SeaTac workers | April 9 rally | Unconstitutional union-busting

Monday, April 7, 2025

LOCAL

► From the Seattle Times — At Sea-Tac Airport, refugee workers fear the traveling world they connect  — “We worry about Trump every day. We cannot even breathe,” Daniel said. “I’ve already spent my life in America. This is my home now.” Daniel has worked as a cabin cleaner at Sea-Tac Airport for five years. Before that, he worked in food service at the airport. He’s one of thousands of immigrants and refugees who keep the airport running. At this moment in the United States, “it’s hard not to feel heartbroken or disappointed,” said Zenia Javalera, president of SEIU6, which represents cabin cleaners like Daniel, as well as wheelchair and ramp agents at Sea-Tac. “It just lets me know how close to the edge we really are.”

► From NW Public Broadcasting — Head Start serves 15,000 kids in Washington. And its regional office just closed — Without the regional office, Ryan is worried that grants will be delayed — and that local programs might close, at least temporarily. He said about a third of the region’s programs are supposed to have their grants renewed by July 1. “If Head Start programs are not able to get their grants renewed in a timely way, it is possible that kids and families would lose access to Head Start and their parents would lose access to affordable childcare in their communities,” Ryan said.

► From KUOW — Tens of thousands rally against Trump, Musk in Washington state ‘Hands Off’ protests  — Washington State Nurses Association President Justin Gill was part of the official lineup of speakers in Seattle. “The cuts proposed to Medicaid are not just numbers on a spreadsheet — they represent real people who actually lose access,” he told the crowd.

► From the Seattle Times — WA protesters call on Trump, Musk to keep ‘hands off’ programs, rights — Protesters were also urged to call and send messages to Washington’s Democratic U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell calling for the “immediate release” of labor rights activist Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez, who was arrested by federal immigration officials and is being held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma. The crowd chanted “Free Lelo Juarez” for nearly a minute.

► From the Tri-City Herald — Huge Kennewick rally one of 1,000+ nationwide protesting Trump policies –The Seattle Times said Hands Off! protests were also held Saturday in Bellingham, Bothell, Deming, Edmonds, Ellensburg, Everett, Everson, Friday Harbor, Kirkland, Langely, Longview, Mount Vernon, Oak Harbor, Olympia, Orcas Island, Port Angeles, Port Orchard, Pullman, Seattle, Shaw Island, Spokane, Vancouver, Whidbey Island and Yakima. A protest also was planned in Walla Walla.

► From the Yakima Herald-Republic — Farmworkers protest at WA grocery stores as part of Windmill mushroom boycott — UFW already has one union in Washington. Workers at Chateau Ste. Michelle vineyards earned a union contract decades ago. Jesus Lopéz works for Chateau Ste. Michelle and was involved in that campaign to unionize. It wasn’t easy, he said. However, that was better than not understanding his rights and the benefits, Lopéz said. That’s why he came to Sunnyside to support the Windmill Farms workers at the rally. “If people see injustice, support the worker, because the worker is the community,” Lopéz said in Spanish.

► From the Olympian — State workers to rally against furloughs, cuts: ‘We cannot allow this to continue’ — “We are dedicated public servants who put the needs of Washingtonians above ourselves,” the WFSE news release says. “We contribute to the well-being of this great state and we make Washington happen every day.” WFSE Local 443 is Washington’s biggest public-sector local union, representing more than 13,000 state employees. Members serve in occupations including attorneys, mechanics, corrections officers, social workers and hundreds more.

AEROSPACE

► From the Seattle Times — Boeing reaches settlement with 2 families of Ethiopian crash victims — Boeing reached a last-minute settlement with families of two people killed in the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash before their civil trial was set to begin, according to the law firms representing the families. The terms of the settlement are confidential, the law firms said in a news release Monday. There is another trial, representing other families who lost loved ones in the Ethiopian Airlines crash, set for July.

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From OPB — University of Oregon faculty ratifies new contract, avoiding strike — “This new collective bargaining agreement is a fairer contract, but not yet a fair contract,” [union president] Urbancic wrote. “There is a lot of work stlll to be done to improve pay and working conditions in the next contract and beyond. This time around we — on both sides — have been limited in what we could accomplish by internal financial constraints resulting from inadequate planning over the last few years as well as by wholly unanticipated external financial and political constraints.”

► From Deadline — WGA Ratifies New 3-Year Contract With CBS News, Securing Key AI Protections — Per the guild, the 270-plus member unit “overwhelmingly” approved of the deal, which includes AI protections, guaranteed raises, and improved benefits, among other provisions. The WGA had been prioritizing artificial intelligence in these negotiations, in an effort “to safeguard journalism as a profession,” WGA East Executive Director Sam Wheeler told Deadline last month.

NATIONAL

► From the Washington State Standard — Trump administration funding freeze of $27B clean-energy program strands local projects  — The EPA last month said it was terminating grants tied to the $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a program Congress created as part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act…The projects run the gamut, focusing on anything from installing energy-efficient technology in affordable housing units with the aim of lowering residents’ utility bills to adding solar panels to schools. “There will be … very real capacity constraints if the funding is frozen indefinitely,” said Kari Groth Swan, executive director of the Minnesota Climate Innovation Finance Authority, a state body that finances clean-energy projects.

► From CNN — U.S. sent 238 migrants to Salvadoran mega-prison; documents indicate most have no apparent criminal records — The Trump administration has yet to release the identities of the Venezuelan men it sent to El Salvador last month. We obtained internal government documents listing their names and any known criminal information. We cross referenced that with domestic and international court filings, news reports and arrest records whenever we could find them. At least 22% of the men on the list have criminal records here in the United States or abroad. The vast majority are for non-violent offenses like theft, shoplifting and trespassing. About a dozen are accused of murder, rape, assault and kidnapping. For 3% of those deported, it is unclear whether a criminal record exists. But we could not find criminal records for 75% of the Venezuelans – 179 men- now sitting in prison.

► From the AP — Hearing on landmark $2.8 billion NCAA settlement could lock in seismic changes for college sports  — U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken’s scheduled hearing Monday in a courtroom in Oakland is expected to be the last one before the changes will truly begin under an industry-changing, $2.8 billion settlement of a 5-year-old lawsuit against the NCAA and the nation’s largest conferences. Among other things, it will clear the way for schools to share up to $20.5 million each with their athletes.

POLITICS & POLICY

Federal updates here, local news and deeper dives below:

• GOP budget would add an ‘unprecedented’ $5.8 trillion to the deficit, analysis finds (Washington State Standard)
• Court overturns Trump’s firings of two independent agency board members (The Guardian)

► From Common Dreams — Lawsuit Says Union-Busting Trump Order Is ‘Unconstitutional’ Attack on Working Class — “Federal employees have had the right to join a union and bargain collectively for decades—through multiple wars, international conflicts, and a global health emergency during President Trump’s first term,” said Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees. “During all that time, they served the American people with honor and distinction. No one, including President Trump, ever suggested unions were a national security concern. Trump’s newest order to revoke union rights is a clear case of retaliation,” he added. “But I’ve got news for him: We are not going anywhere.”

► From the Washington Post — Social Security faces thousands more job cuts even as service in tailspin — The DOGE team did not provide a specific number of jobs that must be eliminated, officials said, but asked for staff reductions to broad areas of operation, including communications, personnel, legislative and congressional affairs, retirement and disability policy, and other “support components.” Also on the list is the information technology department of about 4,000 employees, which is confronting a flurry of website crashes that has shut out customers from accessing their benefit information. Up to 800 people could be laid off in that department, according to one senior official.

► From CNN — Trump asks Supreme Court to block order requiring US to bring back man mistakenly deported to El Salvador  — The emergency appeal over Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national, landed at the high court hours before the 11:59 p.m. Monday deadline established by a lower court judge to return him to the US. Trump attorneys have conceded in court filings that the administration mistakenly deported the father of three “because of an administrative error,” but said it could not bring him back because he is in Salvadoran custody. But under oath, the Justice Department has been far less clear about the removal. Pressed by [Judge] Xinis last week about why the US couldn’t return Abrego Garcia, DOJ lawyer Erez Reuveni said he didn’t have an answer. “The first thing I did when I got this case on my desk is ask my clients the same question,” Reuveni responded. The Department of Justice has since placed Reuven and his supervisor on leave.

► From the Washington Post — IRS will cut 25% of its employees, eliminating its civil rights office — The agency said it would eliminate its Office of Civil Rights and Compliance, firing roughly 130 employees from a division responsible for protecting taxpayers from discrimination in the tax code, audits and investigations. The remaining employees there will be transferred to other departments.

► From CNN — ‘A huge impact on worker safety’: Protection for miners, firefighters in jeopardy after CDC cuts — Anyone in the US who’s depended on a respirator to provide protection against dust, smoke, mold or airborne viruses has likely relied on a small but mighty agency within the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to assure that they’re shielded from things that could damage their health. The 1,300-person National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH, was established in 1970 to ensure “every man and woman in the Nation safe and healthful working conditions and to preserve our human resources.”

► From the AP — After Wall Street shows Trump how much it wants tariffs to go away, he doubles down; Dow drops 700 — It’s all a slap in the face to Wall Street, not just because of the sharp losses it’s taking, but because it suggests Trump may not be moved by its pain. Many professional investors had long thought that a president who used to crow about records reached under his watch would pull back on policies if they sent the Dow reeling. On Sunday Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he does not want markets to fall. But he also said he wasn’t concerned about a sell-off, saying “sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.”

INTERNATIONAL

► From the AP — Garbage piles up on streets of UK’s second-largest city after monthlong sanitation strike — Members of Unite, the union representing garbage truck workers, walked off the job March 11 over the elimination of a job position and painful pay cuts. Birmingham, a city of more than 1 million residents 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of London in the Midlands of England, has been here before. A garbage strike in 2017 brought similar chaos and lasted seven weeks in the heat of summer.

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