Political organizing | Longview firefighters | TA @ SoFi

Wednesday, June 10, 2026

LOCAL

► From KOIN — ‘That’s what firefighters do’: Longview fire chief praises rescue crews’ response after implosion — “Guys put themselves in harm’s way and probably did more than they should initially. But, you know, that’s what firefighters do,” said Longview Fire Chief Brad Hannig…Firefighters were able to pull nine people out of the chemical-soaked rubble, with one of the firefighters getting injured in the process of saving lives.

► From the Everett Herald — As state funding changes threaten co-op preschools, Edmonds College remains hopeful — Singh said he believes the parent education program already contributes to the workforce by teaching parents skills such as managing a nonprofit board. But starting next school year, the credits parents receive from the program will also go toward a four-year degree in child, youth and family studies. “We already had some skills that we thought had some labor market outcomes, but now we’ve also made some changes to make it stronger,” Singh said…The college expects to receive a decision from the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges on co-op preschool funding within the next two weeks, Singh said. If the state board rejects the funding application, Singh said the officials will take the summer to figure out a way to fund its co-op preschools.

► From the Cascadia Daily News — Mount Vernon School District staff bristle at ‘messy’ layoffs, transfer of teachers — Cheryl Thramer, president of the Mount Vernon Education Association, told the board on Wednesday, June 3 that the process of laying off 13 educators was “unnecessarily messy” and caused “a great deal of distress” to those laid off.   Plus, 41 teachers have been reassigned or transferred to other positions and schools. That’s about 10% of teachers in the district, Thramer told CDN…Twenty-three paraeducators and classified staff represented by the union, PSE 1, were given layoff notices, said co-president Freedom Gassoway, although 10 of them will move into new jobs. Gassoway said those laid off found out through an email sent during the school day. She said she wished the administration had told people in person.

► From OPB — As Portland teachers receive layoff notices, union raises objections — PPS is one of many educational institutions contending with staff layoffs as a result of budget constraints. Earlier this year, the union representing teachers in Springfield Public Schools filed an unfair labor practice charge over mid-year layoffs. At Portland State University last year, faculty who lost their jobs got them back after an independent mediator ruled that the university violated its labor contract. However, budget cuts this year left some of those same staffers without jobs again.

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From the Athletic — Union for SoFi Stadium workers reaches agreement with operators after previously authorizing strike — The high-stake negotiations by the union have earned a 40 per cent increase in pay for attendants at concessions stands, as well as a clause in the agreement that permits workers to walk off the job if the union believes that the presence of federal agents, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), creates a “reasonable apprehension of harm to the safety and security of workers.” The new agreement would last until April 30 2028, meaning it provides leverage for renegotiations ahead of the Olympic Games in Los Angeles that summer.

► From Reuters — FedEx pilots ratify new wage deal, union says — FedEx pilots have ratified a new deal that ‌would raise their wages by about 40% this year, their union said on Tuesday, following nearly five years of negotiations with the parcel delivery ⁠company. Eighty-three percent of FedEx pilots voted in favor of the new collective bargaining agreement that will also provide annual increases of 3% from 2028 through 2030, the Air Line Pilots Association, International, said.

► From the Inlander — Spokane County public defenders challenge their caseloads in court and at the bargaining table — Meanwhile, the attorneys in the Spokane County Public Defender’s Office, who are represented by the Teamsters Local 690 union, issued a statement on May 22 raising concerns about current bargaining. The union states that “a major issue in negotiations has been the County’s refusal to provide Public Defenders with equal pay and treatment compared to attorneys in the Prosecutor’s Office and other County public defense offices. Union representatives argue that the disparity reflects a broader lack of respect and investment in the Public Defender’s Office.”  The county’s job class and salary report for 2026 shows that attorneys who are represented by a union make $4,483 to $10,044 less per year than their non-represented counterparts in the prosecutor’s office and the Counsel for Defense.

ORGANIZING

► From People’s World — AFL-CIO lays out most ambitious union organizing targets ever — The panel on “Organizing to Win,” moderated by April Sims, president of the Washington State Labor Council, featured several workers who are part of organizing campaigns, whether building new unions or reorganizing existing ones…The real work will happen in places like Corning Cable, Amazon, unorganized auto plants, and on the aisles of Delta flights, where 40,000 workers are organizing a massive campaign with AFA-CWA. The shop floor is where workers decide for themselves whether organized labor shows up when it counts.

NATIONAL

► From NPR — Inflation tops 4% for the first time in 3 years on spike in gasoline prices — A report from the Labor Department on Wednesday showed consumer prices in May were up 4.2% from a year ago. That’s the biggest annual increase since April of 2023. By contrast, the Labor Department says average wages have risen only 3.4% over the last year, so workers’ real spending power has declined.

► From Wired — Soccer Fans, You’re Being Watched — “The expansion of facial recognition technology ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup reflects a broader global trend of using major sporting events to normalize biometric surveillance in everyday life,” says Clara Lilley, senior digital campaigns officer at Privacy International, which recently published a report on the global deployment of this technology in soccer…Many venues do not clearly disclose whether face recognition is being used, whether systems are run by police or private contractors, or whether biometric data is retained after events.

POLITICS & POLICY

► From People’s World — Unions to mobilize army of 22,500 election workers by July 3 — The first stage of the political organizing aims to mobilize 1,500 people by July 2-3, and Shuler set a goal for each of those people to recruit 15 more, for a total of 22,500. “If they recruit eight more people by Labor Day, we’ll have an army,” Shuler said. On top of that, Shuler wants every state federation and Central Labor Council to recruit 5% more. They’ll need to. Organized labor’s target this year is to retake control of Congress from the right wing of the GOP, led by President Donald Trump. Shuler and other speakers called Trump the biggest union-buster in U.S. history. He has fired 317,000 federal workers and erased the contracts covering an estimated one million more.

► From the New York Times — House Passes Union Contract Bill, Bucking Republican Leaders — The measure, which passed on a 230-to-193 vote, faces a slim chance in the Senate and would be all but certain to be vetoed by President Trump even if it were to reach his desk…On Tuesday, a sizable bloc of Republicans, including several from competitive districts who are slogging through tough re-election fights, joined with Democrats to push through a pro-union bill. It would impose an initial 90-day deadline on contract negotiations for new unions and their employers, along with paths to mediation and arbitration if the parties reach an impasse.

► From the AP — House passes $70B bill to fund immigration enforcement for 3 years, sending to Trump — A bill to provide nearly $70 billion for immigration enforcement narrowly passed the House on Tuesday and now goes to President Donald Trump for his signature, bolstering the administration’s deportation agenda for the remainder of his time in the White House…The funding comes on top of the nearly $140 billion that the Republican-controlled Congress gave ICE and Customs and Border Protection last year as part of Trump’s tax and spending cuts bill. Democrats objected to giving the agencies more money without significant changes in the way they operate after the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis.

► From the AP — Social Security’s retirement trust fund faces a funding shortfall a year earlier than expected — Social Security ’s retirement trust fund is projected to face a funding shortfall in 2032, a year earlier than last year’s projections, according to an annual report released Tuesday, while Medicare ’s hospital insurance trust fund will be unable to pay full benefits in 2033, which is unchanged from last year’s estimate. Rising healthcare costs and government spending have contributed to a projected depletion date that is less than 10 years from now.

INTERNATIONAL

► From the International Transport Workers’ Federation — The system is broken, we have had enough — More than 20,000 seafarers remain trapped inside the Strait of Hormuz, facing fear and uncertainty, cut off from their families, and in many cases running short of food, water and fuel. Seafarers have been killed and injured in attacks in a war zone they did not choose to enter. They are workers largely from the Global South, far from home, carrying the world’s cargo on behalf of all our economies and communities…Since the US/Israel-Iran war began, the ITF has received over 2,200 requests for assistance from seafarers in the region. Half relate to unpaid wages and contractual entitlements; around 20% are requests for repatriation; and roughly 10% concern vessels running critically low on essential fuel and supplies.

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