Firefighters arrested | Clinicians unionize | Deadly heat

Thursday, August 28, 2025

STRIKES

► From the union-busting Columbian — Striking classified employees flood Evergreen school board meeting advocating for higher wages — Classified staff wearing blue and teachers in red filled every seat in the boardroom at the district headquarters in east Vancouver with the crowd overflowing into the hallway…Mindy Troffer-Cooper, president of Evergreen classified staff’s union, told the school board during Tuesday’s public comment period that the union understands the district’s financial challenges. Troffer-Cooper and other union members wore shirts emblazoned with “Juice Box Hero” and held juice boxes during the meeting. Troffer-Cooper said that’s because district members told the union that they didn’t have “the juice” to pull off a strike vote.

LOCAL

► From the Seattle Times — Federal agents arrest firefighters working on WA wildfire — Two people fighting the Bear Gulch fire on the Olympic Peninsula were arrested by federal law enforcement Wednesday, in a confrontation described by firefighters and depicted in photos and video…Federal law enforcement asked the crews to line up to check their IDs, according to the firefighters. One of the firefighters said members of the crew were told not to take video of the incident. “You risked your life out here to save the community,” the firefighter said. “This is how they treat us.” …In images shared by firefighters from the scene, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection vehicle is parked nearby. Officers wearing “Police” vests are seen arresting a firefighter, while another appears to be restrained. According to one of the firefighters, they were denied the chance to say goodbye to the detained crew members. “I asked them if his (family) can say goodbye to him because they’re family, and they’re just ripping them away,” the firefighter told the Times. “And this is what he said: ‘You need to get the (expletive) out of here. I’m gonna make you leave.’”

► From the Kent Reporter — Kent Fred Meyer closure leaves produce clerk in ‘utter shock’ — Kent is one of six stores Kroger recently announced it will close in Western Washington. The others are in Everett, Seattle, Tacoma, Mill Creek (QFC) and Redmond. All but five are in lower income areas, according to Seattle-based United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) 3000, which represents the employees. “They (Kroger) are depriving low income areas so they can potentially make more money at high income areas,” Gilderoy said about plans by the company to open new stores. “It’s almost elitist and like class warfare.”

► From the Lynnwood Times — Mill Creek residents protest South County Fire paramedic transfer  — IAFF 1828 Union President, Pat Moore, who was originally denied the request to comment given he was on an emergency call during his allotted time during the meeting, chimed in to urge the board to “listen to the City of Mill Creek” and “restore staffing.”

► From My Northwest — Customer tried to pull ‘bikini barista’ through window in Lakewood — According to charging documents obtained by The Tacoma News Tribune, the incident took place at approximately 2:30 a.m. Aug. 18 on South Tacoma Way. The documents stated that once he received his beverage, a man threw it in his car and grabbed the victim’s arm after she reached for a clipboard. The bikini barista braced herself against the window frame until the suspect, who was alone in his vehicle, let go and drove off.

Editor’s note: Washington’s isolated workers’ law, which requires safety measures like panic buttons, doesn’t cover bikini baristas or other coffee-stand workers.

ORGANIZING

► From KIMA — Clinicians at Community Health of Central Washington unionize with UAPD — Approximately 100 clinicians at Community Health of Central Washington (CHCW) have successfully voted to unionize with the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD), achieving overwhelming supermajority support. “After over a year of organizing, we are happy with the results of the vote to recognize our union of physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, dentists, behavioral health consultants, and pharmacists at CHCW,” said Meghan Colleran, a nurse practitioner.

► From the New York Times — Union Leads in Vote at Ford Battery Plant — Employees at a battery factory in Kentucky partly owned by Ford Motor appeared to have voted narrowly on Wednesday to be represented by the United Automobile Workers, but there were enough contested ballots to potentially change the result…The vote was 526 for the union and 515 against. But the validity of another 41 ballots was challenged by the union, enough to swing the election the other way…“This is a major step forward for workers who stood up against intense company opposition and chose to join the U.A.W.,” the union said in a statement. The contested ballots “are illegitimate and represent nothing more than an employer tactic to flood the unit and undermine the outcome,” the union said.

NATIONAL

► From the Economic Policy Institute — Extreme heat is deadly for workers and costly for the economy — The start of this summer brought dangerous heat waves to the U.S. that killed at least two people, including a letter carrier in Dallas (the second letter carrier death due to extreme heat in three years)…Heat is the leading cause of death among all weather-related fatalities, killing 177 people last year alone and at least 211 workers between 2017 and 2022. We know that existing data on heat-related workplace fatalities significantly understate their true incidence and that, as climate change leads to more frequent and intense heat waves, these numbers will only rise. Despite this, 43 states and D.C. have yet to take action to prevent heat deaths.

► From Time — Major Anti-Trump Protests Planned Across U.S. for Labor Day — The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), a collective consisting of over 60 labor unions representing nearly 15 million workers, is also supporting the Workers Over Billionaires events. “At marches and rallies, picnics and parades, Workers’ Labor Day is a celebration of working people. And it’s a celebration of the power we have when we come together in a union—the power to take back our country for working people, not billionaires,” the AFL-CIO said.

► From CNN — Kilmar Abrego Garcia can’t be deported until at least early October, judge rules — US District Judge Paula Xinis on Wednesday set an evidentiary hearing for October 6. Xinis said she would rule within 30 days of the hearing and that Abrego Garcia must remain in the US until then. Abrego Garcia is expected to remain in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody…Xinis’ hearing in October will likely feature testimony from administration officials so she can determine whether they properly followed their own procedures or acted lawfully. Abrego Garcia is also separately seeking to renew his bid for asylum, a process that will play out before an immigration judge within the Justice Department.

► From the Pew Research Center — Majorities of adults see decline of union membership as bad for the U.S. and working people — Since Pew Research Center first asked these questions in 2021, majorities of adults have consistently said that the decline in union membership has been bad for both working people and the country. The share of Americans who say this has been bad for the country is up 6 percentage points since last year (from 54%).

► From the Washington Post — FDA limits approval for new coronavirus vaccines to high-risk people — The Food and Drug Administration signed off Wednesday on coronavirus vaccines for those considered higher risk, narrowing approval for shots once routinely provided to nearly all Americans…The move comes as the country is in the midst of a midsummer wave of coronavirus cases and ahead of an expected winter uptick. Public health experts and industry groups said the narrowed approval injects uncertainty for Americans not considered high-risk who want to get another coronavirus vaccine. They said it’s not clear who will ultimately be able to get the shot, whether insurance will cover it and whether they can get vaccinated at their local pharmacy.

POLITICS & POLICY

► From the Center for American Progress — The Trump Administration Is Quietly Gutting Minimum Wage Protections for Millions of Workers — Minimum wage standards are a fundamental U.S. labor protection. Minimum hourly pay and overtime standards prevent employers from paying workers the lowest they can get away with. But the administration is using its executive authority to: End minimum wage and overtime protections for upward of 3.7 million domestic workers; Reduce the minimum wage for federal contractors by $9,256 annually; Reverse a policy that would have prevented over 600 employers from legally paying disabled workers less than the minimum wage.

► From the Washington Post — White House fires CDC director who says RFK Jr. is ‘weaponizing public health’ — The White House on Wednesday fired Susan Monarez as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after she refused to resign amid pressure to change vaccine policy, which sparked the resignation of other senior CDC officials and a showdown over whether she could be removed.

► From the Government Executive — Appeals court will reconsider decision to allow Trump’s anti-union order to take effect — A federal appeals court in California this week signaled that it may revisit a three-judge panel’s decision earlier this month to allow agencies to implement President Trump’s executive order aimed at stripping two-thirds of the federal workforce of their collective bargaining rights.

► From Bloomberg Law — Labor Board Chair’s Term Ending Means an NLRB of One for Now — When National Labor Relations Board Chair Marvin Kaplan’s term ends at the close of Wednesday, the board will have just one sitting member for only the second time in the agency’s 90-year history. Kaplan was President Donald Trump’s first nominee to the NLRB in 2017 and has served as board chair since January. Without Kaplan, the board is left with David Prouty, a Democratic NLRB member appointed by President Joe Biden, and four empty slots. The board will also be without a chair unless Trump names Prouty to that position.

► From the AP — Fed official sues Trump over attempt to fire her, challenging his power over the independent agency — The lawsuit seeks an emergency injunction to block her firing and “confirm her status” as a member of the Fed’s governing board. “The President’s effort to terminate a Senate-confirmed Federal Reserve Board member is a broadside attack on the century-old independence of the Federal Reserve System,” Cook’s lawyer, Abbe David Lowell, wrote in a court filing. The case could become a turning point for the 112-year old Federal Reserve, which was designed by Congress to be insulated from day-to-day political influence.

► From the Washington State Standard — A Washington senator prepares to block one of Trump’s federal prosecutor picks — Pete Serrano’s days as a federal prosecutor appear to be numbered…Patty Murray, Washington’s senior Democratic senator, opposes his selection and plans to use a Senate maneuver known as the “blue slip” process to prevent the Pasco lawyer from serving in the federal post…The way it works is that once a president makes a nomination, a consent form, known as a blue slip, is sent by the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee to the two senators in the nominee’s home state. If the forms are signed and returned, the process continues. If not, it signals a lack of support and the chair will not advance the nominee.

► From the Tacoma News Tribune — Will Tacoma vote on $20 minimum wage measure in November? Here’s what judge says — A Pierce County judge ruled Wednesday that a “Workers Bill of Rights” that would raise the minimum wage in Tacoma to $20, among other added worker protections, cannot be placed on the Nov. 4 ballot amid allegations that the city deliberately delayed a vote that would have done so.

INTERNATIONAL

► From the Register — UK unions want ‘worker first’ plan for AI to protect jobs — The Trades Union Congress (TUC), a federation of trade unions in England and Wales, says it found that people are concerned about the way AI is being adopted by businesses and want a say in how the technology is used at their workplace and the wider economy. It warns that without such a “worker-first plan”, use of “intelligent” algorithms could lead to even greater social inequality in the country, plus the kind of civil unrest that goes along with that.

The Stand posts links to local, national and international labor news every weekday morning. Subscribe to get daily news in your inbox. The next edition of The Stand will be Tuesday, September 2.