Strike averted | Rumeysa released | Fed firings paused

Monday, May 12, 2025

LOCAL

► From KUOW — Union farmworker organizer ‘Lelo’ denied bond to leave Tacoma ICE lockup — An immigration judge said she would have approved the $5,000 bond to release Zeferino from the Northwest ICE Processing Center — getting a bond out of the Northwest ICE Processing Center can often range between $15,000 and $30,000 — but the judge said she didn’t have the legal precedent to do so. “We think she’s wrong,” said Larkin VanDerhoef, an attorney representing Zeferino. He’s appealed the decision and is in talks with attorneys at the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project who have an ongoing class action lawsuit alleging judges at the Tacoma immigration lockup unfairly inhibit meaningful appeals to bond out of the facility.

► From the Bellingham Herald — Why was there an extra security checkpoint at the WA-BC border? What we know — Travelers crossing from Washington into British Columbia reported being stopped and having their cars searched by U.S. Customs and Border Protection as they waited to cross the border. According to Blaine Mayor Mary Lou Steward, one out of every few cars crossing the border was stopped and searched.

AEROSPACE

► From the (Everett) Herald — Boeing adding new space in Everett despite worker reduction  — Boeing is expanding the amount of space it occupies in Everett, leasing nearly 279,000 square feet in an industrial complex at 5900 36th Ave. W, according to a report by real estate firm Kidder Mathews…Any plan to expand would require federal approval. Boeing is the port’s largest customer, importing parts from around the world for use at the Everett aerospace manufacturing facility.

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From My Northwest — SEA Airport aircraft fuelers reach agreement with employer — “After the unanimous strike vote on Tuesday, we told Swissport they needed to return to negotiations with a renewed sense of urgency to reaching a deal or they would be on strike,” said Teamsters Local 174 Secretary-Treasurer Rick Hicks. “We are pleased to announce that they did exactly that, bringing in managers with decision-making power and industry knowledge that allowed us to work together to reach a deal we know our members will be proud to ratify…” Members will vote on the “fully-recommended” offer next Tuesday.

ORGANIZING

► From Kotaku — Blizzard’s Overwatch Team Just Unionized: ‘What I Want To Protect Most Here Is The People’ — The Overwatch 2 team at Blizzard has unionized. That includes nearly 200 developers across disciplines ranging from art and testing to engineering and design. Basically anyone who doesn’t have someone else reporting to them. It’s the second wall-to-wall union at the storied game maker since the World of Warcraft team unionized last July.

NATIONAL

► From the New York Times — Tufts Student Returns to Massachusetts After 6 Weeks in Immigration Detention — Speaking in a room at the airport, she flashed smiles and looked happy and relaxed, but also became visibly emotional at times. Ms. Ozturk thanked supporters for their kindness and expressed love for the country that imprisoned her and is still trying to deport her. “America is the greatest democracy in the world,” she said, adding, “I have faith in the American system of justice.”

► From April Verrett, SEIU President:

BIG NEWS: Rümeysa, @SEIU509 member, has finally been released from ICE custody. While we celebrate her release today, we remain vigilant to keep fighting for everyone else unjustly detained! #4the1st pic.twitter.com/3FfSDYcK9f

— April Verrett (@SEIUPres) May 9, 2025

► From Wired — US Customs and Border Protection Plans to Photograph Everyone Exiting the US by Car — CBP exclusively tells WIRED, in response to an inquiry to the agency, that it plans to mirror the current program it’s developing—photographing every person entering the US and match their faces with their travel documents—to the outbound lanes going to Canada and Mexico. The agency currently does not have a system that monitors people leaving the country by vehicle…WIRED reported this week that CBP recently asked tech companies to send pitches on how they would ensure every single person entering the country by vehicle, including people two or three rows back, would be instantly photographed and matched with their travel documents. CBP has struggled to do this on its own.

► From the AP — Amid Trump’s battle against DEI, nonprofits filling critical labor gaps are caught in the crossfire — Recruiting women into construction has been a painstaking but broadly popular effort, with growing bipartisan and industry support amid persistent labor shortages. But President Donald Trump’s aim to stamp out diversity and inclusion programs threaten to cripple community-based organizations that have been critical to that goal…Stakeholders in the construction industry are closely following a lawsuit filed by Chicago Women in Trades, an organization founded in 1981 to help women enter the skilled trades. Other similar groups said they were considering litigation after the Department of Labor yanked their grants last week.

POLITICS & POLICY

► From the AP — Judge pauses much of Trump administration’s massive downsizing of federal agencies — “The Court holds the President likely must request Congressional cooperation to order the changes he seeks, and thus issues a temporary restraining order to pause large-scale reductions in force in the meantime,” Illston wrote in her order. The temporary restraining order directs numerous federal agencies to halt acting on the president’s workforce executive order signed in February and a subsequent memo issued by the Department of Government Efficiency and the Office of Personnel Management.

► From the Washington Post — The hidden ways Trump, DOGE are shutting down parts of the U.S. government — Across the federal government, Trump officials are halting a wide range of operations by declining to approve key funds. This unofficial hold on many activities has incapacitated many agencies’ divisions, even though they remain technically intact…The effects are especially pronounced at the EPA, where staffers at 11 labs have struggled to continue researching an array of environmental threats, including air and water pollution as well as toxic “forever chemicals.” The labs are run by the Office of Research and Development, or ORD, which may be eliminated as part of a broader reorganization of the agency.

► From Politico — RFK Jr., DOGE gutted legally required offices. Courts may undo it all. — The administration insists the cuts are a lawful “streamlining” of a “bloated” agency, but federal workers, Democratic lawmakers, state officials and independent legal experts say keeping offices afloat in name only – with minimal or no staff – is an unconstitutional power grab.

► From The Hill — Republicans unveil steep cuts to Medicaid in portion of Trump tax bill — Legislation introduced by House Republicans late Sunday would slash Medicaid spending significantly by imposing new restrictions on Medicaid beneficiaries such as work requirements and more frequent eligibility checks, but the most controversial changes floated to the program were not included. The bill from the House Energy and Commerce Committee comes ahead of what’s expected to be a marathon committee hearing Tuesday.

Editor’s note: today in The STAND — ‘Cutting Medicaid would be like setting a bomb off’

► From Politico — States bear the brunt of House GOP Medicaid plan — One of the largest potential sources of savings will come from a policy curbing states’ ability to levy taxes on providers, which could force states to make major changes since the taxes can pay for a state’s share of Medicaid costs. The legislation would freeze state provider taxes at their current rates and prohibit them from establishing any new taxes. “Provider taxes are an essential mechanism for states to fund their share of the Medicaid program,” said Darbin Wofford, deputy health care director at center-left think tank Third Way. “Weakening provider taxes, as this package does, ties the hands of states and prevents them from addressing their individual needs.”

► From the New York Times — USPS Selects FedEx Board Member, David Steiner, as Next Postmaster General — Some Democratic lawmakers and union leaders expressed deep concern over Mr. Steiner’s appointment because of his connection to a direct competitor of the Postal Service. Mark Dimondstein, the president of the American Postal Workers Union, said the board’s selection was troubling because it could lead to the privatization of the agency, which he thought could result in worse service in rural areas and higher prices for customers.

► From CNN — Trump isn’t the only one targeting federal employees. House Republicans are pushing cuts to pension benefits — House Republicans are looking to make several big adjustments to federal workers’ retirement benefits to help pay for the party’s sweeping tax and spending cuts package. The House Oversight Committee last week approved a plan that would squeeze $50 billion in savings out of the retirement system over the next decade. “They’re going to charge people more for the benefit, and then they’re going to reduce the benefit by changing the formula for how the benefit is calculated,” Jacqueline Simon, policy director of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal workers union, told reporters on Monday.

► From the Washington State Standard — Legislative ballot battles shaping up for Washington’s fall elections — Intriguing match-ups in the fall elections emerged Friday as Democrats look to retain control of several seats in the Washington state Legislature. Two Senate contests should provide a test of voters’ views on new laws, higher taxes and spending decisions pushed through by the majority Democrats over the objections of Republicans. Races for two other legislative seats will showcase strains within the Democratic Party between its progressive and moderate factions.

► From the Cascadia Daily News — Education investments in state budget bring some good news for special ed — The Legislature increased funding for school operating costs by $79 million. But for many Whatcom school districts, the increase to their funding won’t even cover the increases they’re seeing in insurance costs. For Blaine, the increase in operating costs funding will bring in $70,000 to the district next year — but their insurance costs are going up by $95,000, Blaine Superintendent Chris Granger said at a school board meeting last week. A change in state law to allow school districts to raise up to $500 more per student through locally funded levies is great news for larger, more property-rich districts. Granger said while Blaine voters have been historically supportive of levies, he wonders what the appetite would be for an increased tax ask right now.

TODAY’S MUST-READ

► From the Seattle Times — OPINION: Protect federal incentives for clean energy projects — This surge in clean energy development could support nearly 52,000 jobs — jobs that, if these tax credits are maximized, will provide family-supporting wages while creating training opportunities for apprentices, the next generation of union workers. My fellow members of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 46 in Western Washington are buying their first homes or getting out of debt after a job on a new clean energy project. These are the kinds of jobs we need more of in Washington, and we’re poised to get them, but only if Congress protects federal energy incentives. If federal energy incentives are eliminated, energy will be more scarce and the costs of existing projects will rise. Washington ratepayers will be the ones paying for that through higher utility bills. Without energy investment and production tax credits, electricity prices in Washington are projected to increase by approximately 12%.

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