March for fairness | UW facing strike | Climate and racial justice

Wednesday, May 1, 2024

MAY DAY

► From the Seattle Times — This May Day, I’m marching for fairness for undocumented workers (by SEIU6 President Zenia Javalera) — Wednesday is May Day, also known as International Workers Day. Every May Day workers’ rights advocates, immigrant rights groups and working people show up in the streets of Seattle to call for change. As a mom, as a daughter of immigrants and as president of SEIU6, this year I will march for a fair contract for the 4,000 janitors that we represent — and to make sure that those workers, regardless of citizenship status, can access unemployment insurance if they lose their job… This May Day, I will march with day laborers and domestic workers from Casa Latina, with health care workers from SEIU 1199NW, home care workers from SEIU 775, with immigrant rights organizers and leaders from OneAmerica and with people from every walk of life who know that working people are the backbone of Washington state.

EDITOR’S NOTE — El Comité’s annual Labor Day March and Rally in Seattle will begin at 10 a.m. today at Westlake Park, 401 Pine St. They will march in honor of global solidarity for workers and immigrants to continue fighting for a world where all our rights are valued and respected. For info on marches planned in Olympia and Spokane, see our Calendar.

Also from The STAND:

Rally with Seattle-area hotel workers on May Day — Join the UNITE HERE Day of Action on Wednesday, May 1 at 4 p.m. outside the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel at 18740 International Blvd. in SeaTac, and the Westin Seattle at 1900 5th Ave. in Seattle.

Urge DHS to protect, empower immigrant workers — This May Day, please sign this petition asking DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to expand protections for immigrant workers from countries destabilized by climate disasters and conflict.

► From the AP — Workers and activists around the world hold May Day rallies urging greater rights and more pay — Workers, activists and others across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia took to the streets on Wednesday to mark May Day with protests over the global pressure of rising prices and calls for greater labor rights. May Day, which falls on May 1, is observed in many countries to celebrate workers’ rights. It’s also an opportunity to air economic grievances or political demands.

LOCAL

► From KIRO — Thousands could walk off jobs after UW student employees vote to strike — It’s possible that thousands of students could walk off the job after the union for the University of Washington’s Academic Student Employees voted to authorize a strike. They demanding fair pay, affordable heath care, and protections for non-citizen members that are also employees.

From The STAND (April 29) — 99% of UW Academic Student Employees OK strike

► From PubliCola — City reduces delay for workers’ retro pay — Seattle city employees who were told earlier this year that they wouldn’t receive pay for retroactive wage increases until October—a delay some workers described as a “zero-interest loan” to the city—learned this week that their wait will be shorter, with payments coming in July.

► From the union-busting Columbian — Stamp Out Hunger food drive in Vancouver seeks volunteers — Volunteers are needed for Vancouver’s 32nd annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive set for May 11. Organizers are looking for volunteers to help with letter carriers, especially those with pickup trucks, trailers, SUVs or other vehicles that can collect food donations from carrier routes.

► From the News Tribune — Pierce County food banks facing ‘crisis’ as record numbers seek help and donations dry up — There are multiple ways to donate, volunteer or seek food assistance.

► From the Bellingham Herald — New Bellingham citywide minimum wage goes into effect May 1; among highest rates in WA — After a ballot measure passed last year, the city is raising its minimum wage to $17.28, a dollar more than the statewide rate.

► From the Bellingham Herald — ABC Recycling withdraws plan for controversial metal shredder along Bellingham waterfront

THIS WASHINGTON

► From the WA State Standard — Inslee has 60 days to decide on controversial Horse Heaven wind farm — The fate of one the largest wind farms ever proposed in Washington now rests with Gov. Jay Inslee. On Monday, the state’s energy facility siting panel sent Inslee its recommendation for approval of the Horse Heaven wind and solar project, ending a contentious multi-year review. It culminated with regulators paring the Benton County project to curb threats to tribal cultural resources and endangered hawks. By law, Inslee has 60 days to approve or reject the project, or direct the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council to reconsider aspects of the proposed approval agreements. The council’s recommendation, and a draft agreement imposing dozens of conditions, reportedly halves the number of turbines and shrinks the spread of solar arrays.

From the STAND (June 9, 2022) — Tri-Cities trades unions reach deal to build Horse Heaven

► From KUOW — Washington Legislature poised to get big makeover in 2024 elections — People running for office in Washington will begin submitting official paperwork next week to get on the ballot – and an unusually high number of state lawmakers say they aren’t running for reelection.

EDITOR’S NOTE — The Washington State Labor Council’s 2024 Committee on Political Education (COPE) Convention will be held on Saturday, May 18 at the Machinists District 751 Hall, 9125 15th Pl. S. in Seattle. It is at this convention that delegates representing unions from across the state will gather to vote on WSLC endorsements for congressional, statewide, state legislative and judicial candidates, plus state ballot measures.

AEROSPACE

► From Reuters — Airbus ready to lock out A220 workers if offer rejected — Airbus is ready to lock out its Canadian A220 workers if a latest contract offer is rejected on Wednesday, according to sources. Airbus and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union agreed to conciliation after the company’s estimated 1,300 Montreal-area A220 workers rejected two offers and a tentative agreement.

► From Reuters — Glass Lewis recommends investors vote against three Boeing directors, including CEO Calhoun — Proxy advisor Glass Lewis has recommended shareholders vote against the reelection of three directors to Boeing’s board, including outgoing CEO Dave Calhoun, citing dissatisfaction over the efforts to transform the company’s safety culture. Calhoun, who has been a Boeing director since 2009, has said he will step down as CEO of the embattled planemaker at the end of the year.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Last year, Calhoun received compensation worth $23.6 million despite Boeing’s $2.2 billion loss in 2023.

► From the WSJ — Brazil’s Embraer plots a new 737-sized jet to rival Boeing — The Brazilian aircraft maker has been sounding out potential partners and financial backers on plans for a new narrow-body aircraft.

THAT WASHINGTON

► From the Guardian — Florida’s six-week abortion ban takes effect, ending access in southeast U.S. — A six-week abortion ban went into effect on Wednesday in Florida, cutting off access to the procedure before many people know they are pregnant and leveling the south-eastern United States’ last stronghold for abortion rights. Strict bans now blanket all of the American deep south, increasing the strain on the country’s remaining clinics.

► From HuffPost — Trump is fine with states monitoring pregnant women so they don’t get abortions — “I think they might do that,” the GOP presidential nominee said of a scenario that sounds straight out of the dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

► From The Hill — Senate braces for fights over FAA reauthorization — The Senate’s work to reauthorize the FAA will kick off in earnest Wednesday as members push to meet the May 10 deadline despite multiple looming battles. A compromise bill unveiled Monday morning includes funding to hire more air traffic controllers. Chopped from the final package was raising the retirement age of pilots from 65 to 67.

► From the AFL-CIO — AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler on EPA’s phasing out of deadly methylene chloride in workplaces

“With the widespread availability of safer alternatives, we know this commonsense change will save lives. Methylene chloride poses a serious risk to workers—we have known for years that, if inhaled, it can cause immediate death.”

From The STAND (April 25) — Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect

► From the AP — Former students of the for-profit Art Institutes are approved for $6 billion in loan cancellation

NATIONAL

► From the People’s World — AFL-CIO: The fights for climate justice and racial justice are intertwined — Global warming, in itself, affects everyone but in a world where discrimination along lines of race and class is rampant, it falls hardest on those who are most oppressed, the poor, working-class, and non-white people here at home and around the world. Rather than solve the problem, fossil fuel interests would sooner put blinders on the eyes of those who bear the brunt of global warming’s effects and on everyone else. On Earth Day, Apr. 22, and in the days since then, the AFL-CIO is reminding the world that on the contrary, the eyes of the working class, the poor, and minorities are wide open, and they are fighting back.

► From HuffPost — Volkswagen accepts union’s landslide victory at Tennessee plant — The automaker and the UAW said that they plan to start bargaining a first contract following the union’s historic win.

The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.