UW to pay $1.1 mil | IUOE strikes | Tlaib tackles price gouging

Thursday, August 14, 2025

STRIKES

► From the Tri-City Herald — Strike idles Eastern WA, Tri-Cities construction sites as workers seek ‘fair wages’ — Road projects and other construction work is halted across the Tri-Cities and beyond after the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 302 went on strike Tuesday. “Local 302 Eastern Washington is on strike. Hope negotiations can progress so guys can get back to work for fair wages,” a member posted to the union’s social media accounts Tuesday. IUOE Local 302 represents heavy equipment operators who run excavators, cranes, bulldozers and other construction gear.

► From MSN — WATCH: Boeing workers return to picket line as strike continues into second week — “If Seattle, South Carolina, all these other entities, you know we see them get these raises and we just feel like we’re due that here in St. Louis.”

LOCAL

► From the UW Daily — UW ordered to pay $1.1M after illegally withholding raises from advisers — The Washington State Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) ruled July 25 that UW violated state labor law by withholding scheduled merit pay raises from advising staff during a union organizing campaign — a move it deemed an unfair labor practice. The decision orders UW to retroactively apply the 3% raises, totaling an estimated $1.1 million to eligible advisers who were denied the increases starting Sept. 1, 2024. The ruling follows a complaint filed nearly six months ago by a group of advisers who alleged that the university intentionally delayed raises to discourage unionization efforts.

► From the Washington State Standard — Tacoma detention center must pay for violating minimum wage law, appeals court affirms — A federal appeals court on Wednesday refused to give the operator of the immigrant detention center in Tacoma another chance to make its case for paying detainees as little as $1 per day…The decision affirms that the Florida-based GEO Group will need to pay more than $23 million that a jury and federal judge previously awarded. The next step in the company’s fight could be the U.S. Supreme Court. The case, brought by detainees and the state of Washington, has been ongoing since 2017.

► From the Columbian — Judge blocks use of WA Medicaid data for immigration enforcement — U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria issued a preliminary injunction this week in the multistate lawsuit, filed in Northern California federal court, citing federal agencies’ apparent failure to follow proper decision-making processes when changing policies around sharing personal health information. Chhabria’s ruling also means the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the Center for Medicaid & Medicare Services, is barred from sharing Medicaid data with DHS for deportation purposes going forward.

► From the Spokesman Review — Washington ICE arrests drop 25% in July but remain comparatively high –ICE arrests in the state dropped 25% between June and July 29, according to government information obtained through Freedom of Information requests by the University of California’s Deportation Data Project. The 218 immigrants arrested in Washington in July still represent more than any other month but June since September 2023, which is as far back as the data goes. National data follows the same trajectory, with a slightly smaller dip in July arrests.

ORGANIZING

► From Game Developer — Blizzard’s Story and Franchise Development team has unionized — Workers within Blizzard’s Story and Franchise Development (SFD) team have unionized to become the latest cohort of Microsoft employees to organize following the company’s merger with Activision Blizzard. SFD is Blizzard’s in-house cinematic, animation, and narrative team. It produces trailers, promotional videos, in-game cutscenes, and other narrative content and has now become the first studio of its kind to form a union in the North American game industry…Almost 3,000 workers have formed CWA unions at Microsoft, which agreed to let workers organize unimpeded in 2022 when it entered into a labor neutrality agreement with CWA.  

► From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Flight attendants union says summer storms drove record Delta signatures — This summer’s spate of weather disruptions to Delta Air Lines’ operations has driven an increase in union interest among the carrier’s flight attendants, organizers say. According to the Association of Flight Attendants, which has been working to unionize Delta’s nearly 30,000 flight attendants for decades, with a new campaign started in 2019, this June collected a record number of pro-union signatures seeking a union election.

► From the Alabama Political Reporter — Huntsville auto workers fail to unionize Navistar plant, UAW alleges illegal intimidation — “Once again, the statewide political and business elites have closed ranks to protect their power and privilege, stacking the deck against Alabama workers. The statewide business lobby and their allies in government poured tens of thousands of dollars into commercials, digital ads, and union-busting consultants who charge thousands of dollars per day to coerce workers and sow fear at International Motors Huntsville,” the union stated.

NATIONAL

► From the Washington Post — Labor unions push for state AI regulation for workplaces — Union leaders say they must intervene to protect workers from the potential for AI to cause massive job displacement or infringe on employment rights. The technology has already become a sticking point in some labor disputes, such as the Hollywood writers strikes in 2023. In February, Gallup found that one-third of workers in the United States feared AI would lead to fewer job opportunities. AI proponents and some economists argue that in the past, technologies that have disrupted some careers also created many new jobs.

► From the New York Times — Big Tech’s A.I. Data Centers Are Driving Up Electricity Bills for Everyone — Just a few years ago, tech companies were minor players in energy, making investments in solar and wind farms to rein in their growing carbon footprints and placate customers concerned about climate change. But now, they are changing the face of the U.S. power industry and blurring the line between energy consumer and energy producer. They have morphed into some of energy’s most dominant players.

POLITICS & POLICY

► From Reuters — USDA moves to end employee union contracts, documents show — The U.S. Department of Agriculture moved to terminate union contracts with thousands of employees of its animal health and food safety inspection agencies, according to documents seen by Reuters, as one union on Wednesday challenged the firings in court…About 6,500 food and consumer safety inspectors at FSIS were covered by the terminated collective bargaining agreement, said Paula Soldner, chairperson of the National Joint Council of Food Inspection Locals, part of the American Federation of Government Employees. FSIS employees inspect meat, poultry and egg products to assess quality and prevent foodborne illness.

► From Bloomberg Government — DHS Axes Union Contract for Security Unit, Chemical Inspectors — The Department of Homeland Security scrapped another contract with an employee union, the latest hit on federal worker rights as agencies cancel collective bargaining agreements in the name of national security. Officials for the American Federation of Government Employees Local 918, which represents employees in DHS’s Federal Protective Service and chemical security inspectors at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, received notice late last week that their contract was canceled, according to a memo obtained by Bloomberg Government.

► From CBS — Tlaib introduces “Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores” bill to Congress — Tlaib gave a press conference on Wednesday in Dearborn to discuss the bill. Those attending included United Food and Commercial Worker Local 876 President Dan Pederson. “The majority of Americans are stressed about rising grocery prices,” Tlaib said in her announcement. “While our neighbors struggle, corporate grocery chains are feeding customer data into algorithms to decide who can be charged more. Companies should not be allowed to use electronic labeling or your personal information to charge you a higher price. We need to ban corporate price gouging and surveillance pricing.”

► From the Government Executive — After firing of BLS chief, Lutnick tells federal statisticians that independence is ‘nonsense’ — The independence of federal statistical agencies is “nonsense,” the head of the Commerce Department and one of President Trump’s chief economic emissaries told employees on Tuesday, who said they need to focus only on obtaining “the right answer.”…Trump’s firing of Erika McEntarfer, who had served as BLS commissioner, caused watchdog groups, former agency leaders and current employees to sound the alarm on what the decision could mean for future political interference with their work.

► From ABC News — Social Security’s 90th anniversary marked by funding threats and privatization talk — When President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law 90 years ago this week, he vowed it would provide economic stability to older people while giving the U.S. “an economic structure of vastly greater soundness.” Today, the program provides benefits to almost 69 million Americans monthly. It’s a major source of income for people over 65 and is popular across the country and political lines. It also looks more threatened than ever.

► From the Seattle Times — Groups sue to try to get Tacoma $20 minimum wage initiative on ballot — The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 367, along with Tacoma For All and Tacoma Democratic Socialists of America, alleged the city and county did not act with the “reasonable promptness” required to ensure residents could vote on the initiative this November. “It is fundamentally unfair, and contrary to statutory requirements, for local government to delay the processing of an initiative and to use that delay to deny ballot access,” stated the complaint, filed Tuesday in Pierce County Superior Court on Tuesday.

► From RANGE Media — Proposed Spokane ordinance would support local labor — If passed, the ordinance, called a community workforce agreement, would ensure that taxpayer dollars for city projects benefit local laborers while prioritizing the hiring of workers from distressed zip codes and minority identities, including women and people of color…As an organizer with local union Laborers Local 238 and member of the Spokane Alliance’s jobs team, Steve Winkler collaborated on the creation of the ordinance to benefit fellow Spokanites by bringing and keeping tax dollars in the community. “The best way to benefit a community is to take your tax dollars, put them to work with our local residents, and then those local residents go back and spend that money throughout our communities,” Winkler said.

INTERNATIONAL

► From Reuters — Air Canada plans to cancel 500 flights by Friday ahead of looming strike — Canadian Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu on Thursday urged Air Canada and the union representing its flight attendants to return to the bargaining table to reach a deal that could avert a strike set to start this Saturday. A spokesperson for the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents the carrier’s 10,000 flight attendants, said Air Canada negotiators have not returned to bargaining and have not responded to a proposal they made earlier this week. “We believe the company wants the federal government to intervene and bail them out,” a CUPE spokesperson told Reuters.

The Stand posts links to local, national and international labor news weekday mornings. The next edition of the News Roundup will be Monday, August 18. Subscribe to get daily news in your inbox.