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Felony charges for Rotschy? | Tacoma Drs. union | Coal miner sues RFK Jr.

Thursday, April 24, 2025

 

LOCAL

► From Cascade PBS — WA safety agency seeks felony charges after teen worker loses legs — The state Department of Labor & Industries is seeking criminal charges against a southwest Washington construction company — the first time the agency has pursued felony charges over a youth labor violation — after a 16-year-old employee lost both legs on the job in 2023. Bryan Templeton, L&I’s employment standards program manager, wrote in the letter that Rotschy had a history of youth labor violations and workplace injuries. He also alleged the company had allowed the teen worker to operate dangerous, prohibited machinery without supervision at the time he suffered his injuries.

► From the Seattle Times — WA international students file class action over Trump revocations — Nine more current and former international students filed a class-action lawsuit Wednesday against the Trump administration for revoking their lawful status in the U.S. All of the legal status terminations, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday, are based on the students being in a law enforcement or criminal data system, often as a result of fingerprinting. Some of them had criminal charges dismissed or committed crimes as minor as shoplifting, according to the lawsuit.

► From NW Public Broadcasting — Cantwell, Schrier talk possible Medicaid cuts with local health care stakeholders — Health care workers at the meeting said Medicaid cuts could immobilize rural health care — and the communities that rely on it. House Republicans, including U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, voted in favor of a resolution directing the House Committee on Energy and Commerce to reduce the federal deficit by at least $880 billion. Medicaid is not explicitly mentioned in the resolution. However, both Cantwell and Schrier said this resolution would impact government-funded health care programs like Medicaid. They said the move could lead to service reductions and potential hospital closures.

► From KUOW — Tacoma ICE center detentions spike by nearly 50% since March, says U.S. Rep. Randall — “We are facing in our country a real war on immigrants,” said Randall, a member of the House Oversight Committee whose district includes Tacoma and the Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas. “People who are being snatched up from their workplaces, from the sidewalk, folks who are afraid to go to the grocery store without someone else in their family or a neighbor or a friend going with them.” Detainees are also facing having to wait for cases for months, and they face an uphill battle to get a bond. Bonds allow people to return to their daily lives as they await their cases. The Northwest ICE Processing Center is known for being a difficult place from which to get a bond. It’s facing a class action lawsuit based on claims that bonds are not being approved and processed fairly.

► From the Tri-City Herald — $14M lawsuit accuses Lamb Weston of failing to give WA workers proper breaks — The lawsuit is asking for at least an estimated $14 million, including attorney fees. Lamb Weston, which produces frozen potatoes and other food, is accused of a systematic scheme of wage and hour abuses against its hourly workers in Washington. About 4,530 hourly workers were employed by the company in Washington, the majority of those in the Mid-Columbia, during the time the lawsuit covers from January 2022 to January 2025, according to the lawsuit.

► From Teamsters 117:

 

AEROSPACE

► From the Seattle Times — Boeing is nearly back on its feet — just in time for Trump trade war hit — It reported $19.5 billion in revenue for the quarter, an 18% increase from the same time period last year. Boeing burned through $2.3 billion in cash in the first quarter this year, compared to $4 billion in the same time period a year ago. “We can’t claim victory, … but our plan seems to be working,” Ortberg told financial analysts on a call Wednesday. Even the tariffs, which threaten to increase manufacturing costs, disrupt the aerospace supply chain and cut off potential markets for delivering planes, won’t disrupt that progress, Ortberg continued.

 

ORGANIZING

► From NW Public Broadcasting — Tacoma physicians are trying to unionize — In the past, doctors weren’t commonly unionized. Yeomans attributes part of the reason doctors choose to organize is because fewer doctors are running a private practice. Instead, they’re employees of health care systems. “ I think physicians and nurse practitioners and (physician assistants), and other associated professionals unionizing is a direct response to the increasing corporatization of health care over the last couple of decades,” Yeomans said.

 

NATIONAL

► From WDTV — W.Va. coal miner files lawsuit against RFK, Jr. to reverse NIOSH layoffs in Morgantown — Harry Wiley, a coal miner from Kanawha County, filed the lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia earlier this month after he was personally affected by the layoffs. In the suit, Wiley says that RFK, Jr. — with no advance notice — terminated most of the critical employees, including the chief medical officer, who oversaw a coal mine dust lung disease (CMDLD) screening and job transfer program, which puts he and other miners’ health and safety in jeopardy.

Editor’s note: Click through and watch the news report featuring Mr. Wiley, whose work as a coal miner has wrecked his lungs, speaking about why he filed the suit. “We’re all gonna need help, I mean, we’re all just a number anyway to the coal companies.”

► From the Seattle Times — Trump science cuts roil university labs, targeting bird feeder research, AI literacy work and more — More than 380 grant projects have been cut so far, including work to combat internet censorship in China and Iran and a project consulting with Indigenous communities to understand environmental changes in Alaska’s Arctic region. One computer scientist was studying how artificial intelligence tools could mitigate bias in medical information, and others were trying to help people detect AI-generated deepfakes. A number of terminated grants sought to broaden the diversity of people studying science, technology and engineering.

► From WEMU — The AFGE Union and allies rally in support of federal environmental workers — Tuesday marked the 55th anniversary of Earth Day. Following its founding, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established. Tricia Paff is the AFGE Union President at Local 3907 for the EPA laboratory in Ann Arbor. She says if 20 million people successfully rallied for environmental reforms 55 years ago, then today’s citizens can organize local rallies, building on the momentum of AFGE’s recent rally to raise awareness about climate change.

 

POLITICS & POLICY

Federal updates here, local news and deeper dives below:

► From the Washington State Standard — Democrats in Washington Legislature wrap up budget negotiations — “We have made all the decisions, but there’s still a lot of pieces that have to fall into place,” said Sen. June Robinson, D-Everett, chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee and chief architect of the Senate operating budget proposal. She said specifics may not be available until Friday at the earliest. Senate leaders have said their goal is to release their operating budget by Saturday morning and vote on Sunday, the last scheduled day of session.

► From the Center Square — Spokane approves first ‘Ban the Address’ ordinance in the country — Similar to a “Ban the Box” policy, which prevents employers from inquiring about an applicant’s criminal record, “Ban the Address” prohibits them from asking about a person’s housing status. The ordinance states that homelessness is one of the most pressing issues for society, with research pointing to unemployment as one of the primary causes. Representatives from the Spokane Business Association, Spokane Community Against Racism, Tenants Union of Washington State, and several residents testified in support.

► From Politico — Judge skeptical of Trump order to strip union rights from federal workers — U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman appeared skeptical during a hearing Wednesday of the administration’s arguments that a little-known provision in federal labor law allows it to exclude several agencies from unionization rights because their work is primarily focused on national security. Friedman said the White House’s determinations about the nature of the agencies’ work seem implausible…Friedman, a Clinton appointee, added that Trump’s own words suggest that the true motivation was retaliation against groups that are uncooperative with his agenda, such as the National Treasury Employees Union, which sued over Trump’s order.

► From the Washington Post — Senate Democrats seek answers from inspector general on Social Security cuts — The letter sent to the inspector general’s office Wednesday is part of a broader Democratic effort to defend Social Security from what they describe as a reckless government downsizing campaign spearheaded by Donald Trump adviser Elon Musk. In the sharply worded letter to acting inspector general Michelle L. Anderson, the lawmakers expressed “deep concern” over what they called a “drastic” disruption to Social Security’s ability to serve the public. The letter cites mass layoffs, additional pressure on existing staff and a dramatic overhaul of internal agency structures — many carried out, the lawmakers say, with little to no transparency.

► From Politico — Trump orders revamp of school discipline policies, college accreditation and funding — Taken together, the suite of Trump’s orders represent significant maneuvers to squeeze the finances of many higher education institutions and expand his already sweeping federal intervention into the country’s education industry…The president ordered a report that includes an analysis of school discipline and called for his administration to propose model school discipline policies that are “rooted in American values and traditional virtues”

► From the Washington Post — Trump orders changes to civil rights rules, college accreditation — Among the new orders is a directive to eliminate a civil rights enforcement tool long used to fight discrimination in education, housing and other aspects of American life — and long criticized by conservatives. Under the concept of disparate impact, actions can amount to discrimination if they have an uneven effect on people from different groups even if that was not the intent. It relies on data analysis to help identify discriminatory results.

Editor’s note: if you’re interested in learning more about why studying effect is so essential for identifying discrimination, The Color of Law — looking at housing policy over the 20th century — is an eye-opening read.

► From Wired — Here’s All the Health and Human Services Data DOGE Has Access To — Affiliates from Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have significant access to 19 sensitive systems at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to a recent court filing. Nine of those are previously undisclosed. This wide-ranging access, which includes a centralized accounting system for all Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) programs, the cloud for a “robust” and “high-volume data warehouse,” and several additional HHS accounting systems that pay government contractors, demonstrates the breadth of DOGE’s takeover at the federal agency charged with securing health care for millions of Americans.

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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