...that is illegal

BossFeed Briefing for December 6th, 2023
It’s getting very dark very early. The comms team has been utilizing fireplace screensavers. Gotta remember to pick up some vitamin D soon. Meanwhile the “pineapple express” is currently coursing over our state. Stay safe out there!

THREE THINGS TO KNOW THIS WEEK:

More slaps on the wrist: McDonalds is in trouble again for violating child labor laws. Five stores in Pennsylvania were employing 34 children who were 14-15 years old and breaking numerous rules in the process. What did one of the world’s biggest companies have to pay as a result? Under $1,000 per child. 

Know. Your. Rights: Seattle-based restaurant Skillet Group settled for $318,782.48 to 181 employees for violating multiple worker rights. In a former worker’s words: “I always assumed there was a legal exemption which meant we were not entitled to rest or meal breaks. There is not. That is illegal.”

Attn: Renton: Renton City Council voted down a minimum wage increase on Monday, but it goes to voters in February to decide. Currently Renton workers make the state minimum wage of $15.74/hr, but a grassroots initiative scored twice the needed number of signatures to get a $19/hr minimum wage vote rolling.

TWO THINGS TO ASK:

See something? Say something. Washington saw 80 trauma-related workplace deaths last year, almost all violations of a safety standard. L&I would need approx. 60 years to safety check every jobsite just once, so nearly all of their visits are based on reports & complaints.

Ready to celebrate? T-minus 38 days until the Seattle gig worker minimum pay standard goes into effect! This policy provides not just a pay floor, but also the transparency and flexibility app-based workers deserve.

AND ONE THING THAT'S WORTH A CLOSER LOOK:

On that note, great news coming out of the Big Apple this week – app-based delivery workers in NYC have secured a major minimum pay win. Uber, DoorDash, and GrubHub will have to pay New York food delivery workers at least $17.96 an hour after they failed to convince an appeals court to block the minimum pay rule. The court rejected efforts by the companies to overturn a decision by a judge allowing the rule to go into effect. The ruling forces delivery services to pay workers the flat hourly rate or pay per delivery at about 50 cents a minute.

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hope they're ready

BossFeed Briefing for November 20th, 2023
Happy Native American Heritage Month! Welcome to a week of busy travel and hopefully not dry turkey. Since our last edition, the people (and business dollars) have spoken and next year we’ll be looking at some newly elected faces. Hope they’re all ready to hear from working people of Washington!

THREE THINGS TO KNOW THIS WEEK:

Happy second birthday: We just passed the second anniversary of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which has brought nearly $8 billion into our state expanding access to high speed internet, clean water, public transit, and the job opportunities to go with it.

Too fast, too furious: Delivery drivers at Amazon are being forced to work dangerously fast, this time at the Sumner location, jeopardizing worker health & safety. At another location, Labor & Industries (L&I) has received over 400 workers compensation claims for work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Shockingly, Amazon disagrees.

Filling the worker gap: Hyatt hotels is working with community based organizations to hire young adults 16-24 who are not in school or working. The hospitality industry lost more jobs than any other industry in the pandemic and is providing a buddy system and transportation support to candidates. They aim to hire 10,000 young adults through the program by 2025.

TWO THINGS TO ASK:

101 Citations? Workers at the SODO doggy daycare that caught fire last week said anonymously that concerns they’ve raised in the past have been met with anger and threats from management, and now promises to sue after workers spoke to the news. Maybe if their concerns had been addressed, the business wouldn’t have had two fires and multiple dog fatalities in a year.

Need a restock? More free at-home COVID tests are being made available ahead of a busy travel week. If you didn’t order more in the fall, you can order twice as many now. 

AND ONE THING THAT'S WORTH A CLOSER LOOK:

The full Seattle City Council will be voting tomorrow to approve the 2024 budget. Among the many important amendments and provisions, for the first time ever a direct funding source has been established for gig workers’ rights enforcement through the Office of Labor Standards. The committee passed the proposal despite extensive opposition from the network app companies who would rather not pay for their violations on unjust deactivations and minimum pay standards. We’re proud to say our community recognizes the importance of workers having the tools to enforce our rights and educate other workers about those rights.

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guess what tomorrow is

BossFeed Briefing for November 6th, 2023
Tomorrow is election day, tomorrow is election day, tomorrow…is election day. Don’t forget to go vote if you haven’t already. So far the turnout is not great. We all gained an hour yesterday so we should be more on top of things this week, right?

THREE THINGS TO KNOW THIS WEEK:

All pain and no gain: Amazon warehouse workers in a new national study say “injury and pain at Amazon are far more widespread” than previously thought. 69% of Amazon warehouse workers said they took unpaid time off to recover from injuries & pain from their job, and half of those have done so 3+ times.

Bootstraps are not a thing, but cash might work: Universal basic income has been a success everywhere it’s been tried so far, improving people’s financial stress and mental health almost immediately, while reducing homelessness and increasing employment.

That tracks: Human rights expert at the UN says US companies like Walmart and Doordash trap workers in poverty. Among the listed concerns were the stagnant US minimum wage, wage theft, and the plight of undocumented workers.

TWO THINGS TO ASK:

Where did he go? Workers at Honey Hole in Capitol Hill cannot find the owner. Evan Bramer took over the sandwich shop earlier this year and hasn’t done much better than his predecessors in terms of treating workers well, but the absconding completely thing is… new.

Son of the year award? Speaking of Amazon, Bezos is being applauded for leaving Seattle to be closer to his aging parents. A strange coincidence is that his new home state, Florida, has no capital gains tax. It’s definitely a move for his parents though. Gotta hand it to that PR team. So long, Jeff.

AND ONE THING THAT'S WORTH A CLOSER LOOK:

What would happen if big business got their way with city council elections tomorrow? The Stranger asked, and our worker organizer Joelle Craft filled them in. All those worker protections we’ve been championing through city council the last few years have happened in spite of opposition from the council members who betray their working class constituents and side with corporate interests. We sound like a broken record, we know, but we cannot stress enough how important it is to keep our elected officials accountable to workers with our votes. Here’s our slate of candidates that workers trust to have our backs.

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plain and simple

BossFeed Briefing for October 23, 2023
Tragedy continues in the Middle East, you should’ve received your ballot for the Nov. 7th election by now (please register to vote if you haven’t), and Megan Rapinoe played her actual last home game Friday, sending the OL Reign to the next round of the playoffs. 

THREE THINGS TO KNOW THIS WEEK:

Keep it plain and simple: Applying for a job? You should see a pay scale and benefits listed in the job posting. A new state law went into effect this year requiring it. Some employers are missing the memo and finding out the hard way. 

Toasted: $75,000 was recovered for Subway workers at locations in Burien, Renton, SeaTac, and Tukwila for violations of minimum wage, overtime, and tip pool regulations. Wage and Hour encourages “employers in this industry to review their pay practices and avoid costly consequences.”

If you live in Seattle, you probably have a degree: Seattle ranked number one in the nation last year for people over 25 with a college degree, closely followed by the other Washington (D.C.). 

TWO THINGS TO ASK:

How much does your car commute cost? Washington State transportation officials are considering an increase to the current $10 toll fee cap, potentially raising the cap to $18. It wouldn’t take effect until 2025, to the left lanes of I-405 and Highway 167.

Haven’t we been here before? Some employers in Vermont are offering employee housing, considering it a business expense in a market desperate for affordable places to live. They say applicants for their jobs have skyrocketed, but is it wise to have your boss be your landlord? Sure you can walk to work and enjoy cheap or no rent, but what happens if you get fired?

AND ONE THING THAT'S WORTH A CLOSER LOOK:

Gig workers won, and now that it’s time for big app companies to pay for their violations, they’re throwing a fit about it. Instacart emailed its customer base lying about the Seattle network company fee that will fund the Seattle Office of Labor Standard’s enforcement of legislation that makes app companies treat workers with dignity and respect: everything from a minimum pay standard to paid sick time and deactivation protections. Of course Instacart is less than thrilled, so they’re insisting this is an illegal tax on groceries, despite the fact that groceries are specifically exempted from the proposed fee. Councilmember Herbold authored a refreshing takedown and reminds us all that these app companies didn’t care about working people then, so they don’t get to pretend they do now. 

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new WA wages coming soon

BossFeed Briefing for October 10, 2023
President Biden became the first sitting president to walk with workers on a picket line, yesterday was Indigenous Peoples Day, and October 5th was Latina Equal Pay Day - the day when Latinas catch up to average pay of a non-Hispanic white man in 2022.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW THIS WEEK:

Minimum wage is going up: Washington state is getting a new minimum wage for 2024. Starting January 1st it’ll be $16.28, making it the highest of any state’s minimum wage in the nation and more than double the federal minimum wage of $7.25. The current wage is $15.74. 

Where there’s a will there’s a way: Canada is trying out a $10 a day childcare program - and it’s been working. Childcare centers in British Columbia say they’ve never been more stable, and with both parents able to work outside the home, the economy got a boost as well. 

Terrible landlords: A Port Orchard-based company has been buying up Washington mobile home parks and jacking up prices until tenants can no longer afford them. Rent increases of 55%, cut services, and fees for violations are resulting in economical evictions for elderly & low income families in mobile home parks throughout the state.

TWO THINGS TO ASK:

Have federal student loans? You may want to check on them, as they’re back in repayment now. Another $9 billion was forgiven last week by the Biden administration, targeting those who have disabilities, work in public service, or who were entitled to relief through the use of an income driven repayment plan for 20+ years. For all things federal student loans, go to www.studentaid.gov 

Which would you rather pay for? Labor or theft? Retailers are weighing this question based on data from years of self-checkout kiosks that were supposed to provide labor cost savings. Turns out, real people are needed. Who knew. 

AND ONE THING THAT'S WORTH A CLOSER LOOK:

The Washington unemployment system is still recovering from pandemic era issues with “overpayments.” Claimants who had applied for benefits largely didn’t know they were breaking rules as the department provided confusing and complicated information, but were suddenly on the hook for paying back thousands of dollars. Thanks to the relentless organizing of hundreds of workers, the Employment Security Department announced a waiver process last year. The only hang up is the time it’s taking to weed through them all. So far only around a quarter of the 115,000 eligible claimants have applied, and of those applications, only about 200 have been processed. All that to say, apply if you need to, and if you already have, hang in there. 

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taking action

BossFeed Briefing for September 11, 2023
Today marks 61 days of the SAG-AFTRA strike. You have two more days of no Bainbridge ferry route (for cars, bikes, or scooters anyway). Google just turned 25 years old. Seattle Public Schools just barely managed to keep school starting on time this year instead of a strike delay, this time by custodians - some of the lowest paid workers in the district. 

THREE THINGS TO KNOW THIS WEEK:

Wage theft doesn’t pay. The second largest city in the UK is out of money after being sued for committing gender-based wage theft. Apparently women were so underpaid the outstanding back pay comes to a whopping $955 million. 

Hey… sulfur is super harmful and if you don’t protect your workers from it, you’ll be fined. Don’t take our word for it — L&I fined a Moses Lake company $479,700 for violations including “having a worker unload molten sulfur from a railcar without wearing the proper respiratory protection.”

That goes for ammonia too. A packing company in Yakima must pay $194,000 in fines for violating federal chemical safety regulations related to ammonia. The facility has since closed operations but hadn’t provided any safety training for their employees or followed several other basic safety regulations. 

TWO THINGS TO ASK:

How do you write about that? A federal judge in Tennessee declared a popular SBA program that grants government contracts to minority-owned small businesses unconstitutional, saying that minorities must “demonstrate” via an essay that their race has been a hindrance to their success.

Do you know where to go if you’ve been hurt on the job? Workers compensation claims can be difficult to navigate, and Washington State Labor Council’s Project Help is aiming to clear it up. If you’ve been injured and need assistance making a claim, Project Help is available in both English and Español.

AND ONE THING THAT'S WORTH A CLOSER LOOK:

Local Progress Impact Lab, in partnership with The Economic Policy Institute and Center for Labor and a Just Economy, released a Labor Day 2023 report on “Localities Taking Action to Protect Workers.” Featured are organizations and leaders across the country who have made strides this year to secure better working conditions for many types of workers. Somewhere in there (page 12, paragraph 2 and 3) are two policies for Seattle gig workers, one for paid sick & safe time and one for protection from unjust deactivations that we seem to have a connection with. That’s not the only good labor news in Washington state though! Also featured are cannabis worker protections, and Seattle OLS has a very satisfying list of enforcements on page 16.

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test it out, doordash

BossFeed Briefing for August 28, 2023

The salmon are running, the air across much of Washington is/has been smoky due to damaging wildfires, and India has landed on the moon’s south pole. Saturday will mark the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a Dream” speech.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW THIS WEEK:

It can be done: Workers in San Juan County, WA will be getting a 32 hour work week, without affecting their pay. Workers negotiated a 4 day work week and leaders were on board after seeing success with the trend in the UK and other parts of the country, and in each case productivity has increased.

CEO finds out hard work is hard: In a real life undercover boss move, an airline CEO worked a shift as a flight attendant. He said he was surprised by how hard it was to stay awake overnight and be attentive to customers.

Tacoma aroma no more: The 90+ year old paper mill in Tacoma is closing operations at the end of September. Over 400 workers will be receiving severance and outplacement assistance, the company says.

TWO THINGS TO ASK:

On the rise for once? According to statistics, Seattle-Tacoma area workers experienced a wage increase during 2022-2023, beating the national average. Minimum wage increases and inflation adjustments play into the numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

SpaceX in a Jam? Elon Musk’s rocket company is getting sued by the Justice Department. The department’s head of civil rights says SpaceX “actively discouraged asylees and refugees from seeking work opportunities at the company.”

AND ONE THING THAT'S WORTH A CLOSER LOOK:

DoorDash is doing a fantastic job of testing out the Seattle Office of Labor Standards' enforcement of gig worker protection policies – and it’s going great (for workers). DoorDash settled with workers to the tune of $1.64 million after OLS took the app company to task for violating Seattle’s Gig Worker Paid Sick and Safe Time (PSST) law. That $1.64 million includes $500,064 to 648 workers, $8,630 in fines to the city and $1.1 million in PSST credits for more than 26,000 workers. The settlement demonstrates that organizing to win the workplaces we deserve doesn’t stop at passing the policy: it needs to go hand-in-hand with good enforcement of our standards. Gig companies, like any other employer, need both regulation and enforcement informed by workers’ experiences in order to be held accountable.

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what's it to you?

BossFeed Briefing for August 14, 2023

Summer is starting to wind down, but a devastating wildfire on Maui last week demonstrated that climate injustice isn’t. Zoom is ironically requiring its workers to return to office. Twitter is now a suspicious looking X on your phone. The USWNT lost their World Cup bid to Sweden in a dramatic penalty kick shoot-out. The Social Security Act turns 88 years old today.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW THIS WEEK:

Mrs. Doubtfire voice: Help is [not] on the way, dear. A severe lack of childcare in Seattle is a barrier to work, and the worker turnover and missed work it causes costs Washington employers more than $2 billion annually. 

Surely this has nothing to do with the previous thing: Washington state is the 8th most expensive state to live in based on average living expenses. Hawaii and California top the list, but at an average of $2,468 per month in bills, living in the Evergreen State clearly comes at a price.

“I declare bankruptcyyy!”: Yellow, a major trucking company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and the way it got there followed a familiar pattern: company struggles, workers concede billions in wages to help it stay afloat, company stops paying into pensions, workers keep working in hopes company will pay soon, and then company goes under and blames workers. Now 30,000 workers are out of a job.

TWO THINGS TO ASK:

What’s a flexible work location worth to you? Bosses are seeing slower hiring rates when they demand in-person work, and by an economist professor’s measure, employees value working from home the same as an 8% pay increase.

Bueller? Bueller? August 24th is apparently the sickest day of the year for American workers. Bosses question if we’re using the day for actual sickness or one last summer hurrah. Stay safe, and use your hard earned sick leave however you please *cough cough*. 

AND ONE THING THAT'S WORTH A CLOSER LOOK:

The University of Washington released a study confirming what gig workers already knew: workers of color are being disproportionately deactivated. For a quick crash course on the problem, deactivation is how app companies like DoorDash, Instacart, and GrubHub fire an app-based gig worker, primarily via algorithm. Across apps, workers can be deactivated for no reason at all, often due to inaccurate data. Workers have no right to a process to challenge our deactivations, which means we can suddenly lose our income with no warning and no recourse. Mass algorithmic deactivations create a sudden loss of income for workers sector-wide, many of whom rely on the flexibility of gig work to take care of our bodies and our families. And the study found (just like we’ve been saying) that this is an economic and racial justice issue. These deactivations disproportionately affect workers of color, immigrant workers, and workers with disabilities who make up a huge proportion of the gig economy. 

The good news is, last week Seattle gig workers won a major first-in-the-nation policy reform that protects workers from unjust deactivations, and showed the rest of the country what happens when we organize for what we need and deserve.

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vote

BossFeed Briefing for August 1, 2023. Barbie, Oppenheimer, Taylor Swift, and climate change all casually set records over the last two weeks (and guess which ones are getting the most attention). Despite a repeal effort, a new state law protecting trans kids seeking shelter and gender-affirming care went into effect last week. And with that reminder of the importance of local and state government, don’t forget to vote in today’s primary election. You have until 8pm tonight.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW THIS WEEK:

“We Did It Our Way:” The Washington State Labor Council convened this month and welcomed Chris Smalls and other worker leaders setting new labor standard precedents in their industries. The annual convention is a celebration of cross-industry solidarity, and a reminder that workers win meaningful change when united.

Turning it down to a simmer: UPS finally decided to bargain their way out of what could’ve been the largest single employer strike in U.S. history. The Teamsters reached a tentative agreement, winning air conditioning in the trucks, wage increases, and other workplace improvements for both full and part time employees. The cargo areas of UPS trucks have been recorded to be well in excess of 120 degrees Fahrenheit inside, though still not hot enough to melt a billionaire’s heart.

It’s giving, “You should smile more:” In & Out is banning its workers from wearing masks. Management insists it's better for the customer service experience if they can see workers' sweet smiles while taking their order. Even if you pass around a life-threatening illness, just think of all the burger eater’s days you’ve made by showing off that food service fake-smile — so worth it!

TWO THINGS TO ASK:

Would you like (extra) small fries with that? McDonalds has been busted, again, on child labor violations for children working as young as 10 years old, and not following rules for 14-15 year old employees. What year is it?

Alaska Airlines’ profits are how high? If you’ve seen Alaska Airlines flight attendants picketing at SeaTac recently, it’s because workers are fighting for better pay at the same time that the airline’s profits for this quarter ascended 73% higher than last year.

AND ONE THING THAT'S WORTH A CLOSER LOOK:

A seized piece of indigenous farmland in Eastern Washington was once used to produce nearly two-thirds of the plutonium for the nation’s nuclear weapons program from World War II through the Cold War. Now the Department of Energy is looking to use the site for clean energy projects, potentially creating those good clean energy jobs we keep hearing about. Developments could include solar, wind, nuclear energy, hydroelectric, geothermal, clean hydrogen, and fossil resources that meet clean energy requirements through carbon capture and storage, DOE said on Tuesday.

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