Farm workers & flooding | Baristas of steel | International strikes

Wednesday, December 17, 2025

STRIKES

► From In These Times — Striking Barista on Starbucks’ End-Game: “They Don’t Want Working People to Have a Voice” — Starbucks claims the average compensation, including benefits, is $30 an hour, which is little more than PR nonsense…According to union data, the average barista receives just 19 hours of work per week, leaving them one hour short of the cutoff to receive company benefits…Tt’s clear this fight isn’t really about money, since it would take less than one day’s sales to finalize this contract, based on our internal estimate. Instead, this movement is about who has power in our economy. Bajillion-dollar corporations like Starbucks don’t want democracy in the workplace, and they don’t want working people to have a voice; they want to pocket as much profit as possible with no regard for the human cost. But now Starbucks has a fight on its hands, and union baristas have the power of the people on our side.

Editor’s note: rally with striking baristas tomorrow at 12pm in Seattle. RSVP for details. 

LOCAL

► From KUOW — WA labor department investigates claims farmworkers were working through floods — “If there’s a mandatory evacuation order for an area, conditions on the ground in that area are not safe for workers,” said Matt Ross, public affairs manager for L&I, in an email. “Outside of mandatory evacuations, flood conditions can still present hazards — we would respond to any complaints to assess specific circumstances.” Ross also noted that employees have the protected right to refuse to work under dangerous conditions. If they feel that right is violated, they can call 1-800-4BE-SAFE to file a complaint…Community to Community founder Rosalinda Guillen said the incidents brought back painful memories from 2021, when a farmworker drowned in the Whatcom County floods on his way to work. “ The only person that died on that flood was a farm worker, and we’re very conscious of that,” she said. “It just sits with us as a heavy loss.”

► From KUOW — Live updates: 200,000 without power in Western Washington following wind storm, fallen trees — More than 200,000 are without power in Western Washington due to high winds and fallen trees as of Wednesday morning. Roughly 13,000 people in Western Washington remain under evacuation advisories across King, Snohomish, Skagit, Lewis, Chelan, and Yakima counties.

► From NW Public Broadcasting — Chelan County faces second wave of high winds, heavy rain — Chelan County Emergency Management is advising people in Chelan County to fill out a Damage Assessment form to document damages. The county hopes that by documenting damages, FEMA will approve assistance for Chelan County residents.

► From Oregon Live — Oregon union calls for monthly boycotts against Trump immigration policy, including from school — During a Tuesday press conference, Lopez said that her organization was launching the “A Day Without an Immigrant” movement in response to the “lawless cruelty” by immigration authorities…The first boycott on Thursday will coincide with a federal lawsuit PCUN is a part of which challenges the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s “unconstitutional practice of denying people in immigration custody access to legal counsel.” Oregonians must do everything in their power, Lopez said, to help immigrants who have called Oregon home. “More than 1900 hard working families have lost their breadwinners this year,” she said. “Families are losing their homes. This is a growing humanitarian crisis.”

► From OPB — Five farmworkers released after Woodburn ICE detentions deemed unlawful — For Stephen Manning, a lawyer at Innovation Law Lab, which represents the five released farmworkers, these cases represent “a sample” of the dozens of others arrested in the Oct. 30 raid. To Manning, this signaled that the others arrested that day also might be in detention unlawfully. When Manning spoke at a press conference the week after the raid, he said ICE denied the attorneys access to nearly everyone who was arrested. “We know that’s not the way the legal process is supposed to work and we know that ICE is engaged in this denial of access because due process matters,” he said.

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From Labor Notes — One Battle After Another: The Big Contract Fights Coming in 2026 — The coming year could keep the strikes rolling through steel mills, state offices, telephone lines, axle plants, baseball diamonds, and hospitals from coast to coast. Union contracts expiring in 2026 could open up major fights by manufacturing, education, entertainment, and government workers…Each of these 2026 fights is an opportunity to build confidence, try bolder tactics, set our sights higher, and practice the cross-union solidarity we’re going to need to beat back the anti-union offensive.

► From the Portland Mercury — Strike Averted: New Seasons Grocery Workers Secure First Labor Contract — The two sides finalized a deal on December 4, and NSLU members voted to ratify the contract in a union-wide vote held over the last week. The union announced the ratification on Tuesday morning. The contract includes a $19-per-hour starting wage for new employees—a number Robbins believes is the highest in the Portland area. It’s a significant step up from the current starting rate, which was $16.30. Continuing workers will see hourly pay increases of between 50 and 70 cents, and wages will rise yearly with cost of living adjustments.

ORGANIZING

► From Banking Dive — Wells Fargo branch in Connecticut files for union election — Max Saldanha, an associate personal banker at the branch, said he and other employees seek “respect” in their unionization bid. “We are coming together to form a union because we ultimately want dignity and respect for ourselves and the work we do,” he said in a prepared statement. “If we are to be regarded as financial professionals, then we should be treated and compensated as such.”…WFWU, affiliated with the Communication Workers of America, launched unionization efforts in 2021, with its first election won in 2023. Its campaign is the only major unionization effort in the banking industry today. Only one bank in the U.S. has ratified a union contract in the last 40-plus years: Oakland, California-based Beneficial State Bank.

NATIONAL

► From the Street — Judge orders Tesla to make major change or halt sales in California — Last year, Tesla finally admitted that Full Self-Driving was not the Level 4 autonomous driving experience, as had been previously claimed when it added “Supervised” to the official FSD moniker, Benzinga reported…On Tuesday, Dec. 16, Administrative Law Judge Juliet E. Cox for the California Office of Administrative Hearings ruled that Tesla was deceptive in its marketing of Autopilot and Full-Self Driving, ruling in favor of the California Department of Motor Vehicles, which brought a complaint against the company in 2022.

POLITICS & POLICY

► From the New York Times — Republicans Clinch Democrats’ Bid to Force Vote on ACA Subsidies — Representatives Brian Fitzpatrick, Rob Bresnahan Jr., and Ryan Mackenzie, all of Pennsylvania, and Mike Lawler of New York signed onto the Democratic effort just moments before the House voted to bring up Mr. Johnson’s health care bill, a narrow package that does not address the subsidies. Their signatures clinched a Democratic discharge petition pushed by the minority leader, Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, to go around Mr. Johnson and require a floor vote on the subsidies. The proposal would not see action until January, after the subsidies have expired. And even if it were to succeed in the House, it would be all but certain to die in the Senate, where Republicans blocked a three-year extension last week.

► From the Hill — OPINION: Congress must ensure US Air safety is never again a political bargaining chip — Aviation safety is not political. It is fundamental. The shutdown added unnecessary risk to the safety of our skies and placed an unbearable burden on the frontline aviation workers who perform critical work. With November’s shutdown over, and the threat of another one looming in January, we must ensure that these professionals are never put in the same untenable position again. That’s why Congress must pass the Aviation Funding Stability Act to ensure the Federal Aviation Administration can operate without interruption in case of future political gridlock.

► From KUOW — Exclusive: WA Congressional delegation flags declining Tacoma detention center conditions in letter to ICE — The letter cites reports from local service providers and advocates with access to the facility, including reports of at least three pregnant women in detention who claim they have not been able to receive appropriate medical care. It also references two suicide attempts in April and challenges for detainees to access behavioral care. “None of this is remotely acceptable — you and the entire Trump administration have a basic moral and legal obligation to the people who have been detained and are under your care,” the letter states.

► From the Washington State Standard — Ferguson will tap emergency funding to aid WA residents hit by flooding — Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said Tuesday that the state will look to spend $3.5 million on immediate assistance to those affected by the historic flooding of the past week. The money is intended as a bridge to help Washingtonians before the state can access federal disaster aid, which could take months. It’ll help pay for things like hotel stays for evacuees, groceries and other short-term needs. It’s unclear how quickly the state dollars will get out the door…The money comes from emergency funding earmarked for the governor’s office in the state budget. King County is also investing $1.5 million in shelter assistance and debris removal, County Executive Girmay Zahilay said.

► From the Washington State Standard — Washington US Rep. Dan Newhouse not running for reelection — At least one Democrat is mounting a bid for the 4th District seat next year: John Duresky, a retired Air Force officer who also worked at the Hanford nuclear cleanup site. The last Democrat to win a U.S. House seat in the 4th was former Gov. Jay Inslee. He won in 1992, but lost reelection after one term to Doc Hastings, a Republican, who held the seat until retiring in 2015…Newhouse’s early notice that he’s not running creates the potential for a Republican-packed primary next August, similar to 2022 when six Republicans, including Sessler, ran against Newhouse because of his impeachment vote.

► From WVVA — Bipartisan-backed bill would make black lung benefits more accessible for miners and survivors — U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Mark R. Warner (both D-VA) and John Fetterman (D-PA) and U.S. Representatives Morgan McGarvey (D-KY-03) and Bobby Scott (D-VA-03), ranking member of the House Committee on Education and Labor, reintroduced the Black Lung Benefits Improvement Act, legislation designed to help miners and their survivors access benefits under the federal Black Lung Benefits Program. The bill aims to reduce barriers that prevent miners from getting medical coverage and workers’ compensation they are entitled to receive, including rising costs of living, complicated claims processes and lack of legal representation.

INTERNATIONAL

► From People’s World — Portuguese workers bring country to a halt in historic general strike — The General Confederation of the Portuguese Workers (CGTP-IN) underscored that the attack on workers’ living standards comes not during an economic crisis but amidst growth and steep rises in corporate profits. The union federation said the government’s labor package is “an assault on the rights of all workers.”…“We do not accept unjust laws,” said Conceição Lobo, who has worked 44 years at the Lameirinho textile mill. She voiced widespread rejection of the proposed plan to force workers to work until age 70 before retirement. “We are in the street, together, defending dignity, respect, and a future for those who work,” she said.

► From the Guardian — Resident doctors in England begin five days of strike action — The latest offer from the government would have increased the number of training places to enable early career doctors to start training in their chosen medical speciality, but not increased their pay for the current financial year. Resident doctors, who make up about half of all NHS doctors, overwhelmingly rejected the offer in a BMA survey last week, with 83% voting against it on a 65% turnout. Of the 55,000 resident medics represented by the union, 35,107 took part. The industrial action will be the 14th strike that resident doctors have staged since March 2023. Dr Jack Fletcher, chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee, said doctors going out on strike were “making clear that they are willing to stand up for their profession against a totally avoidable jobs crisis.”

► From the AP — Louvre workers vote to extend a strike as the museum partially reopens — Employees at the Louvre Museum voted to extend a strike that has disrupted operations at the world’s most visited museum, though the venue partially opened Wednesday to allow visitors to enjoy its highlights…Culture Ministry officials held crisis talks with unions Monday and proposed to cancel a planned $6.7 million cut in 2026 funding, open new recruitment for gallery guards and visitor services and increase staff compensation. Union officials said the measures fell short.

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