State workers decry furloughs | Betrayed by Trump | BC tolls?

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

LOCAL

► From KING 5 — Washington libraries concerned over Trump’s executive order — “When I was a kid, this library was the way that I read,” Shannon Curry said. “It’s terrifying. I’ve worked here for 12 years. I really love working here.” The agency supports libraries and museums across the U.S., including the Braille Library which is the only braille and audiobook library in the state. It provides services for people who are blind or limited in their vision. “Somebody who like me is totally blind, or it could be somebody who can’t physically turn pages or it could be somebody with dyslexia,” Curry said.

► From the Kitsap Sun — Trump job cuts continue: What Washington state is saying about federal layoff numbers — “We are aware of several announced layoffs in the works — both in the public and private sectors,” said Anneliese Vance-Sherman, chief labor economist at the department. “It’s worth noting that Boeing layoffs — 2,595 layoffs, most beginning Jan. 17, 2025 — are unlikely to show up in traditional employment numbers until the February numbers are published in a couple weeks and federal layoff numbers will not show up until the March report.” Washington state had 76,126 federal employees as of the second quarter of 2024, according to the latest data from the Washington State Employment Security Department.

AEROSPACE

► From the Lynnwood Times — Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy tours Boeing 737 facility — United States Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy toured Boeing’s 737 facility in Renton on Thursday, March 13, to follow up on the status of Boeing’s Comprehensive Safety Plan. “My message to Boeing during our recent visit was one of tough love,” Secretary Duffy said. “Acting Administrator Chris Rocheleau and I have made clear that the FAA will continue to cap Boeing’s production of the 737 MAX until they can demonstrate sustainable progress on safety…”

► From Aviation Source News — Could Trump Tariffs Transform the Boeing-Airbus Dynamic? — With Trump tariffs at 25% on these imports, Boeing’s costs could climb. Aluminium, essential for planes like the 737, might see a slight uptick—under 0.3% per jet, per estimates. However, tariffs on subassemblies or electronics, accounting for 20-30% of a plane’s price, could hit harder, pushing Boeing to hike prices and weaken its market stance. Retaliation from Trump tariffs adds pressure. China, once 25% of Boeing’s deliveries, shifted to Airbus and COMAC during earlier trade clashes. Post-Trump tariffs in his first term, Beijing paused Boeing orders. With China’s aviation market surging, new Trump tariffs could deepen this exclusion.

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From Workday Magazine — “One Job Should Be Enough”: How 9,000 Grocery Workers Are Banding Together in Minnesota — The coordinated negotiations with seven employers is ongoing, and UFCW 663 is doing open bargaining, issuing broad appeals to the membership to show up for sessions. In addition to this coordinated process, there are hundreds of other UFCW 663 members who have expired contracts with smaller employers. It’s often the case that those employers will wait and see how coordinated bargaining goes.

NATIONAL

► From Media Matters — The right dominates the online media ecosystem, seeping into sports, comedy, and other supposedly nonpolitical spaces — In a new study, Media Matters assessed the audience size of popular online shows — podcasts, streams, and other long-form audio and video content regularly posted online. To do so, we gathered data on the number of followers, subscribers, and views across streaming platforms (YouTube, Spotify, Rumble, Twitch, and Kick) and social media platforms that are used to amplify and promote these shows (Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok). We found substantial asymmetry in total following across platforms: Right-leaning online shows had at least 480.6 million total followers and subscribers — nearly five times as many as left-leaning.

► From WDIO — U.S. Postal Service will be hosting rallies across the country — NALC is holding urgent rallies to oppose the reported efforts to take away the independence of the U.S. Postal Service and degrade its universal delivery mandate, which would affect every local resident, business, organization, and neighborhood. They reported that attempts to privatize will reduce services to 51.5 million households and businesses in rural communities, where private carriers do not deliver.

Editor’s note: find a March 23 rally near you. 

► From the UFW:

 

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POLITICS & POLICY

Federal updates here, local news and deeper dives below:

• Appeals court denies Trump’s bid to immediately reverse fired federal workers’ reinstatement (The Hill)
• Trump Nominates Bryan Bedford, Longtime Airlines Executive, to Lead FAA (New York Times)
• Trump to Pick Union-Busting Attorney for Key Labor Law Position (American Prospect)
• Trump calls for impeachment of judge overseeing Venezuelan migrant deportation case (Guardian)
• Trump could reshape judiciary with 300 judge appointments, analysis shows (Guardian)

► From the Washington State Standard — State workers blast Ferguson’s furlough plan, calling it a betrayal — “They feel they were lied to. We have to stop being the ones having the budgets balanced on our backs,” said Mike Yestramski, president of the Washington Federation of State Employees, following a rally Monday at the Capitol held by those pushing the Legislature to tax the wealthy and big businesses to erase the multi-billion dollar deficit.

► From Cascade PBS — WA bill aims to extend unemployment benefits to workers on strike — According to ESD, if SB 5041 passes, the cost of unemployment benefits for striking workers would be paid by their employer, rather than being shared by all businesses in the state. This means the overall UI trust fund — which currently holds $3.9 billion — would see a minor impact, estimated at just 0.002% of its total balance. ESD projects striking workers would receive $5.7 million in benefits in fiscal year 2027, the first full year the change would be in effect. The employers would be responsible for repaying those benefits, but these costs wouldn’t be due all at once. Instead, they would be spread out over four years through gradual increases in the employer’s unemployment tax rate.

► From the Spokesman Review — Baumgartner faces angry, disruptive town hall following two months of Trump’s presidency — Spokane resident Mary Ellen Gaffney-Brown asked questions about the Social Security Administration and shared her fears about benefit cuts following swift changes, such as the resignation of acting Commissioner Michelle King, who stepped down over DOGE privacy concerns. Gaffney-Brown said she believed the administration is on its way to privatizing Social Security and wants “billionaires to pay their fair share,” she said. As she was speaking, she was interrupted by the moderator. She replied, “Be quiet” – and the hall erupted into cheers.

Editor’s note: a theme is emerging…Rep. Baumgartner responds to questions on Musk, immigration and other policies at Ritzville town hall (Tri-City Herald)

► From the AP — A timeline of the legal wrangling and deportation flights after Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act — Monday, March 17, 5 p.m.: A hearing begins over what Boasberg has called the “possible defiance” of his court order. Trump administration lawyers tell Boasberg that his verbal directions did not count, only his written order needed to be followed, that it couldn’t apply to flights outside the U.S. and that they could not answer his questions about the trips due to national security issues. Boasberg calls the arguments “one heck of a stretch.” Government lawyers say the third plane that departed Texas on Saturday held no one deported under the Alien Enemies Act. ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, warns that “I think we’re getting very close” to a constitutional crisis.

► From the Government Executive — Trump continues to curtail union rights and career pipelines — On Friday, President Trump signed a pair of executive orders, one rescinding a tranche of Biden administration edicts and the other claiming to order the closure of government agencies, including the U.S. Agency for Global Media and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. FMCS, an independent agency, works with labor unions, federal agencies and private sector employers to avert strikes, impasses and litigation stemming from collective bargaining disputes. It was established by Congress as part of the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, making Trump’s planned closure of the agency legally dubious.

► From the Hill — Fired workers return to federal agencies — but are put on paid leave — The Hill also obtained a notice that the Commerce Department sent to a staffer it had fired. The notice said that the employee will be reinstated, but that for the time being the employee will be placed in “paid, non-duty status.” The employee will remain on paid leave until the court case is resolved or until the department decides otherwise, according to the notice viewed by The Hill. Employees are subject to being fired again depending on the ultimate outcome of the case.

► From Axios — Leaked memo: DOGE plots to cut Social Security phone support — An internal memo from the Social Security Administration proposes changes to its phone service that could derail the benefits application process for many Americans. Why it matters: The Trump administration has repeatedly said it doesn’t plan changes to Social Security, other than to address fraud and waste — but these proposals risk “crippling” a system already plagued by delays, and facing staffing cuts, former agency officials tell Axios.

► From More Perfect Union:

INTERNATIONAL

► From the Washington State Standard — British Columbia introduces toll measure to counter tariffs — Introducing the bill at the British Columbia Legislative Assembly in Victoria, Deputy Premier Niki Sharma said the bill “provides a range of authorities to enable the government to quickly respond to the recent unprecedented threats to our province from the United States.” Sharma, speaking to the Legislative Assembly, said that if enacted, the bill would “allow government to impose a system of tolls, fees or other charges on vehicles using certain BC infrastructure, such as highways and coastal ferries. It will provide a broad, flexible power to government to address challenges to BC arising from the actions of a foreign jurisdiction to support inter-provincial cooperation.”

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