Longview mill disaster | FIFA faces strike | San Diego REI unionizes

Monday, June 1, 2026

LOCAL

► From the Washington State Standard — WA agencies lacked role inspecting failed chemical tank in Longview mill disaster — “There’s no one agency or regulatory body that would be responsible for inspecting any single (above-ground) tank,” said Marissa Baker, industrial hygiene program director at the University of Washington. “Ultimately, the responsibility falls on the mill owner and operator,” Baker said. “Part of maintaining a safe and healthy work site is ensuring the structural integrity of their tanks that store extremely hazardous chemicals.”…Two people injured during the tank failure remained hospitalized as of Thursday at the Legacy Oregon Burn Center. Why the tank failed remains unclear. The federal Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board is investigating.

► From the Seattle Times — All 11 victims recovered and identified in Longview implosion — Those who died had worked at Nippon from less than six months to more than 15 years. One had planned to leave early Tuesday for his wife’s ultrasound appointment for their unborn child. Another was described as a devoted grandfather. Two were brothers. “The loss and heartbreak being experienced right now extends far beyond this facility and far beyond this community,” said Scott Tift, national president of the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers, at the news conference. “Entire families, lifelong friendships, workplaces, and communities across the region have been deeply affected.”

► From FOX 13 — Union leaders say Longview, WA implosion needs ‘uncompromising’ investigation — With 11 people dead, the Nippon Dynawave facility incident is the “deadliest industrial tragedy in modern Washington state history,” said Governor Bob Ferguson…In response to the deadly implosion, the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers (AWPPW) says they are “fully committed to ensuring there is a complete, thorough, and uncompromising investigation into what caused this tragedy.”

► From the Washington State Standard — Where Affordable Care Act insurance coverage has dropped most in WA –Residents of rural areas are more likely to rely on Healthplanfinder for their coverage, said Emily Brice, co-executive director at Northwest Health Law Advocates. “The real challenge there is that folks in rural areas are hit by this double whammy,” Brice said. “They have the soaring prices on one end and then access challenges on the other end, because providers are increasingly less available, more consolidated in rural areas.” Rural hospitals, also, are expected to be particularly hard hit by the federal cuts to Medicaid coming over the next couple years, though a major infusion of federal dollars to rural healthcare is meant to offset some of that.  And fewer patients will be able to afford to get care from these hospitals, Brice said.

► From the Daily — UW Center for Human Rights report alleges failures in sexual abuse investigations at Tacoma ICE detention center — The UW Center for Human Rights (UWHCR) released a report May 5 alleging that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and GEO Group, a private prison corporation, failed to properly investigate sexual abuse allegations at the Northwest ICE Processing Center (NWIPC) in Tacoma while simultaneously weakening oversight standards through a newly issued federal contract…“Washingtonians should be alarmed at the impunity in which ICE and GEO are operating in our state, and concerned for the basic well-being of those held in the detention facility,” Marcos wrote in a statement.

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From the Athletic — FIFA facing ‘significant’ World Cup problem as SoFi Stadium workers set for strike vote — The potential strike action threatens to impact eight World Cup matches at the venue, which is the home of the NFL’s two Los Angeles teams, the Chargers and the Rams. SoFi will host the opening World Cup match in the United States, when the USMNT plays Paraguay on June 12. The previous bargaining agreement between the union and the stadium’s operator, Legends Global, has expired. Multiple bargaining sessions, held at the venue, have now failed to reach agreements, leaving FIFA at ongoing risk of a strike…In an interview with The Athletic, the union’s co-President Kurt Petersen said they broke off negotiations with Legends on Tuesday lunchtime. “We felt the company (Legends) were not taking the concerns and demands seriously enough,” Petersen said. “At midday (Tuesday), the workers told the company that we intend to proceed with a strike vote. The vote is scheduled for next week over two days on Thursday and Friday.”

ORGANIZING

► From the San Diego Tribune — San Diego REI votes to unionize. It’s now the co-op’s biggest union — The union will now work to secure a contract with the Seattle area-based retailer. Workers said they are seeking higher pay, better scheduling practices and and other benefits. Workers were organized under the large United Food and Commercial Workers union or UFCW. The Kearny Mesa store becomes the 12th REI in the U.S. to unionize and, with roughly 119 workers, the largest.

POLITICS & POLICY

► From the New York Times — Trump Squeezes Immigrants by Cutting Them Off From Jobs, Health Care and Housing –For nearly three decades, Raquel Molina — an immigrant from El Salvador who has a valid Social Security number and permission to work in the United States — swabbed the toilets, wiped down the seats and vacuumed the aisles of airplanes at Boston’s Logan International Airport…But last summer, Ms. Molina, 65, was abruptly fired from her $19.75-per-hour cleaning job, alongside dozens of other immigrants who have long legally worked at Logan…The Trump administration had decided that only U.S. citizens, green card holders and others with more permanent forms of residency should be granted access, according to a lawsuit that a labor union filed in federal court.

► From OPB — Trump budget would eliminate agency investigating Longview chemical disaster — A team from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board arrived in Longview within a day last week to lead an investigation into the fatal chemical tank rupture that killed 11 people at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. paper mill last week. But if President Donald Trump’s proposed budget is approved, funding for the federal agency’s work might run out before the investigation is complete. The U.S. House Appropriations Committee, of which Glusenkamp Perez is a member, is set to discuss legislation that includes the agency’s funding on Wednesday. Trump’s proposal, which would go into effect this October if his budget were approved by Congress, is the president’s sixth attempt to defund the CSB since he first took office in 2017, according to Safety and Health magazine.

► From Politico — It Was Supposed to Be a Lifeline for a Blue-Collar Town. Then Trump Returned. — The big turbine parts were supposed to represent a new era in a city where fish houses and abandoned factories line the waterfront. They were assembled here, sent out to sea and installed as part of Vineyard Wind, the largest renewable energy project built to-date east of the Mississippi River. All that was left on a recent April day were empty blade racks, a pair of red cranes and three broken blades…Trump’s attempts to halt projects under construction mean none are likely to be built for the foreseeable future, leaving New Bedford to ponder what, if anything, it gained. Said New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell: “We’ve essentially resigned ourselves to not seeing any projects proceed for the balance of the Trump administration.”

► From Politico — States balk at the high price of Medicaid work requirements amid budget crunch — State health departments are having to funnel resources into hiring more staff, paying for overtime, and upgrading their aging technology systems so they can determine which low-income residents are working, volunteering, caregiving, or studying enough hours to keep their Medicaid coverage. They are also building new systems to determine who is sick enough to qualify for an exemption. Democratic state officials, most of whom oppose the policy, say it’s an unfair burden at a time when many states can least afford it – amid drops in tax revenue and federal funding as a result of other policies in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

INTERNATIONAL

► From Jacobin — Workers Are Demanding a Share of Samsung’s AI Windfall — A planned strike at Samsung this month would have been the biggest industrial action in a South Korean workplace since the heyday of labor militancy in the 1980s, involving more than 47,000 workers…Despite their shortcomings, ranging from weak solidarity to alleged collusion with management and the limited scope of their gains, the unions at Samsung showed that a sustained union campaign can still extract concessions, even from one of the world’s most powerful employers.

► From Wired — ‘We’re Just Getting the Crumbs Here’: Contractors Protest Layoffs at Meta’s European Headquarters –The workers are employed by Dublin-based company Covalen, which handles content moderation and data labeling services that help Meta to fine-tune its AI products. In April, Covalen told 700 employees that their jobs were at risk, citing “reduced demand,” WIRED reported. A large swath of the affected workers won’t receive any severance because they’ve been employed for less than two years. The rest are being offered the minimum payout required under local labor laws—two weeks’ pay for every year of employment—according to the Communications Workers’ Union (CWU), whose members include Covalen employees.

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