportation, which asks the IG to investigate Musk’s involvement with the FAA deal and whether it ran afoul of federal law.Federal law prohibits any government employees—including “special government employees” like Musk—from “participat[ing] personally and substantially” in any “particular matter[s]” in which the employee, their spouse, their companies or other business partners have any “financial interest,” with any “willful” violations being punishable by up to five years in prison or fines of up to $50,000 per offense.

NATIONAL

► From the AP — As AI nurses reshape hospital care, human nurses push back — Adam Hart was working in the emergency room at Dignity Health in Henderson, Nevada, when the hospital’s computer system flagged a newly arrived patient for sepsis, a life-threatening reaction to infection. Under the hospital’s protocol, he was supposed to immediately administer a large dose of IV fluids. But after further examination, Hart determined that he was treating a dialysis patient, or someone with kidney failure. Such patients have to be carefully managed to avoid overloading their kidneys with fluid…“Hospitals have been waiting for the moment when they have something that appears to have enough legitimacy to replace nurses,” said Michelle Mahon of National Nurses United. “The entire ecosystem is designed to automate, de-skill and ultimately replace caregivers.”

► From the Columbia Spectator — Dozens gather outside Studebaker Building for rally led by SWC-UAW, condemn union president expulsion — At the rally, the union demanded that interim University President Katrina Armstrong and other administrators “take a stand” to protect Columbia’s student workers and ensure protections for students and faculty targeted by federal policies. Andrew Little, president of Columbia Postdoctoral Workers UAW Local 4100, criticized Columbia’s lack of transparency regarding the effects of federal funding cuts, particularly on medical research. He also said the current crisis at Columbia is part of a larger national trend targeting students, faculty, and researchers—especially international scholars.

► From ABC — Critics warn cuts at agencies overseeing US dams could put public safety at risk — The Bureau of Reclamation provides water and hydropower to the public in 17 western states. Nearly 400 agency workers have been cut through the Trump reduction plan, an administration official said. “Reductions-in-force” memos have also been sent to current workers, and more layoffs are expected. The cuts included workers at the Grand Coulee Dam, the largest hydropower generator in North America, according to two fired staffers interviewed by The Associated Press…The cuts come at a time when the nation’s dams need expert attention.

► From the Washington State Standard — What Trump’s escalating trade wars mean for your grocery bill — Without factoring in any retaliatory tariffs, estimates suggest that the levies imposed by Trump last week could amount to an average tax increase of anywhere between $830 a year and $1,072 per U.S. household. “I’m a little nervous about the increase in tension,” said Lee. “It could lead to an immediate shock in supermarket prices.”

POLITICS & POLICY

Federal updates here, local news and deeper dives below:

• Trump Axes $15 Contractor Wage, Infrastructure Project Orders (Bloomberg Law)
• Trump cuts funding for federal agencies with executive order: See list of what’s affected (USA Today)

► From the Cascadia Daily News — State budget cuts take center stage at Mount Vernon town hall — The legislators fielded questions from the audience about issues from transportation to natural resource protection to firearm permits. Several people asked about progressive revenue, or taxes that vary by income level. [State Rep. Alex] Ramel said progressive revenue was a “top priority” this year. Washington has the “second most upside down tax code in the country,” he said, noting low-income earners pay a much higher percentage of their income in taxes than higher earning residents.

► From NW Public Broadcasting — Legislators still considering furlough of Washington state employees as lawmakers meet — The plan is among many options being looked at, according to Democratic House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon (D-Seattle). “ We’re not taking it off the table, but we’re not yet convinced that that is the most responsible way to balance the budget,” he said. With around 20 working days each month, and not counting holidays, the furlough would account for around a 5% forced pay cut for full-time state workers. The last time Washington state workers were furloughed was in 2010, and Fitzgibbon said one of the lessons learned was that furloughs don’t just impact state employees, but the general public, too.

► From the New York Times — Trump Administration Live Updates: Judge Plans to Press White House Over Deportation Flights — A federal judge is set to press Trump administration lawyers at a 5 p.m. hearing about whether the White House violated a court order in deporting migrants with little to no due process. The judge wants to know the location of any flights at the time he ordered a halt to deportations under an obscure wartime law. The White House denied violating the order.

► From the Spokesman Review — Patty Murray voices Democrats’ outrage over GOP spending bill after Schumer folds to avert shutdown — The dean of Washington’s congressional delegation, the longest-tenured Democrat in the Senate and her party’s leader on the Appropriations Committee, Murray has spent more than three decades mastering Congress’s most fundamental job: funding the government through a painstaking, once-a-year process of writing 12 appropriations bills that members of both parties can get behind. “What Republicans are pushing here is not a continuing resolution,” Murray said. “In this case, ‘CR’ stands for complete resignation, because what Republicans are doing here is ceding more discretion to two billionaires to decide what does and does not get funded in their states.”

► From the New York Times — Elon Musk and DOGE Keep Eyes on Social Security — The latest sign of his interest in the agency came today, when my colleagues Theodore Schleifer, Kate Conger and Ryan Mac reported that one of Musk’s closest advisers had taken a position there. The adviser is Antonio Gracias, a private equity investor who lent Musk $1 million during Tesla’s early days and has vacationed with his family in places like Jackson Hole, Wyo. Gracias’ involvement may be the clearest sign yet that Musk considers the agency a key priority. He is one of nine members of the Department of Government Efficiency who have arrived there in recent days, my colleagues wrote. Two others work at Gracias’ investment firm.

► From NPR — Federal agencies plan for mass layoffs as Trump’s workforce cuts continue — Federal agencies have some leeway in how many employees they let go and when they do, but federal law is specific about the process that must be followed. OPM has a 119-page handbook that details how a reduction in force (RIF) and other workforce restructuring must be done. On Thursday, both federal judges who reinstated fired workers emphasized that the government has the right to reduce its workforce, but it has to follow the law in doing so.

► From the AP — Education Department staff cuts could limit options for families of kids with disabilities — Under President Donald Trump, the Education Department’s staff has been cut approximately in half — including in the Office for Civil Rights, whose attorneys are charged with investigating complaints of discrimination against kids with disabilities…More than 20,000 pending cases — including those related to kids with disabilities, historically the largest share of the office’s work — largely sat idle for weeks after Trump took office. A freeze on processing the cases was lifted early this month, but advocates question whether the department can make progress on them with a smaller staff.

INTERNATIONAL

► From the New York Times — Takeaways From Our Investigation Into Domestic Worker Abuse in Saudi Arabia — Using the employment contracts and, whenever we could find them, autopsies, police reports or legal documents, we began looking into companies that profited off these women. Corporate records and securities filings led us to powerful people, including officials who could be protecting these workers. The Saudi government says its law enforcement and courts protect workers against abuse and help them seek recourse. But women told us they were unable to access such resources, and police sent them back to abusive employers or government-funded facilities that felt like prisons.

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