NEWS ROUNDUP

Blizzard contracts | How Amazon union-busts | Budget forecast

Monday, September 28, 2026

LOCAL

► From My Northwest — Seattle earns 4th-highest ranking in the world in new study of 1,000 cities — Seattle fared extremely well on the list, claiming the No. 4 spot in the world with an overall score of 92.8, according to Oxford Economics’ 2026 Global Cities Index. Seattle’s economic ranking spearheaded its favorable spot on the list, claiming a score of 89.8 out of 100, where only New York, Los Angeles, and San Jose bested the city in this regard.

► From the union-busting Columbian — La Center teachers’ union delivers vote of no confidence to superintendent — The La Center Education Association delivered Superintendent Peter Rosenkranz a vote of no confidence during Tuesday’s school board meeting. In a letter addressed to the La Center school board, the teachers’ union described the vote as a reflection of eroding trust, ineffective communication and disconnect between the union and superintendent.

 

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From Labor Notes — Video Game Workers Win First Contract at Microsoft-Owned Blizzard — Blizzard workers won the right to be recalled for 14 months after being laid off. This right extends to any open positions they are qualified for across the 1,900-worker Blizzard bargaining units…CWA has organized 4,000 video game workers at Microsoft, and has another 550 members in its industry-wide United Video Game Workers affiliate. The latter is a pre-majority union: it allows video game workers to directly join before winning a union election, a model CWA has employed in organizing public sector and higher education workers in Southern states. Another 100 game developers behind Magic: The Gathering Arena voted to join CWA in June.

► From OPB — Oregon’s public universities, classified workers narrowly avoid strike — Classified workers from Oregon’s seven public universities have reached a tentative collective bargaining agreement with the higher education institutions. SEIU 503 announced early Monday morning — just hours before its members were set to picket — that the strike was called off.

► From the Daily Bruin — 1,600 communication workers ratify contract to join UC’s largest union — UC communication workers voted Thursday to join a union representing more than 60,000 student employees, researchers and educators across the University. UC Communication, Marketing and Sales Specialists ratified a union contract Thursday to join United Auto Workers Local 4811. The contract will cover about 1,600 workers across the UC.

 

ORGANIZING

Photo: Teamsters

► From Jacobin — How Amazon Busts Unions, in Its Own Words — Thanks to the feedback mechanisms described above, Amazon is highly aware of labor organizing campaigns at its different facilities, and it even ranks them according to tiers following the “Atlas” model. Tier 1 facilities are those with active card signings and campaigns, Tier 2 are those “high risk” sites predicted eventually to become Tier 1 facilities, and Tier 3 sites are those where the company considers labor activity possible…Amazon knows the key issues that are leading workers to organize at different facilities, and it closely tracks month-over-month “spikes” in worker complaints. Everything entered into the Connections questions or VOA Boards is compiled into closely monitored themes. This is a company that has maximized both worker surveillance techniques and the methods by which they can be exploited to quell labor unrest.

 

NATIONAL

► From the Charlotte Observer — CLT airport union calls for better conditions after cleaning worker’s death — Coates collapsed “on a jet bridge in intense heat” while waiting to clean an American Airlines aircraft, according to the Service Employees International Union 32BJ. Coates could not be resuscitated. She was 55. “She was afraid that taking care of herself would cost her job. Instead, it cost her life,” said LaShonda Barber, a friend and coworker. “She should never have had to choose between her health and her job.”

► From Common Dreams — ‘Working People Won’: Unions Score Deal to Shield Federal Workers From Government Shutdown Firings — A coalition of federal employee unions won a settlement Friday requiring the Trump administration to abandon its policy authorizing mass layoffs during government shutdowns, after unions sued to block the firings of thousands of public servants…Under Friday’s settlement, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Office of Personnel Management must notify agencies within 30 days that previous guidance authorizing shutdown-related RIFs has been rescinded. Agencies must remove blanket authorization for such layoffs from their shutdown contingency plans. If an agency later seeks to modify its plan to permit RIFs during a shutdown, it must provide the unions with 30 days’ notice and publicly post the revised plan.

► From MS Now — WATCH: ‘Workers vs. Billionaires’: Meet the latest union to take on the oligarchy — America’s labor movement continues to mount a strong response to the open alliance between the White House and billionaire class. The latest: the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) has launched a “Workers vs. Billionaires” campaign across eight battleground states. IAM President Brian Bryant says workers are “just one healthcare emergency away from possibly becoming bankrupt.” Texas State Senator Taylor Rehmet– a machinist who flipped a district Trump carried– says the reason is simple: “People are really upset about the affordability crisis.”

► From Bloomberg Law — Labor Unions Lend Support to Paramount — As part of the deal, Paramount agreed to invest $1.5 billion in domestic film and TV production as well as honor all existing collective bargaining agreements. Worker provisions have garnered support from organized labor — including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, and the Directors Guild of America.

 

POLITICS & POLICY

► From the Washington State Standard — With tax receipts flat, budget hurdles remain for WA leaders — Friday’s forecast shows tax receipts up $22 million for the current budget that ends June 30, 2027, and $430 million higher in the next biennial spending cycle, compared to estimates the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council adopted in June…If there is a financial silver lining in Chief Economist Dave Reich’s forecast, it would be his prediction of the revenue-generating power of Washington’s high-earner income tax. It is the source of the revenue bump in the next budget cycle.

► From the New York Times — Trump Proposes $810 Million in Education and Health Cuts, Defying Congress — The White House on Friday night informed Congress that it intended to cancel about $810 million that lawmakers had approved for education and health-related programs, its latest attempt to use a legally untested power to unilaterally rescind spending without the approval of lawmakers…They would also affect $27 million for health research under the Department of Health and Human Services. The proposal was immediately criticized by lawmakers in both parties.

► From the New York Times — Supreme Court Once Again Blocks Republican-Backed Voting Map in Missouri — It was the third time this month that the justices intervened in a topsy-turvy legal battle over Missouri’s voting map, and the court’s order landed less than two months before a general election in which a few seats could determine control of Congress…But the dispute over the map has continued in the lower courts, a possible preview of the hard-fought legal struggle that could erupt following the November election should control of Congress be in doubt.

► From KING 5 — Seattle’s minimum wage to increase to over $22 in 2027 — Seattle’s Office of Labor Standards announced Monday that the city’s minimum wage will increase to $22.14 an hour in 2027, beginning Jan. 1. That is 84 cents more than the 2026 minimum wage of $21.30 an hour…The cost of food rose 5.3% between this August and last August. Gasoline prices are up 17.7% from a year ago with overall prices up 4.4% compared to last year, according to  the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

► From the AFL-CIO:

 

INTERNATIONAL

► From the Canadian Labour Congress — Canada’s unions united against new restrictions on the right to strike  — Canada’s unions are united in calling on the federal government to remove new restrictions on the right to strike from its proposed changes to the Canada Labour Code. “Last night, I met with the heads of Canada’s unions, representing workers across the country and every part of our economy. We are united: any new restriction on the right to strike is unacceptable,” said Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress.

 

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

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