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NEWS ROUNDUP

WA farmworkers | Oligarchy | LA service workers

Thursday, January 16, 2025

 

STRIKES

► From Labor Notes — Nurses and Doctors Are on Strike at Eight Oregon Hospitals — “I’ve been with Providence for over 30 years, and I have seen what’s changed,” said medical-surgical nurse Kim Martin at Providence Portland Medical Center. “Providence used to be a nice community hospital, and now it’s venture capital with health care as a side gig.” The coordinated strike includes workers whose contract just expired and others who have been working without a contract for a year or are still bargaining their first agreement. Management, evidently alarmed by the broad coordination, has tried to split off strikers by negotiating separate agreements. So far it has met a wall of solidarity.

► From the Oregon AFL-CIO:

 

LOCAL

► From the Wenatchee World — Can Washington’s farms survive? Labor shortages and deportation fears threaten agriculture — Washington State is home to more than 340,000 unauthorized immigrants, ranking ninth in the nation in 2022, according to the Office of Homeland Security Statistics. Many of these individuals work in the agricultural sector, worth over $12.8 billion annually in the state. For farmers in Washington, losing this workforce would be catastrophic.

 

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From the Trains.com — SMART-MD becomes fifth union to ratify new national contract — SMART-MD is the fifth national agreement ratified, following agreements reached by the National Conference of Firemen and Oilers, Transportation Communications International Union, Brotherhood Railway Carmen, and the American Train Dispatchers Association. The SMART-MD contract follows the pattern established by the more than 50 agreements reached at both the local and national levels. The terms provide: Wage increases of 18.8% over five years, improved health benefits, and more vacation time.

 

ORGANIZING

► From the South Seattle Emerald — OPINION | Want Better Pay? Reach Out to a Union Today — My name is Yasab Pfister, and I have worked at PCC Community Markets for almost 13 years (currently I work at the Burien location), and one reason I enjoy working at PCC is that it is unionized. I am a proud husband and father too, and being a part of a union directly helps me and my family. I started at PCC when I was 17 years old in high school and didn’t know what a labor union was. A union is an organized group of people who represent employees to make the workplace work better for them. Union is power.

► From the AFL-CIO:

 

NATIONAL

► From the Washington Post — For service workers, Los Angeles fires consumed jobs, homes and dreams — On the rolls of victims of the region’s devastating fires, alongside wealthy and well-connected residents, are thousands of service workers like Martinez and Moreno whose jobs in landscaping, cleaning and contracting, jobs that make the metropolis run, vanished in last week’s fires. Many have clients whose homes are destroyed or inaccessible, meaning a sudden and dramatic loss of income. More than 3,500 members of the local Service Employees International Union live in affected zones, local union president David Green said, including dozens whose homes were destroyed, mainly in Altadena and Pasadena.

► From the AP — From LA wildfires to hurricanes, immigrants help rebuild after disasters. Trump may deport many  — As the number of extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change increases, there is a growing workforce of laborers, many of them without legal status. Some crisscross the country following extreme weather events, helping to put back together entire communities. Many are highly skilled electricians, plumbers and masons. Others do manual labor, like cutting up and hauling away fallen trees and branches.

► From the Washington Post — As bird flu affects more people and animals, CDC urges faster testing — The advisory reflects increasing concerns about the widening outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza that is sickening more people and animals in the United States and Canada. Earlier this month, a Louisiana man became the first person in the United States to die from bird flu. A severe infection nearly killed a Canadian girl who was hospitalized for two months. More domestic cats are getting infected after exposure to raw milk or raw pet food, authorities said.

► From the AP — FTC sues Deere & Co. for monopolizing farm-equipment repair market  — Deere & Co. unfairly forces farmers to visit authorized dealers to repair their equipment, resulting in higher prices than if they could fix it themselves or get help from independent shops, the Federal Trade Commission claims in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday with the attorneys general of Illinois and Minnesota.

 

POLITICS & POLICY

► From Yahoo News — Trump’s Plan to Slash Federal Jobs Puts Black Workers at Risk — Some researchers say a substantial cutback could push the Black unemployment rate higher, particularly in areas like Washington, DC, where Black joblessness is among the highest in the country. Such an outcome would stand at odds with Trump’s campaign promises to protect Black workers’ jobs and provide them with more employment opportunities.

► From Common Dreams — Naming Oligarchy as Key Threat, Biden Channels Bernie Sanders in Farewell Address — “Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead,” Biden said, pointing to the “dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultrawealthy people, and the dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked.”

► From the Washington State Standard — Washington’s newly elected statewide officials are sworn in — Gov. Bob Ferguson wasn’t Washington’s only statewide official to take the oath of office on Wednesday. Washington state justices swore in eight state executives alongside him during ceremonies in the House chambers of the state Capitol. Some are familiar faces, others newly elected.

► From the Washington State Standard — 7 takeaways from Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson’s inaugural address — The 30-minute address contained no mentions of climate, early learning, child care, transportation or taxes. Ferguson offered no specific approaches to boost funding on education or stabilize the ferry system, two promises he made on the campaign trail. In a statement after the speech, House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon, D-West Seattle, said he looks forward to the details of new spending and budget cuts proposed by Ferguson. “We are confident that we will arrive at a budget agreement with our Senate colleagues and with Governor Ferguson that protects Washingtonians and invests in public education, safety, health care, child care, housing, and clean air and water,” Fitzgibbon said.

► From the Spokesman Review — Ferguson signs executive orders related to abortion, housing minutes after inauguration — In his inaugural address, Ferguson said the orders are meant to streamline the state’s administrative process, ease red tape around home construction and strengthen reproductive rights for women. All three executive orders took effect immediately and offer the first sign of how Ferguson will govern in the coming years.

 

INTERNATIONAL

► From the AP — Standoff in South Africa ends with 87 miners dead and anger over police’s ‘smoke them out’ tactics — South African authorities have been fiercely criticized for cutting off food and supplies to the miners in the Buffelsfontein Gold Mine last year. That tactic to “smoke them out,” as described by a prominent Cabinet minister, was condemned by one of South Africa’s biggest trade unions. Authorities now believe that nearly 2,000 miners were working illegally in the mine near the town of Stilfontein, southwest of Johannesburg, since August last year.

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