Multicare strike | WNBA negotiations | Tech billionaires

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

STRIKES

► From the Apple Valley News — Technical workers strike hits 1-month at Yakima Memorial Hospital — Despite several meetings with a federal mediator to negotiate a new contract, the two sides haven’t been able to agree on one key issue. “We understand that there will be cost increases along the way. Both sides have made proposals that are pretty much in line together,” said David Simmons, a business associate with Teamsters Local 760. “We simply ask them that during the life of the contract, they can’t make it any changes to the type of benefits and coverages. And they demand the right to make changes with 60 days’ notice, and that’s unacceptable.”…”All we’re looking for is a retirement plan that says they’re going to make a match, here’s what it is, and it’s fair,” Simmons said. “They’ve already cut the retirement match from six percent to three and a half percent, and then they make it once a year, which is unacceptable as well.”

LOCAL

► From Oregon Live — New Seasons lays off 95 employees, citing recent labor agreement — Eliminated positions included the entire overnight freight department and several assistant department managers, according to a New Seasons Labor Union spokesperson. “We are outraged by the company’s decision to lay off our fellow coworkers,” the union spokesperson said in a statement. “We will use every means at our disposal to fight these layoffs and support our membership.” “The company’s decision to cut from the bottom will hurt New Seasons workers and customers alike,” they continued.

► From the Seattle Times — Palestinian asylum-seeker among those arrested by ICE in WA traffic stops — When U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and other federal officials pulled Mo over just minutes away from his home, he was in disbelief…“We didn’t think we were a target,” he said. “We thought we were safe because we did it the legal way.”…“My attorney colleagues, none of us have seen this before,” Vickner Hough said outside the detention center in Tacoma last month. “It appears that there’s some targeted effort to arrest and detain visa overstay individuals regardless of what type of relief they’re pursuing.” In July, a theater manager of a Kirkland high school who came to the U.S. on a tourist visa and later applied for asylum was detained by ICE officers. [IATSE member] Fernando Rocha was later released on bond.

AEROSPACE

► From Travel Weekly — FAA requires airlines to certify they’re not using DEI in hiring — According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women comprised 9.6% of U.S. pilots and flight engineers at the end of 2024, while Black people accounted for 4.4%, Hispanic or Latino comprised 8.3% and Asian was 2.7%. Airlines and the largest U.S. pilots’ union say pilots are already hired based on merit…The Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) union, which represents pilots for Delta, United, JetBlue, Alaska, Hawaiian, Frontier and Spirit, as well as several large regional U.S. airlines, said that all pilot members, “are trained and evaluated to the same uncompromising standard regardless of race, gender or background.” “A pilot’s identity has no bearing on their ability to safely operate an aircraft,” ALPA president Jason Ambrosi said

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From ESPN — Sources: WNBPA counterproposal includes some concessions on revenue share, housing — According to a source familiar with the proposal, the players’ union is now asking for an average of 27.5% of gross revenue, defined as revenue before deducting expenses, over the course of the agreement, including 25% — and less than a $9.5 million salary cap — in Year 1….On the issue of housing — which has also been a critical point in negotiations — the players proposed that teams continue to provide housing to players in the first several years of the new agreement, but that in later years, teams will no longer be obligated to provide housing for players making close to the maximum salary on multiyear deals and receiving full salary protection, a source said.

NATIONAL

► From Wired — Social Security Workers Are Being Told to Hand Over Appointment Details to ICE — “If ICE comes in and asks if someone has an upcoming appointment, we will let them know the date and time,” an employee with direct knowledge of the directive says. They spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation…Social Security numbers are issued to US citizens but also to foreign students and people legally allowed to live and work in the country. In some cases, when a child or dependent is a citizen and the family member responsible for them is not, that person might need to accompany the child or dependent to an office visit. The order to share information, which was recently communicated verbally to workers at certain SSA offices, marks a new era of collaboration between SSA and the Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency.

► From the AP — Federal judge rules ICE cannot re-detain Kilmar Abrego Garcia — In her Tuesday order, Xinis noted the government has “purposely — and for no reason — ignored the one country that has consistently offered to accept Abrego Garcia as a refugee, and to which he agrees to go.” That country is Costa Rica. Abrego Garcia’s attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, argued in court that immigration detention is not supposed to be a punishment. Immigrants can only be detained as a way to facilitate their deportation and cannot be held indefinitely with no viable deportation plan. “Since Judge Xinis ordered Mr. Abrego Garcia released in mid-December, the government has tried one trick after another to try to get him re-detained,” Sandoval-Moshenberg wrote in an email on Tuesday. “In her decision today, she recognized that if the government were truly trying to remove Mr. Abrego Garcia from the United States, they would have sent him to Costa Rica long before today.”

► From the Guardian — Conservative Georgia town pushes back against ICE detention center: ‘We are Americans after all’ — Gareth Finley was also downtown on Thursday, with a crew of 12 canvassers talking to people on the street. Founder of a group called Indivisible Boldly Blue, she said “a lot of Maga supporters … support ICE but don’t want these things next to a school, or don’t want two police officers dealing with protesters” – referring to the warehouse’s location, less than a mile from the town’s elementary school, as well as the size of the town’s on-duty police force. At the end of the day, canvassers had spoken with about 50 residents, Finley said. About 80% were opposed to the detention center, but “most were very cautious about being identified with a political view,” she said…Standridge didn’t approve of “the secrecy”, or lack of communication from the federal government to date. She also was concerned about “what happened in Minnesota – it was scary. Two people were killed, and it wasn’t necessary. There’s always a chance such a tragedy could happen here.”

POLITICS & POLICY

► From the Spokesman Review — Washington House approve bill to give Spokane’s energy-generating trash incinerator more time — In a statement Tuesday, Mayor Lisa Brown said the bill’s passage in the House was a “big accomplishment.” “I’m grateful to Rep. (Natasha) Hill and Rep. (Beth) Doglio, who have been working hard to get us to this point,” Brown said. “We’ve had productive conversations with environmental organizations at the state and local level, and we are looking forward to keeping that positive momentum going as this moves to the Senate.” Under the bill, the facility would still be required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but on a longer timeline. The legislation states it must reduce emissions by 20 % between 2030 and 2039, by 70% between 2040 and 2049 and 95% each year after 2050.

► From the Washington State Standard — Tension rising over how to spend revenue from proposed WA income tax — In addition to a 9.9% tax on adjusted gross household income above $1 million a year, the bill includes provisions to devote a sizable chunk of the resulting revenue to tax relief. It does not have a mechanism to lock in money for public schools, and Ferguson did not propose one. Two Democratic senators who played key roles in pushing the bill through that chamber voiced skepticism about the governor’s proposals. The Senate approved the bill Monday on a 27-22 vote, with three Democrats peeling off to side with Republicans in opposition. Assuming the House revises the bill, it would go back to the Senate for an up or down vote on the changes.

► From the Seattle Times — WA still locked out of disaster preparedness funds, AG says — Disaster preparedness funds that were destined for Washington communities are still being held up by the Trump administration, despite a court ordering their release, Attorney General Nick Brown said Tuesday. Brown and a coalition of states on Tuesday asked a federal court in Massachusetts to enforce its December order requiring the Federal Emergency Management Agency to restore the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Program. About two dozen projects in Washington totaling more than $150 million have been “in limbo,” according to Brown’s office.

► From the Government Executive — Unions oppose a Trump labor nominee over lack of experience, hostility toward bargaining — Though the public record on Allen’s views on collective bargaining is scant, it is not empty. In 2012, when he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the North Carolina state legislature, he submitted a candidate questionnaire to the conservative organization CIVITAS, in which he said that the state should allow union representation for “no public employees.” He also described minimum wage laws as an “unfair intrusion into the labor market, [which] hurt the employment opportunities for low-skilled labor.”

► From the Federal News Network — Congress fully funded Education Dept, but it’s moving ahead with reassigning employees to other agencies — Rachel Gittleman, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, said in a statement that McMahon “is unlawfully dismantling the Education Department by moving offices to other federal agencies despite a clear warning from Congress that she lacks the authority to do so. “This isn’t efficiency — it’s a direct threat to the tens of millions of students who rely on the Department to safeguard access to quality education and to the taxpayers who depend on federal oversight to prevent waste. Dismantling the Education Department and scattering its responsibilities will only create confusion for schools and colleges, erode public trust, and harm students and families,” Gittleman said.

► From the Guardian — California’s billionaires pour cash into elections as big tech seeks new allies — Tech billionaires are leveraging tens of millions of dollars to influence California politics in a marked uptick from their previous participation in affairs at the state capitol. Behemoths such as Google and Meta are getting involved in campaigns for November’s elections, as are venture capitalists, cryptocurrency entrepreneurs and Palantir’s co-founders…Tech billionaires are contributing to campaigns ranging from candidates for governor to local city council and school board races. They are also donating heavily to groups campaigning for relaxed taxation and minimal regulation around AI. “If you’re an uber-zillionaire, you give money early and often,” McCuan said. “They have more wealth and resources than they’ve ever had before, so that allows them to play on both sides of the aisle and up and down the ballot and across issues like never before.”

INTERNATIONAL

► From Labor Notes — Mexico City’s Trolleybus Workers Could Bring the City to a Grinding Halt — Rail, trolleybus, and cable car workers could soon hit the brakes on Mexico City’s mass transit system if their demands are not met. Their union, the Tram Workers Alliance of Mexico (Alianza de Tranviarios de México, ATM) is one of Mexico’s oldest democratic unions. The 2,700 workers are fighting for raises, job security language, and more hires and training in order to expand and maintain Mexico City’s electric transport infrastructure. The union has set a strike deadline of March 3…The 2026 World Cup is fast approaching—an additional site of leverage for the ATM. An estimated 5.5 million tourists are expected to descend upon Mexico City throughout the tournament, and they’ll need a way to get around.

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