Corporate neglect | Litigious millionaires | 1st contract @ OPB

Thursday, April 23, 2026

LOCAL

► From Oregon Live — Teachers challenge ICE enforcement at schools, hospitals, churches — Lawyers for national unions representing teachers and school staff asked a judge Wednesday to pause the Trump administration’s policy allowing immigration enforcement in schools, hospitals, houses of worship and other “sensitive locations.”…“When you don’t feel like your child is safe at their school bus stop, something is broken — and when our students are coming home to find that their parents have disappeared, their lives and the lives of their classmates are forever changed,” Mary Kay Babcock, president of the Hillsboro Education Association, said at a news conference before the court hearing. Enforcement at hospitals and clinics has made people afraid to visit their doctors and led to parents avoiding emergency departments for their children, said Reyna Lopez of Pineros y Campesinos Unidos Del Noroeste, Oregon’s largest farmworker union and Latino organization that fights for safe workplaces, fair wages and environmental justice.

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From the Tacoma News Tribune — OPINION: It shouldn’t take a boycott to get REI Co-op to listen to its members — When big retail corporations like Amazon put profits over people, retaliate against workers for unionizing and engage in false marketing, sadly, it’s not much of a surprise to consumers. But when a company like Pacific Northwest legend REI Co-Op uses that same playbook, it’s a shock to the millions of outdoor recreation lovers who have loyally shopped for equipment, clothes and other fun stuff there for decades. REI Co-Op members — staff and customers alike — aren’t sitting back quietly and throwing up their hands, we are pushing back by pledging to boycott REI during this year’s anniversary sale, May 15-25.

► From Oregon Live — OPB union ratifies contract that sets minimum salary, built-in raises — Employees at Oregon Public Broadcasting and KMHD Jazz Radio have ratified their first union contract, establishing a $65,000 minimum annual salary for all jobs and annual raises of at least 3% for the duration of the three-year contract. Journalists, on-air hosts, producers and other OPB and KMHD employees joined the SAG-AFTRA union two years ago but hadn’t finalized a contract until now. The agreement the union announced Wednesday covers nearly 90 workers.

ORGANIZING

► From NW Public Broadcasting — Non-academic student workers at Western Washington University can unionize, doubling bargaining unit — When the bill became law on March 18, the university had to recognize the workers immediately. The union and university began bargaining on the contract for all WAWU members earlier this month. “When one group of workers that is disadvantaged is able to enshrine their power, that does make it easier for them to also lift others up,” Minnotte said…Aspen  Cates-Doglio is the student body president at Western and a former member of the operational student employees negotiating team. Cates-Doglio said this time around, Western didn’t ask the state for any funding to support this law, taking it on themselves. “ That is solely because of the power that Western’s union has built,” Cates-Doglio said.

► From KHNS — Tour guides and stockers for Skagway’s largest tourist attraction vote to unionize — The White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad employs 180 people, most of which are based in Skagway…Three union contracts already covered nearly half of the company’s employees. Two of those contracts are with Teamsters and Teamsters Canada. They represent coach cleaner and maintenance workers on both sides of the border. The other contract is with SMART-TD, which has about 35 local members, said James Ogden, an engineer and the local chapter’s general chairman. Those members include workers who operate the train, including brakemen, conductors and engineers. Now, that number stands to double, according to a railroad spokesperson. In early April, employees who work with guests more directly voted to join Smart-TD’s local chapter.

NATIONAL

► From People’s World — Every 104 minutes corporate neglect kills another worker — “Workers are still being poisoned, injured, exploited and killed on the job,” says Jessica Martinez, executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH), which released its annual “Dirty Dozen” report on the worst job safety and health violators nominated by its local councils and allies, and why those corporate bad actors made the list–though they’re not alone. “When employers say ‘The system is working,’ we have to ask ‘Working for who?’”

► From the AP — Warner Bros shareholders approve Paramount’s $81 billion takeover of the Hollywood giant — It’s not a done deal quite yet. The acquisition still faces ongoing regulatory reviews. Many critics have sounded the alarm on further consolidation in an industry already controlled by just a few major players, and are calling for the merger to get blocked — if not from the Trump administration, which seems unlikely, perhaps at the state level in the U.S. or through other court fights…Thousands of actors, directors, writers and other industry professionals have voiced “unequivocal opposition” to the deal, in a letter arguing that further consolidation will lead to job losses and fewer choices for filmmakers and movie goers.

POLITICS & POLICY

► From the Stranger — Who Are the Millionaires Suing to Stop Our New Millionaire’s Tax? — Among them are Robert and Brenda Mercer, who live in Wyoming but come from old ranching stock in Eastern Washington. They claim to own 14,000 acres in Eastern Washington along the Columbia River, where their companies Mercer Canyons and Mercer Wine Estates operate. The Mercers have been sued multiple times by their own workers, and in 2017 agreed to a $1.2 million settlement after a federal class action lawsuit from farmworkers…Curtis Nuccitelli is owner and president of Spirit Transport Systems, a Kent-based trucking company that delivers to and from the ports of Seattle and Tacoma…According to a KUOW story on the company losing money from President Trump’s tariff schemes, Nuccitelli’s drivers are contractors who don’t get paid when the boss can’t find work for them, a great way for a business owner to earn over a million dollars a year in personal income.

► From the New York Times — Senate Adopts G.O.P. Budget, Defeating Democrats’ Affordability Proposals — The Senate early Thursday morning adopted a Republican budget blueprint that would pave the way for a $70 billion increase for immigration enforcement and the eventual reopening of the Department of Homeland Security. Republicans pushed through the plan on a nearly party-line vote of 50 to 48. It came after an overnight marathon of rapid-fire votes, known as a vote-a-rama, in which the G.O.P. beat back a series of Democratic proposals aimed at addressing the high cost of health care, housing, food and energy.

► From the Seattle Times — Cuts to WA preschool programs threaten access, study says  — In 2025, lawmakers cut funding for a state preschool program that serves low-income children. This year they cut state funding for the Transition to Kindergarten program that serves 4-year-olds at some public schools…Washington’s budget cuts “threaten children’s access to preschool and will move the state further away from other states progressing rapidly toward universal access to early education,” Steve Barnett, the institute’s director, said in a statement…Federal support for expanding early education funding is sparse and shrinking. Recently, President Donald Trump said the federal government couldn’t afford to support child care while it was waging a war with Iran. “We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of day care,” Trump said. States, he added, “should pay for it. … They’ll have to raise their taxes.”

► From the Spokesman Review — Cantwell warns RFK Jr. his agency’s AI program is delaying, denying Medicare for seniors in Washington state — Since January, Washington has been one of six states chosen by the Department of Health and Human Services to test the new AI-assisted model, known as Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction, or “WISeR.” In a Senate Finance Committee hearing Wednesday, Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington told Kennedy the program has resulted in Medicare coverage being delayed or denied for treatment seniors need. “What’s happening is AI is being used as a denial device for the CMS system,” Cantwell said, referring to the federal agency that administers Medicare. “I have doctors calling me about this, I have patients calling me about this, so I would appreciate if you’d take a look at it.”

► From KING 5 — GOP party chair pushing ‘false narratives’ about mystery ballots, director of elections says — The ballots, which were not filled out, were never picked up by the intended recipients, according to an initial review by King County Elections. The United States Postal Inspection Service took custody of the ballots Tuesday and local and federal agencies are investigating. “This is clearly an effort to push a false narrative about elections and vote-by-mail,” Wise’s statement reads. “There was no opportunity for fraud here and holding onto other people’s ballots to make a public spectacle is unethical. I am grateful for the quick work of our law enforcement partners to take custody of these ballots, and for all they do to protect elections and election workers.”

► From the New York Times — Trump Is Said to Be in Talks to Send Afghans Who Aided U.S. Forces to Congo — After halting a U.S. resettlement program for Afghans who helped the American war effort, President Trump is in talks to send as many as 1,100 of them to the Democratic Republic of Congo, an aid worker briefed on the plan said Tuesday. The group includes interpreters for the U.S. military, former members of the Afghan Special Operations forces and family members of American service members. More than 400 children are among them. The Afghans have been living in limbo in Qatar for over a year.

► From the Portland Mercury — With Portland Public Schools’ Budget in Peril, All Eyes Are on State Leaders — Angela Bonilla, president of the Portland Association of Teachers [PAT], said she feels administrative bloat and soaring student transportation costs have exacerbated the district’s budget issues—but only to a point. “Part of it is district mismanagement and budget mismanagement, absolutely,” Angela Bonilla, president of the Portland Association of Teachers, said. “And I think a big part of it is that this is a reflection of our faulty state funding system.”

► From Notus — Judge Blocks Virginia Redistricting Effort Just Hours After It Passed — In his decision, Judge Jack Hurley from Tazewell County said the referendum, which voters had narrowly approved the day before, was invalid, ultimately blocking the state from taking steps to enact the new district lines…“My office will immediately file an appeal in the Court of Appeals,” state Attorney General Jay Jones said in a statement. “As I said last night, Virginia voters have spoken, and an activist judge should not have veto power over the People’s vote,” Jones added. “We look forward to defending the outcome of last night’s election in court.”

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