UI for striking workers | The PRO Act | Strike stories

Thursday, March 6, 2025

STRIKES

► From the NW Labor Press — STRIKE STORIES — Strikes are more common today than in the 2010s, but they’re still rare. Only two in a thousand U.S. workers took part in a strike last year. We asked readers who’ve struck to tell their stories.

LOCAL

► From the Everett Herald — Snohomish County educators rally against state and federal cuts — On Thursday, Gov. Bob Ferguson released recommendations to the Legislature for $4 billion in savings to address the state’s budget shortfall. Part of his proposal suggested state employees, including public school faculty and staff, take one furlough day per month for two years. Protesters advocated for the state to instead raise taxes for the top 1% of earners. A total of 24 days without pay would amount to a nearly 5% pay decrease for teachers, said Scott Haddock, president of the Edmonds College Federation of Teachers. “We’re here today because we know our worth,” Haddock said. “We know that fair pay is not about a paycheck. It’s about respect. It’s about ensuring that people who dedicate their lives in education can afford to keep doing this important work.”

► From the NW Labor Press — Federal worker purge hits the Northwest hard — “Everyone at (USFS) is a firefighter in some capacity,” Galash tells the Labor Press. “When things go down, we all transition to assisting with the fire, whether it’s the person at the front desk driving water up somewhere, or people who are physically able on the front line.” Galash’s actual job at USFS was as a botanist working to combat a highly flammable invasive plant called cheat grass. But like hundreds of other federal employees at the U.S. Forest Service and sister agencies like the Bureau of Land Management, he has a “red card,” meaning he’s trained and ready for fire duty when the time comes.

► From the Seattle Times — Shock, anger felt among local VA staffers fired by Trump orders — “I had fought through war, through cancer and through every challenge life had thrown at me only to be cast aside by the very system I had believed in,” Olson said this week in a virtual news conference held by Sen. Patty Murray’s office. “At first, I was hoping this would be a quick turnaround, that the VA would say a mistake was made,” Olson said Wednesday afternoon. “But now that they’re talking about 80,000 jobs being cut, I’m worried that there won’t be a job to even go back to.”

► From the Spokesman Review — Canada tariff hits 83% of natural gas used by Avista. But the effect on your power bill may not be what you think — Scott Kinney, vice president of energy resources at Avista, said Canadian officials earlier this week instituted a 10% tariff on fuel imported into the U.S. Natural gas has been selling for lower prices than expected, Kinney said. As a result, the rate that Avista charges customers may not change despite the 10% tariff placed by Canada, Kinney said. “There’s a lot of moving parts,” Kinney said, referring to the regulatory process and factors that go into how the utility calculated each bill. “Our customers could actually see a reduction this year, depending on how all of those components play out.” Avista provides natural gas to 376,700 customers in Washington, North Idaho and parts of Oregon and California. It also provides electricity to about 416,680 customers.

AEROSPACE

► From the Wall Street Journal — Boeing, America’s Biggest Exporter, Also Hit by Tariff War — The trade war isn’t just weighing on big importers, it’s also punishing the country’s biggest exporter: Boeing shares are down more than 6% in morning trading. The U.S. had a trade surplus in 2024 of roughly $100 billion from all the aircraft that it makes and sends out to other countries. Boeing is the biggest chunk of that business.

► From the Hill — FAA union president says DOGE fired essential employees without assessment — Dave Spero, the president of a union representing employees of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), said at a Tuesday hearing that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) fired essential employees without accounting for the impact their departure would have on the agency’s functions. Spero said that only three out of the 332 FAA employees who were terminated in the recent mass firings have been brought back, and no other hires have been made to fill the positions vacated after the firings.

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From KLCC — UO workers unions consider authorizing labor strikes — United Academics of UO represents more than 1,700 university employees. They’re seeking a contract with higher wages and more professional development time. If no further progress is made, Whalen said the union will hold a strike authorization vote next week. He said a majority of members have already pledged to approve it. That means faculty could strike as early as March 31—the start of UO’s Spring Term.

NATIONAL

► From the People’s World — Parents, teachers, students march nationwide against school dollar cuts — [Secretary of Education Linda] McMahon, true to Trump and GOP form, promptly said she would push vouchers to give taxpayer dollars to parents of private school students, an idea both big teachers unions oppose. That’s because public schools educate 90% of the nation’s 50-million-plus K-12 students, including 95% of those with special needs. Private schools can turn away students—black, brown and with such needs—they don’t like. “Our message is simple,” Weingarten declared. “It’s not necessary to rob kids of the education they need” by sharply cutting federal school aid “to give tax cuts to the wealthy.”

POLITICS & POLICY

Federal updates here, local news and deeper dives below:

• Here’s How Trump’s Executive Orders Align With Project 2025—As He Touts Agenda In Speech To Congress (Forbes)
• Trump lawsuit tracker: WA legal challenges to the president’s orders (Seattle Times)

► From the Columbia Basin Herald — WA lawmakers consider extending unemployment to striking workers — Pearl Johnson, member of UNITE HERE Local 8 and room attendant at DoubleTree hotel, shared that she received just $300 a week in strike funds, relying heavily on food banks and credit cards to get by. [WSLC Chief of Staff Joe] Kendo argued that a more balanced power dynamic between employers and employees would incentivize more productive negotiations, faster contract agreements and greater worker empowerment. “Passing this bill is about recognizing the dignity of work and supporting those who take courageous action to improve conditions for all workers,” said [IAM 751 member] Abapo.

Editor’s note: UI for striking workers (SB 5041) is in the Senate awaiting a floor vote — send an email to your State Senator urging them to support it. 

► From NW Public Broadcasting — Unpacking Washington bills: Bargaining on AI in the workplace — One thing that we hear a lot about AI in the workforce, is its power to automate work, and so then, by doing that, really replace workers. And that was a concern for Cherika Carter. She’s the secretary treasurer of the Washington State Labor Council, and she expressed that concern at a hearing about the House bill. Cherika Carter: “We are concerned that state agencies may choose to replace workers with AI before this technology has been adequately vetted, or may invest in the state’s currently limited funds and technology that doesn’t solve our existing problems, such as workload.”

► From the Tri-City Herald — WA budget battle may cut preschool seats. It could lock out more poor Tri-Cities kids — But Gov. Bob Ferguson proposed cuts last week to Washington’s Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program, known as ECEAP, at a time when advocates say the program should be growing to meet demand. It’s part of a larger $4 billion savings plan proposed by the Democratic governor as the state is facing a historic, multibillion-dollar budget shortfall. [Parent] Sean Fox questions why the state would recommend cuts to a program that’s a net financial benefit to the government, and which also helps business owners, communities and, most of all families.

► From the AP — Second federal judge extends block preventing the Trump administration from freezing funding — In his ruling, McConnell said the executive branch was trying to put itself above Congress and by doing so “undermines the distinct constitutional roles of each branch of our government…The Executive has not pointed to any constitutional or statutory authority that would allow them to impose this type of categorical freeze,” McConnel wrote.

► From Common Dreams — Unions Ready for ‘Righteous Fight’ as Sanders, Dems Reintroduce PRO Act –“They refuse to negotiate our contracts, force us to sit through hours of anti-union propaganda and engage in illegal union-busting every day,” she said of companies and executives. “Now they have an unelected, unaccountable union-buster trying to illegally fire tens of thousands of our fellow workers in federal jobs and an administration rolling back the workplace protections.” Shuler added that “we know it won’t be easy, but the labor movement never backs down from a righteous fight…”

► From the AP — Commerce Secretary Lutnick says most tariffs on Canada, Mexico likely to be delayed a month — President Donald Trump said Thursday that he has postponed 25% tariffs on most goods from Mexico for a month amid widespread fears of the impact of a broader trade war. Trump’s announcement comes after his Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, said earlier Thursday that tariffs on both Canada and Mexico would “likely” be delayed. No change was announced regarding the new tariffs imposed on Canada.

► From the Washington Post — GOP must cut Medicaid or Medicare to achieve budget goals, CBO finds — The House GOP’s budget, which passed last week in a hairline vote, asks the committee responsible for federal health-care spending to find at least $880 billion in savings over 10 years. And the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday that reducing costs that much won’t be possible without cuts to Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Without those programs, funding within the Energy and Commerce Committee’s jurisdiction totals $381 billion, and of that amount, more than half is already paid for by collection programs or user fees. That means that even if the committee eliminated every program besides those safety net benefits, it would be able to save a maximum of $135 billion — far less than the $880 billion the budget calls for.

► From CNN — USDA employees fired en masse by Trump administration reinstated, workers’ board says — The order, by the Merit Systems Protection Board, undercuts President Donald Trump’s attempts to downsize the federal civil service and is a major indication that the mass layoffs were unlawful and may eventually be reversed by the board. That means the workers should be able to go back to work immediately, at least for 45 days, starting Wednesday, Harris said. The special counsel – a different government office than the more high-profile special counsels at the Justice Department like Jack Smith and Robert Mueller – now can investigate further and the board can look again at the legal questions around the mass layoffs at USDA to determine if the firings were unlawful.

► From CBS News — Trump expected to sign Education Department executive order — President Trump is expected to issue an executive order directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to start the process of dissolving the Education Department, sources tell CBS News, although the timing of such a move is unclear. Sources confirmed the details of a Wall Street Journal report, which first reported the news, are accurate. According to the Journal, there is a draft version of the executive order.

► From the AP — Trump administration plans to cut 80,000 employees from Veterans Affairs, according to internal memo — The VA’s chief of staff, Christopher Syrek, told top-level officials at the agency Tuesday that it had an objective to cut enough employees to return to 2019 staffing levels of just under 400,000. That would require terminating tens of thousands of employees after the VA expanded during the Biden administration, as well as to cover veterans impacted by burn pits under the 2022 PACT Act.

► From Reuters — US judge in case over fired NLRB member questions Trump’s broad claim of executive power — Deepak Gupta, who represents Wilcox, urged [Judge] Howell to rebuff what he said was the Trump administration’s novel attempt to erase boundaries on presidential power that courts have recognized for a century. “This current executive is taking out for a spin the most extreme version of this theory, which is that regardless of the statutes that Congress has passed the president has untrammeled authority to remove officials, an absolute power of removal,” Gupta said.

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