labor Archives - Northwest Public Broadcasting

Seattle Veterans Affairs staffer alleges whistleblower retaliation

By Lauren Gallup October 29, 2024

Douglas Galuszka, along with colleague Cortez Hopkins, sent in a tip to NWPB about deteriorating conditions at a building on the Seattle VA Campus, including a broken HVAC system documented as far back as 2017. Galuszka is now alleging whistleblower retaliation after he was suspended twice. (Credit: Caroline Walker Evans for Cascade PBS)

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

Community organizers and labor leaders announce plans for workers’ rights initiative

By Lauren Gallup August 1, 2024

Ann Dorn, who serves on the steering committee of Tacoma for All, poses at the workers' rights event with the tattoo she got after the group's initiative for a tenant bill of rights passed in 2023. (Credit: Lauren Gallup / NWPB)

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

Seattle veterans clinic faces complaints over leaks, ventilation

By Lauren Gallup June 5, 2024

Cortez Hopkins and Doug Galuszka, who reported deteriorating conditions at a building on the Veterans Affairs campus in Seattle, allege they faced whistleblower retaliation in response to their complaints. (Caroline Walker Evans for Cascade PBS)

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

New funding to build farmworker housing in the Pacific Northwest, nationwide

By Lauren Gallup April 24, 2024

Farmworkers in the Skagit Valley tulip fields. (Credit: Brad Smith / Flickr)

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

WSU’S Coalition of Academic Student Employees ratifies its first contract

By Lauren Gallup January 29, 2024

Members of the WSU Coalition of Academic Student Employees rally in May 2022 on WSU's Pullman campus. (Credit: WSU-CASE/UAW)

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

Another WestRock facility in Washington is closing, laying off 87

By Lauren Gallup January 25, 2024

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)

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

Unionized WSU student workers going on strike

By Lauren Paterson January 16, 2024

Students stand on steps holding signs with sayings like "Eat the Admins" in front of a brick building under a blue sky. A student gives a speech with a megaphone in front of the crowd.

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

Rallies held at multiple WSU campuses as student employees bargain for union contract

By Lauren Paterson September 28, 2023

A crowd of students gather as students facing the crowd hold signs at a student union protest in front of a brick building under a blue sky.

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

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

By Lauren Gallup September 5, 2023

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?

By Lauren Gallup August 25, 2023

The WestRock Paper Mill location in Tacoma is the second of the company's mills to close this year. (Credit: Lauren Gallup / NWPB)

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

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

Olympia school board president thinks RIF is likely

By Lauren Gallup April 13, 2023

School funding experts predicted a looming financial disaster for the nation's K-12 schools. CREDIT: LA Johnson/NPR

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

A $500 Sign-On Bonus To Deliver Pizzas? Here’s What To Know About Hiring Incentives

By NPR News July 6, 2021

In need of workers, a Domino's franchise in Washington, D.C., is offering a sign-on bonus for all positions. CREDIT: Andrea Hsu/NPR

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 Washington Agriculture Groups Upset With Governor Over Farmworker Rules

By NWPB News May 25, 2021

Farmworkers in Yakima’s fruit-packing industry walked off production lines in May and went on strike, demanding more protections against the coronavirus pandemic. Above, Emmanuel Anguiano-Mendoza (left) and Agustin López hold posters featuring David Cruz, a worker who died on May 30. CREDIT: Enrique Pérez de la Rosa/NWPB

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

It’s A No: Hopes For Amazon’s First Unionized Warehouse Go Unfulfilled In Historic Election

By NPR News April 9, 2021

Workers at Amazon's facility in Bessemer, Ala., held a historic vote on whether to form the company's first warehouse union. CREDIT: Bill Barrow/AP

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

Past As Prologue: How The Namesake Of Pullman Tried To Improve Worker’s Lives, But Failed

By NWPB News January 28, 2021

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

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

Washington Farmworkers Ask State Supreme Court For Overtime Pay

By NWPB News August 2, 2020

Sarbanand Farms farmworkers demonstrate after coworker's death in August 2017.

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

Bunk Beds And Working Conditions For Washington H-2A Farmworkers Prompt Lawsuits

By Enrique Pérez de la Rosa July 20, 2020

Stemilt Growers, based in Wenatchee, Wash., adopted a ladybug in its logos as part of a "Responsible Choice" campaign in 1989. Courtesy Stemilt Growers

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

‘Are Their Apples Worth More Than Our Lives?’ Yakima Valley Fruit Workers Strike For Protections, Pay

By Enrique Pérez de la Rosa May 21, 2020

Perla Torres, a fruit packer at Jack Frost Fruit, poses for a photograph wearing a mask she says she bought from a supervisor. CREDIT: Enrique Pérez de la Rosa/NWPB

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

Surge In Unemployment Continues As Clunky State Systems Await Upgrades

By Tom Banse April 17, 2020

Shavonne Maes paints a mural onto the boarded up facade of Some Random Bar on March 26, 2020, in Seattle.

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

Massive Job Losses Continue As 17 Million File For Unemployment In 3 Weeks

By NPR News April 9, 2020

A man collects unemployment forms at a drive-through collection point outside of a library in Hialeah, Fla., on Wednesday. CREDIT: Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images

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

CDC Announces New Guidance For How Critical Employees Can Return To Work

By NPR News April 8, 2020

Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, announced new guidelines on Wednesday for critical infrastructure workers who may have been exposed to the coronavirus to return to work. CREDIT: Alex Brandon/AP

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

Northwest States See Unprecedented Surge In Unemployment Claims

By NWPB News March 26, 2020

File photo. Porter Hahn makes an iced coffee drink in November 2019 in a Seattle coffee shop. U.S. services companies grew at a faster pace in February 2020 than the previous month. Then the coronavirus outbreak in the region shut down much of the service industry. CREDIT: Elaine Thompson/AP

Mirroring the national trend, Washington, Idaho and Oregon are experiencing an unprecedented spike in unemployment claims caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.Read More

Labor Shortage And Fall Weather Stack Up To Leave Apples Rotting In Orchards

By Anna King January 15, 2020

Apples remain unpicked in December 2019 in an orchard near Wallula, Washington. CREDIT: Mike Denny

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

All 7 Democratic Candidates Scheduled To Debate Threaten To Skip Over Labor Dispute At Venue

By NPR News December 14, 2019

Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren speaks during last month's presidential primary debate in Atlanta. CREDIT: John Bazemore/AP

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

If You’re A Salaried Worker In Washington, You May Soon Be Eligible For Overtime With New Rules

By NWPB News December 11, 2019

Victor Duran, a co-manager of a sports apparel store at the Southcenter mall, south of Seattle. Duran is one employee who could benefit from new overtime rules in Washington, which will allow hundreds of thousands of workers who have been exempt to begin collecting when they work more than 40 hours per week. CREDIT: Elaine Thompson/AP

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

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

1.3 Million More Workers May Be Eligible For Overtime Pay. But There’s A Catch

By NPR News September 24, 2019

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

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

Why The American-Made Shoe Disappeared, And Why It’s So Hard To Bring Back

By NPR News June 19, 2019

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

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 May Extends Overtime Rules To Thousands Of Previously Exempt Workers

By Paige Browning June 6, 2019

Isaiah McDaniel bags groceries into a customer's cloth bags at PCC Natural Market Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008, in Seattle. CREDIT: ELAINE THOMPSON/AP

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

Unemployment Rate Drops To 3.7 Percent, Lowest In Nearly 50 Years

By NPR News October 7, 2018

A worker installs a door on a 2018 Ford F-150 truck at an assembly plant in Dearborn, Mich., on Sept. 27. The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 3.7 percent in September, a nearly 50-year low. CREDIT: Carlos Osorio/AP

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

Pasco Dairy Workers Take Labor Case – And A Motor Coach – To Seattle For Hunger Demonstration

By Esmy Jimenez September 20, 2018

Miguel Cuevas was on the bus in Pasco early Thursday, Sept. 20, heading to Seattle for a five-day hunger demonstration with his fellow "Darigold Dozen." CREDIT: ESMY JIMENEZ/NWPB

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