Posts tagged Washington
Big labor torching World Cup tourism with sky-high hotel prices and looming layoffs
June 30, 2026 // HTC’s president may get the credit for negotiating this latest contract, but his nearly $1 million compensation package is largely insulated from these economic setbacks. Meanwhile, the workers whose dues pay his salary will bear the long-term consequences of the deal. World Cup visitors may be the first to feel the pain of higher room rates, but hotel workers could end up being hit the hardest by seeing their shifts reduced, or worse, having their jobs disappear.
Hotel strike continues outside Embassy Suites near Lumen Field
June 22, 2026 // A hotel worker strike in Seattle continues outside the Embassy Suites in Pioneer Square. UNITE HERE Local 8 members are calling for better pay, more consistent hours, year-round healthcare, and protections tied to immigration enforcement.
More than 100 Oklahoma lawmakers oppose SQ 832
June 1, 2026 // Under SQ 832, after the minimum wage is more than doubled, the mandate would continue to grow at a rapid annual pace based on increases in the cost of living in the nation’s largest urban centers, as measured by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. That would effectively tie Oklahoma’s wage mandate to the cost of living in places like New York City or San Francisco. As a result, while SQ 832 would initially mandate that entry-level jobs pay $15 an hour in 2029, an analysis by The State Chamber of Oklahoma and Oklahoma Farm Bureau found SQ 832 would put Oklahoma’s minimum wage on a fast track to $35.61 per hour and continue rising thereafter.
Seattle Hospitalists Vote to Unionize
May 28, 2026 // A group of about 115 hospitalists at five Swedish Medical Group locations across the Seattle area voted to unionize as a wave of physician organizing continues nationwide. The hospitalists voted to join Northwest Medicine United (NWMU), AFT Local 6552, which represents hundreds of physicians and advanced practice providers throughout the Northwest, the union announced. They represent the first group of doctors in the Providence health system to organize in the state of Washington.
Journalists at McClatchy-owned papers in WA and Idaho go on daylong strike
May 28, 2026 // For the one-day strike, journalists at the news outlets are asking readers not to visit the newspapers' websites. With the local journalists off the job, Courtney Scott, executive officer of the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild, said it's anyone's guess what the company will fill its news sites with. " I think there's a chance that they post a bunch of AI garbage, that's a thing they've done," Scott said. "I don't know. But it's not our problem today." One of the things union members have fought for in this contract is better protections against AI. The company has used AI-generated content on its websites, at times without prior authorization or notice to the reporters, whose content is feeding the AI.
Higher pay, fewer trips: What Seattle’s gig law got wrong
May 19, 2026 // According to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University analyzing Seattle’s law in a National Bureau of Economic Research study, the average base pay per delivery jumped from about $5.37 to $12.52, but tips fell so much that more than one-third of that gain disappeared, and monthly earnings for highly active drivers were virtually unchanged after the first month. When the city raised the required base pay per delivery, platforms adjusted pricing and interfaces to offset the higher cost. Delivery fees went up, and customers tipped less and, in some cases, ordered less often.
The Union Organizing Boom Has a Number They Don’t Want You to See
May 14, 2026 // The Faster Labor Contracts Act, championed by union-aligned legislators on Capitol Hill, would impose a 90-day bargaining deadline. If no deal is reached, a government-appointed arbitrator writes the contract — and workers do not get to vote on the result. Critics have pointed out that this structure actually incentivizes union negotiators to stall and run out the clock, betting an arbitrator delivers better terms than good-faith bargaining would. Workers get a contract faster. They just lose the right to approve it. The dues keep coming either way.
Unions and billionaires pour cash into SQ 832—and call it ‘compassion’
May 12, 2026 // The National Education Association (NEA), which regularly supports all sorts of left-wing causes, has donated half a million dollars to support SQ 832. This is the same organization that advocated for taxpayer funding of abortion, advised teachers to hide information from parents regarding their students’ sexuality, opposed efforts to protect girls’ sports, locker rooms, and bathrooms from use by the opposite sex, and proposed removing police officers from schools in the name of racial justice. Other financial supporters include the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), and the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE).
California’s wage experiment offers warning as Oklahoma weighs SQ 832
April 23, 2026 // These outcomes are consistent with broader trends in California, where years of increasing minimum wages have coincided with declining youth employment and rising prices. Similar patterns have emerged in states like Oregon and Washington. Meanwhile, Oklahoma has taken a different path, one that has allowed wages to grow while keeping costs relatively stable, helping position the state in the top 10 in the nation for attracting younger workers. California’s experience should give all Oklahomans pause. What may be a well-intentioned policy doesn’t produce the outcomes anyone wants—fewer hours, fewer opportunities, and higher prices for the very people it is supposed to help.
OPINION: Union Politics Is Poisoning Washington’s Business Climate
April 23, 2026 // Between 2021 and 2026, Washington fell from #16 to #45 in the Tax Foundation’s State Tax Competitiveness Index, a dramatic drop that signals a rapidly deteriorating business climate. Meanwhile, the cost of living has surged. The Washington Roundtable now ranks the state among the five most expensive in the country. This did not happen by accident. It is the direct outcome of a policy agenda backed by union money and enacted by elected officials who benefit from it: higher minimum wages, expansive paid-leave mandates, new healthcare requirements, and an increasingly complex regulatory environment.