ESH employee killed | Shutdown looms | Portland

Monday, September 29, 2025

STRIKES

► From the Labor Tribune — Contract negotiations between Machinists District 837, Boeing resume as strike enters ninth week — The bargaining committees for Boeing and IAM 837 agreed to return to negotiations on Monday, Sept. 29, with the help of a federal mediator in an effort to find a path to end the strike, the union said in a statement last week. Prior to news of the restart of negotiations, Boeing announced that it is moving upgrade work on the F/A-18 Super Hornet out of north St. Louis County, a move that was decried by District 837 leaders…District 837 Directing Business Representative Tom Boelling called the decision to move the work “deeply disappointing.” “Our members performing this critical upgrade work have consistently earned the highest praise from the customer,” Boelling said. “Unfortunately, Boeing chose to make this announcement while our skilled members remain on the picket line fighting for dignity, respect and a fair contract.”

LOCAL

► From the Washington State Standard — Employee shot and killed at WA’s Eastern State Hospital — Firefighters responded to a brush fire around midnight and encountered a man yelling and acting aggressively. They requested police assistance, but the sheriff’s office said the man left the scene before deputies arrived. Around 1:40 a.m., police received a call about a man with a rifle who entered a home and fired several shots as uninjured occupants hid. About 15 minutes later, a caller reported the Eastern State Hospital employee had been shot in the hospital’s parking lot.

► From WFSE/AFSCME Council 28:

► From KUOW — As 10-year contract to run Tacoma ICE center ends, lawmakers demand transparency for the next — Both ICE and GEO Group declined to comment on the status of the contract. But in the company’s August earnings call, GEO Group Executive Chairman George Zoley told investors the future looks lucrative for immigrant lockup centers nationwide…In GEO Group’s last contract with ICE to run the Northwest ICE Processing Center, the private company was paid at least $700 million to run the facility for 10 years.

AEROSPACE

► From the (Everett) Daily Herald — When Boeing expects to start production of 737 MAX 10 plane in Everett — Boeing will start producing its 737 Max 10 jetliner at its Everett plant after expected certification of the plane from the Federal Aviation Administration in 2026, its top executive said. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg’s comments at a July 29 company earnings call offered a potential new timeline for when the largest variant of its 737 family of jets could start production in Everett.

► From KUOW — FAA restores Boeing’s ability to certify Max jets for flight more than 6 years after fatal crashes — Boeing is getting back the ability to perform final safety inspections on 737 Max jetliners and certify the planes for flight more than six years after crashes of the then-new model killed 346 people, the Federal Aviation Administration said Friday. The FAA said it decided to restore the aerospace company’s authorization to issue airworthiness certificates for Max and 787 Dreamliner passenger planes starting Monday following “a thorough review of Boeing’s ongoing production quality.”

NATIONAL

► From Oregon Live — Portlanders take to the streets as Trump administration mobilizes National Guard, state sues to block troops — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth moved Sunday to mobilize 200 members of the Oregon National Guard into federal service in the city of Portland for 60 days. The state, in turn, filed a lawsuit to block the Trump administration from deploying the National Guard to Portland or anywhere in the state.

► From the Seattle Times — Federal cops ‘instigating’ confrontations, Portland official says — A Portland Police Bureau assistant chief said in court recently that federal police were “instigating” some of the clashes between officers and protesters outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in South Portland…Portland Mayor Keith Wilson recently called on Trump administration officials to investigate federal police actions captured in video footage and published by The Oregonian/OregonLive, such as a DHS agent repeatedly hitting a demonstrator in the upper body and face with a shield and then knocking down a woman who had her back turned to him.

► From the Guardian — ‘Hell on earth’: immigrants held in new California detention facility beg for help — Six people detained at the California City detention center, which opened in late August and is now the state’s largest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention center, shared accounts with the Guardian of poor conditions and alleged mistreatment by staff…The detainees, who are fighting deportation, said they have struggled to access hygiene and cleaning supplies, and lack adequate food and medications, and that officers have threatened solitary confinement and physical force over minor issues or after they spoke up. “This place is built to break us,” said Sokhean Keo, a California City detainee who is facing deportation to Cambodia and refused to eat for several days last week to protest conditions. “There is nothing but harassment and torture here. It’s inhumane, unsanitary and a health hazard every single day … Please, please help us, please.”

► From the AP — Kilmar Abrego Garcia transferred to Pennsylvania detention facility — Court records show Immigration and Customs Enforcement notified Abrego Garcia’s lawyers Friday that he was transferred to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Phillipsburg. It said the location would make it easier for them to access him. However his attorneys raised concerns about conditions at Moshannon, saying there have been recent reports of “assaults, inadequate medical care, and insufficient food,” according to a federal court filing.

► From More Perfect Union:

POLITICS & POLICY

► From CNN — ‘I’m absolutely terrified’: Federal workers brace for potential government shutdown, mass layoffs — There is widespread confusion and fear among federal workers as the Tuesday night deadline approaches for Congress to approve a spending package, according to more than a dozen employees from 11 federal agencies who spoke to CNN. Many are still waiting to find out who will be required to work through a shutdown — and who will be furloughed…“I’ll go home today and take stock of my budget and pantry and make sure my family can ride out the next month or more, of whatever is coming,” the employee told CNN. “And then tomorrow, I’ll get up and come to work and do my best for America, until they tell me I can’t come to work anymore.”…Philadelphia-based IRS employee Alex Berman, a local leader for the National Treasury Employees Union, said there is a “constant state of fearful uncertainty,” and that this shutdown threat feels different than past years. “The added complication is that this might be used as a pretext to tell people that they don’t have a job anymore – and that isn’t how the system is supposed to work,” Berman said.

► From Politico — Schumer pushes for ‘real’ negotiations ahead of White House meeting — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is urging Republicans to come to the table for “real” government funding negotiations, a day before congressional leaders will meet with President Donald Trump…Schumer, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will go to the White House on Monday to meet with Trump less than 48 hours before the deadline to avoid a funding lapse. It’s the first time Trump has met with Schumer or Jeffries on government funding after abruptly canceling a meeting last week.

► From the Washington State Standard — A federal government shutdown is nearing. Here’s a guide for what to expect. — A funding lapse this year would have a considerably wider effect than the 35-day one that took place during Trump’s first term and could last longer, given heightened political tensions. The last shutdown didn’t affect the departments of Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Labor and Veterans Affairs, since Congress had approved those agencies’ full-year funding bills. Lawmakers had also enacted the Legislative Branch appropriations bill, exempting Capitol Hill from any repercussions. That isn’t the case this time around since none of the dozen government spending bills have become law. That means nearly every corner of the federal government will feel the pain in some way if a compromise isn’t reached by the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1.

► From the Washington Post — Trump’s shutdown plans: Mass layoffs, deregulation, military deployments — Under the Trump administration’s plans for a government shutdown, the Labor Department would cut off most activities — then fire thousands of employees. National parks would close, and their staffs could face layoffs. Phone help lines at the Internal Revenue Service would go unstaffed, perhaps permanently. National Guard deployments to major cities — D.C., Memphis and Portland — would continue. Immigration raids and deportation activities would be unaffected, though officers would work unpaid.

► From the New York Times — The Man Behind Trump’s Push for an All-Powerful Presidency: Russell Vought — For the leaders of Mr. Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement, Mr. Vought is seen as the disciplined architect who channeled the passion of MAGA into an actionable policy blueprint…To many legal experts, Mr. Vought’s work is a threat to the foundations of democracy. “One of the main sources of power that Congress has over the executive branch is the budget,” said Eloise Pasachoff, a law professor at Georgetown University. “If the executive branch isn’t controlled by the power of the purse, then there is very little that will control the President.” She added: “It’s a fundamental challenge to liberty for every single person in America.”

► From the New York Times — Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Allow End of Birthright Citizenship — In a pair of petitions, government lawyers argued that the Constitution’s promise of citizenship was conferred on “freed slaves and their children, not on the children of aliens temporarily visiting the United States or of illegal aliens.” The common understanding of the 14th Amendment for more than a century, upheld by the Supreme Court, has guaranteed citizenship to children born in the United States…If the justices were to take the case, the court could hear arguments on the matter during its upcoming term, which is set to begin in early October.

► From MSNBC — WATCH: Why your health insurance prices go up if Obamacare tax credits end. Fmr. HHS Secretary explains –Democrats are withholding their support for a government funding bill to address health care access and subsidies for those under the Affordable Care Act. Former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius joins Alex Witt to discuss why these subsidies ending could force many Americans out of their healthcare and why President Trump’s latest comments about Tylenol are drawing criticism.

► From the Washington Post — Is Trump keeping all his promises? This MAGA couple doesn’t think so. — Trump campaigned on grand promises: Cut energy costs in half. “Immediately bring prices down.” “Drain the swamp.” Make IVF free and end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours. Now Meadows was starting to question the president’s ability to keep his word — and not just on the economy. She didn’t like his dismissive attitude toward MAGA Republicans who wanted to see the government’s full files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, after Trump said last year that he was “inclined” to release information on Epstein…Jessie didn’t think Trump was involved in Epstein’s crimes, but his promise to “drain the swamp” felt distant. “It seems like he went up there and just made himself the king frog of the swamp,” she said.

INTERNATIONAL

► From People’s World — Solidarity with Starbucks workers’ struggle goes global — The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), representing over 110 million workers in 136 countries, issued a statement voicing support for the growing service worker movement that has organized over 12,000 baristas at 650 locations over the last four years. Starbucks has been convicted of hundreds of labor law violations throughout the campaign. “Their struggle is not just for themselves, but for all workers fighting against the unacceptable anti-union tactics,” proclaimed the WFTU, headquartered in Athens, Greece. In March, the federation’s Young Workers Committee condemned Starbucks and the “state terror” faced by baristas arrested during civil disobedience sit-in actions conducted at unionized stores this spring.

► From the AP — Nigerian government to meet oil workers’ union after strike halts nationwide supply — Nigerian government officials are set to meet with representatives of the country’s oil workers union on Monday, a union leader told The Associated Press, following a strike to protest the firing of oil workers at Africa’s biggest refiner. The walkout threatens to halt nationwide supply. The union called Saturday on all its members to halt services after 800 oil workers were fired by Dangote Refinery, saying in a statement the mass layoff was “an affront to all workers in Nigeria and a deliberate violation of Nigeria’s labour laws, the Constitution, and ILO conventions”.

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