Saving DOE | 10k Health Dept. jobs | WA health funding

Thursday, March 26, 2025

STRIKES

► From CBS News — Judge ends VTA strike after agency seeks help from court to resume service — A judge ordered VTA workers’ end their three-week strike on Wednesday after the VTA brought the issue to court, claiming workers had broken their “no strike” clause. The transit agency claims workers broke a “no strike” clause, even though their contract has expired. “This ruling from Judge Nishigaya is outrageous,” said Local President/Business Agent Raj Singh. “The VTA’s lawfare and the court’s ruling does not get the parties any closer to resolving the fundamental problem—the VTA’s refusal to offer a fair settlement of the labor dispute and its disrespect for its employees as demonstrated by its recent insistence that my coworkers and I are ‘uneducated.'”

LOCAL

► From the Seattle Times — WA is losing $160M in federal health funding. Here’s what to know — The state Department of Health was notified Monday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was immediately terminating multiple pandemic-related grants, totaling at least $130 million, said Marisol Mata Somarribas, a spokesperson for the department. These grants support critical public health systems including disease monitoring and reporting, and vaccine efforts for COVID and other respiratory viruses. They also fund the IT systems that support these public health efforts.

► From KUOW — ICE detains leader of farmworker union in northwest Washington state — “He doesn’t have a criminal record, and we think that they stopped him because of his leadership, because of his activism,” Guillén added. “We’re trying to get him out.” Immigration records confirm Juarez had a standing deportation order from 2018. The Bellingham Herald reported in 2015 that he was first sent to the Tacoma detention center in June of that year, when he was pulled over by police for driving the wrong way on a one-way street. The police then called immigration enforcement. The Herald also reported that Juarez was an applicant in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program.

► From Cascade PBS — Federal cuts to Native services could impact Northwest nations — A steady stream of executive orders from the president and cuts made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency — combined with frequent changes of course — have had a destabilizing effect on agencies that serve tribes, including those in the Northwest. Hundreds of employees at the Bureau of Indian Affairs have been fired. Access to important payment systems has been blocked. Congressionally approved grants have been unilaterally terminated. The chaos intensifies concerns about whether critical health care services for roughly 3 million Native American and Alaska Native tribal citizens can be preserved.

► From the Tri-City Herald — Eastern WA nuclear site top manager resigns. No. 2 Hanford leader already is gone — The top local leader for the Hanford nuclear site in Eastern Washington has resigned, which follows the resignation of his second in command. Brian Vance has been the Department of Energy Hanford manager since fall 2017. DOE said in a statement Wednesday afternoon that the process for selecting a new site director is underway and candidates are being carefully evaluated.

► From the Yakima Herald-Republic — Red cards are in demand in the Yakima Valley. What are they? — It’s the size of a business card that fits neatly in a wallet. It’s red, like the card a referee shows in a soccer match, and it’s translated into 19 languages. And it’s in high demand these days. What is it? A red card. The cards have a list of rights that the holder can invoke when interacting with federal immigration agents.

AEROSPACE

► From Yahoo Finance — Judge upends Boeing-DOJ legal saga and orders 737 Max trial for June — A federal judge overseeing plea deal negotiations between the Justice Department and Boeing (BA) has scrapped an order giving the parties more time to reach an agreement and instead ordered the giant jet maker to face a jury trial.

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From KEZI — Unionized faculty members at the University of Oregon prepare to strike — The union representing the faculty said unless a deal is made by March 31, a strike is almost guaranteed. Members of the United Academics of the University of Oregon said the university has continued to grow financially each year and yet their salaries remain the same. Dealing with rising costs of living in the area, union members said the university needs to understand that their faculty are among the lowest paid in terms of other universities they are associated with.

NATIONAL

► From People’s World — Interview: Sheria Smith, leader in the fight to save the Education Department — “Everyone is going to feel it, but I think people of low incomes are going to feel the brunt of it because they’re the ones most reliant on public schools, and they require funding from the Department of Education. Certainly, people of lower incomes will need more help with funding their education and even in accessing it. But it will impact everyone. Even if you are a billionaire, it may take some time to impact you, but to the extent that you need educated people to work for you, that’s going to be very difficult if the majority of Americans don’t have access to education.”

► From Boston.com — AG Campbell says she’s ‘monitoring’ situation after Tufts grad student arrested by ICE — Ozturk, a Turkish national and Fulbright Scholar who is pursuing her PhD in the university’s Child Study and Human Development department, was detained by federal authorities near her home in Somerville on Tuesday evening, a moment that was captured on video.“The footage of Rumeysa Ozturk’s arrest — a student here legally — is disturbing,” Campbell said in her statement. “Based on what we know, it is alarming that the federal administration chose to ambush and detain her, apparently targeting a law-abiding individual because of her political views.

POLITICS & POLICY

► From the New York Times — 10,000 Federal Health Dept. Workers to Be Laid Off — The Trump administration on Thursday announced a massive layoff of 10,000 employees at the Health and Human Services Department, as part of a dramatic reorganization designed to bring communications and other functions directly under the purview of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

► From the Federal News Network — Federal labor mediation agency cuts staff down to ‘skeleton crew’ — The Trump administration is cutting almost the entire workforce at a small, independent agency that handles collective bargaining disputes in the private sector and across the federal workforce. The Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service is terminating most of its employees and services by the end of the day Wednesday, according to four employees who spoke to Federal News Network.

► From the New York Times — Judge Extends Pause on Firings of Probationary Workers for 5 Days — The judge, James K. Bredar of the Federal District Court in Maryland, said he needed more time to determine whether a longer-term halt to the government’s firing of probationary employees should apply to the entire country or be restricted to certain states while the case proceeds. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia sued the federal government, arguing they were irreparably harmed when the government fired thousands of probationary employees en masse in February, leaving states to face unemployment spikes without warning.

► From KUOW — Appeals court sides with judge who blocked deportations under wartime authority — “The government’s removal scheme denies Plaintiffs even a gossamer thread of due process,” Millett wrote in a concurring statement. “No notice, no hearing, no opportunity—zero process—to show that they are not members of the gang, to contest their eligibility for removal under the law, or to invoke legal protections against being sent to a place where it appears likely they will be tortured and their lives endangered.”

► From the Washington Post — Social Security backs off plan to cut phone services for disabled people — The originally proposed changes — scheduled to take effect Monday but now delayed to April 14 — would have directed all people filing claims to first verify their identity online or in person, removing a phone option in place for years. Advocates said the shift would make it impossible for many disabled and elderly people with limited mobility or computer skills to apply.

► From the CBS News — UAW president applauds Trump administration for tariffs on foreign-made cars, says it ends “free trade disaster” — “We applaud the Trump administration for stepping up to end the free trade disaster that has devastated working-class communities for decades. Ending the race to the bottom in the auto industry starts with fixing our broken trade deals, and the Trump administration has made history with today’s actions. But ending the race to the bottom also means securing union rights for autoworkers everywhere with a strong National Labor Relations Board, a decent retirement with Social Security benefits protected, healthcare for all workers including through Medicare and Medicaid, and dignity on and off the job.

► From the Seattle Times — House GOP members fight for Biden-era energy spending, including in WA — Those Republicans, including Washington’s Rep. Dan Newhouse, want to protect a series of financial incentives from a conservative party, led by President Donald Trump, that is increasingly hostile toward climate change and science. Many of these incentives come from Biden-era policies, which Trump appears set on reducing or eliminating entirely.

► From the Washington State Standard — Washington bill to cap rent increases clears first Senate hurdle — On a party-line vote, the Senate Housing Committee passed House Bill 1217, which would set a 7% limit on annual residential rent increases, with some exceptions. The bill…would also prohibit rent increases during the first year of a tenancy. The rules wouldn’t apply to buildings under 12 years old or those owned by nonprofits or public housing authorities. Landlords would also need to give written notice 90 days before a rent increase.

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