unions Archives - Northwest Public Broadcasting

Workers at Tacoma Art Museum vote unanimously to unionize

By Lauren Gallup November 17, 2023

Members of TAMWU celebrating after the announcement that workers unanimously voted for unionizing. (Credit: Gillian Fulford, AFSCME Council 28 / WFSE)

To unionize, Tacoma Art Museum Workers United [TAMWU] needed the majority of its 26 workers to vote yes. After two days of voting in an election overseen by the Washington State Public Employment Relations Commission, the unanimous results came in Thursday evening — 26 in favor of unionizing. Read More

Federal grants could improve utility safety and add jobs

By Lauren Gallup November 1, 2023

The federal Grid Resilience and Innovations Partnerships Program is investing in 58 projects across 44 states. (Courtesy of Julien Maculan on Unsplash)

Four utilities in Washington state received funding from the U.S Department of Energy to strengthen the electrical grid against future wildfires and ensure reliability to customers. That funding comes from the federal Grid Resilience and Innovations Partnerships Program, which is investing in 58 projects across 44 states. Read More

What will happen to employees at WestRock Paper Mill when it closes?

By Lauren Gallup September 5, 2023

About 400 workers were laid off from the WestRock Paper Mill in Tacoma last year. Now, the company's Seattle packaging plant is slated to close in March. (Credit: Lauren Gallup / NWPB)

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

Tacoma museum board indicates support of union, but not like organizers hoped

By Lauren Gallup June 28, 2023

Employees organizing as the Tacoma Art Museum Workers United union rallied with supporters March 23, 2023. // Credit: Lauren Gallup NWPB

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

YVC faculty union demands transparency

By Johanna Bejarano May 15, 2023

Yakima Valley College faculty union members voted no confidence in college president Linda Kaminski. Union leaders say the administration has become unaccountable and is not addressing their complaints. But, college representatives say meetings with faculty have taken place, and they are working to answer their questions.Read More

Tacoma Art Museum workers still in limbo over union decision

By Lauren Gallup April 4, 2023

Tacoma Art Museum employees have been organizing and rallying for recognition of their workers' union for months. On Friday, March 31, committee members met with the museum board of trustees, during which no decisions were made. Photo by Lauren Gallup.

The Tacoma Art Museum Workers United committee is still in limbo after a special meeting March 31 with the museum’s board of trustees. The board did not announce a decision on whether to recognize the workers’ union. Read More

After Unionizing, WA State Tulip Workers Reach Labor Settlement

By Johanna Bejarano April 4, 2022

After several days of strikes and negotiations, tulip workers in Skagit County reached an agreement with Washington Bulb / Photo by: Edgar Franks/Familias Unidas por la Justicia Listen NWPB’s Johanna […]Read More

Tulip Workers In Washington State Suspend Strike

By Johanna Bejarano March 25, 2022

A strike by tulip workers in Washington State has been suspended pending new negotiations Listen NWPB’s Johanna Bejarano reports on new negotiations that led to the suspension of a strike by […]Read More

Washington Legislative Staffers Stage Sick-Out After Unionization Bill Dies

By Austin Jenkins February 17, 2022

Democratic staffers in the Washington Legislature staged a "sick out" on Wednesday after a bill that would have allowed them to unionize failed to advance before a key legislative deadline.

In an act of labor solidarity, scores of Democratic staffers in the Washington Legislature staged a “sick-out” Wednesday after a bill that would have allowed them to unionize failed to advance before a key cutoff deadline.Read More

Largest State Employee Union Strikes Tentative Deal Over Inslee’s Vaccine Mandate

By Austin Jenkins September 7, 2021

File photo of Gov. Jay Inslee during press conference Aug. 18 announcing vaccine mandate for people who work in K-12.

The Washington Federation of State Employees announced a tentative deal with Gov. Jay Inslee early Saturday morning.Read More

Unions Flex Political Muscle, Secure Wins Under Democratic One-Party Rule In Olympia

By Austin Jenkins August 3, 2021

Since Democrats re-took the Washington Senate after a special election in 2017, they’ve enacted numerous pro-union bills, along with sweeping policy changes backed by unions. Democrats say their agenda is […]Read More

Amazon Warehouse Workers To Decide Whether To Form Company’s First U.S. Union

By NPR News January 15, 2021

A man works at an Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island, New York. The retail giant faces a major labor battle with a unionization vote planned at a similar warehouse in Alabama. CREDIT: Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images

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

How The Pandemic Turned An Introvert Into A Voice For Gig Workers

By NPR News December 26, 2020

Willy Solis outside his workplace in a parking lot

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

Washington Officials, Employees Respond To Report Boeing Will Move 787 Production To SC

By NWPB News September 30, 2020

Boeing 787 Dreamliners go through preparations for customer approval at the company's facility in North Charleston, S.C., in 2017. A Wall Street Journal report says the company plans to consolidate Dreamliner assembly in South Carolina.

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

‘Gives Me Hope’: How Low-Paid Workers Rose Up Against Stagnant Wages

By NPR News February 26, 2020

Low-paid workers push back and speak out against stagnant wages.Read More

GM And Auto Workers Union Reach Tentative Agreement To End National Strike

By NPR News October 16, 2019

The UAW GM National Council will vote on a new tentative deal Thursday, in a potential end to the national strike that has idled GM plants. Here, union members and their families rallied near the General Motors Flint Assembly plant on Sunday. CREDIT: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

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

Northwest Grocery Workers Union Approves Contract With Supermarkets

By NWPB News October 12, 2019

Fred Meyer in Hillsboro, Oregon. CREDIT: STEVE MORGAN/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

The union represents about 20,000 grocery workers in Oregon and southwest Washington. Wages were the dominant issue during negotiations with Fred Meyer, QFC, Albertsons and Safeway.Read More

Northwest Grocery Workers Union Calls For Fred Meyer Boycott Amid Contract Negotiations

By NWPB News September 23, 2019

A local union representing grocery workers from across Oregon and Southwest Washington has called for an immediate boycott of Fred Meyer stores and departments in the region. Union officials say the move comes after recent alleged harassment of unionized employees by higher-ups.Read More

Tragic Fire Sparks Julia Wolfe’s Latest Look At American Labor History

By NPR News September 3, 2019

Members of the 146-voice chorus, dressed as garment workers, in composer Julia Wolfe's Fire In My Mouth, which documents the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in New York. CREDIT: Chris Lee/Decca Gold

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

Northwest Grocery Store Workers Vote To Approve Strike If Wage Negotiations Collapse

By NWPB News August 26, 2019

Grocery workers from across Oregon and southwest Washington have voted to approve a strike if negotiations with four of the region’s largest supermarket chains deadlock.Read More

Workers Forced To Choose Between Watching President’s Speech, No Pay Or Using Paid Leave

By NPR News August 17, 2019

President Donald Trump speaks while on a tour of Shell's soon-to-be completed Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex in Beaver County, Pa. on Tuesday. Susan Walsh/AP

A memo instructed workers at a Pennsylvania plant to show up at 7 a.m., scan their ID cards and stand for hours through lunch in order to watch a speech by the president. Read More

President Trump To Nominate Eugene Scalia, Late Supreme Court Justice’s Son, As Labor Secretary

By NPR News July 19, 2019

The president offered the Washington attorney the job, and he accepted. He's 55 and a partner at a firm where he handles labor and employment cases.Read More

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Locks Out Musicians As Contract Dispute Continues

By NPR News June 17, 2019

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra musicians performing at the state capitol, in Annapolis, June 13, to urge Gov. Larry Hogan to release state funding for the financially strapped orchestra. Cheryl Diaz Meyer/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Contract and salary negotiations between musicians and management have stalled, leaving BSO players picketing outside their concert hall.Read More

Washington Supreme Court Upholds Most Of Charter School Law

By NWPB News October 25, 2018

children hold signs during a rally in support of charter schools at the Capitol in Olympia . CREDIT: AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File

The Washington Supreme Court upheld most of the state's charter school law Thursday, eliminating the specter that a dozen schools serving about 3,400 students might have to close.Read More

Washington Teachers Union Alleges ‘Wage Theft’ By Districts As Strikes Go On

By Austin Jenkins September 7, 2018

With 1,318 voting members in attendance at Thursday evening’s Evergreen Education Association union meeting, 95.9 percent voted to strike, starting Tuesday, Aug. 28, the first scheduled day of school. CREDIT: MOLLY SOLOMON

As teachers in a record number of Washington school districts strike this week, a top official with their union says the unwillingness of superintendents and school boards to negotiate higher pay raises for teachers is a crime. Read More

Jay Inslee Signs Controversial Homecare Provider Bill Despite Calls For Veto

By Austin Jenkins March 27, 2018

Despite numerous requests for a veto, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed a controversial bill to privatize the state’s homecare provider system. The Democrat’s signing of the measure followed a contentious fight in the Legislature and accusations that it amounted to a power grab by the Service Employees International Union.Read More

Still No School In West Virginia As Salary Snag Ensures Strike Will Go On

By NPR News March 5, 2018

The state Senate failed to pass the raise teachers are demanding. Now an end date for the strike is unclear as students face their eighth day of no school.Read More