Posts tagged sick out
Commentary: Strike by 23 staffers leaves blue-state commuters stranded – too bad state fired 120 staffers for vax refusal
October 7, 2026 // According to local NPR affiliate KUOW, "[t]housands of ferry riders in the Puget Sound region were left in the lurch Monday morning as major routes and dozens of sailings were canceled. "Nearly two dozen engine room employees called out sick, according to the state, and backup crew declined to fill in. The union representing the workers said Monday’s shutdown highlighted Washington State Ferries’ failure to hire more staff." The outlet said that "dozens of sailings were upended Monday" due to the sick-out, with only a few boats in operation. Washington State Ferries said on X that not only had the employees called out, but all employees qualified to keep the boats running declined to help out. "All of the employees calling in sick, and declining to fill those vacancies, are represented by the Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association (MEBA) who represent engine room employees," WSF said. As a result, all but five of the ships were out of service. If only there was something they could have done to avoid this. Oh, wait: Expand article logo Continue reading Fact check: Accurate. From a 2022 Washington State Ferries workforce planning report: First, the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated pre-existing labor shortages in the maritime labor market. An estimated 3.2 million workers nationwide left the labor market between 2019 and 2021, impacting every sector of the economy. Second, WSF was particularly hard hit by employees not complying with the state vaccine mandates. It lost 120 crew members or approximately 6% of its operational workforce. Not only is this nearly double the state employees' rate of 3.2%, but the losses were also concentrated in critical occupations: 20 oilers and 40 temporary assistant engineers left their positions.
Union County teachers hold ‘sick-out’ to protest amid pay supplement saga
October 23, 2025 // Tuesday, the Union County Public Schools Finance Committee worked through a plan to fund the $1,000 supplement this school year. UCPS Chief Finance Officer Shanna McLamb explained the plan would cost roughly $3.8 million and amount to about $100 more per month for teachers. Some parents say the pay issue has a direct impact on students.
US Transportation Secretary threatens to fire absent air traffic controllers
October 14, 2025 // Last week, the president said some employees who are not at work might not receive retroactive pay once the government reopens. Air traffic controllers, though, are considered "essential workers" and are still required to carry out their duites. "When you come to work you get paid," Duffy said. "If you don't come to work, you don't get paid. That's the way we're going to do it."
Hundreds Of Unpaid TSA Agents Are Calling In Sick—Expect Longer Airport Security Lines
October 7, 2025 // A notice on the MyTSA app, which travelers use to monitor TSA wait times at airports, says it is “not being actively managed” due to the lapse in funding. There is a similar notice on the TSA website. Shuker told Forbes he would expect a higher number of TSA employees to call out sick on busier travel days such as Sunday, Thursday and Monday. “If you were planning like stress day or a mental health day or an ‘F you’ day, you wouldn’t pick Tuesday because it's the lightest day of the week and the easiest to work,” Shuker told Forbes.
Nationwide ‘People’s Sick Day’ set to cripple U.S. as Trump protesters plot mass walkout
July 21, 2025 // However, one group rising in membership plans to use their sick time for precisely that — taking a page out of organized labor's handbook and using their collective action to expose and potentially even directly impact what they view as systemic injustices against the working class of the United States.
Commentary: How Federal Workers Can Leverage Civil Disobedience as a Strategy to Win
May 27, 2025 // Strikes, slowdowns, sickouts—workers have many ways to withhold their labor to protest injustice in the workplace. Federal employees have no legal right to strike, which is why they have generally avoided this tactic. The last time there was a major strike by federal workers was in 1981. President Ronald Reagan crushed the strike by firing and replacing air traffic controllers who walked off the job, a moment widely viewed as the beginning of the labor movement’s decline. But there is much that separates the strike under Reagan from what federal workers face today under Trump. Reagan had both public sentiment and the law behind him when he fired over 11,000 federal workers.
Flint teachers union holds illegal teacher strike
March 14, 2024 // Flint schools have been shut down more than any other district in Michigan in recent years as a result of their response to COVID-19. Still, the school district got $156 million, more than 10-times the state average per student. According to MISchoolData,org, Flint schools have about 2,900 students enrolled in 2023-24.
Teachers union appeals court injunction against sickouts
September 28, 2023 //
Commentary: How the Teachers Union Broke Public Education
June 7, 2023 // School closures were not just an issue that impacted teachers, kids, and parents—this policy will have decadeslong ripple effects that will reverberate through every aspect of society. While savvy middle class and affluent families may opt for charter and private schools as a solution, the poorest and most vulnerable children, such as my former students, will remain trapped in a rotting system. The children who never catch up will grow into damaged, illiterate adults who cannot participate in the labor force and who are plagued by social dysfunction and decay. Ultimately, the union will achieve its vision of remaking the world—only it will be a broken, disfigured world that no one wants.
Kentucky City’s Transit Workers Authorize Possible Strike
October 24, 2022 // Union members with the Transit Authority of River City voted 95% in favor of the strike authorization Thursday, amid contentious contract negotiations, The Courier Journal reported.