PeaceHealth cuts? | GEO Group sued | Chattanooga contract

Friday, February 6, 2026

STRIKES

► From the Huffington Post — Union Starbucks Workers Call On Customers To Delete Starbucks App — Unionized Starbucks baristas are asking their supporters to delete the Starbucks app from their phones in order to pressure the coffee chain at the bargaining table. The request is the latest escalation in the workers’ long-running battle for a first contract. The union Workers United has organized around 650 stores across the country since late 2021, but is still struggling to secure a collective bargaining agreement that guarantees wage increases and benefits.

► From CBS News — NYC nurses strike tentative deals on more key issues on Day 25, but not enough to end work stoppage, union says — Nurses said the sides agreed to artificial intelligence protections and some issues at the individual hospitals, more than a week after the union said they had another tentative deal on health care benefits, a key piece of the puzzle. The remaining sticking points, in addition to wages and health care benefits, are safe staffing standards to protect patients and nurse protections from workplace violence, according to the nurses.

LOCAL

Healthcare workers picketing in May of 2025. Photo: SEIU Healthcare 1199NW

► From Cascadia Daily News — Consultants inside PeaceHealth invoke fear of more cuts — On Tuesday, Feb. 3, employees of the hospital’s lab, which is under evaluation for staffing cuts, confronted multiple members of the consulting team. The lab assistants, who are represented by Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare 1199NW, delivered a petition signed by more than 400 hospital employees to the consultants that explained the importance of their work to the hospital. “We want to be clear: a shortage of lab assistants means that our patients will suffer,” the petition reads. In what was described as an awkward and uncomfortable encounter, none of the consultants present in the lab who received the petition verbally responded to the lab assistants standing before them, said Billy Reeves, who was among the lab assistants who delivered the petition.

► From the Seattle Times — Lawsuit accuses WA detention center staff of assault, sexual abuse — One man held at the federal government’s immigrant detention center in Tacoma was allegedly groped by a guard. Another was allegedly slammed to the floor by officers, then made to strip in front of a female staffer, who recorded a video. Guards allegedly beat a third detained man so badly he had to be moved by stretcher. A lawsuit filed Wednesday in Pierce County Superior Court describes these alleged incidents and contends they are part of a pattern of misconduct by officers of the GEO Group. The private, Florida-based company runs the Northwest ICE Processing Center, which holds roughly 1,600 people and is one of the largest detention centers in the country…Dozens of people held at the Tacoma facility have also complained of assaults and sexual abuse. The University of Washington Center for Human Rights last year found 157 such reports to the Tacoma Police Department between 2015 and 2025. Detained people were the reported victims in 90% of those cases.

► From the Tacoma News Tribune — OPINION: This is what Tacoma school budget cuts look like on the ground — All this year, the two teachers for these three classes have worked as hard as any two teachers possibly could. They have been wonderful. And it hasn’t been enough because the principle, administration and school district have patently refused to honor their beginning-of-the-school-year commitment to support with whatever needed for success, instead blaming funding and then the teacher’s union, and all to the detriment of our children…Now, I can’t help but think about how the district resolved their $30 million deficit last June, the 105 provisional employee contracts not renewed and the 118 education support professionals whose positions were impacted…Because when you balance a deficit on the backs of the lowest paid staff, those most impacted, the students, suffer the consequences.

► From Oregon Live — Western states need $60 billion investment in new transmission lines by 2035 to avoid major reliability problems — “One thing is for sure, and that is we need transmission and we need it fast,” Brandon Sudduth, vice president of reliability planning at the Western Energy Coordinating Council, said in a video accompanying the study’s release. Utilities and grid planners have not kept up with the broad changes taking place in the industry, and coalition members say the study represents a credible, actionable plan to meet the looming needs at the least cost and risk. If providers fail to act with urgency, they said, there will be dramatic adverse impacts.

► From KIMA — International Paper plant closure to cut 102 jobs in Union Gap by April 3 — Union leaders are planning to meet with company officials to discuss the impact on workers. This announcement comes on the heels of another WARN notice regarding the closure of Crunch Pak in Selah at the end of March, which will affect 101 employees.

AEROSPACE

► From KING 5 — Boeing to move some engineering work out of Washington state — A major labor union representing Boeing engineers is seeking answers after learning that engineering work tied to the company’s 787 Dreamliner program is being shifted from the Pacific Northwest to South Carolina, a move union leaders say came with little warning and raises questions about job security…Union leaders say the lack of clarity is especially concerning as SPEEA approaches contract negotiations later this year. Contracts for the union’s two largest bargaining units — the professional and technical units — are set to expire this fall, placing both sides on track for negotiations in the coming months. SPEEA officials warn that relocating work without clear assurances on job security could complicate talks and strain labor relations further.

CONTRACT FIGHTS

Photo: REI Union

► From the Seattle Times — REI union workers reject contract proposal — Workers at 11 REI stores, including one in Bellingham, rejected a proposed union contract Thursday. Despite years of fighting to negotiate a contract, almost 99% of unionized workers at the Issaquah-based co-op voted to reject a proposal this week, according to a joint news release by REI and the unions on Thursday…REI workers at the Bellingham location — the only unionized store in Washington — approved representation by UFCW in 2023. The retailer has 195 locations nationwide, including 11 in Washington. REI and the unions plan to “continue good-faith discussions,” with the next bargaining session set for later this month.

► From the Spectator — Cherry Street Unioneers in Negotiation with Chartwells — Alejandro Malagon, a grill cook who has worked at the Cherry Street Market for 14-years, was one of the original workers involved in the union efforts. “You know, we’re not asking for a lot, really. We’re just asking for what’s fair to us, because all of us are feeling the impact on our cost of living going up, anywhere from rent to groceries, to any of your basic needs being met. There isn’t a balance anymore, like there used to be,” Malagon said. One of the workers’ primary demands is a pay increase to keep up with the rising cost of living in Seattle. Union workers say they aren’t looking for huge pay raises, just enough to live comfortably. Another important concern for many workers is affordable medical insurance. Health insurance premiums rose by an average of 21% in 2026 after last year’s average rise of 10.7%.

► From Axios — Volkswagen workers’ victory represents rare union breakthrough for South — Workers at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga, Tennessee, factory won 20% raises and lower health care costs in their first UAW contract after nearly two years of bargaining…The UAW has been trying to organize the so-called transplant factories — a group now including Nissan, Mercedes-Benz and others — for 40 years. They finally succeeded at Volkswagen in 2024, after previous failed votes in 2014 and 2019…”This is a breakthrough win for autoworkers,” Rebecca Kolins Givan, a labor professor at Rutgers University, tells Axios. “Achieving a contract demonstrates that workers in the South can and will win strong contracts. Workers at other foreign-owned automakers will now be able to see the material benefits that can be won in a union contract.”

ORGANIZING

► From the NW Labor Press — They help riders in crisis — Now TriMet safety workers want a union — More than 80% of workers at TriMet are unionized — but not the safety crews who patrol TriMet stations, buses, and light rail to offer resources to passengers who may be in crisis. The safety workers want to change that. In November, Safety Response Team workers delivered a request for voluntary recognition to Portland Patrol, Inc., the security company that employs them and contracts with TriMet. Workers and the union they want to join, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 49, said Portland Patrol has refused to engage with the union effort, offering a pizza party and raises for some employees while delaying and providing non-answers to the union’s request for recognition.

NATIONAL

► From the AP — US job openings fall to 6.5 million, fewest since 2020, as labor market remains sluggish — The Labor Department reported Thursday that vacancies fell to 6.5 million in December — from 6.9 million in November and the fewest since September 2020. Layoffs rose slightly. The number of people quitting their jobs — which shows confidence in their prospects — was basically unchanged at 3.2 million. December openings came in lower than economists had forecast.

► From Politico — AI-powered robots are coming for trade jobs — Developments in robotics mean it’s only a matter of time before AI-powered machines can repair pipes, operate bulldozers and prepare food — creating a host of new potential policy problems for lawmakers and unions to deal with. “It’s a whole other challenge on top of the large language models,” said Communications Workers of America Union assistant research director Dan Reynolds, whose union represents both office workers and tradespeople…Yet, preparing for labor displacement that hasn’t happened can be tricky. “Our concern right now is [AI robotics] is just moving too quickly, and so it makes it difficult to plan for how this is actually going to affect workers, and what employers are going to do,” said David White, director of strategic resources at the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. “We are keeping an eye on that as much as we can.”

► From WTOP — Laid‑off Washington Post staff rally outside DC headquarters after massive cuts — Weiner said this round of cuts was handled differently from past layoffs. “They did something they haven’t done in previous layoffs and buyouts, which is you lock us out of the building and the systems immediately and not let us finish anything we were working on,” Weiner said. The rally was organized by the Post News Guild and the Post Tech Guild unions. The crowd listened as journalists and tech workers described the impact of losing hundreds of colleagues.

POLITICS & POLICY

► From the Hill — Trump finalizes rule making it easier to fire 50,000 federal workers — The Trump administration on Thursday finalized a rule that gives it the power to more easily fire an estimated 50,000 federal workers who focus on policy, striking many civil service safeguards while also gutting their whistleblower protections…The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) on Thursday said the rule would open the door to political patronage. “This rule is a direct assault on a professional, nonpartisan, merit-based civil service and the government services the American people rely on every day,” Everett Kelley, the group’s president, said in a release.

► From the AP — Homeland Security shutdown grows more likely as Republicans rebuff Democrats’ ICE demands — The Democratic leaders, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, released an expanded list of 10 detailed proposals on Wednesday night for restraining President Donald Trump’s aggressive campaign of immigration enforcement. Among the demands are a requirement for judicial warrants, better identification of DHS officers, new use of force standards and a stop to racial profiling.

► From Ms. Magazine — Trump-Era Federal Layoffs Hit Black Women Hardest — The numbers are staggering. Between February and July of 2025, Black women lost 319,000 jobs in the U.S. labor market. By comparison, white women saw a job increase of 142,000; Latina women saw an increase of 176,000 jobs; and white men saw the largest increase of all groups, with a gain of 365,000 jobs during the same five-month period. This glaring disparity is attributed to a myriad of factors, most notably the Trump administration’s sweeping cuts of federal jobs—some 300,000 in just one year, according to the director of the Office of Personnel Management.

► From Common Dreams — TrumpRx Denounced as Corrupt Scheme to Line Pockets of Big Pharma—and Don Jr. — Experts warned that patients who use TrumpRx could end up paying more for their medications than if they pursued other available options. “TrumpRx’s offerings are very limited, fewer than 50 drugs listed, and most are niche products used by few patients,” Rena Conti, an associate professor at Boston University, told ABC News. “Many are available in generic form at even lower prices or already available to consumers at low or even very low prices elsewhere. This suggests it pays for consumers to check their insurance coverage and ask their regular doctor or pharmacist before they use this service.”

► From the NW Labor Press — Washington may require suicide prevention training in construction — In 2023, 982 U.S. construction workers died in job site accidents, but five times as many died from suicide, and 15 times as many from drug overdoses. Building trades unions are increasingly grappling with mental health and substance abuse as serious safety issues for members. [HB 2492] is a priority for the union building trades, Washington State Building Trades executive secretary Heather Kurtenbach told lawmakers at a Jan. 21 hearing. Kurtenbach is a journeyman ironworker who herself overcame addiction; she also lost her youngest brother to suicide. “This bill will save lives,” Kurtenbach said.

INTERNATIONAL

► From Common Dreams — Demonstrators Rally in Milan to Say ‘FCK ICE’ as Winter Olympics Kick Off — One demonstrator, a Minnesotan currently studying in Europe, told the outlet that she “thought that this was a good opportunity to show that the rest of the world is not okay with what’s happening in Minnesota.” “It’s not okay to just acquiesce and go with the status quo,” the protester said.

JOLT OF JOY

Best of luck to our local union brothers battling it out at Levi stadium this Sunday. Go ‘hawks!

 

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