One of Feria Linda’s volunteer manicurists works on a vineyard worker’s nails. (Credit: Susan Shain / NWPB) Listen (Runtime 3:34) Read The Milton-Freewater Community Building looked like the backstage of […]Read More
After their contract ended on Halloween, nurses at Tacoma’s St. Joseph Medical Center spent a rainy Friday morning picketing outside the hospital.
The nurses’ union, Washington State Nurses Association or WSNA, has been negotiating with hospital management since August. But Pamela Chandran, director of legal affairs for the union, said there are sticking points. Read More
A staffer for the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System has alleged retaliation after he spoke out about the deteriorating conditions of a building on the south Seattle campus that housed specialty clinics and office space.
Douglas Galuszka, chief of logistics, was issued two suspensions totaling three weeks of unpaid leave this year. He said VA administrators Read More
Tacoma For All and the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 367 announced plans to bring an initiative to Pierce and Thurston county voters next year. The groups are calling the initiative a workers’ bill of rights. Read More
A loud whoosh brought Cortez Hopkins out of his office. Two ceiling tiles had crashed down where moments before a staffer had sat packing up records. Water trickled down as Hopkins snapped pictures of the damage.
Hopkins and others were working overtime in the logistics office of the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System campus in South Seattle as nearly an Read More
The United States Department of Agriculture is soliciting applications for funding to build farmworker housing nationwide.
In the Pacific Northwest, leaders hope the money can address gaps in farmworker housing. The Pacific Northwest is in a housing crisis and that impacts rural small businesses and agricultural producers, as well as farmworkers, said Helen Price Johnson, Read More
At academic institutions nationwide, student workers continue to organize, and this week, those at Washington State University got a big win.
The Coalition of Academic Student Employees has ratified its first union contract. With the agreement, student employees will get paid vacation for the first time, as well as earn six weeks of paid parental leave. Read More
Months after a nearly century-old paper mill closed in Tacoma, the same company, WestRock, is closing a packaging plant in Seattle. About 87 employees at the Seattle plant will lose their jobs come March, when the plant closes. The company notified the Washington State Employment Security Department of the layoffs on Jan. 19. Read More
Members of the Washington State University Coalition of Academic Student Employees (WSU-CASE) hold a rally on the Pullman campus on September 27, 2023. (Credit: Lauren Paterson / NWPB) Listen (Runtime […]Read More
Members of the Academic Student Employees union gather to give speeches on the Pullman campus on Wednesday, September 27, 2023. (Credit: Lauren Paterson / NWPB) Listen (Runtime :59) Read Hundreds […]Read More
With the impending closure of the WestRock Paper Mill in Tacoma, about 400 workers could be displaced.
“It's really significant,” said Chelsea Mason-Placek, who is the workforce development director for the Washington State Labor Council. “This is a much larger layoff than we typically see.”Read More
WestRock Paper Mill closing in Tacoma — job losses, utility impacts and the end of the Tacoma Aroma?
WestRock, a Georgia-based corrugated packaging company, announced that its paper mill on the Tacoma tideflats will close up shop at the end of September. The mill has been in operation for nearly 100 years, processing wood fibers into paper and emitting sulfurous scents infamous for contributing to the Tacoma Aroma. Read More
The Tacoma Art Museum board of directors has indicated they will voluntarily recognize museum employees who have been organizing for the Tacoma Art Museum Workers United (TAMWU) union, through a privately arbitrated election.
TAMWU organizers said they don’t support the conditions of that recognition, though.Read More
The Olympia School Board plans to vote tonight on whether to begin a reduction in force (RIF) process. School board President Darcy Huffman said it’s likely the board will approve the process, which would mean staff below a certain seniority level could be let go. Read More
With a record 9.3 million jobs open in the U.S. as of April, and a workforce in no hurry to get back to work, a growing number of employers are looking to hiring bonuses to fill their ranks. Long a tradition on Wall Street, sign-on bonuses are rare in low-wage work such as fast food, warehousing and food delivery. Now, as the economy has picked up, hiring bonuses are everywhere.Read More
Some top agriculture groups are upset with Washington Gov. Inslee because farm workers were not covered in last week’s announcement that fully vaccinated employees do not have to wear a mask or socially distance at work.Read More
The vast majority of votes cast by Amazon's workers in Bessemer, Ala., were against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union in a stinging defeat of the union drive. The final tally showed 1,798 votes against unionizing and 738 votes in favor of the union.Read More
The strike—and the violence that occurred—became George Pullman’s legacy, rather than his attempt to create the utopian worker’s town. When he died, his family buried him in a lead-lined coffin because they were concerned workers would try to desecrate it. Read More
Some 6,000 workers at Amazon's warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, will begin voting next month on a groundbreaking possibility: whether to form the first union in the company's U.S. history.Read More
The coronavirus pandemic drove many people to recognize gig work as "essential" for the first time, but the crisis also revealed the stark disparities between jobs that come with security and benefits and gig work, which does not.Read More
Boeing is expected to announce this week that it will consolidate 787 Dreamliner assembly in South Carolina, according to the Wall Street Journal. The move would be a major blow to the company's Everett workforce.Read More
Coronavirus cases in farm country have focused new attention on essential workers there, as well as the food supply chain. One issue is overtime. In most states, farm owners don't have to pay overtime to their employees. Now, a case before the Washington State Supreme Court could change that.Read More
In a lawsuit against fruit-growing giant Stemilt, workers say allegations stemmed from a change in production standards set forth in the company's guest worker contract. A separate case involved a challenge to Washington's rules on farmworker housing and sleeping quarters during the pandemic.Read More
So far this month, more than 400 Yakima Valley fruit packing workers have gone on strike, according to Familias Unidas Por La Justicia. The farmworker advocacy group, based in Skagit County, is helping these workers organize committees, negotiate with employers and seek legal advice. Read More
Fresh numbers of initial claims for jobless benefits showed some moderation in the past week in the staggering wave of layoffs across the Northwest caused by the coronavirus pandemic. But the level of unemployment claims continues to hover at record levels, as reported Thursday by the state labor and employment departments of Washington, Idaho and Oregon.Read More
The number of people seeking jobless benefits shot up again last week, as 6.6 million more of the unemployed filed first-time claims. Much of the economy has shut down, leaving millions out of work.Read More
The new rules apply only to workers in critical infrastructure jobs, a broadly defined group that includes employees in fields from health care to financial services.Read More
Mirroring the national trend, Washington, Idaho and Oregon are experiencing an unprecedented spike in unemployment claims caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.Read More
For the love of Johnny Appleseed! Why are so many apples left hanging (and rotting) on trees in Northwest orchards after the fall harvest? Industry experts and growers says it’s a combination of factors – but really not due to tariffs, as some people think.Read More
Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and others say they won't attend next week's debate at Loyola Marymount University unless a subcontractor negotiates with striking culinary workers. Read More
The Department of Labor and Industries finalized the rules Wednesday and will phase them in by 2028. By that time, salaried workers making up to about $83,400 a year will be entitled to time-and-a-half pay if they work more than 40 hours per week.Read More
When the union's GM national council reviews the deal's terms Thursday, it will decide whether nearly 50,000 workers should remain on strike or whether they should go back to work immediately.Read More
A long-awaited update to federal overtime rules means about 1.3 million workers will be entitled to extra pay when they work more than 40 hours a week. But critics say it doesn't go far enough.Read More
On her new album, Fire in My Mouth, the Pulitzer-winning composer documents the tragedy behind New York City's 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.Read More
Footwear companies face big costs in potential new tariffs on more Chinese imports. Almost all shoes sold in the U.S. are made overseas. Only about 200 factories remain. One man tried to change that.Read More
Contract and salary negotiations between musicians and management have stalled, leaving BSO players picketing outside their concert hall.Read More
A sweeping proposal by the state Department of Labor and Industries could grant overtime pay to thousands more workers in Washington. Currently, workers are guaranteed overtime pay if their salary is under $24,000 a year. The proposal would gradually raise that threshold to about $80,000 by 2026.Read More
The jobless rate last month was the lowest since 1969, though the economy added a less-than-expected 134,000 jobs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. Wage growth slowed to a 2.8 percent rate. Read More
Dairy workers and members of the United Farm Workers union boarded a coach bus on their way to Seattle this week. It’s all for the start of a five-day fast to bring awareness to their Darigold Dozen campaign against the Ruby Ridge Dairy near Pasco. Read More
