More than money | Glassification | Air traffic controllers 

Thursday, October 16, 2025

STRIKES

► From the NW Labor Press — Kaiser Permanente workers on strike in four states — Strikers see pay increases as part of the solution to staff shortages that are affecting quality of care. “When we speak up about patient safety, about preventing clinician burnout, we’re met with silence,” said striking physician associate Josh Oppenheim at an Oct. 14 rally outside Kaiser’s Sunnyside Medical Center. “And that silence is deafening.”

► From Capital and Main — Five-Day Strike by Kaiser Permanente Workers Is About More Than Money — In my years interviewing those on the front lines of America’s struggle to care for its own residents, the same theme emerges: Health care workers consistently report that inadequate staffing and lack of time to spend with their patients have led them to conclude that their employers no longer strive to deliver top-level care — even at health care organizations known for such quality. “I don’t know why they choose not to do it,” said Nicole Jimenez, a registered nurse with Kaiser Permanente in California. “One of their tenets is, ‘Best patient care every time.’ Knowing that they have the resources to make that difference but don’t do it is — it’s sad. It’s frustrating.”

► From the Missouri Independent — Striking St. Louis Boeing union workers file federal labor law complain — The union representing 3,200 Boeing Defense workers on strike in the St. Louis area said it has filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against the company. The complaint follows an Oct. 8 letter sent to workers by Boeing Executive Vice President Steve Parker, where he urged employees to take the company’s final offer…The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 837 said in a press release Thursday that Parker’s statements “make clear the company’s refusal to bargain in good faith.” The union said the company’s repeated rejections of the union proposals “without making any counter offers addressing member concerns” is a violation of federal labor law to negotiate in good faith.

LOCAL

► From the Washington State Standard — Conversion of radioactive waste into glass begins at WA’s Hanford site — Sixteen years after the original deadline, the Hanford nuclear reservation in south-central Washington state is finally converting its worst radioactive waste into a benign glass…Hanford is expected to take a year to gradually crank up the volume of waste being glassified until the first plant reaches full operation. Right now, the plant is processing an initial 25,000-gallon batch of waste. The waste goes through two huge melters that combine it with glass flakes and heat the mixture to 2,100 degrees. This yields melted glass that is poured into huge storage cylinders to cool and harden.

► From the South Seattle Emerald — Federal Shutdown Threatens WIC Program Serving Thousands of South End Families — Local funding is being used to maintain the additional health services WIC offers, but if the government shutdown or funding issues persist, there is a risk these services could be affected. Even if families lose benefits for a short period of time, Crockrell said it can lead to longer-term impacts. In the short term, it disrupts people’s lives and increases stress, which can lead to people having to skip meals or come up with unsafe substitutes, and in the long term, it can impact an infant’s developmental process and further increase health disparities.

► From KUOW — Judge rules ICE unlawfully detained a Seattle man. He’s not alone — Matt Adams, an immigration attorney in the Seattle area, has been filing habeas corpus cases for immigrants locked up at ICE processing centers, including people held at the facility in Tacoma. “A habeas case is when we go to court and tell the judge our client is being unlawfully locked up,” Adams said. “They’re imprisoned in violation of the law, and the court should order their release.”…Several people have also used habeas cases to win their release from the Tacoma detention center, cases with similarities to an arrest this summer that impacted a family in West Seattle.

► From the Seattle Times — OPINION: Shifting Medicaid costs to WA will be more expensive for all of us — Community Health Centers are the front door to care for about 1.2 million people in Washington, where 27 Federally Qualified Health Centers operate more than 430 sites. A majority of CHC patients are covered by Apple Health, our state Medicaid program, and CHCs serve more than one-third of Apple Health enrollees. These clinics deliver comprehensive primary and preventive medical care, dental, behavioral health, pharmacy, and myriad other services, efficiently and close to home. They also save money. Research shows CHC care reduces emergency department visits and hospitalizations and saves Medicaid about $1,400 per adult patient each year. Nationally, CHCs account for about 10% of the population while representing only 1% of total health spending.

► From the NW Labor Press — New novel revives 1913 Camas millworkers strike — A 1913 strike by women millworkers in Camas features in a new novel by West Linn author Dede Montgomery…For historical research, Montgomery drew on a dissertation about the strike by Bradley Richardson, executive director of Clark County Historical Museum. Retired labor educator Marcus Widenor also read a draft and contributed suggestions. Montgomery also had a personal connection: her great great grandfather was on the board of directors at the mill.

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From Oregon Live — Group of Legacy Health medical professionals vote in favor of possible strike — About 135 medical professionals at Legacy Health have overwhelmingly voted in favor of authorizing a strike. The workers — a group of advanced practice providers that includes nurse practitioners, physician associates and clinical nurse specialists — work across Legacy’s hospitals and clinics in Oregon and southwest Washington. Officials with the Oregon Nurses Association, the union that represents the workers, said the workers have been trying to negotiate a new contract since they unionized over a year ago.

► From the NW Labor Press — Oregon Nurses Association staff get union contract — Staff at Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) ratified a new three-year contract Oct. 6. The unit of 64 union reps, organizers and support staff is represented by Teamsters Local 223, and had been without a contract since the previous one expired June 30. ONA represents over 14,000 registered nurses at hospitals and clinics throughout the state…The new agreement provides raises of 5%, 3%, and 3% over three years, with the first raise retroactive to June 30. It also reduces wage schedules from four to two: Going forward most employees will be in the salaried pay schedule that now ranges from $81,899 to $149,497 depending on experience, and a handful will be in an hourly pay schedule that now starts at $33.40 and tops out at $60.97 after 13 years.

ORGANIZING

► From Game Developer — Another group of Blizzard workers has unionized — Another branch of Blizzard Entertainment has organized under the Communications Workers of America. Today the union announced that over 400 employees of the company’s Platform & Technology department have successfully voted to unionize. This group includes workers with a wide variety of job titles including graphic designers, engineers, and project managers on Battle.net, as well as workers in localization, quality assurance testing, and customer support in on other Blizzard products. The union has been recognized by Microsoft. Workers will be represented by CWA Local 9510 in Irvine, CA and Local 6215 in Austin, TX.

► From the Cap Times — GHC says federal shutdown delaying union vote; workers say otherwise — Leaders at Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin say the federal government shutdown is delaying progress on a union election for its health workers who are pushing for collective bargaining power.  But employees, who launched a union campaign 10 months ago in December, say administrators at the Madison-based clinic network just want to block the organizing effort altogether.  “GHC has forgotten that we, the workers, along with our beloved patients, are the heart and soul of this organization,” said Julie Vander Werff, a physician assistant at GHC who spoke to supporters at a union rally Monday. “Unionization is our right as a worker group.”

► From NW Labor Press — University of Oregon trampled student worker rights, agency says — The violations stem from a union organizing campaign among undergraduate student workers in 2022 and 2023. Managers told supporters they couldn’t wear union pins, knock on doors in dorm halls to ask residents to support the union, or engage in union organizing activity while on the clock.  Last month ERB ruled that those actions violated state labor law because they discriminated against union supporters for activities that would otherwise be allowed.

NATIONAL

► From WTOP News — Air traffic controllers on shutdown: ‘Do I have to go and drive Uber tonight?’ — “Today marks the first day that air traffic controllers have a completely different focus — their first loss of pay,” said Nick Daniels, president of the controllers’ union, while yellow-shirted employees handed pamphlets titled “End the Government Shutdown Immediately” to passengers arriving at Reagan National Airport…While some passengers declined the reading material, others stopped to chat with the controllers, with many offering encouragement and thanks for maintaining air safety during the shutdown.

► From Wired — Federal Workers Are Being Used as Pawns in the Shutdown — “People are scared. Who says their goal is to traumatize people?” says one IRS worker, referencing private speeches given by Russell Vought, the head of OMB and a key architect of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 who has been the public face of the job-cutting. ”If any normal human said ‘My goal is to traumatize families’ there should be police at that person’s doorstep.”…Any pretense that these cuts were simply about budget discipline has disappeared. In the weeks since the shutdown began, the administration has hijacked government websites, worker email signatures, and airport TV screens to blame Democrats for possible cuts in an attempt to rebrand them as accountability rather than retribution.

► From the AP — Food assistance is safe through October but may be at risk if the shutdown continues — A federal program that provides food assistance to 40 million low-income people could be at risk in November if the government shutdown isn’t resolved by then. And in at least some places, new applications for the program are not being approved. But there’s still a lot of uncertainty about the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, known as SNAP or food stamps, a vestige of a previous incarnation of food aid.

► From the Daily Collegian — Penn State AAUP, AFT denounce Trump “loyalty” compact sent to universities — Penn State’s American Association of University Professors (AAUP) has voted unanimously to endorse a joint statement from the national AAUP and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). The statement opposes the Trump administration’s “loyalty compact” sent to nine universities on Oct. 1, according to a press release from the Penn State chapter.

POLITICS & POLICY

► From CNN — Judge halts Trump’s planned layoffs of federal workers during government shutdown, calling them unlawful — US District Judge Susan Illston said during a hearing Wednesday that she was granting a request from unions representing federal workers for an emergency order pausing the layoffs that began last Friday…Illston, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, said she saw evidence suggesting the administration had “taken advantage of the lapse in government spending, in government functioning, to assume that that all bets are off, that the laws don’t apply to them anymore.” She went on to say that she believed the planned layoffs were impermissible, in part, because they’re “politically motivated,” and pointed to statements by President Donald Trump that officials were targeting programs and agencies favored by Democrats.

► From Politico — White House: Shutdown layoffs will be ‘north of 10,000’ — White House budget director Russ Vought on Wednesday estimated that more than 10,000 federal workers would lose their jobs as a result of the ongoing government shutdown. Vought promised to “keep those RIFs rolling,” referring to reduction-in-force notices agencies sent to fire government employees on Friday. Shortly after Vought spoke, however, a federal judge in California threw uncertainty into Vought’s pledge by blocking the shutdown layoffs. The Trump administration is all but certain to challenge that ruling.

► From Reuters — White House budget director plans to shut US consumer finance watchdog within months — White House budget director Russell Vought said on Wednesday he wants to close the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau even though President Donald Trump’s administration has argued in court that there is no such plan. Vought made the remarks on “The Charlie Kirk Show” as the administration is locked in litigation with a CFPB labor union and consumer advocates over whether Trump has the authority to fire most CFPB staff or dismantle an agency created by Congress.

► From the New York Times — Trump Signs Memo Expanding His Authority to Spend Federal Money — President Trump on Wednesday signed a memorandum seeking to significantly expand his administration’s authority to repurpose unspent federal funds to pay members of the military during the government shutdown. The memo escalates his challenge to Congress’s authority on spending matters, but it is unclear whether he has the legal authority undertake such a move. Mr. Trump’s memorandum purports to give Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, wide authority to repurpose funds, even though no such permission has been granted by Congress.

► From the Washington Post — Democratic governors form state public health alliance to counter RFK Jr. — Fifteen Democratic governors on Wednesday announced the formation of a state public health alliance designed to counter turmoil at federal agencies under the Trump administration. Leaders of the Governors Public Health Alliance said it will serve as a hub for governors and public health leaders to monitor disease outbreaks, establish public health policy guidance, prepare for pandemics and buy vaccines and other supplies.

► From PBS — Why news organizations are rejecting the Pentagon’s new press rules — Since Secretary Hegseth arrived at the building, he has been aggressively going after access for journalists, within weeks, required some news agencies to vacate their desk and vacate their news booths. He has indicated that, when he doesn’t like coverage, that there should be repercussions for it. We have seen a secretary who has only had two press briefings in the 10 months he’s been in office. We have had less information than we have ever had before. Even before these rules were put in place, we have seen restrictions on our ability to obtain information.

► From My Northwest — WA counties begin mailing general election ballots — General Election Day is November 4, and King County Elections (KCE) has officially mailed out more than 1.4 million ballots to registered voters across the county. Officials expect a 45% turnout this year. Statewide, ballots need to be mailed by October 17, as required by state law — 18 days before Election Day. Eligible military and overseas voters received their ballots even earlier, by September 20. If you’re registered to vote, your ballot is mailed automatically — no need to request one.

► From the NW Labor Press — A Union Guide to the November 2025 election — There’s a low-key election this Nov. 4. Oregon voters have a “special” election with no candidates, just local ballot measures. Washington voters will decide among candidates who made it to the runoff for contested local elected offices. Turnout will be low on both sides of the river, so union households can make a difference — if they vote.

The Stand posts links to local, national and international labor news every weekday morning. Subscribe to get daily news in your inbox.