First responders | NWDC a ‘lawless space’ | unemployment aid

Wednesday, May 6, 2026

TODAY’S MUST-READ

► From the UW Daily — OPINION: How and when will UW demonstrate commitment to its strategic aspirations? — We are the librarians and professional staff of the UW Libraries and UW Press, part of SEIU Local 925, and we have observed little evidence of the university’s commitment to “offering people financial resilience,” as articulated in Pillar 4 of the draft plan, particularly as we find ourselves well into our third month of working without an updated labor contract. The obstacles are largely due to how far apart we are on issues of fair compensation for our mission-critical work…Granted, the recently drafted university strategic plan hasn’t yet been formally adopted. And a new labor contract hasn’t yet been finalized. So there’s always hope. But hope is not a strategy.

LOCAL

► From the Seattle Times — WA ICE facility, rife with abuses, now under lower standards, UW report shows — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lowered detention standards at the Northwest ICE Processing Center under a new short term contract, even as newly released internal records reveal more than 170 reported incidents of sexual abuse and assault occurred there over a roughly 10-year period, according to a new report by the University of Washington Center for Human Rights…“We see that they’re essentially acting as a lawless space, and now they’ve written a new contract saying, basically, they intend to continue to do so,” said Angelina Snodgrass Godoy, director of the UW center.

► From KING 5 — Federal unemployment aid available to Washington residents affected by historic flooding — Residents in 10 Washington counties and members of 16 tribes who are unemployed because of the state’s severe flooding in 2025 may be eligible for additional unemployment benefits. The U.S. Department of Labor and FEMA jointly oversee the Disaster Unemployment Assistance program, which will provide eligible Washington residents with up to 44 weeks of assistance from Dec. 7, 2025, through Oct. 10, 2026…Residents of Pacific, Grays Harbor and Lewis Counties, all eligible for federal support under the program, face unemployment rates above 6%, with Pacific County ranking third-highest in the state at 7.3%.

► From the Seattle Times — ACA enrollment in WA plummets 13% after premium hikes — That translates to 36,500 fewer enrollees across the state — an unprecedented decline. “This is the sharpest drop we’ve seen since the exchange was established,” said Tara Lee, chief communications officer for the Washington Health Benefit Exchange…Enhanced premium tax credits helped enrollees save $1,330 per year in premiums on average, according to the state health exchange. The number was even higher for older adults between 55 and 64, who saved an estimated $1,910 per year. As premiums surged, thousands of enrollees faced a difficult choice: Pay significantly more for health insurance or go uninsured.

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From KOIN — Two years after unionizing, Portland Japanese Garden workers continue negotiations — Laborers Local 483 told KOIN 6 the Portland Japanese Garden is still negotiating with employees after they first voted to unionize in spring 2024. A pay dispute is the primary reason behind the ongoing negotiations, according to an email from the union’s field representative Dashiell Harrison…Workers are primarily asking for a $7 increase in hourly pay, although they would accept a lower number if they saw “some movement from the garden,” according to Harrison. Meanwhile, the union leader said garden representatives have offered a 40-cent increase, claiming the attraction is “unable to afford anything else” a year after freezing wage hikes.

► From the Bend Bulletin — Bulletin, union agree on labor contract — The negotiation between the company and the union took nearly two years to complete. But reporters, photographers and news assistants at the Bulletin and Redmond Spokesman now have their first union contract. It became official on Friday…For the first time in several years, Bulletin and Spokesman unionized staff are guaranteed pay increases based on longevity, in addition to an automatic 1% increase each year through 2029. Effective immediately, most unionized news staff at The Bulletin will receive a pay increase and their hours will increase from 37.5 to 40 hours per week.

► From Retail Dive — REI reports flat sales, narrower losses as store workers call for a boycott — But the union accused the retailer of proposing a plan to pay workers at unionized stores less than those at non-union stores. Most recently, the retailer has worked to prevent REI workers from unionizing or even publicly speaking out against the company, the union said. A boycott of the anniversary sale is the only way to get the retailer to hear worker demands, according to a statement from Jeff Rosemeyer, who works at the REI location in Castleton, Indiana. REI workers at the company’s 11 unionized stores are represented by various locals of the United Food and Commercial Workers and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. The store in San Diego has also filed to hold a union election.

ORGANIZING

► From Game Developer — Wizards of the Coast declines to voluntarily recognize game worker union — “In our letter to management this past Monday, we called on Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro to take the high road and voluntarily recognize our union by Friday, May 1st. That deadline has now come and gone, with no direct response from the company,” reads a union statement. “Management claims to be committed to ensuring every person is heard, valued, and supported. However, when we spoke up about our desire to unionize, they responded only to the press.”

NATIONAL

► From the Washington State Standard — When the helpers ‘feel helpless’: First responders get a boost in mental health support — Research suggests that first responders face higher rates of trauma-related mental health challenges than the general public, with repeated exposure increasing the risk of post-traumatic stress, depression and anxiety. That strain has also been linked to burnout, and to higher rates of substance use and suicidal ideation…Many agencies or departments offer employee assistance programs, or EAPs, which provide confidential counseling and support services for employees dealing with personal or work-related stress, but some first responders may hesitate to use them. “A lot of first responders worry about the potential for their employer to know what’s going on if they go through their EAP,” Badgley said. A 2025 survey by the National Emergency Number Association found that nearly 70% of telecommunicators reported feeling stress before every shift, with fatigue and anxiety among the most common symptoms.

► From Wired — Boycotts Hurt Tesla’s Sales. Now, Activists Are Taking On Elon Musk’s SpaceX IPO — On Wednesday, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, wrote to the US Securities and Exchange Commission urging it to scrutinize SpaceX’s IPO preparations. The company’s shares are likely to end up in the retirement accounts of the union’s 1.8 million members who come from education, health care, and government. “I have significant concerns about the degree to which this extremely large offering will comply with the securities laws’ requirements concerning full disclosure of material information and fair treatment of investors,” Weingarten wrote in a letter shared with WIRED.

► From Reuters — All eyes on job market as Fed’s rate-cut window narrows — The release of the U.S. employment report later this week will serve as a test of whether the economy remains resilient enough to keep the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy on hold, or whether a softening labor market could revive the case for interest ​rate cuts that the war with Iran has all but buried. Solid economic growth and concerns about war-driven inflation have left markets expecting no rate moves this year, a sharp change ‌since January, when fed funds futures traders were pricing in two 25-basis-point cuts in 2026.

POLITICS & POLICY

► From the New York Times — G.O.P. Proposes $1 Billion in Immigration Bill for Trump’s Ballroom Project — Senate Republicans have inserted $1 billion for White House East Wing security enhancements in the immigration enforcement funding bill they hope to rush through Congress this month, setting up a political fight over a ballroom that President Trump has said would be financed with private money. The leaders of the Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees on Monday released plans for the roughly $70 billion package, which would significantly bolster spending on Immigration and Customs Enforcement and border patrol through the end of Mr. Trump’s term using a party-line legislative process that can skirt a filibuster.

► From Reuters — US to close watchdog office for federal immigration detention abuses — A U.S. watchdog office for federal detention abuses was being closed, President Donald Trump’s administration said on Tuesday…The office reviewed abuse and misconduct in ​the immigration detention system. Its page on DHS’s website appeared as “Archived Content” on Tuesday.

INTERNATIONAL

► From Wired — Google DeepMind Workers Vote to Unionize Over Military AI Deals — In a letter addressed to Google’s managing director for the UK and Ireland, Debbie Weinstein, the workers asked the company to recognize the Communication Workers Union and Unite the Union as joint representatives for DeepMind employees. “Fundamentally, the push for unionization is about holding Google to its own ethical standards on AI, how they monetize it, what the products do, and who they work with,” John Chadfield, national officer for technology at the CWU, tells WIRED. “Through the process of unionization, workers are collectively in a much stronger place to put [demands] to an increasingly deaf management.”

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