NEWS ROUNDUP

Minnesota shutdown | Data centers model | State of the state

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

 

STRIKES

► From NYC CLC, AFL-CIO:

► From Politico — ‘No shortage of wealth’: Mamdani, other Democrats chide NYC hospital executives over nurses’ strike — As the nurses lambast some of the city’s most well-off hospitals for crying poverty, the strike is quickly becoming a proxy war for broader discontent over the U.S. health care system. Mamdani, who catapulted into City Hall on a platform of making New York City more affordable, said the strike raises fundamental questions about who benefits from the country’s complicated, costly and porous health care system.

► From Starbucks Workers United:

Editor’s note: more ways to support striking baristas at NoContractNoCoffee.org.

 

LOCAL

► From KUOW — A small town in Central Washington is Microsoft’s answer to the data center backlash — On Tuesday, Microsoft announced a series of commitments intended to assuage a growing backlash to the data center building boom. The company held up Quincy — where it has been building data centers for about 20 years — as an example of how communities could benefit from the massive infrastructure projects…Data centers there have access to hydropower from the Columbia River. Though each facility can run with 50 employees or fewer, there are so many data centers in the area that they have become a substantial job creator in aggregate. Plus, the data center boom is several decades old, so infrastructure investments from the added tax dollars are visible to residents. They include a state-of-the art high school and hospital.

► From the Seattle Times — DHS curtails congressional visits to ICE facilities, including Tacoma — A new Homeland Security policy requires Washington’s members of Congress to provide seven days’ notice before visiting the immigrant detention center in Tacoma, drawing concerns from state lawmakers and advocates who say the move undercuts oversight of the increasingly crowded facility. “One thing is clear — this administration doesn’t want us to know what goes on inside these facilities,” Rep. Emily Randall, D-Bremerton, said in a statement to The Seattle Times. “Accountability is not optional.”

► From My Northwest — Puget Sound residents continue to battle stubbornly high inflation — Inflation is up nationwide, and it’s even higher in the greater Seattle area. Nationally, prices rose 2.7%, but in Seattle, they increased 3.1% over the past year, according to a news release from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics…While inflation rose, Seattle wages didn’t keep up, Staffing Industry Analysts reported in December. Seattle and San Francisco saw the largest gap between wage growth and inflation, according to an Instawork analysis. The consumer price index rose by 17.78% in Seattle, but wages only rose by 2.7%.

► From the Everett Herald — Everett High students walk out to protest ICE activity — “My family and I are horrified to even go out and speak Spanish, so that’s why I’m very passionate about this,” said Cynthia Espinoza, a senior at the high school, while marching toward Broadway with other students.

► From the Spokesman Review — ‘The next voice of America’: Hundreds of students across Spokane skip class in protest of ICE, killing of Minneapolis woman –“Our country, it’s ‘we the people,’ right? That doesn’t exclude someone based on their race, that doesn’t exclude someone based on their ethnicity or what language that they speak,” said organizer Ava Swigart, founder of Spokane Students for Human Decency. “We’re really preaching the message of ‘this land is your land, this land is my land, this land is our land. So let’s live in it together.’ ”

► From the union-busting Columbian — ‘We don’t want the fear’: Clark County students walk out of class to protest ICE activity — “We came here to protest ICE because of all the illegal (expletive) they’ve been doing in our country,” said Vancouver Flex Academy junior Colin Perlas, one of the organizers of the Fort Vancouver walkout. “I’m a patriot. I love this country. But under this administration, I can’t stand the way that ICE and federal agents are acting in our states. As the next generation, it’s up to us to show that we know how to fight back and make our voices heard.”

 

AEROSPACE

► From CNBC — Boeing outsold Airbus last year for first time since 2018, deliveries rise to 600 — Boeing’s net orders last month totaled 174 planes, including more than 100 737 Maxes for Alaska Airlines, which the Seattle carrier announced last week. Delta Air Linesearlier Tuesday said it ordered at least 30 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, its first for the wide-body plane. Deliveries are starting in the early 2030s, a sign of how airlines are locking in delivery slots into the next decade to replace older jets and grow.

 

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From the New York Times’ Athletic — MLB trying to ‘force’ players into salary cap, union says, as Manfred walks a tricky line — “Players and fans want a full season of competitive baseball,” the MLBPA said in a statement to The Athletic when asked about Manfred’s comments. “The league and owners say they want to avoid missing games but at the same time they appear to be dead-set on trying to force players into a system that, the last time they proposed it, led to the most missed games ever and a cancelled World Series.”

► From the New York Times’ Athletic — WNBA and players union agree to free agency moratorium until CBA deal is reached — The parties are currently in a status quo period after an extension to the CBA expired last week. That means the league is operating under the normal working conditions of the prior CBA. However, under those terms, free agency would have begun on Jan. 11 with the extension of qualifying offers and core designations. To avoid the confusion of conducting free agency under both the current cap environment and a new salary structure in the upcoming CBA, the league and the union will have a moratorium on those transactions until a new deal is agreed upon.

 

ORGANIZING

► From OPB — Portland Councilor Smith accused of firing staff in retaliation for union drive — The month-old union representing Portland City Hall staff has filed its first labor complaint against city management. In an Unfair Labor Practice charge filed Tuesday, the union accused City Councilor Loretta Smith of firing an employee in retaliation for labor organizing. “The termination of a lead union organizer during the fragile, initial phase of a union drive is an exceptionally severe act,” reads the complaint, filed with the Oregon Employment Relations Board. “It sends a devastating message of retaliation that can chill the entire organizing effort.”

► From WKU FM — Labor board rules in favor of union in contested BlueOval SK election — In a ruling issued on Monday, the NLRB said SERT ballots should not be counted. A hearing officer found those workers perform different job functions from production, maintenance, and quality operators and shouldn’t be included in the same bargaining unit. “I find that the evidence was insufficient to show that the SERTI and SERTII employees share an overwhelming community of interest with the petitioned-for unit,” wrote Hearing Officer Austin Wishart, Region 9, National Labor Relations Board. “Accordingly, I recommend that the remaining challenged ballots should not be opened and counted, and an appropriate certification of representation should issue.”

 

NATIONAL

► From In These Times — “We Are Facing a Tsunami of Hate”: Amid ICE Crackdown, Unions and Community Groups Call for Minnesota Shutdown in 10 Days — Unions and community groups gathered in front of the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota this morning to announce a day of ​“no work, no school, no shopping” on January 23 to oppose the ferocious assault on the state by federal immigration authorities…Major labor unions in Minnesota are supporting the call, including Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1005, SEIU Local 26, UNITE HERE Local 17, CWA Local 7250, and St. Paul Federation of Educators Local 28 — and organizers expect this list to grow.

► From the Washington Post — Trump makes obscene gesture, mouths expletive at Detroit factory heckler –Out of frame in the video, a person can be heard yelling “pedophile protector” just before Trump mouthed the insult — an apparent reference to the Trump administration’s handling of the investigation into the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein…TJ Sabula, a 40-year-old United Auto Workers Local 600 line worker at the factory, told The Post that he was the one who shouted at Trump. He said he has been suspended from work pending an investigation. “As far as calling him out, definitely no regrets whatsoever,” Sabula said, though he added that he is concerned about the future of his job and believes he has been “targeted for political retribution” for “embarrassing Trump in front of his friends.”

► From the UAW:

► From the New York Times — Initial Obamacare Enrollment Drops by 1.4 Million as Expiring ACA Subsidies Drive Up Premiums — The new data covered sign-ups through Jan. 3. People can still enroll through Thursday. Comparing the new data to a similar period last year, enrollment declined by 800,000 people, versus 1.4 million when compared to last year’s entire enrollment period. Many health policy experts expect enrollment to fall further in the coming months as people whose policies were automatically renewed may decide to drop coverage once they receive their first bill reflecting a much higher price.

► From the AP — Big banks report soaring profits amid tensions with Trump over credit card interest rates — Up until last weekend, the big banks had found an ally in the White House in President Donald Trump. Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill into law in July, which pushed another significant round of tax cuts. Trump’s bank regulators have also been pushing a deregulatory agenda that both banks and large corporations have embraced. Many companies have embraced dealmaking last year, which led to a steady stream of investment banking revenues and fees to the big banks…For these big banks, many of which have large and profitable credit card businesses, these banks argue that a credit card interest rate cap simply cannot happen.

► From My Northwest — Starbucks faces lawsuit over alleged labor abuse, undisclosed chemicals in products — Company packaging stated that Starbucks is “Committed to 100% Ethical Coffee Sourcing,” but further investigation by journalists and labor organizations revealed farms under Starbucks’ Coffee and Farmer Equity (CAFE) Practices program have “repeatedly engaged in egregious labor abuses” and “degrading working conditions,” according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

► From the AP — Railroads and their regulators thwart safety fixes, costing lives — But in its request to the Trump administration to roll back regulations, the AAR argued regulatory mandates aimed at preventing fatigue-related accidents are overly burdensome. The mandates, it said, create opportunities for employees to abuse fatigue-related protections. The AAR declined repeated requests to provide examples of abuse or potential abuse of fatigue-related protections by employees. “If I go back through my career as an engineer and I think about mistakes that I made, I can almost attribute all of them to fatigue,” said Scott Bunten, a general chairman for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, one of the two major rail unions. In 2006, the safety board recommended the FRA better regulate crew scheduling practices. But the agency didn’t take action.

 

POLITICS & POLICY

► From the Washington State Standard — What WA Gov. Bob Ferguson said, and left unsaid, in his State of the State address — Democrats applauded his proposals to put more money into maintaining the state’s transportation system, building more ferries, constructing affordable housing and sustaining early learning education with philanthropic help from billionaire Steve Ballmer. They rose and roared with approval of Ferguson’s embrace of taxing the income of millionaire earners. They did so again when he said he wanted to see a bill barring federal immigration agents from shielding their identities when operating in the state. He called for that bill to be delivered to his desk “immediately so I can sign it into law.”

► From the Seattle Times — Guess who supports a millionaires tax? Republicans, WA poll finds — For starters, 61% of Washingtonians back the idea of a 9.9% tax on incomes greater than $1 million, versus just 29% opposed, according to a poll from Northwest-based DHM Research. The poll question mirrors a “millionaires tax” proposal being introduced this legislative session by state Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, and backed by Gov. Bob Ferguson. But where the support comes from is more eye-opening. It’s coming from … everywhere. Including from self-identified Republicans. “There is majority backing for the tax across all parties: 71% percent of Democrats, 54% of Republicans, and 52% of Independents or other (third-party) voters support it,” said DHM researchers.

► From the Guardian — Congressional progressives vow to block DHS funding without reforms — The declaration by the Democratic-aligned Congressional Progressive caucus comes as the Senate and House of Representatives race to meet an end-of-the-month deadline to approve a series of funding bills or risk a partial government shutdown…Pramila Jayapal, the top Democrat on the House judiciary subcommittee on immigration, said the caucus wanted provisions included in the homeland security appropriations bill that would prevent ICE agents from wearing masks, require warrants for them to make arrests and end the use of private detention facilities, which have been criticized for keeping detainees in squalid conditions. “Because the abuses are so widespread and occur in so many different places, we have to address all of them,” Jayapal said.

► From the New York Times — Trump Cuts to Energy Projects in Blue States Were Unlawful, Judge Rules –In his ruling, Judge Amit P. Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia wrote that the cancellation of seven Biden-era grants for clean-energy projects, worth some $27.5 million, violated the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection of the laws. “The terminated grants had one glaring commonality: All the awardees (but one) were based in states whose majority of citizens casting votes did not support President Trump in the 2024 election,” Judge Mehta wrote.

► From Bloomberg — US HHS Reverses Deep Cuts to CDC Safety Research Agency Niosh — The Trump Administration is reversing its deep staffing cuts to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, reinstating hundreds of employees. Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon confirmed the reversal in an email Tuesday. Niosh conducts or funds most research into US workplace health and safety. Among other duties, the agency’s scientists are responsible for evaluating the risks of new chemicals, testing and certifying the effectiveness of N95 masks, monitoring mine cave-in hazards and administering the health-care program for Sept. 11 responders and survivors. Labor advocates and businesses had warned of devastating consequences after the government moved to eliminate most of Niosh’s staff last year.

► From the Hill — Labor secretary’s top staffers placed on leave amid misconduct investigation — Two of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s top staffers have reportedly been placed on leave amid an internal investigation into allegations that taxpayers footed the bill for personal trips with family and friends. Chavez-DeRemer’s chief of staff, Jihun Han, and his deputy, Rebecca Wright, were named in a complaint to the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Inspector General, which also accused the secretary, who is married, of having an affair with a subordinate and drinking on the job, according to the New York Post and Politico.

► From Oregon Live — Feds warn Oregon, other states, on paying unemployment benefits to striking workers — Oregon’s new law authorizing unemployment assistance to striking workers could face a challenge from the federal government, which warned states last week about paying people on strike unless those people are also actively looking for new jobs. “An individual who is on strike must engage in activities that demonstrate to the state (unemployment insurance) agency that he or she is able and available for work and actively seeking work under state law,” Michelle Beebe, head of the U.S. Employment and Training Administration, wrote in a note to Oregon and other state agencies last week…Oregon became one of four states that pay jobless benefits to striking workers when the Legislature passed Senate Bill 916 last year. New York and New Jersey have similar laws and Washington passed its own version last year, too.

 

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