NEWS ROUNDUP

Tax the rich | Hospital safety | Sbux investors

Friday, February 20, 2026

 

STRIKES

► From Spectrum News — Tentative deal reached in NewYork-Presbyterian nurses strike — Thousands of nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian could return to work next week after their union and the hospital system reached a tentative agreement to end a month-and-a-half-long strike, both sides said early Friday morning. The New York State Nurses Association said about 4,200 of its members reached the deal following what it described as a historic strike. Union members will vote on whether to ratify the contracts this weekend. If approved, nurses would return to work next week.

 

LOCAL

► From KUOW — ICE agents often ignore safety and privacy practices for detainee patients, Tacoma nurses say — Nurses at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma say that since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term, they’ve seen many more ICE detainees come to the hospital as patients — always accompanied by two ICE agents acting as guards. The nurses allege that these agents have repeatedly ignored practices safeguarding patients’ privacy, health, and safety, including by refusing to leave detainees’ rooms during catheter changes, shackling a detainee so tightly to a bed they caused nerve damage to the person’s hand, and refusing to wear required masks and gowns in rooms where patients had communicable diseases…“What I think most nurses want to see is … ICE out of our hospitals,” said Jared Richardson, a nurse and union organizer for the Washington State Nurses Association. “We think it’s harmful to the healing environment. We think it’s harmful to the community. We think it’s harmful to preventative care, and we don’t think … the presence of ICE in the hospital [is] appropriate.”

Editor’s note: hear more from nurses and healthcare workers at St. Joe’s in a town hall this evening

► From the Cascadia Daily News — Whatcom Community College lays off tenured faculty member; union calls foul — But the Whatcom Community College Federation of Teachers disputes many of the facts set out by the board and Guillory, saying that drama fill rates sit at 96%, and the courses have a relatively low cost per student to run. The assertion that Large has been unable to maintain a full instructional load is “factually incorrect,” the union said in a report to the board. It’s the first time that a tenured faculty member has been eliminated in the college’s history, WCCFT President Barry Maxwell said in a presentation to the board.

► From OPB — New Seasons Labor Union ‘outraged’ at 95 layoffs, including heavy toll at union stores — In a statement, the NSLU-UE said workers affected by this week’s layoffs at unionized locations will be placed on a recall list. Typically that means if a unionized position becomes available, the union will reach out to a laid-off worker on the list. If the person is able to take the job, that recalled worker will make the wage they did when laid off. While the recall process may help some individual workers, union leaders are looking for ways to challenge the layoffs in the first place. The NSLU-UE is holding a membership meeting on Thursday, the union said in a statement, “where we will be discussing and approving a plan of action to respond to this decision.”

► From KING 5 — Floodwaters threaten the Hmong flower farmers who help define Pike Place Market — Hmong farmers have shaped the flower stalls at Pike Place Market for decades. In the early 1980s, refugees from Laos arrived in Washington State following the Vietnam War. Through the Indochinese Farm Project — a partnership among King County, the market and Washington State University — families were provided farmland and a place to sell…According to post-flood surveys from the Pike Place Market Foundation, 84% of farmers reported impacts, and 64% experienced infrastructure damage. For families like the Changs, even one disrupted season carries lasting consequences. “I’m worried about Mother’s Day,” Chang said. “Some flowers that were supposed to bloom then were damaged.”

 

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From PYOK — United Airlines Flight Attendants Confident They Can Secure Contract Deal Next Month But Still Aren’t Backing Down On Concessions — With two more federally mediated bargaining sessions scheduled between United Airlines and the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA), the race is now on to finalize the remaining open, but perhaps, the most contentious parts of the contract before a tentative agreement can be announced…The [union’s] memo then warned: “We have zero interest in delaying bargaining or extending these negotiations. We have made a lot of progress so far and can reach a deal. But if we do not, then we are prepared to aggressively move the process forward.”

► From Yahoo Sports — WNBA CBA negotiations ‘trending in the right direction,’ says union VP Napheesa Collier  — “We are not where we want to be, but I think negotiations are trending in the right direction,” Collier said Wednesday on Yahoo Sports’ Hoops 360 podcast. “And that’s what you want. You want movement. You don’t want to be in a stalemate. You want there to be hope for the future and I do have that. I think there has to be a lot of movement in a lot of places in the CBA, but the fact that we are moving, I think, is really hopeful.”

► From the Chattanooga Times Free Press — Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga approve union contract — “Volkswagen workers have taken control of their own destiny,” UAW President Shawn Fain said during an announcement Thursday evening in Chattanooga. “No boss is going to keep us from having our union, and no corporation is going to stop us from winning our fair share,” Fain continued. “But you’ve also done something bigger than that. You’ve scored an historic victory for Chattanooga. This union contract is going to massively improve lives — but not just the workers at Volkswagen’s lives. This win is for every autoworker that comes after you.”

 

NATIONAL

► From the Guardian — Trump’s immigration siege is rattling hospitality industry, workers say — The number of employed hospitality workers dropped by 98,000 from December 2024 to December 2025, according to a report from Unite Here, which represents 300,000 workers across the hospitality, food and tourism industries in the US and Canada…Because of the federal government’s immigration crackdown, “many of our members have been afraid to go to work,” Lüneburg said. Sixteen airport workers were detained by immigration enforcement earlier this year, Lüneburg said. “These are workers that are authorized to work and passed TSA background checks,” he added.

► From Reuters — Starbucks’ investor group urges shareholders to replace directors over labor row — Starbucks faced fresh pressure on Wednesday from a coalition of investors including public-sector pension funds that urged shareholders to vote against the reelection of two directors, citing persistent failure to manage labor relations. The move against Starbucks’ lead independent director, Jorgen Vig Knudstorp, and Beth Ford, chair of the board’s Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, comes as the company is locked in a prolonged effort to reach a collective agreement with its unionized baristas.

 

POLITICS & POLICY

► From People’s World — Olympia lawmakers hear demands: ‘Tax the rich! Fund education, healthcare!’ — April Sims, President of the Washington State Labor Council, led a crowd of over 500 union members in a chant on the State Capitol steps: “Taxes fair, make the wealthy pay their share.” They also chanted, “Millionaires pay your due! Kids’ future depends on you!” Sims denounced Washington State’s regressive tax law. Poor and low-income taxpayers bear the heaviest burden in paying for education, health care, environmental protection, and all the other services provided by the state. Jane Hopkins, the State President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), said, “Are we gonna protect wealth? Or are we gonna protect lives? Washington should stand for care, dignity, the community, and not be worried about millionaires’ feelings.”

► From the Yakima Herald-Republic — WA farmworker union bill doesn’t make it through Legislature — Saldana said in a statement that, although she is disappointed, her bill marked “the first time since 1992 that legislation addressing collective bargaining for agricultural workers was introduced for consideration” in the Legislature…During the bill’s first hearing at the Senate Labor & Commerce Committee — which Saldana chairs — Lucy Madrigal, a daughter of farmworkers, said, “This isn’t just about a paycheck, it’s about dignity.” Workers at the Windmill Farms mushroom plant in Sunnyside have been trying since 2022 without success to form a union there. The United Farm Workers has called for a boycott of Windmill Farms mushrooms in response.

► From CNN — Supreme Court rules that Trump’s sweeping emergency tariffs are illegal  — The decision is arguably the most important loss the second Trump administration has sustained at the conservative Supreme Court, which last year repeatedly sided with the president in a series of emergency rulings on immigration, the firing of the leaders of independent agencies and deep cuts to government spending. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion and the court agreed 6-3 that the tariffs exceeded the law. The court, however, did not say what should happen to the more than $130 billion in tariffs that has already been collected.

► From Wired — DHS Opens a Billion-Dollar Tab With Palantir — According to contracting documents published last week, the blanket purchase agreement (BPA) awarded “is to provide Palantir commercial software licenses, maintenance, and implementation services department wide.” The agreement simplifies how DHS buys software from Palantir, allowing DHS agencies like Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to essentially skip the competitive bidding process for new purchases of up to $1 billion in products and services from the company.

► From Trains.com — Bill calling for time and a half pay on federal holidays gains rail union support — The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division; Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen; and Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division are among the labor organizations across several industries that have endorsed the legislation. “This bill will ensure that when we work on federal holidays (as we always have), we are compensated fairly for that sacrifice,” Jared Cassity, SMART-TD national safety and legislative director, said in a press release. “Just as important, it offers long-overdue acknowledgment and respect for the essential service rail workers provide every day of the year.”

► From the Seattle Times — Sen. Cantwell, WA elections officials slam Trump-backed voter ID bill — At a news conference in Seattle on Thursday, local elections administrators joined Cantwell in warning the proposal, if approved, would create major obstacles for voters who want to weigh in on the midterms this fall. King County Elections Director Julie Wise said the bill’s restrictions would require anyone updating their voter registration to submit new paperwork and ID — leading to thousands waiting in line to prove they should be allowed to vote before Election Day. “I think that’s disenfranchisement when we make people stand in line for seven-plus hours. And that’s what we would realistically see here in King County,” Wise said.

► From My Bellingham Now — States sue Trump administration over cuts to clean energy programs, including one in Whatcom County — The state is suing two federal agencies over their decision to cut clean energy funding that includes a big project in Whatcom County…“This administration wants to sabotage all of the progress Washington has made in embracing renewable energy and addressing climate change,” Brown said. “We refuse to be dragged back to the days of runaway pollution in flagrant violation of the law.” The grants included more than $27 million for the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub, which sought to create a regional network of hydrogen producers.

► From the IAM:

 

JOLT OF JOY

Truly nothing like watching another human being slide across the ice and twirl in the air with the kind of casualness that most of the rest of our species can only manage for walking down the street:

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