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WSLC wants better | School funding | LA’s firefighters

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

 

STRIKES

► From the Oregon Capitol Chronicle — Providence and Oregon Nurses Association agree to return to negotiations — Oregon Nurses Association leaders said in a news conference that wages and staffing at Providence hospitals were key stumbling blocks. They said they want competitive wages that reflect the rigors and demands of the job and keep pace with inflation. They also want staffing to reflect the level of intensive care that each patient requires. “As we move back into negotiations, we call on Providence to take this process seriously, come to the table with substantive offers to address the systemic issues that impact hospitals and clinics across Oregon and reach a fair contract that prioritizes patients and frontline caregivers instead of profits,” the union said in a statement.

► From AFT:

 

LOCAL

► From the Center Square — Drivers, union voice frustrations over safety concerns on King County Metro buses — Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587 President Greg Woodfill said the county can change Metro riding rules all it wants, but if they are not enforced, it does not help with driver security. “We have a public safety problem, not a transit problem,” Woodfill said during the Committee of the Whole meeting. One potential solution that received positive feedback from council members and Woodfill is a bus driver shield, which would provide a barrier between drivers and violent passengers.

► From Cascade PBS — State, feds set new timeline for Hanford nuclear waste cleanup — The new agreement keeps the previous timeline of starting to glassify less-radioactive tank wastes this year. Work on processing the 5 million to 6 million gallons of high-level wastes, which hold most of the radioactivity, is scheduled to start in 2033. However, the low-level waste glassification plant set to start operating this year can handle only roughly half of the wastes, which means a second plant will have to be built.

► From the Spokesman Review — ‘America is handing the baton to Spokane’: Commerce Department awards $48 million to launch aerospace ‘tech hub’ in Airway Heights — “The country that figures out how to use advanced materials to increase manufacturing capacity and aircraft fuel efficiency is going to have a huge competitive advantage,” [U.S. Senator Maria] Cantwell said in a statement. “America is handing the baton to Spokane – establishing it as an innovation testbed for high-rate aerospace materials manufacturing. We’re betting on Spokane’s leadership and manufacturing base to solve the aviation challenges America faces. This important R&D mission will help ensure our nation’s future aerospace leadership.”

► From the Wenatchee World — Certain NCW retirees could see thousands in back pay, benefits — Monika Christensen, president of the Wenatchee Education Association (WenEA), said the act would benefit educators who have faced limited pensions due to underfunding and low wages, enabling them to retire with greater financial stability. WenEA represents more than 500 educators in the Wenatchee School District, according to its website. “This act will allow people, whether they’re firefighters, police officers, or teachers, actually to retire with dignity,” Christensen said. “They’ll have a little more money in retirement, which can make a significant difference.”

► From the Tri-City Herald — Pasco schools’ $5.4M budget hole means some jobs won’t be filled, other spending halted — Since 2021, about 4% of the district’s K-12 teaching staff has been cut through departures and retirements. And more cuts to vacant positions are likely. School districts across the country are grappling with budget shortages caused by the rising cost to materials and operations, higher insurance costs, higher wages and lower enrollment. Some also were hit by a “spending cliff” caused when one-time COVID federal dollars went away.

 

ORGANIZING

► From KQED — Monterey Bay Aquarium Workers Launch Union Campaign at Iconic Marine Nonprofit — “We really want to strengthen the organizational culture that has grown over 40 years and make it even better for the next 40 years,” said Mika Okimura, a senior education specialist at the aquarium. “To be part of the union at work is to feel connected to the people who are working toward the same mission,” Okimura said. The Monterey Bay Aquarium workers are seeking representation through the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 57.

 

NATIONAL

► From the New York Times — Firefighting Pilots Face High-Pressure Job: ‘It Gets a Bit Scary’ — Piloting a firefighting aircraft is sweaty, tiring work, Mr. Mattiacci said. The conditions that increase fire risk — hot days, high wind, often mountainous areas — also make for turbulent flying conditions. The aircraft fly at low speeds, increasing the turbulence, he added. “You get pulled up out of your seat and your head bangs against the roof,” he said. In the hot conditions, pilots must keep just hydrated enough not to have to use the bathroom, on flights that can last up to five hours, he said.

Editor’s note: if you’ve been wondering what’s it like to be one of the LA firefighters covering the rest of the city while fire crews fight the wildfires…

► From the New York Times — How a Company Makes Millions Off a Hospital Program Meant to Help the Poor — Twenty years ago, the federal government chose Apexus to manage what was then a small program, negotiating with drug distributors and manufacturers to secure better prices and access to medications. But Apexus is allowed to collect a fee for almost every drug sold under the program, giving the company an incentive to help hospitals and clinics capture as many prescriptions as possible.

► From Starbucks Workers United:

 

POLITICS & POLICY

► From NWPB — Washington State Labor Council wants better standards for child care industry, paid vacation leave for all — If the bill were to pass, the plan would be for the board to bring together workers, employers, licensed child care facilities and the state to determine competitive wages, benefits and protections for child care workers, according to [WSLC Chief of Staff Joe] Kendo. Other states have created workforce standard bodies to empower workers in decision-making over oversight about their work, such as a council created for fast food workers in California. The bill is scheduled for a public hearing on Wednesday.

► From the Seattle Times — WA parents launch a ‘Billion Dollar Bake Sale’ for K-12 funding — “Parents directly see the impacts of schools on their kids,” said Larry Delaney, president of the Washington Education Association. “They hear the stories of buildings that have buckets collecting water because there are leaks in the roofs. They see the impact when music programs and the arts are cut because they are looked at as extras. They are also voters,” he added. “The people who are making these decisions are elected officials. And that makes a difference.”

► From the Washington State Standard — U.S. House speaker pitches conditions on disaster aid, upending long-standing practice — “No one wants to leave any American who is in need hanging, so to speak, right?” said Johnson, a Louisiana Republican. “But at the same time, we recognize that we have a $36 trillion federal debt and we have to balance these needs. It’s about priorities.” Johnson said he had watched footage of the fires in and around Los Angeles with “heartache” and acknowledged Louisiana has received significant federal disaster aid without conditions, though he said things must change.

Editor’s note: as a Malden, WA official said when the President-elect’s first administration withheld aid from his town after a wildfire, “you have to laugh or else you’ll cry.”

► From the New York Times — Defending Michigan’s Auto Industry, Whitmer Warns of Tariff Risks — Speaking at a convention center just across the Detroit River from Windsor, Ont., Ms. Whitmer described strong cultural and industrial ties between the two cities. Using tariffs as punishment, she said, risks “damaging supply chains, slowing production lines and cutting jobs on both sides of the border.”

► From the Washington State Standard — Immigration lawyers fear Laken Riley bill could have broad impact as Trump takes office — “This will fuel mass deportation,” Nithya Nathan-Pineau, a policy attorney and strategist with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, said. She said that if someone is detained and they’re not able to defend themselves — because immigrants are not guaranteed a lawyer under U.S. law — they could easily end up with a conviction. “That conviction may then subject them to deportation,” she said. “It’s designed to funnel people into detention so that they can be deported.”

► From Truthout — The Labor Movement Won Big Victories in 2024. Now It Must Fend Off Trump. — “We just finished an election cycle where one party spent the entire time telling working class people across this country, ‘Look how different you are from each other,’” said [AFL-CIO President Liz] Shuler. “‘He’s an immigrant. She’s transgender or they worship differently than you do’ and it worked to some degree, right? We watched it. The scariest thing in the world to the CEOs, to the billionaires in this country and the folks like Donald Trump who do their bidding, is the idea that we might one day see through that.”

 

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