Hanford | Amazon’s union-busting budget | Hunger strike

Thursday, May 7, 2026

STRIKES

► From People’s World — New Orleans nurses end strike over short-staffing and bargaining issues — “We started our strike on May Day,” Etienne said, just as millions of workers and their allies hit the streets in 5,000 marches in every state, plus Puerto Rico. “It’s been a perfect example of the spirit of the day. “We had an election in November 2023,” and unionized, Etienne explained. “We’ve been in negotiations for over two years without a contract. Management engages in surface bargaining, or cancels sessions,” and doesn’t reschedule them. The union has been forced to file unfair labor practices charges—the formal name for labor law violations—against the hospital.

LOCAL

► From the Tri-City Herald — Murray, union leaders warn of layoffs under Trump proposed Hanford budget — Workers who are at risk of losing their jobs may not wait for a layoff notice but will leave for cities like Portland or Boise where more secure jobs are available, and they won’t be coming back to Hanford, said Seth Worley, vice president of the Central Washington Building and Construction Trades Council…Slowing work at Hanford now just means spending more money on it next year or in the next decade, said Nick Bumpaous, business manager for Local 598. Barry Shoemake, business agent for the Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council, said he’s a third-generation Hanford worker. “I don’t want another generation out there,” he said…“Let’s put a bow on it. The end is in sight.”

► From OPB — With ApolloMD out, PeaceHealth changes its plan, signals a reunion with Eugene Emergency Physicians — The Oregon Nurses Association also applauded the turn of events, calling it “a historic victory for all Oregonians” in a news release. “PeaceHealth’s decision to reverse course is not an act of leadership, it is a retreat,” read the ONA statement. “Health executives were forced to back down thanks to lawsuits, pressure from elected leaders, and an unprecedented show of solidarity from thousands of nurses, doctors, caregivers, and community members who stood together to hold PeaceHealth accountable and stop out-of-state corporations from controlling our care.”

► From OPB — Ashland hospital plans hundreds of layoffs amid budget troubles — The Oregon Nurses Association said Asante executives are responsible for the hospital’s financial woes. “It’s egregious for Asante executives to rack up nearly a million dollars in fines for failing to follow a staffing law designed to keep patients safe — and then turn around and blame the law and the frontline caregivers fighting to uphold it,” the union said in a statement.

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From the Stranger — SIFF Cinema Workers Union Still Want a Fair Contract — SIFF and the union have been in bargaining since January, and the nonprofit has provided only one wage proposal, with no concessions. In a statement posted on their Instagram, the union said management has proposed reducing minimum staffing levels by half, halving employee sick hours, cutting pay for shift leads, and having the ability to cut staff hours on shorter notice. Management has also proposed “locking wages for the next three years with no yearly adjustments.” Workers say by the time it expires, the minimum wage will rise above what they’re currently making.

ORGANIZING

► From Teamsters’ Just Cause — Amazon Doubled Its Union-Busting Budget. Meet Some Amazon Teamsters Fighting Back.  — Amazon was recently forced to disclose how much it spent on external union busters in 2025. At least in terms of what it’s willing or able to publicly reveal, Amazon admitted to doubling its union-busting budget to over $26.6 million. This is just the amount Amazon spent on outside firms whose sole purpose is to erode the rights of American workers…“When we demanded recognition as Teamsters, we saw an immediate and extreme response from Amazon. We had probably three times as many managers in our building,” Josh said. “They came in from all over America. All of them clearly had experience with union busting. And they had a shared goal to try to turn us against the Teamsters.”

NATIONAL

► From People’s World — Hundreds on hunger strike at Michigan detention center over inhumane conditions — Hundreds of detained immigrants have launched a rolling hunger and work strike at the North Lake Detention Center, the largest detention center in the Midwest, operated by the private prison corporation GEO Group in Baldwin, Michigan. They are protesting what they describe as inhumane conditions, medical neglect, and a systematic denial of due process…They report that federal judges are issuing excessively high bond amounts and denying asylum cases arbitrarily, while Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents cover up the strike and abuse inside the facility. “They are lying, like always, when they say there is no strike,” the striker continued. “They never admit the truth. They hide what is happening, they abuse us. They treat us like murderers, and we are not.”

► From the AP — Lower-income Americans hit hardest by gas price spike, widening inequalities, study finds — The gaps between how each group reacted were larger than in 2022, when a similar gas-price shock occurred after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the report found. Higher-income households cut back more on their gas consumption four years ago than in March, while poorer households likely benefited more from government stimulus programs in 2022. Wealthier households have seen significant increases in the value of their stock and real estate holdings since then as well. The figures suggest the gas-price surge has worsened what many economists call the “K-shaped economy.”

► From AFA-CWA:

POLITICS & POLICY

► From Politico — Another federal appeals court rejects ICE’s mandatory detention policy — An Atlanta-based federal appeals court became the latest to reject ICE’s efforts to lock up — without an opportunity for bond — the vast majority of people the Trump administration is seeking to deport…The administration’s interpretation, [judges] note, would subject millions of people — many with jobs, U.S. citizen children and spouses, no criminal records and unbroken attendance at immigration proceedings — to mandatory mass detention without bond. No prior administration believed it had this authority, they noted.

► From the Alabama Reporter — Alabama unions condemn post-ruling push to redraw voting maps — Alabama AFL-CIO President Bren Riley released the following statement on Tuesday in response to “attempts to further strip workers of voting representation” following the Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais: “Any trade unionist can tell you that what is decided in Washington D.C. and in our state legislatures has a direct impact on what we can win at the bargaining table. When voting maps are redrawn to suppress the voices of our Black and brown brothers and sisters, all workers suffer because these efforts only give power-hungry billionaires more leverage to dismantle our labor rights.”

► From the Washington State Standard — Healthcare costs top of mind for voters as midterms approach, survey finds — “While the issue of health costs is more salient for Democratic voters than for Republicans, larger shares across partisans say health costs will have a major impact on their voting decisions than say the same about vaccine policy or food safety,” the survey said. Seventy-two percent of Democrats, 63% of independents and 47% of Republicans said the cost of healthcare will have a major impact on which party’s candidate they vote for.

INTERNATIONAL

► From People’s World — Mexican postal workers win concessions, threaten strike action — Concessions extracted during the course of mediation include the acquisition of helmets, satchels, and saddlebags for letter carriers, plus a commitment to purchase 3,000 new motorcycles, with new requirements for repair servicing and safety features. Another commitment for the immediate addition of 300 jobs and a total of 2,500 new positions by 2030 will expand the footprint of the union, which has lost ground over the years as member retirements and resignations outpace hiring and replacement.

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