Strike authorized | 1% get richer | Lessons from Florida

Wednesday, June 17, 2026

LOCAL

► From the Aberdeen Daily World — Leaked Timberland Regional Library Board of Trustees president’s ‘desired outcomes’ document outlines homogenization plan — As Timberland Regional Library [TRL] is emerging from a major financial crisis and has begun the laborious process of rebuilding public trust, a source has provided an image of a internal document with a list of “desired outcomes” to The Daily World…The “desired outcomes” include: Materials about sex, sexual and gender orientation moved from children and youth sections to adult section…No rainbow and activist displays. Monthly celebrations aren’t uniting, they are dividing. Be beige, not rainbow…Speaking on behalf of himself and AFSCME Local 3758, the union that represents numerous TRL employees, union President Brent Caron said via email, “I think Mr. Mittge’s stance is abhorrent to library values. I’m sorry he’s associated with the public library that I work for and love.” According to the American Library Association [ALA], the proposed “desired outcomes” fall under the category of “censorship.”

► From KING 5 — WA congresswoman raises water quality concerns after 9th visit to Tacoma ICE facility — U.S. Rep. Emily Randall, D-Wash., said she heard new concerns about water quality inside the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma during her ninth oversight visit to the facility on Tuesday…She said she met with five detainees who raised repeated complaints about the water inside the center. “Almost every person described the water as cloudy, weird taste, weird sulfuric smell,” Randall said. She said some detainees told her they altered the water before drinking it because they were worried about their health.

► From KOIN — Oregon farm workers face ‘challenges’ amid extreme heat — Some can use their job as an escape from the heat, but that is not the case for fruit pickers in Hillsboro. Even when it’s hot out, their work has to happen…It is berry season in Oregon. But this season is already seeing record heat. On days as hot as the area has already dealt with, fruit growers have to adjust to make sure employees are not stuck out in the worst of it. That means starting days much earlier.

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From the Seattle Times — Horizon Air flight attendants authorize a strike, seek higher pay raise — Horizon’s flight attendants — represented by the AFA-CWA, or the Association of Flight Attendants union that is part of the Communications Workers of America Union — said Alaska Air Group hasn’t offered a wage proposal that keeps up with the rising cost of living in Horizon’s hubs, including Seattle…Union leaders said Tuesday they want an increase that matches the raise Alaska Airlines’ flight attendants won in their own contract negotiations last year. In that contract, all Alaska flight attendants received immediate pay raises between 18% and 28%, depending on how many years they had worked, as well as a 3% raise in March 2026 and another 3% in March 2027. The contract also added “boarding pay” for the first time, allowing flight attendants to be paid for the work they do before aircraft doors close.

► From Trains.com — Signalmen’s union, rail carriers reach tentative contract agreement — The Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen and National Carriers’ Conference Committee have reached a tentative five-year national contract agreement, the NCCC announced today (June 16). The deal follows the pattern of agreements ratified by 11 other unions, including a wage increase totaling 18.8% (compounded) over five years, improved health and welfare benefits with no increased employee contribution, and accelerated earning of vacation time. Ratification by the BRS would conclude the current round of national negotiations.

ORGANIZING

► From the Hollywood Reporter — QVC Hosts Attempt to Unionize With SAG-AFTRA — Hosts for home shopping network QVC are attempting to unionize with SAG-AFTRA in an organizing drive they say is fueled by generative AI concerns. The labor group filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board on Monday after requesting voluntary recognition from management the previous week…SAG-AFTRA says the primary concern for the hosts was the threat posed by generative AI to their work and the possibility of their images, voices and likenesses being used without consent and/or payment. By unionizing, the group is additionally endeavoring to ensure greater job protections, more transparency about pay and promotion standards, and have more of a say in the corporate environment.

NATIONAL

► From Convergence Magazine — How We Survive and Turn the Tide: Lessons from Florida — Florida became the testing ground for right-wing strategies to grow a voter base and manipulate cultural and political narratives. The state has been the site for an all-out war to capture the hearts and minds of Latino and Black voters while simultaneously limiting their political power. Now these strategies are being nationalized. It is a nightmare that organizers in the South have been experiencing for years. Here are lessons we’ve learned in Florida on how to survive authoritarianism and plant the seeds for long term resistance…The kind of coalition work needed to resist the forces of fascism is hard. As Bernice Johnson Reagon said, real coalition work makes you feel like you’re “gonna keel over.” That discomfort means you’re doing it right. Shared wins and joyful moments are fuel for the road ahead.

► From Workday Magazine — Minnesota Trade Unionists Among Those Targeted in Federal Indictments of ICE Observers — “Trade unionists active in worker assemblies are among those who were arrested,” says Kieran Knutson, president of Communications Workers of America Local 7250. “The trade unionists I’ve known for years are stand-up people who believe in solidarity. They believe an injury to one is an injury to all. They are outstanding union activists in their union and workplace, and I’m proud to know all of them.” Marcia Howard, the president of the teacher chapter of the Minneapolis Federation of Educators (MFE) Local 59, confirmed that trade unionists are among those detained. “I find it telling that they are going after unionists, including educators I know of right now, that they are going after workers. I’m really pissed off,” she said.

► From the Seattle Times — Pension fund claims Microsoft duped investors about AI growth — In a proposed class action lawsuit filed Friday in a federal court in Seattle, the St. Clair Shores Police and Fire Retirement System said Microsoft misrepresented its AI-driven cloud computing revenue growth for its 2025 fiscal year, which ended on June 30, 2025. Microsoft reported that the cloud computing division Azure’s revenue had grown by 34% from the year before and that Azure would continue to drive growth at Microsoft. But during Microsoft’s earnings call early this year, the company reported slower Azure growth.

POLITICS & POLICY

► From Stateline — Surging stock market, Trump policies boost wealth for top 1% — The richest 1% of Americans held nearly a third of the country’s total wealth at the end of 2025, the largest percentage the Federal Reserve Board has recorded since it started monitoring the numbers in 1989. In 1990, the share was 22.5%…Today’s top 1% consists of about 1.4 million households with at least $12 million in net worth, holding a total of $55.9 trillion in wealth. The bottom 50% consists of 67.7 million households with less than $264,000 in net worth. Using different methods than the Fed, French economist Thomas Piketty has asserted that the richest 1% of Americans held nearly half the nation’s wealth in 1928 and 1929, just before the Great Depression. Their share declined after that, during a period of high marginal income tax rates (the percentage of tax you pay on your last dollar of income) and widespread discomfort with astronomical pay for executives.

► From the Washington State Standard — Initiative to repeal WA income tax would ax revenue, keep added costs — Backers of the tax say initiative sponsors are misleading the public about the financial havoc that would be caused by preserving those tax savings and credits while eliminating the means of paying for them. Sen. June Robinson, D-Everett, chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, called the measure “deeply irresponsible fiscal policy.” She said Brian Heywood, the Let’s Go Washington founder and leader, “pretends he can give voters something for nothing. If the initiative passes, it would create a massive budget gap for the Legislature to grapple with. It would make it impossible to write a balanced budget without very damaging reductions in other programs and services.”

► From KOMO — AG Nick Brown claims win as appeals court rejects Trump bid to freeze wind energy — Brown called the decision a win for Washington’s economy and clean energy transition. “Wind energy is an essential option for delivering clean energy jobs and cheaper, cleaner power to Washingtonians as we transition from dirtier, more expensive fuels,” Brown said. “Once again, we’ve defeated one of the Trump administration’s harmful and illegal attacks on Washington’s economy.”

► From the Olympian — Thurston County bars new detention facilities for one year, citing ICE concerns — The moratorium specifically prohibits the “siting of public and private detention facilities or other facilities involving involuntary confinement, evaluation, treatment or custody under local, state or federal law,” according to the ordinance. The restriction applies to all zoning designations within unincorporated Thurston County. The board’s action follows similar actions in Pierce and King counties.

► From Variety — More Than 16,000 Sign SAG-AFTRA Letter Demanding Congress Pass NO FAKES Act, Which Would Ban Unauthorized AI Images and Videos — More than 16,000 people have signed SAG-AFTRA’s open letter demanding Congress pass the revived NO FAKES Act, an anti-deepfake bill that would give individuals control over how their name and likeness are used…The performers union’s letter warns that deepfakes proliferating online risk putting “victims, performers, creators and consumers at risk and in danger” over unauthorized use cases in “scams, exploitation, false endorsements and the replacement of human performance itself.”

JOLT OF JOY

This week’s bright spot is Josimar Dias aka Vozinha aka Grandpa, Cape Verde’s 40 year old goalie who made save after save to hold Spain — one of the world’s best teams — to a draw, winning Cape Verde their first ever point in the World Cup. Real David v. Goliath stuff.

After the game, he was in tears explaining that his mother wasn’t able to travel to the U.S. to see him play because of Trump’s visa restrictions. Well, thanks to a public outpouring of outrage at that injustice, the State Department has waived fees so his mother can see him play Uruguay in Miami on Sunday — a belated fix to a problem that should never have existed in the first place.

The next edition of The STAND will be Tuesday, June 23. The STAND posts links to local, national and international labor news every weekday morning. Subscribe to get daily news in your inbox.