Connect with us

NEWS ROUNDUP

WSNA pickets | Youth labor protections | Farmworker boycott

Tuesday, April 29, 2025

 

STRIKES

► From the Daily Emerald — UO student worker strike begins — Around 8:30 p.m., strike supporters and picketers began leaving — ending the first day of UOSW’s strike. Coral Quist Knopf, an events services worker, said he is “excited” about what changes the union can make following the first day of the strike. “I’m feeling very energized and optimistic. I am shocked by how many people showed up… I am excited to see what changes we can make,” Knopf said. Andrew Kalmen, a dining hall worker in Unthank, said he was feeling “tired but accomplished and happy” after his first day picketing.

► From SEIU 721:


Editor’s note: this ULP strike is 55,000 public workers across all of LA County.

 

LOCAL

► From the Yakima Herald — May Day events planned in Yakima and Sunnyside on Thursday — May Day events start at 4 p.m. at Miller Park, 513 N. Third St., in Yakima. The program will begin at 4 p.m., with a rally at 5:30 p.m. The march departure will be at 5:45 p.m., according to a news release. The theme will be “Marching for Justice, Dignity and Equality” in support of all workers and their families, according to a news release from the Yakima Valley May Day Coalition. Participants are encouraged to wear white clothing. In Sunnyside, a boycott action is planned at the Windmill Farms mushroom plant at 2 p.m., 1111 Midvale Road. It will be followed by a march from 3:30 to 5 p.m. starting at East Lincoln Avenue and Yakima Valley Highway (in front of Walmart) and ending at Sunnyview Park. A community resource fair is planned from 5-7 p.m. at the park.

Editor’s note: more May Day events can be found here.

► From Food Tank — These Farm Workers Are Calling for a Boycott—Until Their Union Is Recognized — “We don’t do it lightly,” Antonio De Loera-Brust, an organizer with UFW, tells Food Tank. “We’re doing it because the company has refused to recognize what their workers have expressed their desire to be for years now. At a certain point, we have no other option.” Windmill Farms, formerly known as Ostrom farms, is one of the largest mushroom producers in Washington and the only producer in Sunnyside. When the farm first opened, owners promised good-paying local jobs, according to Roman Pinal, National Vice President of UFW. “They definitely oversold their presence in the community,” Pinal tells Food Tank.

► From the Seattle Times — UW report: Tacoma police disregard ICE detainee 911 calls about abuse — The report, which published Thursday and reviewed 10 years of 911 call and police records, documents numerous cases in which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials and facility staff deterred Tacoma police from investigating reported crimes. Crimes that occur at the Northwest ICE Processing Center, which receives federal funding but is privately-run by GEO Group, “fall squarely” in Tacoma Police Department’s jurisdiction, the report said.

► From the Olympian — Tumwater parents, educators continue to lobby in support of trans student rights — [Parent Susan Fabian] said according to the National Federation of High School Associations, which advocates for high school sports, there are several benefits to sports programs. They include better educational outcomes, enhanced school engagement and sense of belonging, positive youth development and life skills, healthier behaviors, post-high school positive results, and developing better citizens. Fabian said she didn’t see anything on the list that would be lost by allowing trans girls to participate how they want to. “On the other hand, if we exclude trans girls from those teams, we deprive them of all of those important benefits, including my favorite one from the list, which is a sense of belonging,” she said.

 

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From WSNA:

► From Deadline — SAG-AFTRA National Board Overwhelmingly Approves Commercials Contracts Deal — SAG-AFTRA’s National Board overwhelmingly approved 2025’s Commercials Contracts tentative agreements reached with the Joint Policy Committee April 12, meaning the agreements will now move on to the membership for ratification.

► From Railway Age — NCCC, IBB Ratify National Agreement — The National Carriers Conference Committee (NCCC) on April 25 announced that members of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB) have voted to ratify a national collective bargaining agreement, marking the eighth national agreement ratified in the 2025 bargaining round. The ratified IBB agreement follows the pattern set by dozens of local and national agreements ratified as part of the 2025 bargaining round, according to NCCC.

ORGANIZING

► From the Daily Pennsylvanian — Penn research associates, postdocs file petition to unionize — Of the 1,500 postdoctoral researchers at Penn, 1,000 signed authorization cards in support of forming Research Associates and Postdocs United, according to the group. The petition comes shortly after 1,600 postdoc researchers at Johns Hopkins University filed for union recognition. Both efforts are affiliated with the United Auto Workers, which represents more than 120,000 higher education workers nationwide.

NATIONAL

► From Fast Company — How Trump’s mass firings could quickly hollow out the Black middle class — Whatever else Donald Trump intends with his assault on the federal workforce, labor unions, and the National Labor Relations Board, one potential effect is clear: a devastating blow to Black Americans who for decades have used public-sector jobs to move up from subsistence living and toward the middle class. “Federal employment has been a pathway to the middle class for African American workers and their families since Reconstruction, including postal work and other occupations,” explained Danielle Mahones, director of the leadership development program at the University of California, Berkeley, Labor Center. “[Now y]ou’re going to see Black workers lose their federal jobs.”

► From the Seattle Times — Layoffs, closures and gaps in oversight expected after hundreds of DOJ grants are canceled  — Activating Change, which helps people with disabilities navigate the criminal justice system, was one of hundreds of organizations that received a notice on April 22 that the Department of Justice was canceling grants they had received through the Office of Justice Programs. More than 350 grants initially worth more than $800 million were ended midstream, sparking layoffs and program closures. “This is highly unusual,” Solomon said. “You expect any administration to have their own priorities, and to implement that in future budget years and with future awards. You would not expect… grants that have already been granted, obligated or awarded to be pulled back.”

► From the AP — Supreme Court hears arguments on case about FBI raid on wrong Georgia home — The Supreme Court seemed inclined to a narrow ruling on Tuesday in a law-enforcement accountability case over an FBI raid that targeted the wrong house. While some justices appeared open to the argument that the family should be able to sue over the mistake that left them traumatized, the court seemed wary of handing down a more sweeping ruling on when the federal government can be held liable for law-enforcement decisions.

► From SMART:

POLITICS & POLICY

► From Cascade PBS — A breakdown of Washington’s new $78B two-year state budget — The final budget, as approved by the Legislature, includes $4.3 billion in new taxes over the next two years. Most of that – about $2 billion – comes from increasing the business and occupation tax, which all businesses must pay based on the value of their products, proceeds and income. The changes to the tax include raising the base rate for wholesaling and manufacturing companies and imposing surcharges on big banks. And all businesses earning more than $250 million annually will face an additional temporary 0.5% surcharge. The other major increase comes from updates to the state’s sales tax that would add retail taxes to software development, web design and IT training. The budget deal also adds to the capital gains tax, applied to the sale of stocks, bonds and other assets; and to the estate tax, imposed on the transfer of an estate after someone dies.

► From the Bellingham Herald — Opportunity, not tragedy: Stronger labor protections for WA youth now law — State Rep. Mary Fosse, the bill’s prime sponsor, said during the event that no parent should need to worry that their kid could face serious injuries or death on the job…[WSLC President April] Sims highlighted the need for a renewed commitment to job safety, “especially now, while so many of our hardest-won workplace safety rights are under attack at the federal level.” “We must stand together to fight back for employer accountability and worker dignity,” she said during the event. “Today, we write into law protections for some of our most vulnerable workers: our children.”

► From the Seattle Times — With symbolic vote, WA Democrats say wealth-tax fight is not over  — Sen. Noel Frame, D-Seattle, the bill’s prime sponsor, said tapping the ultrarich would be a better option than taxing smaller businesses and state residents more broadly. “We do not ask our wealthiest among us to do their part. And frankly, we have asked too much of working people in our tax code,” Frame said during the debate on the bill, which she said could raise at least $1.5 billion a year. Microsoft and other businesses mounted a fierce lobbying blitz against the tax, as well as a proposed payroll tax on high salaries that legislative Democrats also proposed. Both taxes were nixed by lawmakers.

► From Oregon Live — Washington lawmakers OK unemployment for striking workers. Is Oregon next? — A similar proposal in Oregon passed the Senate last month and is headed for hearings in the House this week. Senate Bill 916 would require striking workers in Oregon to wait two weeks before they qualify for unemployment benefits. Supporters argue the move would help to right a power imbalance in strikes, preventing workers on the picket line from being “starved into a contract” because they’re desperate for pay.

► From the Spokesman Review — Head Start sues Trump administration over DEI confusion, grant freezes to child care program — The Washington office representing federal Head Start child care for families in poverty is suing Trump administration officials responsible for the program in the wake of sporadic grant freezes and threats to end it entirely. The 60-year-old federal program subsidizes child care for families below the poverty line, serving 800,000 infants to 4-year-olds around the nation, including 15,000 in child care centers in Washington. The 90-page complaint cites President Donald Trump’s budget proposal to eliminate Head Start completely by October, on top of his administration’s actions to dismantle the program thus far.

► From KUOW — New lawsuit argues Trump and DOGE’s government overhaul is unconstitutional — In a lawsuit filed late Monday, the plaintiffs charge that actions taken by the president, Elon Musk and the heads of nearly two dozen federal agencies to dramatically downsize the federal workforce violate the Constitution because Congress has not authorized them. The plaintiffs include some of the same unions and nonprofits that sued the Trump administration over its mass firing of probationary employees in the same federal court in San Francisco. The new complaint goes further, arguing that Trump’s Feb. 11 executive order “Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative” and actions taken since by his administration to implement it “usurp” Congress’ authority under the Constitution.

► From the AP — Trump’s team has disrupted some $430 billion in federal funds, top Democrats say — Sen. Patty Murray of Washington and Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut on Tuesday released an online tracker that is compiling all the ways President Donald Trump and his adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency are interrupting the flow of federal funds, often going up against the law. “No American president has ever so flagrantly ignored our nation’s spending laws or so brazenly denied the American people investments they are owed,” they said.

► From the Guardian — Democrats in Congress warn cuts at top US labor watchdog will be ‘catastrophic’ — The so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) has targeted the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for cuts and ended its leases in several states. Representatives Bobby Scott, Mark DeSaulnier and Greg Casar have written to NLRB’s chair, Marvin Kaplan, and the acting general counsel, William Cowen, requesting answers on the cuts. “If the NLRB reduces its workforce and closes a number of regional offices, it will render the NLRB’s enforcement mechanism basically ineffectual, thereby chilling workers from exercising their rights to engage in union organizing and protected concerted activities,” they wrote.

► From the Hollywood Reporter — Stephanie Ruhle Sets MSNBC Primetime Special With Laid-Off Federal Workers — “100 Days of Trump: A Town Hall With Forced Out Federal Workers,” will air Thursday, May 1 at 9 p.m. “It has been like drinking from a fire hose, whether it’s executive orders, deportations, tariffs, and what’s happened to all the federal workers because of the DOGE situation,” Ruhle tells The Hollywood Reporter in an interview. “We thought DOGE and this enormous impact on federal workers would be a great way for us to press pause and show people what’s happening.”

► From the Salt Lake Tribune — Referendum to repeal anti-union law meets threshold to qualify for 2026 ballot — Labor groups have met the requirements to put a measure on the 2026 ballot to repeal a law banning police, firefighters and teachers unions from representing their members in contract negotiations. Opponents will still have an opportunity to try to convince voters to rescind their signatures, but barring a major shift against the repeal effort, the law will be put on hold until the 2026 election.

 

INTERNATIONAL

► From the AP — Carney wins Canadian election, while Conservative leader loses his seat in Parliament — The loss of his seat representing his Ottawa district in Monday’s election capped a swift decline in fortunes for the firebrand Poilievre, who a few months ago appeared to be a shoo-in to become Canada’s next prime minister and shepherd the Conservatives back into power for the first time in a decade.

► From the Washington Post — Pakistan may hit 120 degrees this week. It could be a global record. — Temperatures higher than 110 degrees are forecast in 21 countries this week: Pakistan, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Mauritania, India, Iraq, Qatar, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, Oman, South Sudan, Bahrain, Mali, Senegal, Chad, Ethiopia, Niger, Eritrea, Nigeria and Burkina Faso.

 

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

Related Topics:

CHECK OUT THE UNION DIFFERENCE in Washington: higher wages, affordable health and dental care, job and retirement security.

FIND OUT HOW TO JOIN TOGETHER with your co-workers to negotiate for better wages, benefits, and a voice at work. Or go ahead and contact a union organizer today!