SEIU 925 rallies | TA @ Cascade PBS | VA’s war on workers

Wednesday, April 30, 2025

STRIKES

► From the Oregon AFL-CIO:

University of Oregon student workers are holding down the line! Support these workers by joining them on the picket lines at UO’s campus. @UAW @uoswunion pic.twitter.com/QRUW0dHokt

— Oregon AFL-CIO (@OregonAFLCIO) April 30, 2025

LOCAL

► From the (UW) Daily — SEIU 925 rallies for immigrant worker protections, delivers signed petition to the Office of the President — This petition comes as a response to the detention of Leweyln Dixon, a UW lab technician and SEIU 925 member, who was detained Feb. 28. This particular case has spread fear and concern to other immigrant workers in SEIU 925 and the greater Seattle workforce. Paula Lukaszek, a member of WFSE Local 1495, shared her main concern is UW not allowing Dixon to be on “shared leave,” a policy that lets any employee donate their personal vacation or sick leave days. This process would provide Dixon with medical insurance and her salary.

► From the Seattle Times — May Day 2025: Where protests are planned in Seattle — “Working class people, and immigrants in particular, carry the voice that tells them to put their head down, say nothing, and that way you won’t get in trouble,” said Zenia Javalera, president of the Service Employees International Union 6 labor union at a news conference hosted Monday by OneAmerica. The union represents janitors, security officers, airport passenger service workers and other industry workers. “That’s the baseline of how our folks have been living long before now. Now I cannot overstate how much fear our communities are feeling. I would even call it terror.”

► From the Tacoma News Tribune — May Day rally, march to take place through downtown Tacoma — The event will feature speakers from the labor movement and a coalition of organizations in the South Sound, including the Puyallup Water Warriors, the International Migrants Association and the Tacoma Education Association. Participants will march from Tollefson Plaza, 1548 Commerce St. to the Northwest ICE Processing Center on the Tideflats after a series of speeches starting at 4 p.m.

► From the Washington State Standard — Thousands of Oregon, Washington children at risk if Head Start ends, lawsuit alleges — “Over the last three months, Donald Trump has put a bullseye on the backs of 3- and 4-year-olds,” Joel Ryan, executive director of the Washington program, said during a Tuesday press call. “He’s done everything to disrupt, dismantle and eventually paralyze the Head Start program.”

► From Cascadia Daily News — PeaceHealth nurses picket, set to negotiate with hospital again — New negotiation date set for May 16 as union scrutinizes pay, insurance plan. Hundreds of nurses and supporters picketed outside of Bellingham’s PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center on Tuesday, April 29, after the union rejected a proposed contract one month ago. That rejection vote marked the highest ever ratification vote turnout on record for the Washington State Nurses Association, with 913 people, or 84% of the hospital’s nurses, participating, the union said.

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From Cascade PBS:

Big news: After nine months of fighting for a #faircontract we’re happy to report that we reached a tentative agreement at the bargaining table with @CascadePBSNews today!! Now we will bring the proposed contract to the unit for a ratification vote.

— Cascade PBS Union (@CascadePBSUnion) April 29, 2025

► From Game Developer — ‘We are frustrated:’ ZeniMax union workers continue to pressure Microsoft over contract negotiations — Unionized workers at The Elder Scrolls and Fallout maker ZeniMax Media have again called out parent company Microsoft for purportedly failing to negotiate in good faith. A number of employees represented by Communications Workers of America (CWA) Locals 2100, 2108, and 6215 (ZeniMax Workers United-CWA) claim Microsoft is intentionally hindering contract talks with union members—leaving them in the lurch more than two years after negotiations began on April 25, 2023.

ORGANIZING

► From Labor Notes — Video Interpreters for Deaf Callers Are Organizing Against Burnout  — VRS interpreters handle a high volume of calls each day, often back to back; we don’t even know which language we’re about to get on the phone. We’re expected to maintain a high level of accuracy, efficiency, and professionalism—but that can be incredibly difficult when we have little time to rest between calls or to process particularly difficult or traumatic calls. The unrelenting pace takes a toll on our physical and mental health; ZP and its primary competitor, Sorenson Communications, are notorious for high rates of attrition and burnout. And it compromises the quality of service we can provide. Deaf people deserve clear and accurate interpretation by qualified, compassionate, well-rested interpreters.

► From The Hollywood Reporter — SAG-AFTRA Launches Influencer Committee Amid Further Push Into Creator Economy — The committee is intended to serve as a voice for digital creators and influencers within the labor group, according to national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland. “During the theatrical strike, creators of influencers stepped up in big ways to stand by our members on strike,” he says, pointing to those who agreed to abide by the union’s 2023 dictates to turn down work from struck companies. “I think that just really cemented for us the obvious connection and nexus there.”

NATIONAL

► From the American Prospect — Inside the VA’s War on Unions — The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), which represents other federal workers, secured a preliminary injunction on April 25 against Trump’s executive order, as it applied to its own members in other agencies. That still leaves workers represented by unions other than NTEU in limbo. To further weaken labor adversaries, federal agencies also ended payroll deduction of union dues in April. VA unions affected by this change include the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), National Nurses United (NNU), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and its affiliate, the National Association of Government Employees (NAGE).

► From Reuters — Fired US government coal-safety workers brought back – for now — About 40 federal government employees who worked on coal-mining and firefighter safety before their jobs were eliminated were asked to return to work this week, although it’s unclear if their positions will be permanently reinstated, West Virginia’s senator and the agency’s union said on Tuesday. The employees are from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, part of the Health and Human Services Department, and worked on coal miner health and firefighter fatality prevention programs.

► From Cal Matters — Judge restricts Border Patrol in California: ‘You just can’t walk up to people with brown skin’ — The ruling came in response to an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit filed after the El Centro Border Patrol traveled to Kern County to conduct a three-day sweep in January, detaining day laborers, farm workers and others in a Home Depot parking lot, outside a convenience store and along a highway between orchards. The ruling prohibits Border Patrol agents from taking similar actions, restricting them from stopping people unless they have a reasonable suspicion that the person is in violation of U.S. immigration law.

► From the New York Times — Trump Says He Could Free Abrego Garcia From El Salvador, but Won’t  — “You could get him back, there’s a phone on this desk,” said Terry Moran, an ABC News correspondent, noting a Supreme Court order to “facilitate” the release of Mr. Abrego Garcia. “I could,” Mr. Trump replied. Mr. Moran said Mr. Trump could call President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador and get Mr. Abrego Garcia back immediately. Mr. Trump’s comments not only undermined previous statements by his top aides, but were a blunt sign of his administration’s intention to double down and defy the courts.

► From SMART:

► From the AP — US Supreme Court resolves pay fight in favor of federal workers who also are military reservists — The 5-4 decision could affect hundreds of thousands of people, insuring that they don’t suffer financially when they temporarily leave one form of government service for another. The justices ruled in an appeal filed by an air traffic controller who spent about five years on active duty in the Coast Guard at a pay rate lower than what he earns as a Federal Aviation Administration employee.

POLITICS & POLICY

► From the Washington State Standard — Thousands of Washington state workers lose out on wage hikes — Amanda Hacker, the association president, said not getting the cost-of-living adjustment this year means the workers will “fall even further behind not just the private sector, but other state employees.” “We are devastated. This amounts to punishing our members for asserting their rights in the bargaining process,” she said. “We’re looking at all our options to mitigate the immediate harm to our members.”

► From the Washington Post — Trump’s first 100 days, in 10 charts — As President Donald Trump passes his 100th day back in office, some key features of this presidency are already coming into focus: the colossal amount of money he raised to celebrate his inauguration; his historic use of executive orders from day one to quickly reshape government; the market slump in reaction to his tariff policies; and his 100-day approval rating, lower than any seen in nearly a century.

► From the Government Executive — Judge: Trump’s national security reasoning for anti-union EO was ‘pretext for retaliation’  — “The scope of the executive order when compared with the intent of Congress in passing the [Civil Service Reform Act], coupled with the surrounding statements in the [White House] fact sheet and [Office of Personnel Management] guidance—which strongly suggest that President Trump’s invocation of [the statute’s national security exemption] was mere pretext for retaliation and for accomplishing unrelated policy objectives—are persuasive reasons to believe NTEU will likely be successful on the merits of its claim,” Friedman wrote.

► From Bloomberg — White House pushed job cuts at agency that’s clashed with Musk — The White House is privately urging the federal labor board to reduce staff, despite pushback by Trump-appointed officials warning that further cuts would imperil the agency’s functions. Reviewers from the Office of Management and Budget recently deemed the US National Labor Relations Board’s rationale for avoiding layoffs inadequate.

► From the Economic Policy Institute — Too many workers die on the job every year. Trump’s attacks on OSHA will kill more. — Trump has spent his first 100 days in office waging a war against workers, firing tens of thousands of federal workers, and slashing the wages of hundreds of thousands of workers on federal contracts. He has also issued dozens of executive orders to roll back or review existing regulations, including an order directing agencies—including the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA)—to eliminate 10 existing protections before enacting any new guidelines. Above all, Trump has empowered Elon Musk—a billionaire whose own companies are under investigation for dozens of serious health and safety violations—to destroy and disable already understaffed federal agencies that prevent workplace deaths and injuries.

► From Common Dreams — All, Says Sanders, Would Show American People ‘Government Is Listening to Them’ — On Tuesday, Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Democratic Reps. Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Debbie Dingell of Michigan reintroduced the Medicare for All Act, re-upping the legislative quest to enact a single-payer healthcare system even as the bill faces little chance of advancing in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives or Senate. “We have the radical idea of putting healthcare dollars into healthcare, not into profiteering or bureaucracy,” said Sanders during the press conference.

► From the Institute for Policy Studies — New Data Shows Wealth Expands After Higher State Taxes on High-Income Earners — It is two years into the progressive taxation experiment in Massachusetts, and the evidence supports the academic literature and pro-surtax policy arguments. The revenue collected from the surtax has exceeded expectations: in the fiscal year of 2024, it raised close to $2.2 billion, almost a billion dollars more than what was originally projected. Data from the IRS’ Statistics of Income program demonstrate that the number of tax returns that reported an adjusted gross income (AGI) of a million dollars or more in Massachusetts has grown by 36 percent between 2018 and 2022 – from 20k to 27k.

TODAY’S MUST-LISTEN

► From On the Line — Episode 25: Jimmy Williams Jr: Labor’s Fork in the Road — “If we’re going to organize a movement, we have to have the freedom to speak out. There’s probably no place where two issues more clearly collide than these. If we’re going to fight to build a movement that’s different, that puts workers at the center of our economy and puts workers at the forefront, we’re going to have to use freedom of speech to do that…to me, freedom of speech is so directly linked to the labor movement.”

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