The 1st trillionaire | Mail-in ballots | Union voters

Friday, June 12, 2026

STRIKES

► From the Minnesota Reformer — Union of 500 Target Field concessions workers announces strike — The union representing over 500 Target Field concessions workers called a one-day strike on June 22, when the Minnesota Twins are scheduled to play the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, and are asking fans to bring their own food and drinks. A strike by cooks, bartenders, suite attendants, dishwashers and other workers would be a first at a major league stadium in Minnesota and threatens to cost their employer, Delaware North, and the Minnesota Twins significant revenue.

LOCAL

► From the Seattle Times — In Longview, some workers back to work at paper mill where 11 died — This week, the Japanese-owned company confirmed that some shipping activities had resumed, and a union spokesperson said a number of workers were back at the plant, with the remainder “ready and available to come back when they’re called.”…Joshua Estes, spokesperson for the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers, said the union doesn’t have the exact number of workers who have returned to work, and Jefferies also wasn’t able to provide a figure…While the union remains “hopeful and optimistic that the site will get back up to full capacity … timing wise, it’s still a big question mark.”

► From KNKX — After deadly chemical spill, Longview official wants new safeguards — Blain has submitted several invoices to Nippon Dynawave already and is expecting the paper mill’s owners to reimburse the diking district for damages from the accident. With support from others, including Gov. Bob Ferguson, Blain is also pressing for new industrial policies for the region, such as requiring valves to contain future spills and keep them out of communities like Longview.

NATIONAL

► From the Seattle Times — Elon Musk could become the world’s first trillionaire with SpaceX’s IPO — SpaceX jumped 11% as the rocket maker’s stock opened for trading. That price gives the company a market value of $1.96 trillion and is enough to make CEO Elon Musk the first-ever trillionaire. Institutional and retail investors jumped at the opportunity to buy 555.6 million shares of SpaceX at the offering price of $135 apiece, making it the biggest IPO in history with proceeds of $75 billion.

► From the Guardian — After SpaceX’s huge IPO, Americans’ financial future will be bound to AI — Eight in 10 Americans report concern over AI, compared with a third who report being excited, according to a recent Quinnipiac poll. More than half think it will do more harm than good in their daily lives. Seven out of 10 think it will reduce the number of available jobs. Skeptical though they may be, they are about to get more AI rammed down their throats and stuck into their pension plans and their investment portfolios, whether they want it or not – binding their futures ever more tightly to the frenzied, risky, multibillion-dollar dash by technology moguls to develop machines capable of mimicking human thought processes to take over cognitive tasks.

► From People’s World — Major resolutions passed by AFL-CIO reflect strong, growing labor movement — One affirmed that fighting racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia is central to economic justice and trade union dignity. Another demanded a pathway to citizenship and denounced the mass deportation agenda and ICE terror by the Trump regime. A third laid out an industrial policy, called for guardrails on artificial intelligence, and recognized the need for new jobs in climate‑resilient infrastructure. A fourth declared healthcare as a basic right, demanded single-payer healthcare, and defended the Occupational Safety and Health Administration from corporate attacks.

► From Time — America’s Teachers Can’t Afford to Teach — Rebecca Mikkelson, a school counselor in New Mexico, currently works three jobs just to buy the basics—groceries, a place to live, and health insurance. “The message this sends is deeply troubling: even when educators follow the rules, invest in education, eliminate my debt, and work full time in public service, financial security is no longer guaranteed,” she tells me. “This is not a personal failure, it’s a systemic one.”

► From KTOO — University of Alaska staff union files unfair labor practice charge against employer — The University of Alaska’s newest and largest union filed an unfair labor practice charge against the university last week. The union alleges the university interfered with bargaining rights and retaliated against union members. The Coalition of Alaska University Employees for Equity, or CAUSE-UAW, formed in April. The union of more than 2,000 includes permanent staff at the university, including people who work in financial aid, advising, communications and other areas.

POLITICS & POLICY

► From the New York Times — Postal Service Issues Proposal to Block Mail Ballots in States That Don’t Turn Over Data — The rule, proposed last week, is vaguely written but appears to establish broad authority for the agency to intervene in the mail voting process. It calls on states to compile lists of mail voters that Postal Service employees would use to screen ballots for eligibility. If states refuse to comply, the agency could refuse to send their mail ballots…Screening mail ballots for voter eligibility, meanwhile, would amount to an unprecedented, and potentially unconstitutional, involvement of the federal government in the administration of elections. The proposed rule is vague, however, so it is unclear how the screening would work.

► From the Washington Post — Union voters are mad at Trump and frustrated with Democrats ahead of midterms — The Washington Post interviewed 27 rank-and-file union workers at the national convention of the AFL-CIO in Minneapolis this week, and nearly all said they disapproved of Trump — including the 10 current or recent Republicans and independents. Most also criticized the Democratic Party, saying its leaders should fight harder on economic issues for the working class…Among current and former union Trump supporters at the AFL-CIO convention, three, including Jason Small of Montana, told The Post they had soured on him. “Unfortunately, when he stepped in the office this time, he crashed the infrastructure bill that Biden had put together, which would have been so many American jobs for construction workers,” said Small, 47, a union boilermaker and leader in the Montana AFL-CIO who voted for Trump in 2024 and 2020.

► From the Spokesman Review — Trump looms large as 11 candidates vie to replace Dan Newhouse in central WA’s 4th Congressional District — Unlike in 2024, when moderate and left-leaning voters helped Newhouse defeat fellow Republican Jerrod Sessler in the general election despite having finished behind Sessler in the primary with just 23% of votes, Democrats in the district have united this year behind a single candidate, retired Air Force Maj. John Duresky. That leaves three prominent Republicans – Sessler, Yakima County Commissioner Amanda McKinney and state Sen. Matt Boehnke of Kennewick – jostling for pole position in the general election, which may require scarcely a quarter of votes in the primary.

Editor’s note: Duresky has been endorsed by the WSLC, AFL-CIO

► From the Seattle Times — Seattle fire union pushes Mayor Wilson to drop idea to solve budget woes — If voters signed off on the idea to start a taxing district just for the Fire Department, the department’s budget — $350 million for this year — would have its own new stream of property tax revenue separate from the general fund. In one swoop, it would essentially close the city’s overall budget hole. But the Seattle Fire Fighters Union opposed the proposal, first reported on by PubliCola, at least for now. Though the thought of having an independent source of funding had some appeal, the mayor’s office timeline was too fast, said Kenny Stuart, president of the union. “It would be impossible to accomplish this in a way we’d feel comfortable in that short period of time,” he said.

INTERNATIONAL

► From Wired — ‘Hands Off Our NHS’: Anti-Palantir Protests Break Out in UK Over Deal With National Health Service — Protesters wearing hospital gowns and wielding signs gathered outside a UK health care conference on Thursday to object to a deal between the country’s National Health Service and American software company Palantir. One protester, who gave his name as John and identified himself as an NHS nurse, tells WIRED he worries about sensitive health data falling into the hands of a foreign entity and objects to Palantir’s work with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Israeli military.

JOLT OF JOY

The Entire Staff of The STAND™️ is a massive soccer fan, love for the beautiful game developed as a little kid waking up in the wee hours to watch grainy Telemundo coverage of the World Cup, accessible only by my dad’s careful angling of the TV antennas to pick up the far-away signal. Does this make me sound old as hell? What can I say, I was born in the distant past (the 1990s). All that is to say: despite the many reasons to side-eye FIFA, I can’t deny the joy of a tournament bringing people together across the world, a joy perhaps best embodied by the people of Lawrence, Kansas, who have welcomed the Algerian national team to their town like long-lost brothers.

Lawrence, Kansas in the running for best link up between City and Team as Algeria has been embraced by the city known for the Jayhawks. pic.twitter.com/gGtCtM1m85

— Harold R. Kuntz (@HaroldRKuntz3) June 12, 2026

From learning the Algerian national anthem, to waving the Algerian flag and shouting “Viva Algérie,” and local news renaming the town Lawrence, Algeria — this is what soccer is all about.

The Stand posts links to local, national and international labor news every weekday morning. Subscribe to get daily news in your inbox.