NEWS ROUNDUP
Shutdown impacts | New jet? | Brain drain
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
STRIKES
► From KSDK — IAM Local 837, Boeing fail to reach deal as strike enters 9th week — This message was sent by IAM Local 837 leadership Monday afternoon: “Our IAM Union bargaining committee met with federal mediators today. The company continues to insist on staying within the same economic framework that our members have rejected three times. The company has re-extended its rejected five-year offer. We will not re-vote a rejected offer. The way to end this strike continues to be the sensible pre-ratified offer that was approved by our membership. We are available when the company has an improved offer. Continue to stand strong!”
LOCAL
► From the Stranger — Cascade PBS Newsroom Axing Preventable, Union Says — According to the company’s most recent tax filings, Cascade PBS paid CEO Rob Dunlop over $500,000 last year. The executive team made over $2 million in salaries and bonuses. Union members estimate they collectively made $950,000 a year…On top of that, according to a report obtained by The Stranger, Dunlop told Cascade PBS board members operating revenue was up 17 percent from last year and that the non-profit netted a $4.1 million income this fiscal year. These details were in a section titled “Update on Federal Funding: Defunded Not Defeated.”
► From KREM — ‘You will always be part of me’: Family grieving woman killed in Eastern State Hospital shooting — The family of the woman who was shot and killed outside Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake on Saturday is grieving their sudden loss, and reminding people to hug their loved ones. Joshua Awesome identified his stepsister, Colleen Hendrickson Bass, as the woman who was killed. He says she worked as a guard at the hospital.
► From the Spokesman Review — The Big Beautiful Bill’s cap on student loans could affect rural health care, medical students warn: ‘The impacts are scary’ — John McCarthy, the University of Washington’s assistant dean for rural programs, said through the university’s School of Medicine, about 64% of 275 graduates in 2024 had more than $200,000 in loans, with 72% of them taking out loans from the Grad Plus program. This year, 280 students are part of the program. Both years, 60 students have been located in Spokane, he said. “I think the impact on students will be significant. They can get private loans, but if you come from a rural area or a disenfranchised background, you don’t necessarily have anybody that’s going to co-sign on your loan, and you’re going to need a co-signatory on the loan, because you don’t even have a job,” McCarthy said.
► From the Seattle Times — How WA is getting over new bumps in COVID vaccine rollout — In Washington, people should “absolutely feel confident” in saying they qualify for a COVID shot if asked, according to Jenny Arnold, CEO of the Washington State Pharmacy Association and who sits on the state’s vaccine advisory committee. Including those who are under 65 and aren’t at high risk of developing severe disease from COVID? “Just say yes,” Arnold said…Most insurance plans in Washington have committed to covering the updated COVID vaccines, including Apple Health, most Medicare plans, and private plans Premera Blue Cross, Kaiser Permanente, Regence BlueShield and Aetna.
AEROSPACE
► From the Seattle Times — Boeing begins design work on new jet, report says — Citing anonymous sources, The Journal reported Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg met earlier this year with officials from engine-maker Rolls-Royce to discuss a new engine for a potential new narrowbody aircraft. Boeing has also begun designing the flight deck for a new aircraft, The Journal reported, attributing to “people familiar with the matter.”…A new airplane would likely have a significant impact on the company’s Puget Sound workforce. In its most recent contract with the Puget Sound area Machinists union, Boeing committed to building the next new airplane in the area.
CONTRACT FIGHTS
► From FOX 13 — FedEx pilots declare vote of no confidence in President and CEO amid contract dispute — FedEx pilots issued a formal vote of No Confidence in FedEx President and CEO Rajesh Subramaniam. That vote came from the FedEx Master Executive Council of the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents over 5,000 FedEx pilots, as FedEx shareholders gather for their 2025 annual meeting. “Under his tenure, FedEx has abandoned a people-first culture and embraced a narrow profit-first mindset that jeopardizes the company’s future,” union leaders said in a memorandum. “Over the past three years, a narrow focus has eroded employee trust, weakened loyalty, and continues to jeopardize operational reliability in what is now a highly competitive marketplace.”
NATIONAL
► From Common Dreams — CBS Chicago Reporter Says ICE Shot Chemical Agents at Her ‘Absolutely Unprovoked’ — The attack came after a day of protest in which the National Lawyers Guild Chicago says officers were “launching chemical agents and firing munitions at members of the press and people assembled to protest.”… Television reporter Asal Rezaei was at the Broadview center Sunday morning, where she’d been going for weeks since protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) “Operation Midway Blitz” began in Chicago earlier this month. When Rezaei realized there were no protesters at the scene, she began to drive away with the driver’s side window down. That’s when a masked agent fired a pepper ball at her car from behind the fence, “causing the chemical agents to engulf the inside of her truck,” according to CBS News.
► From OPB — Over 100 Oregon leaders call on Trump to withdraw plans to send troops to Portland — It also includes support from prominent business organizations, such as the Oregon Business Council and signatures from some of the state’s largest unions, such as the Oregon Nurses Association, Oregon Education Association and locals from Service Employees International Union. Portland Metro Chamber CEO and President Andrew Hoan said the letter is a partnership across the state, among groups that don’t always agree with each other.
► From the Seattle Times — US consumer confidence declines again as Americans fret over prices, job market — U.S. consumer confidence declined again in September as Americans’ pessimism over inflation and the weakening job market continued to grow. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell by 3.6 points to 94.2 in September, down from August’s 97.8. That’s a bigger drop than analysts were expecting and the lowest reading since April, when President Donald Trump rolled out his sweeping tariff policy.
POLITICS & POLICY
► From the Washington Post — Government shutdown set to begin overnight as Congress hits impasse — The federal government is on track to shut down just after midnight Wednesday, as lawmakers in Congress remain at an impasse over dueling funding proposals with no signs of compromise ahead…With a little more than 12 hours before funding expires, the disagreement has left the two parties no path to avoid a shutdown, as each side is holding out hope the other will fold. The Senate is expected to vote again Tuesday afternoon on the GOP-led funding extension. It would need 60 votes to pass, meaning some Democrats would have to back it.
► From the Washington State Standard — Hundreds of thousands of federal employees face furloughs under Trump shutdown plans — The Trump administration began posting plans over the weekend that detail how hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be furloughed during a government shutdown, while others will keep working without being paid…The Defense Department’s plan shows it would keep about 406,500 of its 741,500 civilian employees working without pay during the shutdown, with the remaining going on furlough…The Health and Human Services Department plans to furlough about 32,500 of its nearly 80,000 employees during a shutdown…The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plans to retain 3,311, or 53%, of its employees during a shutdown and “will maintain the staff necessary to make payments to eligible states for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).”
► From the Seattle Times — What a partial federal shutdown could mean for WA — As lawmakers in the other Washington scramble to avoid a partial federal government shutdown, leaders in Washington state are assessing the fallout that could hit home including the potential disruptions to health care and food assistance programs and uncertainty for thousands of federal workers…In Washington, over 920,000 people — a third of them children — receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to help buy groceries. More than 315,000 rely on the Women, Infants, and Children Nutrition Program each year in Washington. A prolonged shutdown could delay these benefits…DeLuca also raised concerns about a memo from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget advising federal agencies last week to prepare for possible layoffs. “When you have those cutbacks, that means it takes longer and longer for states and communities to actually access the funding that Congress passes,” he said.
► From the New York Times — Explaining the G.O.P.’s Misleading Talking Point on the Looming Shutdown — With Congress at an impasse over federal spending, Republicans have emerged with a new and misleading talking point: Democrats are shutting down the government to fund free health care for unauthorized immigrants…Unauthorized immigrants are largely barred from federally funded health care programs. They cannot buy health care plans on government exchanges set up by the Affordable Care Act and therefore cannot receive any subsidies. They are also ineligible for Medicaid, Medicare and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The Democrats’ budget proposal does not make them eligible for these programs.
Editor’s note: while it’s important to correct political lies, it’s worth noting that there’s research indicating that extending healthcare coverage to all residents (similar to what Washington does with state funds) lowers costs and improves health outcomes. And call me crazy, but making sure our neighbors don’t die in the street for lack of medical care just seems like the Right Thing To Do ™️
► From Reuters — US government faces brain drain as 154,000 federal workers exit this week — More than 150,000 federal employees will leave the U.S. government payroll this week after accepting buyouts – the largest single-year exodus of civil servants in nearly 80 years, triggering what unions and governance experts warn is a damaging loss of institutional expertise. Don Moynihan, a professor at the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, said the biggest impact of this week’s exodus will be the brain drain of so many experienced civil servants, a loss of talent he says will be hard to reverse. “It takes years to develop deep knowledge and expertise to deliver government programs these people run. Now much of the knowledge is walking out the door,” Moynihan said.
► From the Seattle Times — Gov. Ferguson creates new ‘sub-cabinet’ to protect WA immigrant rights — The sub-cabinet will be made up of representatives from each of the agencies in the governor’s cabinet and will be charged with coordinating immigration-related issues including data privacy, health care and implementation of the Keep Washington Working Act. The 2019 law prohibits most forms of local cooperation with ICE. Immigrant advocates have been pushing the governor to enact stronger safeguards for immigrants, particularly after ICE’s use of state Department of Licensing data came to light in July. The department last month cut off ICE’s access to a data search system that provides DOL information, which the federal agency used in at least one case to make an arrest.
► From Bloomberg Law — Punching In: States Take First Round of Captive Audience Fight — Challengers to state laws restricting workplace “captive audience” meetings are 0-for-2 in litigation recently, but it’s still early in the game with appeals possible and three other cases awaiting federal district court rulings. Business groups and conservative-leaning policy shops have filed at least five challenges against the laws in four states—California, Connecticut, Illinois, and Minnesota. They’re among the dozen states since 2022, most recently New Jersey, to ban employers from penalizing workers who skip mandatory meetings where management opines on politics, religion, or union membership.
INTERNATIONAL
► From the Athletic — Footballers not given enough time off between seasons, players’ union FIFPro says — Published on Monday, the fifth edition of FIFPro’s annual Player Workload Monitoring report reveals that none of the clubs that took part in this summer’s Club World Cup gave their players the recommended minimum of 28 days off between seasons, and most of them started this season without the minimum recommended pre-season period of 28 days…No other major team sport provides its top athletes with so little time off between seasons, with international stars at leading clubs typically getting three weeks’ break, compared to 14 weeks for an NBA finalist or 15 weeks for a World Series participant.
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