Bikini baristas | ABC protests | Nexstar & the FCC

Friday, September 19, 2025

STRIKES

► From the Houston Chronicle — Hilton Americas-Houston workers extend strike for $23 wage to October — Unionized workers at the Hilton Americas-Houston will extend their strike by another three weeks, buoyed by political support and grassroots donations in their push for a $23 minimum wage. The strike at one of the city’s largest hotels began on Labor Day and was originally set to last 10 days, but workers extended it through Sept. 20 after negotiations stalled. The latest extension slates an Oct. 12 end date, which would bring the strike to a total of 42 days. “We ain’t going away. That’s our message,” Willy Gonzalez, secretary treasurer of Unite Here Local 23, which represents the striking workers, told the Houston Chronicle. He added: “(The workers) have the courage to continue it, we have the resources to fund it, and we’re in it to win it.”

LOCAL

► From My Northwest — Washington AG sues bikini barista owner over sexual harassment, wage theft — The complaint, filed in King County Superior Court, accused Jonathan Tagle of violating multiple state labor and civil rights laws. His company, Tagle Investments LLC, operates Paradise Espresso stands in Tukwila, Monroe, Lynnwood, and Mountlake Terrace. According to the lawsuit, Tagle subjected female employees to egregious sexual harassment over a period of at least 12 years…The Attorney General also alleged widespread wage theft. Employees were reportedly unpaid for training and off-the-clock duties, denied minimum wage, and forced to surrender tips to meet sales quotas. Many were not paid on a regular schedule and were denied paid sick leave, in violation of Washington’s labor laws.

► From the Washington State Standard — Treatment of radioactive waste at Hanford will begin on time, feds confirm — The federal government will begin turning some of its worst radioactive waste at the Hanford nuclear reservation into glass by an Oct. 15 legal deadline. Last week, ambiguous signals out of the U.S. Secretary of Energy’s office about whether glassification would begin on time at the site in south-central Washington had spooked state leaders.

► From KUOW — College sports generate millions each year. Who should profit? — A legal settlement and NCAA rule change in the summer of 2025 allowed universities to get directly involved in those payments, and capped the total amount each participating university could pay all its athletes at $20.5 million. Boosters may still raise independent funds, but this change was widely seen as a way to reign in out-of-control costs that UW Athletics Director Pat Chun considered bad for schools and for students. “An unregulated environment was unmanageable,” he told the Seattle Times in June 2025, after the settlement.

► From the Tri-City Herald — Workers at Richland national lab laid off this week due to federal budget cuts — Battelle, which holds a Department of Energy contract to operate the national lab, confirmed that it had involuntary layoffs this week…Furloughs also have been reported at the national lab. In August, workers were told that Battelle was preparing for job reductions in certain research programs due to uncertainty in the federal budget.

► From KIMA — ICE arrests in Yakima increase, families raise concern — The Yakima Valley has seen an increase in arrests made by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Jaime Ortiz says that her husband was arrested on Sep. 8 while he was on his way to work. “He left for work at about 5:55 and, within about five minutes, he called me,” Ortiz said. “He said ‘Jaime, there’s a big white truck behind me and they’re flashing their lights, it’s not police,’ and I told him that I was on my way.” Ortiz says that she arrived at the scene roughly four minutes later, and her husband was gone. The only thing left behind was his car. “I went to the ICE office, and I brought his prima facie, I brought his papers and his work permit,” Ortiz said. “I said, ‘You need to let him go; he’s protected’ and their words to me were ‘I don’t care that your husband has a prima facie, we do what we want,’ but in bad words.”

► From Investigate West — Ukrainian immigrants becoming collateral damage in Trump administration’s immigration war — Launched by former President Joe Biden in 2022, Uniting for Ukraine is a “humanitarian parole” program. It allowed Ukrainian immigrants to temporarily stay and work in America, two years at a time, so long as they found an American sponsor willing to help support them. In June, however, Denys lost his job — not because he did anything wrong, but because the federal government failed to reauthorize his right to work. Under Donald Trump’s administration, which is targeting humanitarian parole programs affecting nearly 1.8 million migrants, renewals have ground to a halt.

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From WDTV — UMWA announces 2 new collective bargaining agreements affecting over 2,000 W.Va. workers — The United Mine Workers of America have announced two new agreements set to cover over 2,000 workers in West Virginia and surrounding states. Following this announcement, workers employed by American Consolidated Natural Resources and Iron Synergy now have new ratified collective bargaining agreements. UMWA officials say the five-year contracts secure improvements in wages and other provisions with no changes to health care or other benefits.

► From the New York Times’ Athletic — NHL player poll: What they love in the new CBA (no dress code, fitness testing) and what they don’t — Players are so happy with where the league’s at, in fact, that in asking them “What’s one thing the new CBA doesn’t address that you wish it did?” the most common response was some version of “nothing.” “I think most of the players are happy with how everything rolled out this year,” Montreal Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki said. “Obviously, we don’t want to go into any kind of type of lockout again, but our PA is really good. They do a lot of work for us and give us all the information that we need to make the final call in the end. … I think overall, both sides came to a good agreement and we’re happy that we can keep playing with little hiccups.”

NATIONAL

► From Deadline — Hundreds Of Union Writers & Actors March Outside Of Disney To Protest ABC’s Decision To Yank ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ — Waving signs that read “ABC Bends the Knee to Fascism” and “Even Matt Damon Knows this is F*cked,” members of both the WGA and SAG returned to Disney’s Alameda Avenue gate where they last protested during the 2023 strike. Drivers leaned on their horns as union members — many of whom were wearing blue WGAW T-shirts– marched back and forth in front of the main entrance…“I didn’t think I would have to whip this out again,” said actress/former strike captain Alyssa Phillips, a SAG-AFTRA member who was wielding a cutout of a Mickey Mouse hand flipping the bird. “I’m tired of feeling helpless. I know this helps. I know this helps because I remember it helping in 2023. There is strength in solidarity and there is strength in the noise.”

► From the LA Public Press — Metro reinstates two LA bus drivers who vowed to protect riders from ICE — In July, bus operators Sean Broadbent and Jaime C. told LA Public Press that they and other operators had agreed to defend transit riders against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by refusing to open the door to agents who attempt to board their buses. The drivers said they’d also divert Metro buses to different routes to avoid agents and would share know-your-rights information with riders…But following weeks of petitions from members of the public and lobbying by Metro Board member and LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn in support of the drivers, Metro leadership issued a decision on Sep. 12 to reinstate them following a 60-day unpaid suspension.

► From NPR — ‘Why Fascists Fear Teachers’ explores how attacks on education undermine democracy — Longtime teachers’ union leader Randi Weingarten says whatever the problems with the nation’s schools, this administration is not trying to solve them. Instead, she says, these efforts are really part of a plan to destroy public education, which itself is part of a plan to weaken democracy. Weingarten makes this argument in a fiery new book called “Why Fascists Fear Teachers.”

► From the Seattle Times — Willie Nelson and Neil Young highlight 40th Farm Aid concert — A labor dispute nearly derailed the festival this year. Organizers said they would not cross the picket lines of striking teamster service workers at the university, saying “the farm and labor movements are inseparable.” Nelson got on the phone with Gov. Tim Walz. The university and union reached a deal late last week…“For four decades, Farm Aid has stood with farmers and workers,” organizers said in a statement that called the agreement “a reminder of what can be achieved when people come together in the spirit of fairness and solidarity.”

► From Starbucks Workers United:

BREAKING: Workers in Boston just WON the 650th Starbucks union election!

Starbucks has only gotten worse under the leadership of CEO Brian Niccol. 12,000+ union workers are using their collective voice to speak out against corporate greed and demand a fair union contract! pic.twitter.com/Z0bSgylsUE

— Starbucks Workers United (@SBWorkersUnited) September 17, 2025

POLITICS & POLICY

► From the New York Times — Trump Pressures Broadcasters Over Critical Coverage, Escalating Attack on Speech — President Trump said on Thursday that regulators should consider revoking the licenses of broadcasters that air negative coverage or commentary of him, indicating that his assault on critics’ language is motivated at least in part by personal animus. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Mr. Trump called the networks “an arm of the Democrat party” who are out to get him. “I have read someplace that the networks were 97 percent against me, I get 97 percent negative, and yet I won and easily,” Mr. Trump said as he returned to Washington following a state visit to Britain, adding: “I would think maybe their license should be taken away.”

► From Wired — Brendan Carr Isn’t Going to Stop Until Someone Makes Him — While Carr’s threats have chased social media companies and cable networks, they’ve hit companies with business before the FCC the hardest. Nexstar, which owns dozens of ABC affiliate networks, was one of the companies to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live! just hours after Carr’s Wednesday threat. The company is currently seeking approval from the FCC for a $6.2 billion deal to buy Tegna, which owns networks in major markets including Austin, Texas, and San Diego, California. Sinclair, another major broadcasting company, also relies on the FCC to periodically renew its licenses and allocate the company spectrum.

► From Bloomberg Law — Gutting Civil Rights Offices Leaves Federal Workers Few Options — The Trump administration is quietly downsizing offices across the government that are responsible for processing internal discrimination claims, further impeding workers’ access to remedies outside of private lawsuits…While the administration directed employees who had filed or were filing discrimination complaints against the government to a new point of contact for their cases, worker attorneys say investigations are being delayed past statutory deadlines and leaving complainants in limbo.

► From WUSF — CDC pauses remote work arrangements for employees with disabilities, union says — Members of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), a union representing over 800,000 federal employees across the U.S., say that the revised policy’s lack of clarity around remote work has stoked confusion among staff members with remote-work arrangements as well as their supervisors. Yolanda Jacobs, president of AFGE Local 2883, told NPR on Wednesday that some of CDC’s disabled employees are waiting for an answer on whether working offsite remains a reasonable accommodation.

► From Bloomberg Law — Labor Department Brings Back Staff Who Took ‘Fork’ Offer — Staffers who opted into the Trump administration’s deferred resignation program, voluntarily taking paid administrative leave with the expectation of leaving their jobs, are returning to the US Labor Department. Three current DOL employees, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Bloomberg Law that colleagues who took the Department of Government Efficiency’s “Fork in the Road” offer earlier this year have returned as full-time workers, after collecting their full pay and benefits for months without performing their job duties.

Editor’s note: impressive government efficiency on display from the Trump admin.

► From Bloomberg — How Trump Broke Corporate America’s Most Valuable Consultant  — For decades, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has been one of the best deals the federal government has to offer. At a cost of about $1 per American per year, Niosh, a quiet little agency tucked inside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, conducts or funds most of the country’s research into workplace harms. Its scientists operate like a world-class source of free consulting, working across a massive range of fields to provide the kind of research, development and training that businesses rarely love paying for themselves. Niosh scientists are responsible for evaluating the risks of new chemicals, testing and certifying the effectiveness of N95 masks, monitoring mine cave-in hazards and administering the health-care program for Sept. 11 heroes. Essentially the agency amounts to a first line of defense for workers and a secret weapon for businesses. Earlier this year, the Trump administration decided to blow it up.

► From the Everett Daily Herald — Everett council rebukes Kroger for plans to close Fred Meyer store — The Everett City Council voted 6-1 to approve a resolution Wednesday night rebuking supermarket giant Kroger for its plans to close the South Everett Fred Meyer store on Evergreen Way in mid-October. Wednesday’s resolution refers to the planned closure as “an act of corporate neglect,” a betrayal of the community’s trust and “a profound setback for working families who deserve stability, food access and respect.”

► From the Spokesman Review — A record number of Latinos voted for Trump. How are Washington’s Latinos feeling about federal immigration crackdowns 9 months into his presidency?  — Politico reported Trump’s support from Latinos has plummeted by 20 points, according to a poll by Somos Votantes, a Latino-led nonprofit organization…With close to three years left of Trump’s presidency, Palacios said she’s waiting to see how Latino voters will shift by the next presidential election. “These policies are affecting innocent people who actually want to create better lives for themselves, not only for themselves, but our future kids, our grandchildren later down the line…”

JOLT OF JOY

It’s that special time of year; the days are getting shorter, the mornings a little cooler, and finally, that moment we’ve all been waiting for has arrived. That’s right folks, it’s about to be Fat Bear Week.

What is Fat Bear Week you might (reasonably) ask? An annual celebration of ursine rotundness, Alaska’s Katmai National Park brown bears who’ve spent all summer fattening up in preparation to hibernate go head to head in a battle for biggest, fattest bear of them all (some get as big as 1,200 pounds). You can watch the big ol’ bear bracket reveal live on Tuesday, then vote for your favorite big-backed bear the rest of the week. In the meantime, you can watch the bears live on Youtube:

Is this whole thing kind of ridiculous? Absolutely. Is it also a surprisingly poignant celebration of survival? You betcha.

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