NEWS ROUNDUP

Evergreen ed. contract | Social Security shortfall | WGA sues

Wednesday, July 15, 2026

 

STRIKES

► From UNITE HERE Local 8:

 

LOCAL

► From the Olympian — Thurston Co. school district votes 4-1 on cell phone rules. Union president objects — North Thurston Education Association President Ray Nelson took issue with the high school change, saying the district had chosen “the easy way out.” “I think that altering the draft policy to take out the prohibition around using smart devices, cell phones, whatever, for high school students during lunch and passing times is a problem,” he said…Although the past two years have largely been viewed as successful, Nelson had called on the district for better enforcement of the rules at the high school level.

 

AEROSPACE

► From Reuters — Boeing records highest first-half deliveries since 2018 — Boeing delivered 314 aircraft through the first half of the year, a 12% increase over the same period last year and the highest number of first-half deliveries for the jet maker since 2018…Boeing’s deliveries are expected to rise in the second half of the year, as it increases output of its best-selling 737 MAX. The company currently is increasing 737 output from 42 jets a month to 47.

 

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From the union-busting Columbian — Evergreen school board approves five-year contract between teachers union, district — The Evergreen Public Schools board unanimously approved a new five-year contract between the district, teachers and staff during Tuesday’s meeting, lauding both sides for working together to finalize an agreement before the 2026-27 school year. The district and Evergreen Education Association, the union that represents teachers and certificated staff, announced the agreement in June following a vote in which 95 percent of attending union members supported the contract.

► From the Athletic — Union blasts league’s MLB.TV ad campaign promoting salary cap — The tension between the two sides has simmered throughout the season and figures to continue into the winter. The current collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1. If the two sides cannot make a new deal before then, the owners are expected to lock out the players, as they did after the 2021 season. Unlike the previous lockout, though, the owners are pushing for a cap system, similar to what’s in place in the NFL, NBA and NHL. The MLBPA has insisted it will never accept a cap. Against that backdrop, the two sides have spent the past few months volleying proposals in the public eye.

 

NATIONAL

► From the Washington Post — Your paycheck is just keeping up with inflation — June’s average hourly wage gain of 3.5 percent from a year earlier just kept up with inflation of 3.5 percent over that same year-long period, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday…Real average hourly earnings for employees increased 0.8 percent, the biggest monthly gain in more than a year. But that gain comes as cold comfort to the millions of workers whose wages have failed to match it, with prices for many basics like milk and beef climbing steeply this year. Gas prices are also rising again as the U.S.-Iran conflict resumes after the collapse of the short-lived ceasefire.

► From the Gamer — Protests Planned Outside Xbox, ZeniMax, And Obsidian This Week Following Mass Layoffs — This is being organised by the Communications Workers of America (CWA), a union that represents game workers. The union says that more than 400 of its members lost their jobs in the layoffs that hit ZeniMax and Bethesda alone, and with more layoffs coming later in the year, that number could rise. “The company wants us to accept this as a done deal and quietly disappear. We won’t let that happen. Our next steps are to mobilize,” the union says. “We need to show management right now that we mean business, so they will properly take care of our fellow co-workers today and think twice before ever attempting something like this again.”

Editor’s note: one of the rallies is planned for today at 12:30pm in Redmond. More info.

► From Variety — WGA Sues to Block Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger, Alleging Writers Will Be Paid Less and Have Fewer Opportunities if Deal Goes Through — “With fewer competitors, the merged Paramount-Warner Bros. entity would have both the incentive and the ability to lower costs by suppressing writers’ wages and reducing output. Writers will be paid less and have fewer employment opportunities,” the WGA complaint states. The WGA complaint is available at this link.

► From the Guardian — White House overturns DHS halt to ICE traffic stops despite killings of two men — The White House overturned a one-day old homeland security department (DHS) memo that said they would be halting traffic stops in the wake of recent stops that left two men killed in the space of a week on Wednesday morning, hours after Donald Trump insisted ICE keep making them…Five of the 11 people shot dead by federal immigration officers since Trump’s second term began were in their vehicles at the time, and the DHS’s standard justification – that occupants had “weaponized” their vehicles against agents – has repeatedly been undercut by witness video.

 

POLITICS & POLICY

► From the AP — Bipartisan group of senators introduces legislation to avert looming Social Security shortfall — The Protecting Retirement Opportunities and Maintaining Income Security for Everyone, or PROMISE Act, comes on the heels of the latest Social Security Board of Trustees’ annual report, which found that Social Security’s retirement trust fund is projected to face a funding shortfall in 2032, a year earlier than last year’s projections…Social Security’s looming funding shortfall is mainly the result of lower projected birth rates, reduced immigration and reduced trust fund revenue due to the costs of Republicans’ massive tax and spending bill that President Donald Trump signed into law last summer, according to the Board of Trustees’ report.

► From the Tacoma News Tribune — $20 minimum wage in Tacoma? City leaders are working on a proposal — Tuesday’s meeting was a packed house, uncharacteristic for such committee meetings. About 20 people spoke during public comment about the potential for a $20 minimum wage, mostly labor union leaders and faith leaders who supported the efforts. Some argued that the city should consider raising the minimum wage even higher than $20, but said $20 was a good place to start. They said raising the minimum wage to $20 would bolster economic development in Tacoma as families would have more disposable income to spend at local businesses and would allow Tacoma residents to stay in Tacoma for work.

► From the Washington State Standard — Ferguson kicks off fight to defeat WA income tax repeal initiative — The 9.9% tax on income over $1 million is expected to bring in roughly $3 billion for the state each year…The state would also give more small companies a reprieve on Washington’s primary business tax and expand eligibility for a state tax credit to nearly half a million more residents…Matt Hipp, co-owner of breweries throughout Seattle, said the tax break would help his businesses stay afloat.“The struggles we face are real, and if Initiative 645 passes, it’s only going to make them worse because it’s almost certain it’s going to be taking money out of our pockets, out of our employees’ pockets, out of our customers’ pockets,” Hipp said at the press conference.

 

INTERNATIONAL

► From the AP — More health workers strike as Ebola cases in Congo exceed 2,000, including 754 deaths — Health workers at Bunia General Hospital, the region’s largest medical center, went on strike Wednesday and are the latest group to walk off the job at the epicenter over payment issues…The World Health Organization says more than 100 healthcare workers have been infected since the beginning of the outbreak…Some have told The Associated Press they have not received any payment since they started work at the onset of the outbreak.

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