Layoffs | Air traffic controllers | GOP rejects SNAP funding

Thursday, October 30, 2025

STRIKES

► From the Missouri Independent — Boeing faces more pressure from Congress as St. Louis workers strike nears three months — Members of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee sent a letter to Boeing Defense this week urging its leaders to offer a fair contract to the more than 3,200 striking St. Louis-area workers in the name of national security. “These workers are essential to the success of your company, and they deserve compensation that reflects their hard work and sacrifices,” states the letter, which was signed by 17 of the committee’s 61 members on Monday. “Both the workers and the work they do are vital to U.S. national security through the production of the current and future cutting-edge fighter aircraft.” The letter is the latest in the mounting pressure from Congress urging Boeing to cut a better deal for its workers, as some senators have said the strike is threatening national security.

LOCAL

► From the Daily — SEIU 925 holds rally protesting layoffs within the College of Arts & Sciences — Approximately 50 demonstrators gathered on the HUB lawn Friday at a rally organized by SEIU 925, aiming to call attention to centralization efforts made within the College of Arts & Sciences (CAS), and resulting layoffs of staff…“Our team is already stretched thin, our backlogs are crunched and growing longer by the day,” a member of the new CAS shared services team said at the demonstration. “One coworker described it as, ‘bailing water from a boat with a hole in it.’”

► From KREM —  Spokane WIC offices set to close in November even as program secures funding — SRHD officials initially said by Oct. 31, six WIC offices run by the Spokane Regional Health District will be forced to close their doors. However, according to SRHD on Wednesday, October 29, they are receiving additional funding for staffing, allowing them to extend their lay-off notice date to November 30. This includes 29 employees who will be laid off until funding is restored. WIC provides food benefits for pregnant mothers, new parents, and children under five years old. “It’s one of three babies that are born in the state of Washington. About 36% of pregnant women are WIC eligible that are receiving these funds to get their nutrition they need to deliver a healthy baby,” said the Washington State Secretary of Health Dennis Worsham.

► From the Bellingham Herald — Layoffs hit Bellingham caregivers as PeaceHealth announces 2.5% workforce reduction — The majority of impacted positions are non-clinical and administrative roles based in Vancouver, Wash., according to PeaceHealth Marketing and Communications Director Amy Drury. Still, 37 positions will be cut directly from St. Joseph Medical Center staff. Another 18 positions will be cut from other offices and clinics in Bellingham…Because some of the positions PeaceHealth plans to cut are union-represented and protected by something called “bumping rights,” the company said in the letter that it could not “predict with certainty” which represented employees would ultimately be affected or the exact order in which employees would be separated.

► From KUOW — Amazon cuts over 2,300 jobs in Washington as employees warn of AI risks — Of the 14,000 employees Amazon laid off this week, 2,303 were in its home state of Washington, according to a state filing. In addition to streamlining and removing bureaucracy, Amazon officials say artificial intelligence is driving the layoffs in two key ways. First, reducing headcount frees up capital for Amazon’s multi-billion-dollar data center building spree. Tech companies are spending aggressively to build out the infrastructure needed to train and power frontier AI models. Second, Amazon appears to be betting AI can reduce the number of employees the company needs.

► From the Tacoma News Tribune — How a Pierce County city used jobs to help quell its homelessness crisis — In 2021, Fife started the jobs program by building a tent village in an overflow lot owned by the Police Department. The city eventually built 10 60-square-foot living units, two ADA units, an office portable with a kitchen, dining room and laundry facilities, as well as showers and restrooms…Brooks said participants typically work in the city’s parks doing landscaping and maintenance. They work three days a week for about 18 hours. They are paid minimum wage and can earn $0.50 cent raises as they progress through the program.

► From the Spokesman Review — Need food during the federal shutdown? Here’s where you can go — President Donald Trump  claimed the contingency reserve fund available to feed Americans while SNAP is on pause is not legally available and has chosen not to tap into it, despite both Republican and Democratic administrations utilizing the  fund  during past shutdowns. At the beginning of this year, SNAP had around $6 billion in contingency funds available, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The halt in benefits will affect 40 million Americans, including 83,000 people in Spokane County who use the program to help them afford food.

► From KOMO — Air traffic controllers at Sea-Tac ask travelers for support — Rausch said air traffic controllers are already having to make difficult decisions, and more will have to do the same as the shutdown continues. “We have folks that are having to make those tough decisions of ‘do I put gas in my car to drive to work where I’m not getting paid? Or do I put food on the table?” Rausch said. He said staffing has already been an issue for more than a decade, and the problem is only being exacerbated by this. Travelers going through Sea-Tac that KOMO spoke with were supportive of the FAA workers. Port of Seattle Commissioner Sam Cho brought sandwiches to the FAA workers, handing out pamphlets.

NATIONAL

► From the Guardian — Revealed: ICE violates its own policy by holding people in secretive rooms for days or weeks — Across the country, ICE has been criticized for its use of holding facilities, which are not subjected to traditional audits, inspections and general oversight that larger ICE detention centers are required to face. Now, advocates and former ICE officials are sounding the alarm that their extended use puts people in unsafe conditions, raises the risk of abuse and medical neglect, and violates due process rights. The facilities are secretive and face minimal oversight, and detainees have very little contact with family members or attorneys.

► From Oregon Live — National Guard troops were at Portland ICE building despite court ban, feds admit — Oregon National Guard troops were on the ground at Portland’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building on Oct. 4 hours after a federal judge had issued a temporary restraining order barring the federal deployment of state troops to the city, a U.S. Department of Justice attorney admitted Wednesday.

► From Game Developer — CWA president implores U.S. regulators to scrutinize EA buyout to address national security and labor concerns — Communications Workers of America (CWA) president Claude Cummings Jr is urging regulators in the United States to scrutinize EA’s proposed $55 billion take-private over concerns it will place “thousands of jobs and sensitive consumer data at risk.” The CWA currently represents over 4,000 unionized video game workers across the United States…The news has raised alarm bells for a number of reasons, including the poor human rights record of the Saudi regime and the fact it is being financed with $20 billion of leveraged debt. 

POLITICS & POLICY

► From the AP — Food aid at risk of expiring as effort to fund SNAP benefits fails in Senate — Republican leaders in Congress said it’s all or nothing on Wednesday as they rejected a Democratic push to carve out food aid funding for more than 40 million Americans who stand to lose it as part of the government shutdown. Democrats have repeatedly voted against reopening the government as they demand that Republicans negotiate with them to extend expiring health care subsidies. But they pushed for expedited approval of legislation to continue funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, in the meantime. “It’s simple, it’s moral, it’s urgent,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said as he called for passage of the SNAP funding Wednesday.

► From the Guardian — Obamacare insurance prices will jump up 26% next year, report predicts — The jump represents one of the sharpest rises since the healthcare program launched over a decade ago, with consumers using the federal healthcare.gov platform set to see even steeper hikes of 30% on average. State-run marketplaces are also expected to experience a 17% increase. But the financial pain for many of the 24 million Americans enrolled in ACA plans, now a record number, could be far worse. The research from the non-partisan health policy organization found that monthly payments for subsidized enrollees could increase by an average of 114% if Congress fails to extend the enhanced tax credits. The healthcare.gov website, which opened for preview shopping on Tuesday, is already displaying the higher costs that reflect the lapse in assistance.

► From Spectrum News — Democrats and Republicans yield no ground as government shutdown approaches one-month mark — “The Republicans just keep saying, ‘later,’” Schumer said. “When the Republicans say later, they mean never. And that’s why we are pushing now to get this done.” With the clock ticking on the Nov. 21 funding deadline in the stopgap funding bill, Johnson acknowledged that time is running out for Congress to hammer out the details and pass the necessary appropriations bills for federal funding in the 2026 fiscal year.

► From Newsweek — Trump admin to end automatic extensions for thousands of immigrant work permits — The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is moving to end the automatic extension of certain immigrant work permits, even if they have filed their new paperwork on time. In a Federal Register filing Wednesday, the department said that it intended to cancel the current 540-day buffer given to refugees, asylees and spouses of certain other visa holders when they file for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) renewal, as well as green-card applicants.

► From the Seattle Medium — Saka Proposes Budget Amendments Targeting Transit Safety and Infrastructure Repairs — The transit safety amendment drew support from labor representatives, including Greg Woodfill, president of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 587. “I want to thank Transportation Chair Saka for his leadership and advocacy on transit safety and security,” said Woodfill. “Initiatives that support a safe experience on our transit services and at transit stops are a necessity that our passengers and operators both expect and deserve.” Woodfill added that creating a dedicated safety position within SDOT would support regional coordination and implementation of the King County Regional Transit Safety Implementation Plan.

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