Fighting automation | Skilled trades | New contract @ United

Wednesday, May 13, 2026

LOCAL

Photo: ILWU Local 23

► From the Tacoma News Tribune — Tacoma port workers sound alarm over efforts to automate jobs — [ILWU Local 23 President] Faker said having more employees at the port provides an indirect benefit to the port itself. Those employees often live in Pierce County, and their taxes help pay for the port’s operations. Those employees also take their salaries and spend them at businesses in Tacoma, which bolsters the city’s economy. Losing port workers means losing those benefits, Faker said. “I’m employed by the citizens of Pierce County, and so being a public employee, if I’m being asked to install devices that are going to eliminate jobs, it just doesn’t feel right at all,” said Dax Koho, a mechanic with ILWU Local 22.

► From the Spokesman Review — With initial goal met, The Spokesman-Review starts ownership shift from Cowles to nonprofit — The nonprofit slated to take ownership of The Spokesman-Review announced Wednesday it met its initial fundraising goal, triggering a monthslong transition period that will move the paper’s nearly 140-year ownership by the Cowles family to a community-operated news organization. Rob Curley, founder of the Comma Community Journalism Lab, announced the organization has raised $1 million cash and more than $1 million in committed donations.

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From PYOK — United Airlines Flight Attendants Approve New Contract, Ending Six Year Pay Rise Battle — Flight attendants at United Airlines have voted overwhelmingly in favor of approving a new contract that will see the Chicago-based carrier’s most senior crew members earning more than $100 per hour in just a few years…”The contract will immediately change the lives of United Flight Attendants, especially our thousands of new hires who have been hired since the pandemic, commented Ken Diaz, the president of United’s chapter of the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA). Diaz added: “Our solidarity delivered the goods.”

► From the AP — MLB players, owners start collective bargaining, 6 1/2 months ahead of contract’s expiration — An initial session took place at the office of the Major League Baseball Players Association, a five-minute walk from Major League Baseball’s headquarters in Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center. The meeting lasted about two hours and was scheduled for initial presentations from each side on their view of the sport and its economics. No proposals were made.

► From the Hollywood Reporter — SAG-AFTRA Leaders On What They Did — And Didn’t — Get in Their 2026 Negotiations — Duncan Crabtree-Ireland: This deal that has a lot of important stuff in it. If I were selecting a few things to highlight, I would say one certainly would be the agreement to merge our pension and retirement plans and the specific process for making that happen. That’s obviously something we’ve been looking to accomplish since merger, since 2012. And so to finally have that pathway laid out and to have an effective date and details, including additional contributions to make it possible, is very gratifying.

NATIONAL

► From Construction Dive — The pendulum may be swinging back in favor of the trades: JLL — Buildings’ increasing complexity and strong construction activity in high-growth sectors are expanding the need for skilled trades, according to JLL’s skilled trades talent research report, released in April. These trends are creating demand for workers with advanced skills that can handle more complex building assets, mechanical and electrical specifications and health and safety regulations, the report states…From 2024 to 2034, employment is projected to grow 9.5% for electricians, 8.1% for HVAC technicians, 6% for construction workers and 4.5% for plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters, according to JLL, citing data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

► From NPR — Former private prison official to serve as acting ICE chief — He previously worked for ICE during the Obama and George W. Bush administrations. He left the agency in 2012 to work for Geo Group, a private prison company that contracts with the federal government, including for immigration detention. Venturella was at Geo Group for a little over a decade…Last year, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee wrote to White House border czar Tom Homan, raising concern that Venturella’s return to ICE to oversee contracts that would go to companies like Geo Group, his previous employer, presented a conflict of interest.

► From the Valley Labor Report — WATCH: Durham Workers Shut Down Schools and Won—Here’s How — We talk about the massive shift in North Carolina labor with Mika Hunter Twietmeyer, President of the Durham Association of Educators, including the transition from a “service model” to a fighting, organizing union, successfully sweeping school board elections and using rolling sick outs to defeat wage clawbacks.

Editor’s note: Educators (and other public sector workers) in North Carolina cannot bargain contracts. How they organize under such constraints offers some interesting insight for all workers thinking through how to organize in an anti-union climate.

► From the IAM:

On #ThirdShiftWorkersDay, we recognize the workers who keep our world moving while the rest of us sleep.

Thank you to our IAM Union members and all overnight workers whose hard work keeps essential services running, our communities safe, and our economy moving. pic.twitter.com/tFei9H1clj

— IAM Union (@IAM_Union) May 13, 2026

POLITICS & POLICY

► From the Washington State Standard — Income tax foes will pursue repeal on fall ballot — Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, a lead sponsor and driving force for the income tax, said he has no doubts that Heywood’s group will succeed in making the ballot. “I welcome the conversation because I think the voters are with us,” he said. Rep. April Berg, D-Mill Creek, chair of the House Finance Committee, said voters value tax fairness and understand that those who make the least are paying a larger share of their income to support public services. “I think voters will affirm what we did in Olympia this session,” she said.

► From the Seattle Times — Complaint alleges Let’s Go Washington violated campaign finance laws — The watchdog nonprofit’s complaint, filed Tuesday, requests that the Washington Public Disclosure Commission investigate Let’s Go Washington, a conservative group founded by Brian Heywood…“[Brandi] Kruse is possibly the most prolific of political content creators in Washington, and her promotions of Let’s Go Washington’s initiatives do not qualify as editorial content,” the complaint states. “Kruse is not an impartial journalist or just an opinionated member of the public; she is a commercial advertiser with multiple advertisers.” The complaint cites Kruse’s list of advertisers on her website, which includes right-wing group Future 42, a subsidiary of Heywood’s nonprofit Project 42.

► From Reuters — Republicans in South Carolina Senate reject redistricting bid that Trump backed — A bid to redraw South Carolina’s congressional map and eliminate the state’s sole ​Democratic U.S. House district failed in the state Senate on Tuesday, when a handful of ‌Republicans broke with President Donald Trump and voted against the effort. The outcome likely means that U.S. Representative Jim Clyburn, a Black Democrat with broad influence within the party, will retain his seat in November’s midterm elections. Republican Governor Henry McMaster could call ​a special legislative session to consider redistricting but has thus far resisted the idea.

► From Notus — Women in Both Parties Agree: Sexual Harassment Training in the House is ‘Laughable’ — Top staffers in four congressional offices — two Republicans, two Democrats — alternately described current House anti-sexual harassment training as “weak,” “perfunctory,” “pathetic,” “a joke.” “Of course there should be more done. Everybody agrees this behavior has to stop,” said one high-ranking House staffer who spoke to NOTUS on the condition of anonymity. Notably, the House Administration Committee’s workplace training requirements for all House employees do not explicitly state that information regarding sexual harassment or misconduct must be included in the trainings.

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