Private equity in healthcare | Billions lost | Gen Z & the trades

Tuesday, July 14, 2026

STRIKES

► From UNITE HERE Local 8:

Embassy Suites workers like Cara have been on strike now for more than 3 weeks, and they’ll stay on the line until the bosses acknowledge the respect, pay, and dignity that the workers deserve! pic.twitter.com/iBtfNGgmkx

— UNITE HERE! Local 8 (@UniteHereLocal8) July 13, 2026

LOCAL

► From Stateline — Private equity might dodge state laws by partnering with healthcare nonprofits — After Compassus assumed control over day-to-day operations at the hospice and home health company in May 2025, management began pushing nurses and case workers to see more patients during their eight-hour shifts, she said. Staff who had been doing 13-15 patient visits per week were pressured to complete 20-25 visits…Private equity firms generally focus on maximizing returns for investors, often within a few years. As these joint ventures grow increasingly popular, they will test a wave of recent state laws that were designed to increase oversight of private equity in healthcare and prevent a repeat of the patient harm, hospital closures, mass layoffs and financial failures that have followed some of the industry’s most troubled investments…As Palmer and her colleagues continue to ask Washington state officials for help, she said she hopes they’ll take a harder look at how the joint venture is affecting her community.

► From the Seattle Times — Living in Seattle in ‘survival mode’ as inflation remains high — In the Seattle, Tacoma and Bellevue area, annual inflation remained high at 4.5% in June according to latest consumer price index data released Tuesday, slightly less than the 4.9% notched in April. By comparison, nationwide inflation averaged 3.5% in June. High regional inflation means that prices are rising quickly in an area where cost of living is already greater than elsewhere in the country…As part of his union’s collective bargaining agreements, Wilson, the math teacher in Des Moines, can typically count on getting raises tied to inflation. But those increases are pegged to rates from one or two years ago, at a time when inflation was cooler.

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From Tech Times — Bethesda Workers March Wednesday as Microsoft Stalls Union Talks After 440 Cuts — The march on Wednesday arrives in the context of a specific, documented allegation: that Microsoft reduced the frequency of bargaining sessions from roughly 12 hours per month to just 4, timed — according to CWA’s allegations — to ensure as few units as possible had finalized first contracts before the July restructuring took effect. That timing matters because of a structural split that the cuts made visible. Studios with ratified CWA contracts — ZeniMax Workers United QA, Raven Software QA, and Blizzard Quality Assurance — had legally enforceable advance-notice requirements and recall rights already in writing when the layoffs landed.

► From the Daily Barometer — Classified employees extend contract — On June 30, the last day of the existing contract’s duration, Service Employees International Union held a rally at McNary Park in Corvallis on behalf of securing their preferred benefits. After agreeing to extend the existing collective bargaining agreement, the union filed for mediation on July 1. Classified staff are non-academic employees represented by and bargained on behalf of by the SEIU union. All seven Oregon public universities collectively negotiate with SEIU. Negotiations took place in Corvallis on June 29 and 30.

ORGANIZING

► From Axios — Chicago Trader Joe’s joins independent union — The Trader Joe’s in Chicago’s North Center neighborhood just became the first location in Illinois to join the independent union of Trader Joe’s workers…Employees at the Trader Joe’s at 3745 N. Lincoln Ave. learned that employees voted 71-70 in support of joining Trader Joe’s United. The 71st vote had been challenged by management since a 2024 election, but was cleared by the National Labor Relations Board this month.

NATIONAL

► From the New York Times — In Turning to Trade School, Gen Z Confronts an Enduring Stigma — Glass is among the members of Gen Z who are reckoning with the value of a college degree. Today’s students have watched tuition climb over the course of their lifetimes. Lately they have had front-row seats to a brutal early-career job market that is being further destabilized by the rise of artificial intelligence…The number of students at public, two-year schools that focus on vocational and trade programs grew by nearly 20 percent from 2020 to 2025, according to National Student Clearinghouse data. Apprenticeships and private trade schools have logged increases, too.

► From Deadline — WGA, Cinema United Praise States For Suing To Block “Dangerous” Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery Merger — Following the news that the long-anticipated litigation had finally been filed in federal court in Sacramento, the WGA East and West wrote in a joint statement: “The merger of two of the largest Hollywood studios will reduce competition in our industry, leading to fewer jobs, lower wages for entertainment workers, less variety of programming, and higher prices for consumers. We have engaged with the offices of many State Attorneys General to explain the impact of this proposed merger, and we commend Attorney General Bonta and this coalition of states for listening to working people in the entertainment industry and fighting to stop this dangerous merger.”

► From the Guardian — ICE agents kill man in Maine as senator says victim not target of arrest — The person killed by the agent was not the target of an immigration enforcement operation, Maine senator Angus King said on Monday afternoon on CNN, reversing an earlier statement at a press conference…Crowds were seen gathering in protest a relatively short time after the shooting, according to the Press Herald. The killing marks the 11th person fatally shot by federal immigration officials since Trump took office in his second term.

► From CNBC — Burnout, frustration and heartbreak: Amazon layoffs take their toll in saturated job market — “Tech remains the epicenter of this year’s cuts,” Challenger said. “AI is the dominant force as companies are restructuring around it, automating roles and reallocating budgets toward new capabilities. The sector is being reshaped in real time.” Amazon has been downsizing more aggressively than many of its peers, laying off more than 57,000 staffers since 2022, or roughly 16% of its corporate workforce.

► From Hammer & Hope — How the Working-Class Man’s Game Became an Elite Sport in the U.S. — Elite soccer has locked the working class out of pathways to the top of the U.S. pyramid. The exorbitant cost of club fees, travel, and tournaments, paired with a lack of financial aid or scholarships for college-level athletes, has limited access to the sport. It wasn’t always so, however, and there are ways to course-correct…In the United States, sports is often organized less as a public good than as a consumer product to be marketed and sold. Rather than something communities collectively build, it gradually became something families purchase access to — an ethos U.S. Soccer embodies.

POLITICS & POLICY

► From Reuters — Trump clean energy policies linked to $83 billion in delayed or canceled projects — Trump administration policies that scaled back federal support for clean energy have led to the cancellation or delay of $83 billion in investment across hundreds of projects, ‌according to a report released on Tuesday by labor and environmental coalition BlueGreen Alliance. The report was unveiled as labor leaders prepared to meet with U.S. senators on Tuesday to discuss the clean energy workforce.

► From Common Dreams — Trump Accused of ‘Mugging’ Americans as War on Clean Energy Set to Cost US Economy $55 Billion a Year — An analysis released Thursday by nonprofit green energy advocate E2 and conducted by consulting firm BW Research estimates that clean energy projects that have been shut down or downsized during Trump’s second term would have added $55 billion to the annual gross domestic product (GDP). The analysis finds that, in addition to delivering a hit to GDP, scrapping the projects lead to 470,000 fewer jobs, including 42,000 construction jobs related to battery storage, 33,000 construction jobs related to solar projects, and 28,000 construction jobs related to electric vehicle projects.

INTERNATIONAL

► From Aerotime — Air Canada, IAMAW reach deal for maintenance workers — The four-year collective agreement would take effect retroactively from April 1, 2026, and remain in place until March 31, 2030…The latest agreement is subject to ratification by union members, which is expected to be completed in the coming days. If ratified, the agreement would mark the sixth collective agreement concluded at Air Canada this year, reflecting a period of active labor negotiations at the carrier.

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