NEWS ROUNDUP
Shipyard contract | $1.1bil from Boeing | Vets protest
Friday, June 6, 2025
LOCAL
► From the Cascadia Daily News — Update: Judge temporarily blocks shutdown of Job Corps; uncertainty at Sedro-Woolley center remains — Last Friday, the 270 students who live and learn at the center, and the more than 100 staff, were informed that the center would be shut down, after the federal government announced a “phased pause” in operations at Job Corps centers. Now, a judge has issued a temporary restraining order that pauses the process to shut down the program, in response to a lawsuit filed by Job Corps contractors. Up until the order, students were packing up and leaving; about 150 had already departed as of Wednesday. But classes are now set to resume on Monday, June 9, director Kendra Watson said Thursday. A court hearing on June 17 may provide further clarity on the future of the program.
► From the Seattle Times — WA effects unclear after judge in AmeriCorps case rules against Trump — The grants at issue included more than $21 million in Washington, affecting about 1,300 corps members at hundreds of community sites, according to Ferguson’s office. Those members were working at food banks, tutoring in schools, caring for veterans, responding to disasters and tending to forests, among other tasks. They were active in at least 32 of 39 counties. Some AmeriCorps grant recipients, such as United Way of King County, lost funding for dozens of corps members, including members placed at various smaller nonprofits, like the White Center Food Bank.
► From Cascade PBS — Providers say Medicaid cuts will slash care access in Eastern WA — Upward of 70% of those under 19 in Central Washington’s 4th Congressional District in 2023 were enrolled in Apple Health, the state’s Medicaid program. More than half of those under 19 in the neighboring 5th Congressional District, which includes Spokane and nearby rural Eastern Washington counties, were also enrolled in Apple Health. Sen. Murray said that massive pressure from the public and other stakeholders, such as medical providers, could keep such massive cuts from happening. Murray noted that in 2017, public pressure led to a failed attempt by Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act. “Republicans in Congress are not immune to public pressure, and neither is this administration,” Murray said.
Editor’s note: in related news, Poll Shows GOP Senators Who Help Trump Gut Medicaid Could Pay Dearly
► From the (Everett) Herald — Providence Everett plans 25% cut to nursing assistant staffing — Providence Regional Medical Center Everett plans to eliminate 119 certified nursing assistant positions effective July 11. On May 29, Providence told nursing assistants they had until June 5 to accept a voluntary severance package. Providence denied the union’s request to extend the June 5 deadline to accept the package, representatives said, to give union members time to make an informed decision. “We do not agree with Providence’s decision,” representatives said in the email. “We are working on scheduling bargaining with Providence to negotiate the terms of the severance and other impacts.”
AEROSPACE
► From MSN — Boeing Agrees to Pay $1.1 Billion to Avoid Prosecution For 737 MAX Crashes — The agreement with the Justice Department requires the company to put $455 million toward strengthening its compliance, safety and quality programs, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Wednesday. Boeing will also give $444.5 million to the families of crash victims under the agreement, which was tentatively reached last month. Boeing is also required to pay a criminal monetary penalty of $487.2 million, half of which was paid in 2021 under a previous agreement. The new deal means Boeing avoids a trial that was scheduled to start June 23 in connection with the two crashes, which left 346 people dead.
CONTRACT FIGHTS
► From the NW Labor Press — Vigor shipyard workers ratify new contract — The agreement between Vigor Industrial and the Portland and Puget Sound metal trades councils raises workers’ total hourly compensation by $1.49 retroactive to Dec. 1, 2024; $1.79 in December 2025; and $1.86 in December 2026. Journeymen will now start at $51.25 in total compensation, which includes around $36 to $40 in direct wages for most unions in the contract.
► From KUOW — Seattle teachers begin contract negotiations under cloud of $100 million shortfall — With federal K-12 education funding up in the air, and the district facing a projected long-term revenue shortfall of more than $100 million a year, the Seattle Education Association proposed a one-year extension of the existing contract for certificated teachers in the hope of resuming talks when the district has a clearer — and, hopefully, rosier — financial outlook. SEA President Girard Montejo-Thompson said the district proposed a two-year extension of the contract. Montejo-Thompson said the union wants to focus negotiations on the paraprofessional contract, which includes school secretaries, paraeducators who work with special education students, and other support staff.
NATIONAL
► From the Washington Post — They served the nation. Now, these veterans say they’re protesting to save it. — Veteran-led protests will occur at hundreds of locations across dozens of states to protest the Trump administration’s VA cuts. Veterans, who make up a disproportionate share of the federal workforce, are feeling the brunt of the rapid push to shrink the federal workforce, stirring ire in a reliable political base for Republicans…Morale is plummeting inside VA as tens of thousands of employees prepare for deep staffing cuts, raising alarms among staffers, veterans and advocates who fear the reductions would severely damage care and benefits for millions of the nation’s former service members. VA Secretary Douglas A. Collins has signaled plans to shrink the agency’s workforce by 15 percent, or about 83,000 employees.
Editor’s note: join local protests in support of veterans and the VA on Tuesdays at 3:00 p.m. at the Seattle VA Medical Center (1660 S Columbian Way).
► From WVVA — Black Lung Conference highlights ongoing fight for coal miners’ health — At Pipestem Resort State Park, the annual Black Lung Conference kicked off Wednesday—bringing together those on the front lines of the fight against the disease. We spoke with Cecil Roberts, the President of the United Mine Workers of America, who says change only comes when people push for it. “The people in this country have a responsibility and that is to demand of their government what the law provides and also to demand that their government, if they don’t like the way things are to change those laws, and we can’t just hope somebody is out looking after our best interests.”
► From the AP — Number of Americans filing for jobless benefits last week rises to highest level in eight months — Filings for U.S. unemployment benefits rose to their highest level in eight months last week but remain historically low despite growing uncertainty about how tariffs could impact the broader economy. In reporting their latest earnings, many companies have either lowered their sales and profit expectations for 2025 or not issued guidance at all, often citing President Donald Trump’s dizzying rollout of tariff announcements.
POLITICS & POLICY
► From People’s World — Democrats grill Trump’s Labor Secretary on firing of guardians against wage theft — The lawmakers forced Chavez-DeRemer to admit that under a skeleton version of Trump’s proposed budget for the fiscal year starting October 1, the number of workers in the department’s Wage and Hour Division would decline from 1,313 when Trump took office to 906 in the new fiscal year. That division enforces laws banning wage theft—and recovers lost pay after it occurs, plus damages…In many industries, notably construction and food service, and also industries where employers exploit undocumented people, bosses don’t pay workers what they’re owed. And 30% of all wage theft occurred in those two industries, which also employ high proportions of undocumented—and exploitable—people. In fiscal 2024, which ended September 30, Wage and Hour recovered $273 million in unpaid wages for 152,000 workers.
► From Politico — Medicare is a target as Senate GOP faces megabill math issues — Making changes to Medicare, the federal health insurance program primarily serving seniors, would be a political long shot: It would face fierce backlash from some corners of the Senate GOP, not to mention across the Capitol, where Medicare proposals were previously floated but didn’t gain traction. But Senate Republicans are now seriously considering it as they race to pass their party-line tax and spending package before a self-imposed July 4 deadline.
► From the Washington State Standard — Immigration detention centers draw scrutiny from Democratic lawmakers — Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus pledged Thursday to make more visits to immigration detention centers across the country to carry out oversight of the Trump administration’s crackdown. The members detailed their visits to various detention centers over last week’s recess. Many people they visited in those centers were arrested while attending their court hearings or had no criminal record, they said…“It is critically important that we members of Congress continue to investigate what are supposed to be civil detention centers, but instead operate as private for-profit prisons with substandard medical care and they make billions of dollars … in contracts from this administration detaining people of all legal statuses,” Jayapal said.
► From the New York Times — Tax Credit Increase Would Exclude Millions of Low-Income Children, Study Finds — While the giant domestic policy bill that Republicans pushed through the House last month includes tens of billions of dollars to increase child-rearing subsidies, millions of low-income children would not benefit because their parents earn too little, a new analysis shows. The G.O.P. bill raises the maximum credit to $2,500 per child, from $2,000, and includes virtually all middle- and upper-income families. But a third of children would not receive the full credit because their parents have low wages or lack jobs, according to the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University. Families must reach income targets to receive the full benefit.
► From On Labor — Going, Garmon, Gone: Why States May Now Be Free to Redesign Labor Law — When President Trump removed Gwynne Wilcox from her seat on the National Labor Relations Board, he left the Board without a quorum. Since that time, the Board has been legally incapacitated: it cannot fulfill its statutory function of adjudicating unfair labor practice cases. At the time of Wilcox’ removal, I argued that by incapacitating the Board in this way, Trump may have suspended Garmon preemption – the doctrine that prohibits states and cities from regulating conduct that is either protected or prohibited by federal labor law. Incapacitating the Board suspends Garmon preemption because Garmon preemption is all about deference to the administrative capacity of the Board.
► From Urban Milwaukee — Baldwin, Gallego Roll Out Bill to Prevent Companies from Retaliating Against Striking Workers and Terminating Their Health Care — The Striking and Locked Out Workers Healthcare Protection Act would protect workers’ health care benefits and prevent employers from using their power to cancel or alter health insurance for workers exercising their right to strike. In Wisconsin, two unions faced threats from employers, including striking United Auto Workers (UAW) at Cummins in Oshkosh, in which workers’ health care through Cummins is still terminated as their strike for better working conditions nears the three-month mark.
► From the Washington State Standard — Washington’s long-term care program nears liftoff — A year from now, Washington will launch the nation’s first full-scale effort to help the state’s workforce afford long-term care and services as they age. Etched into law in 2019, the public long-term care insurance program known as WA Cares survived an attempt to torpedo it at the ballot box last year. Already, $2 billion in tax collections have been banked in the program’s trust fund through the end of March. Lawmakers continue to fine-tune the program ahead of its rollout next summer.
INTERNATIONAL
► From the NW Labor Press — Garment workers confront Nike over wages — When a trio of Indonesian factory workers visited Nike’s downtown Portland store May 27, they recognized parts of shoes that they cut or stitched. The three women work for factories that produce Nike shoes…“I came to America to campaign for the rights of workers in Indonesia who were not paid by Nike during COVID-19,” Nurhasanah said in a video recorded in front of the historic “Portland” sign outside the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. “Our hope of coming here is to reclaim the rights taken away by Nike at the time of COVID-19,” Nurhasanah said in the video, which was translated and shared by Asia Floor Wage Alliance.
JOLT OF JOY
Throughout June, I’ll be sharing some of my favorite performances by artists beloved by queer and trans communities, starting with Tracy Chapman. Chapman has regularly lent her star power to fights for justice throughout her career, including the fight for a cure for HIV/AIDS. Here she is in Oakland in ’88:
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