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NEWS ROUNDUP

Sbux closures | Mass firings threatened | Support PBS journalists

Thursday, September 25, 2025

 

STRIKES

► From Yahoo Finance — Boeing stays silent on Machinists’ proposed strike settlement — While Boeing has not formally responded to the proposal, the union is not taking the company’s silence as a rejection, Jody Bennett, IAM’s resident general VP, said at the press conference. “I’m absolutely waiting for them to give me a formal response, and that’s the normal procedure,” Bennett said…If the union doesn’t receive an official response, IAM is prepared to meet with Boeing “on any days that they’ll provide us to get face to face,” Bennett added. However, he said the reason talks have not resumed was due to Boeing’s “unwillingness to come and meet.”

► From Houston Public Media — Union workers at Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center to take strike vote — Approximately 100 unionized workers at the George R. Brown Convention Center will take a strike vote, they announced on Wednesday. The announcement came as hundreds of hotel workers at the neighboring Hilton Americas-Houston remained on strike for the 24th day of what they’ve described as a “historic” 42-day labor action. The groups are represented by the same union, UNITE HERE Local 23, and both facilities are owned by Houston First, the city’s local government corporation for tourism and conventions.

 

LOCAL

► From My Northwest — Starbucks permanently closes Seattle Reserve Roastery — Starbucks is permanently closing its Seattle Reserve Roastery — the first roastery the company created — located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Starbucks previously announced it is laying off approximately 900 non-retail employees and closing several U.S. and Canadian stores in an attempt to focus more of its resources on a turnaround. Starbucks is closing stores “where we’re unable to create the physical environment our customers and partners expect, or where we don’t see a path to financial performance,” the company stated. (Above photo from MLK Labor)

► From NW Public Broadcasting — Staff shortages pull Forest Service office workers into fire roles — “When we get to peak fire season, it’s kind of an all-hands-on-deck call, if you will,” said Jim Wimer, a fire prevention officer for the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests. U.S. Forest Service employees who are normally in the office — like wildlife biologists or hydrologists — jumped in to help with fire information this summer, he said. “We recruited lots of Forest Service employees into the fire information function, trying to train folks that have the interest into public information officer roles,” Wimer said, adding that the extra training helped many of the understaffed forest ranger stations in North Idaho get the word out about fire dangers to the public. Workers even drove trucks with supplies to wildfires, often working overtime to help, he said Wimer.

► From the Washington State Standard — Firefighter arrested at Washington state wildfire released by ICE — Rigoberto Hernandez Hernandez was freed Tuesday after nearly four weeks in detention at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington. Hernandez is now back home in Oregon with his family, said Matt Adams, legal director with the Northwest Immigration Rights Project, which is representing him. The group, along with attorneys at Oregon-based Innovation Law Lab, said that the arrest of Hernandez was illegal and violated due process. The groups’ petition for habeas corpus is still pending. Adams said the government has dismissed its proceedings to remove Hernandez from the country. “They’re acknowledging that there’s no justification for this arrest or this type of enforcement action targeting people who are on the front lines working to keep our community safe,” Adams said in an interview.

► From Cascadia Daily News — In Washington, you can vote from jail — or upon release from prison — Once someone has completed any required prison sentence associated with a felony conviction, their right to vote will be restored. Prior to 2022, someone convicted of a felony would need to finish other conditions of their sentence, such as community supervision terms, before being allowed to vote. Once released, a convicted felon still needs to register to vote. And, in order to cast their ballot, the resident will have to sign their name and make the same declaration as every other Washingtonian, stating that they are qualified to vote.

► From KEPR — Oregon AFL-CIO is endorsing in the boycott against Windmill Mushroom — ” There is an inextricable link between struggles for economic, racial, and immigrant justice, and we think that anytime a group of workers, and especially marginalized workers, who take a brave stand like this to form a union, because they want a voice at the table and be able to bargain with their employer for fair wages and better working conditions anytime is pursued and sought out by a group of workers that the employer has a legal duty and obligation to respect that ” said Graham Trainor , President of Oregon AFl-CIO.

Editor’s note: read more in The STAND’s coverage — Windmill mushroom boycott gains momentum

► From Cascade PBS Union:

Editor’s note: you can support laid-off Cascade PBS journalists by donating to their GoFundMe

 

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From the Boston Globe — Fenway Park concession workers cite threats, surveillance, in unfair labor practices charges against Aramark — The filing detailed an incident from April, in which an Aramark supervisor allegedly raised his voice and told a union worker, “Everyone here knows that if they do the union thing they will be fired.”…In another incident, the union complaint alleged, another supervisor video recorded workers who were engaged in union efforts, saying that his manager instructed him to do so. Other incidents mentioned in the filing included questioning of employees about their involvement in a three-day strike in July, and Aramark allegedly instructing workers to remove hats with the union’s logo.

► From KOIN — Union members to Reynolds School District: No layoffs, no furlough days — Many people shared frustrations as the district faces close to 80 layoffs if the union doesn’t accept 10 furlough days — that’s 10 days of no work with no pay…A couple of the board members, Francisco Ibarra and Michael Reyes, voiced support for the union members sitting before them, citing a lack of federal and state funding putting the district in this position. Others pointed the finger at the union…OSEA Chapter Vice President Kristy Cousineau retorted, “We cannot continue surviving on the wages that are being presented with these furlough days. It’s just, it’s not feasible. And that’s not being stubborn or ridiculous. That’s facing reality.”

 

ORGANIZING

► From the Wrap — DreamWorks Animation Union Set to Add Remote Workers — The Animation Guild‘s unionization efforts at DreamWorks continue, as the studio’s bargaining unit ratified a new contract for production workers who unionized last year and have announced their intent to add remote workers outside of Los Angeles to its ranks…a group of 75 DreamWorks Animation workers who are employed outside of Los Angeles have announced their intent to unionize with the National Labor Relations Board. These workers hold positions that are union positions under The Animation Guild and have worked on film and television projects alongside DWA workers based at the studio’s Glendale headquarters.

 

NATIONAL

► From PYOK — Inside Avelo’s Controversial ICE Flights: Flight Attendants Claim FAA Safety Rules Are Being Violated — In an open letter sent to Avelo’s chief executive, Andrew Levy, last week, the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA) concedes that the airline has, at least, written policies to comply with FAA rules on ICE flights, but that flight attendants are prevented from following them. The hard-hitting letter alleges that Avelo “has failed to give Flight Attendants the tools, training, or authority to actually ensure compliance with FAA safety requirements.”…The union lists a number of key concerns, including: No training in how to evacuate shackled passengers; Flight attendants prevented by ICE agents from performing safety checks; Lack of cabin modifications to allow shackled passengers to evacuate.

► From the Seattle Times — Starbucks Store Closures Get Shrug With Investors Wanting More — On Thursday, Starbucks said it will close 1% of its stores in the US and Canada while cutting 900 jobs. Investors largely shrugged at the announcement. Wall Street might have wanted deeper cuts for a company with 360,000 employees as of last year and 41,000 locations globally.

Editor’s note: perhaps investors would also like to know why, if the company is in such dire straits as to need to close stores, CEO Brian Niccol made $96 million in 2024 and spent a cool $80 mil on a managers-only Las Vegas conference earlier this year.

► From Starbucks Workers United:

► From the Seattle Times — Rural hospitals in Oregon struggled to maintain maternity care even before Medicaid cuts — “My biggest fear … was that I was going to give birth on the highway driving to the hospital,” Banister recalled to InvestigateWest. That fear ultimately came to pass. She and her husband only made it 20 minutes into the drive north to a hospital in La Grande before she felt her water break…Their experiences offer a sobering glimpse of challenges many more families in rural Oregon could face under changes to Medicaid made as part of President Donald Trump’s signature tax cuts and spending package, known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” The Republican-led law is expected to slash Medicaid programs nationwide, including more than $11 billion from the Oregon Health Plan through 2031, according to a preliminary estimate from Gov. Tina Kotek’s office.

► From Deadline — Disney Expected To Part Ways With Burbank Studio Lot Union Nurses In Favor Of Subcontracting; IATSE Local 80 Decries Move As A “Principled Attack” — “This, to me, is an assault on unionism and and a weaponization of the language [of the contract],” Ellis insisted. “This is just a principled attack, if you will, in my opinion, on the union workers. It’s just one less headache for that [labor relations] department.” Ellis also says that the local is planning some coordinated action to protest Disney’s decision, including an informational picket to let the public know about its concerns, though nothing is set in stone quite yet. Much of that will likely be dependent on the timeline for the transition. IATSE’s Basic Agreement with the Hollywood studios only prohibits subcontracting work “which has not heretofore been subcontracted in the multi-employer bargaining unit,” which opens the door for Disney to make a move like this.

 

POLITICS & POLICY

► From Politico — White House to agencies: Prepare mass firing plans for a potential shutdown — The Office of Management and Budget move to permanently reduce the government workforce if there is a shutdown, outlined in a memo shared with POLITICO ahead of release to agencies tonight, escalates the stakes of a potential shutdown next week…House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries struck a different note in an X post that appeared to take the threat seriously. He addressed it to voters in federal-worker-rich Virginia, who will soon elect a governor and other state officials. “Their goal is to ruin your life and punish hardworking families already struggling with Trump Tariffs and inflation,” he said. “Remember in November.”

► From Politico — Republicans’ shutdown blame game is fracturing — Taken together, the visible cracks in the GOP front are raising internal concerns as party leaders face off against Democrats who are largely united behind a plan to focus on health care — particularly an extension of expiring insurance subsidies…Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have seized on Trump’s cancellation of the meeting, with Schumer accusing the president of throwing a “tantrum” and Jeffries criticizing Johnson for sending House members home until after the Sept. 30 shutdown deadline. “They’re not even pretending as if they want to find common ground,” Jeffries told reporters Wednesday in the Capitol.

► From the New York Times — Social Security Workers Struggle to Meet Demand After DOGE Cuts –When Rebekah Walker noticed she was short on her July rent, it quickly became clear that her monthly disability payment never arrived from Social Security, as it had for the past 16 years. The agency claimed in an online message that she had been overpaid by $48,609.60 — and she needed to pay it back. Until she could prove otherwise, she was cut off. Ms. Walker, who has complex heart abnormalities and one functioning lung, headed to her local Social Security office for answers, waiting about 30 minutes before they turned her away. The earliest appointment slot wasn’t for two weeks.

► From Bloomberg Law — Jeffries Says Democrats Will Not Compromise On ACA Tax Credits — House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats will not compromise on their call for making enhanced Obamacare premium tax credits permanent. When asked during an exclusive Bloomberg Government roundtable what a potential compromise could look like on the subsidies, Jeffries pointed to the Democrats’ continuing resolution proposal that would permanently extend the more generous version of the Affordable Care Act premium tax credit — a policy that would cost the US government around $350 billion over 10 years. “Our position is articulated in the Democratic continuing resolution,” he said Wednesday at the Capitol.

► From Black Enterprise — CDC ‘Pauses’ Disability Rule For Remote Work Following Massive Backlash — The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest federal employee union, is calling out the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for “the most sweeping civil rights violation” after forbidding remote work for disabled employees, citing a need for clarification from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The move has since been paused “pending clarification from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and a review of its legality,” the AFGE said in a news release.

► From the Government Executive — Labor groups warn of ‘gaping hole’ in First Amendment if court OKs Trump’s anti-union orders — “It is well-established that if a district court finds that First Amendment activity was a substantial or motivating factor in the government’s conduct toward the plaintiff, the burden shifts to the government to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that it would have taken the same action even without the impetus to retaliate,” the union wrote. “[By] determining conclusively that ‘on this record the government has shown that the president would have taken the same action even in the absence of the protected conduct,’ the panel upended this burden-shifting scheme and absolved the government of its burden of proof…”

► From the Tacoma News Tribune — OPINION: Tacoma defies initiative system with block of minimum wage vote — Again, this isn’t an argument over whether we should raise the minimum wage to $20, which is what the initiative proposes. Nor is it an argument over whether this particular initiative would do more harm than good. It’s not even an argument over the merits of citizens’ initiatives. The question is whether the city can — or should — nuke an initiative that it doesn’t like. I’d say it’s a bad look.

 

TODAY’S MUST-READ

► From Wired — The Story of DOGE, as Told by Federal Workers — The true scope of DOGE’s attack on the federal government remains unknown. While there is no reason to think it achieved meaningful cost savings or operational efficiencies, the ramifications of building a master database to track and surveil immigrants are just beginning to be felt, and its cadre of Musk protégés and tech entrepreneurs remain embedded in agencies throughout the executive branch. The possibilities this opens up—of private takeovers of government operations, of the government embracing Silicon Valley’s ethos of moving fast and breaking things—remain open. WIRED spoke with more than 200 federal workers across dozens of agencies to gather the most comprehensive picture yet of how the American government got to this point, and where it may go from here.

 

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