Hotel strike | Barista wins lawsuit | Medicare AI

Tuesday, June 23, 2026

STRIKES

► From KIRO — Hotel strike continues outside Embassy Suites near Lumen Field — “We will keep going until we win,” front desk agent Cara Peralta told KIRO Newsradio from the picket line Friday. According to Peralta, guests have been supportive of the strike. “They saw the picket line in front of the hotel,” Peralta said. “Obviously, they were asking us questions, supporting us, and they said that they would talk to the hotel about getting a refund for their stay, so that was nice to hear.”

► From the Stranger — World Cup Strikers — On Thursday, employees at a pair of unrelated, big-name hospitality businesses went on strike. Workers at the Hilton Embassy Suites, a hotel at Pioneer Square, began their strike at 6:30 a.m. and are picketing the hotel, which is a short walk from the World Cup match at Lumen Field…Embassy Suites employees also want to require their bosses to notify them if ICE or DHS is on the hotel property — an issue that’s front-of-mind for many members of what the union says is a majority-immigrant workforce. Picketers with Local 8 are drawing attention to that dispute with signs reading, “No ICE in our cup.”

Editor’s note: walk the line with hotel workers from 6:30 AM to 6 PM at 255 S King St., Seattle.

► From the Philly Voice — Workers at Sheraton hotel in Center City remain on strike ahead of Philly’s third of six World Cup matches — Represented by the Unite Here Local 274 union, workers are seeking a wage increase from $22.11 to $30 per hour for non-tipped employees by 2028, a decrease from a 16-room to a 15-room quota per day for housekeeping staff and 18% banquet gratuity. Unite Here said the demands are in line with a new citywide standard at five other unionized hotels in Center City.

LOCAL

► From the Washington State Standard — Findings expected by year-end in state investigation into Longview tank implosion — The disaster, believed to be the deadliest workplace accident in modern Washington history, remains under investigation by both L&I and the federal Chemical Safety Board…L&I also is providing workers’ compensation benefits to injured workers and surviving family members. Sacks said agency staff have been on the ground since the incident occurred and expect the investigation to continue through late November.

► From the Everett Herald — Former Starbucks barista settles lawsuit over Everett labor law — A former Starbucks barista settled a lawsuit May 12 just under nine months after filing the complaint in Snohomish County Superior Court alleging the coffee company violated Everett’s labor law by refusing to give him more hours before hiring new workers. Starbucks agreed to pay Tom Bosserman, the Everett barista who filed the class action complaint on Sept. 22, “more than double what the median Starbucks barista makes in a single year,” according to a Starbucks Workers United statement.

► From the Seattle Times — Amazon employees say they were interrogated over data center comments — The employees were all members of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, an employee-led advocacy group that has campaigned in support of climate issues at the company for years. They were not calling for an open ban on data centers in the city but rather echoing the group’s concerns: that unchecked development of AI technology and infrastructure could damage democracy, the workforce and the environment…In the complaint filed with the city’s office of civil rights, lawyers representing the group said the employees made no mention of Amazon during public comment and “testified on their own time based on publicly available information.”

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From the Portland Mercury — High Turnover, Low Pay: Staff at Prominent Legal Aid and Advocacy Group Call For Ouster of CEO — There’s been more than 75 percent turnover among DRO’s union-represented positions since April 2025. WUDRO represents 19 of roughly 35 employees at DRO.  Continued high turnover “is going to sink the organization, and we all understand that. We’ve watched institutional knowledge walk out the door—or get shoved out the door—and it’s really heartbreaking,” Teays said. The union is seeking raises ranging from 25 to 72 percent, which would bring starting salaries up to $49,200 for admin assistants, $50,950 for advocates, and $68,950 for attorneys.

ORGANIZING

► From Hoodline — Pebble Beach Loopers Revolt Over Pay Shakeup, Vote To Unionize — Pebble Beach caddies have voted to unionize, a decisive move that could rewrite the playbook for how the storied resort runs its caddie program. The vote comes on the heels of a controversial May change that shifted many loopers from independent contractors to hourly employees and kicked up criticism over pay, scheduling and how decisions were communicated…A union win at Pebble Beach, a public resort with global name recognition, could become a model for other clubs and third-party caddie outfits weighing whether to classify loopers as contractors or employees.

NATIONAL

► From Bloomberg Law — Spirit Layoff Suit Puts Spotlight on Labor Rights in Bankruptcy  — The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said in court papers that employees learned of Spirit’s shutdown and immediate layoffs at the same time as the public. The Air Line Pilots Association said the collapse was an “unmitigated financial disaster” for nearly 2,000 Spirit pilots and their families, leaving them without income and medical coverage.

POLITICS & POLICY

► From the Seattle Times — Medicare AI program made them suffer in pain. Now they want answers — For months, Medicare patients in Washington have struggled with delays and denials for medical treatments due to a new program that uses artificial intelligence to review care. Now, patients and their doctors are fed up and demanding changes. Lawmakers scrutinizing the program want to see it overhauled. “Congress and the public deserve a full understanding of the impact this program is having on our seniors and our health care system,” said Rep. Suzan DelBene on Monday at a news conference at the University of Washington Medical Center. The congresswoman has sponsored legislation to roll back the program.

► From the Spokesman Review — Firefighter Nate Powell thinks Eastern Washington is ready for an independent cage fighter for Congress — He argues in favor of universal healthcare, pointing to his personal experiences as a firefighter continually responding to the same households who, because of their finances, could not seek medical help until it became an emergency requiring a call to 911…He believes that the broader economy has been rigged in favor of the wealthy, in large part because Congress is “a whole bunch of rich people … lawyers, corporate executives and career politicians, not people like us.” He was able to buy a home thanks to a “good union job and a VA loan,” but could not afford the same home today. “How did we get there?” he said at a December event. “Billionaires.”

Editor’s note: Powell has been endorsed by the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO

► From the Washington State Standard — Postal Service skips hearing with WA lawmakers on mail-in ballot rules — U.S. Postal Service officials were set to meet publicly with Washington state lawmakers Monday as the agency considers a sweeping rule change to add federal oversight to mail-in voting. But the Postal Service representatives canceled just hours before they were set to appear before a state House panel, said the committee’s chair, Rep. Sharlett Mena, D-Tacoma. Mena said the federal officials stated they’d “improperly confirmed” participation in the meeting…Meanwhile, also on Monday, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled the Trump administration’s use of a Department of Homeland Security program to check for noncitizen voters “trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote.”

► From Bloomberg Law — Democrats Seek Reversal of Labor Department Joint Employer Rule — House Democrats are urging acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling to withdraw his department’s proposed alterations to regulations for joint employer status. Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), chair of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said in a letter to Sonderling that the proposal conflicts would leave some workers without protections under the law. “By limiting who an employee can hold responsible for federal labor law violations, the Department’s proposal would shield larger businesses whose business model relies on subcontracting with thinly capitalized subcontractors or farm labor contractors that cut corners on federal labor law compliance.”

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