Postal workers | Oly bus drivers | Gov. shutdown showdown

Thursday, March 13, 2025

STRIKES

► From the Hollywood Reporter — SAG-AFTRA Video Game Strike: Union Says Latest AI Proposals From Studios Contain “Alarming Loopholes” — SAG-AFTRA has been on strike against major video game studios for more than seven months, and the two sides don’t seem to be particularly close to making a deal. That’s the impression that negotiators for the performers union gave to members in a message on Tuesday that warned that the companies’ latest proposals contained “alarming loopholes that will leave our members vulnerable to AI abuse” — the very issue that prompted the union’s current work stoppage in the first place.

AEROSPACE

► From CNBC — Boeing plane prices could increase by millions with tariffs, says AerCap CEO — The price of a Boeing 787 plane could increase by $40 million in a worst case tariff scenario, AerCap CEO Aengus Kelly said. “In an absolute worst case scenario, say, a 25% increase across the board on tariffs, a tit-for-tat from both sides — a Boeing 787, the price will go up by $40 million,” Kelly said Wednesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “No one’s going to want to pay that.” In that kind of scenario, Kelly said most airlines would instead likely turn to Airbus, which could give that company an opportunity to take 75% to 80% of the global market.

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From the Olympian — IT bus drivers make the case for better wages to transit board. ‘We need to be able to pay our bills’ — About 20 union members on Wednesday urged Intercity Transit management to come to terms on a new three-year labor contract for bus drivers, customer service representatives and other workers. At issue is a labor contract with the Amalgamated Transit Union that expired at the end of 2024. It covers 345 bus operators, Dial-a-Lift specialists and customer service representatives. Negotiations began in November and continue today.

► From the Spokesman Review — Starbucks workers, supporters arrested in protest for union contract — Starbucks has been accused by federal regulators of violating labor law hundreds of times throughout the rancorous union campaign; the company has consistently denied allegations of law-breaking. The union said Starbucks had offered union baristas a wage package that would include no immediate raises and a guaranteed increase of only 1.5% a year in future years. Starbucks, in turn, accused the union of walking away from the bargaining table prematurely.

ORGANIZING

► From Supermarket News — Whole Foods workers push forward on union effort — Wilcox’s dismissal came on the same day workers at a Philadelphia Whole Foods Market voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 1776. That unionization effort by workers at the Amazon-owned grocery chain will receive a hearing from a regional NLRB panel on Wednesday, which is likely to be appealed by the company and head to the full NLRB later this year. “I was on the right side of the law,” UFCW Local 1776 President Wendell Young IV told Supermarket News. Young said he believes that Wilcox’s inappropriate firing taking place just a few hours after the union vote was due to President Trump’s close ties to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

NATIONAL

► From Common Dreams — Postal Workers Unions Ready to ‘Fight Like Hell’ Against Trump-Musk Attack on USPS — “The USPS is owned by the people and exists to serve everyone with universal, affordable service; if privatized, it would exist to make maximum profit to enrich corporations, Wall Street, and billionaires,” [President of APWU, Mark Dimondstein] said. “Privatization is bad for workers, bad for unions, and bad for the people. Prices go up and service goes down, while the bosses and billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos laugh all the way to the bank.”

► From the New Republic — Trump’s FBI Moves to Criminally Charge Major Climate Groups — The FBI is moving to criminalize groups like Habitat for Humanity for receiving grants from the Environmental Protection Agency under the Biden administration. Citibank revealed in a court filing Wednesday that it was told to freeze the groups’ bank accounts at the FBI’s request. The reason? The FBI alleges that the groups are involved in “possible criminal violations,” including “conspiracy to defraud the United States.”

► From ABC News — DC plane crash: NTSB calls for immediate changes at Reagan airport —  The NTSB is recommending that the Federal Aviation Administration permanently ban helicopter operations near Reagan when runways 15 and 33 are in use and designate an alternative helicopter route for pilots, Chairman Jennifer Homendy said during a news conference.

► From the Business Insider — Starbucks likely avoided taxes on $1.3 billion in profit using a Swiss subsidiary, a new report finds — According to a report released Saturday by the Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research, or CICTAR, there’s also evidence that since 2015, the subsidiary has helped shift about $1.3 billion in Starbucks profits away from other countries where they would have been subject to higher tax rates.

POLITICS & POLICY

Federal updates here, local news and deeper dives below:

• Judge orders Trump to reinstate probationary workers let go in mass firings across multiple agencies (AP)
• Federal student loan site down Wednesday, a day after layoffs gutted Education Department (Seattle Times)
• Democratic-led states sue to block Education Department layoffs (AP)

► From the Washington State Standard — Major boost to special education funding gets Washington Senate approval — Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, and Senate Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, are the sponsors of Senate Bill 5263 which identifies special education as a component of basic education that the state has a duty to fund. Last week, the Senate agreed to send another $200 million to districts in the next budget to cover materials, supplies and operating costs — MSOC in state budget lingo. These costs, which cover non-employee-related expenses tied to a district’s daily operations, have surged.

► From NW Public Broadcasting — State considers closure of residential facilities for people with disabilities — Bills to close the centers in both the House and Senate were created by request of the Office of Financial Management. A substitute version of the Senate bill has been drafted that proposes only closing Rainier School, according to the bill’s primary sponsor, Sen. June Robinson. A public hearing on that bill is scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

► From the Yakima Herald — Senate Republicans unveil budget proposal they say is a ‘third way’ — [State Sen. June] Robinson said the proposal unveiled by Republicans would also treat the Climate Commitment Act like “a piggy bank for unrelated programs” and that the proposal fails to fund previously agreed upon collective bargaining agreements for state employees. Robinson added that the budget shifts costs and relies on short-term fixes. “That’s why I am committed to a balanced approach — one that includes responsible reductions but also the progressive revenue options needed to sustain core services,” Robinson said.

► From the AP — Senate Democrats refuse to go along with GOP spending plan, as shutdown deadline nears — Senate Democrats are under intense pressure to do whatever they can to stop the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, which is taking a wrecking ball to long-established government agencies and purging thousands of federal workers from jobs. Democrats are pushing a stopgap 30-day funding bill as an alternative. But its prospects are dim in the Congress controlled by Republicans.

► From the Seattle Times — Baumgartner backs bipartisan bill to support fired federal workers — The Protect Our Probationary Employees Act is co-sponsored by dozens of House lawmakers, but so far only two Republicans: Baumgartner and his fellow freshman, Rep. Jeff Hurd of Colorado. The bill would clarify regulations that apply to a federal worker’s probationary period — the first year on the job, or in some cases two years — so that fired probationary employees could keep the seniority they had accumulated if they are rehired. In a brief interview at the Capitol, Baumgartner said his support for the bill shouldn’t be construed as criticism of President Donald Trump or his administration’s effort to rapidly downsize the federal workforce.

► From HR Brew — Trump labor appointees paint unclear picture for future — The US Chamber of Commerce’s head of government affairs, Rodney Davis, a former Republican lawmaker from Illinois, expects a “sea change” when it comes to the government’s approach to the workplace. “Frankly, I think that’s good for employers,” he said…“We urge Chavez-DeRemer to use her position in the Trump Cabinet to advocate forcefully for working people who depend on the Department of Labor to vigorously defend our wages, health and safety, and freedom to join a union,” AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler said in a statement.

► From CNN — ‘Students will suffer harm’: Education Department’s civil rights office gutted by layoffs, closures — One current employee said the moves amount to a “soft closing” of the office. “This will completely halt the vast majority of cases that we can take in, evaluate and investigate,” said the employee, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution. The Office for Civil Rights, or OCR, aims to protect students by holding schools and colleges that receive federal funds accountable for combating antisemitism, islamophobia, racism and discrimination against students with disabilities.

► From the Washington Post — Social Security scraps far-reaching cuts to phone services after Post report — The Social Security Administration late Wednesday abandoned plans it was considering to end phone service for millions of Americans filing retirement and disability claims after The Washington Post reported that Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service team was weighing the change to root out alleged fraud. The shift would have directed elderly and disabled people to rely on the internet and in-person field offices to process their claims, curtailing a service that 73 million Americans have relied on for decades to access earned government benefits.

► From Politico — Layoff plans are due Thursday. Feds are terrified. — President Donald Trump ordered agencies last month to draft plans for “large-scale reductions in force,” and his administration gave agencies a March 13 deadline to hand over plans for “initial agency cuts and reductions,” with another round due in April.

TODAY’S MUST-READ

► From the Washington Post — What’s being lost with the DOGE cuts? These fired feds can tell you. — One was the person behind the welcome desk at a Massachusetts Veterans Affairs outreach center, the first face struggling veterans saw when they came for help. Another was the Energy Department employee responsible for knowing the thousand-page permit required for the disposal of hazardous waste. Another, the U.S. Forest Service employee responsible for hiring local teenagers each summer to keep national park trails clean. The Washington Post spoke to workers who explained their roles — and what the country is losing with the elimination of those jobs.

The Stand posts links to local, national and international labor news every weekday morning. Subscribe to get daily news in your inbox.