A bill in Olympia would open access to unemployment while workers are on strike, but time is running out for lawmakers to pass the legislation.
House Bill 1893 has made its way through the House but has to get approval from the Senate by the end of today. David Groves, communications director for the Washington State Labor Council, said the bill would help level the playing field at the bargaining table.
"Currently, employers can adopt a starve-them-out strategy where they refuse to negotiate in good faith," he said, "because they know that their workers, especially when they earn low wages, aren't in a position to go without a paycheck."
The legislation would allow workers to access unemployment after two weeks on strike for a maximum of four weeks. Opponents have said it would cost the state too much and could incentivize workers to strike. Last year was the most active year for labor activity and strikes in more than two decades.
Groves said employers have too much control in bargaining.
"This bill will promote good-faith bargaining because it will be a real possibility that workers could withhold their labor and go on strike," he said, "and that will give them the bargaining power they need to get a decent agreement and to get better wages and working conditions."
Maine, New Jersey and New York allow access to unemployment for striking workers.
Washington's legislative session is scheduled to adjourn next Thursday.
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The U.S. Department of Labor is holding $6.8 million in unpaid wages for more than 5,000 Maryland workers, and said time is running out to claim the wages.
The Labor Department enforces the Fair Labor Standards Act, which includes regulations for minimum wage, overtime pay, record-keeping and youth employment.
A new study labeled Maryland the worst state for wage theft, with more than $2,200 of back wages per employee.
Nick Fiorello, wage and hour division district director at the Baltimore office of the Labor Department, said they may investigate a complaint from a worker or third party but they also look into specific industries considered common wage-theft culprits.
"Low-wage industries; construction industry, residential home-care industry, restaurants, food service industry, landscaping," Fiorello outlined. "Sometimes we're just initiating investigations out of one of those priorities that has nothing to do with a complaint."
Workers can see if they are owed unpaid wages by going to the Department of Labor's database, called Workers Owed Wages. There, workers can look for their employer and their own name to see if they are owed unpaid wages.
The $6.8 million is a drop in the bucket of total unpaid wages in Maryland. One study from the Center for Popular Democracy estimates nearly 600,000 Marylanders are cheated out of wages each year, totaling nearly $900 million a year.
Fiorello stressed it is important to let people know about the millions in unpaid wages because time could be running out for some people to collect. He added the Department of Labor legally can only hold unpaid wages for so long.
"We keep the money for up to three years and unfortunately, we have to pass it along to Treasury after that," Fiorello pointed out. "The workers do have a short time period in order to claim the money, so that's why we want to make sure folks understand that there's this website that exists that they can check out and see if they are owed some money."
A study from the Economic Policy Institute found nationally, workers lose out on $15 billion in wages just from minimum wage violations.
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A Pennsylvania environmental justice group is voicing concerns about the blocked sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel, citing its effect on the community and jobs if it ultimately goes through.
On Monday, Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel filed a lawsuit challenging the Biden administration over the decision.
Matthew Mehalik, executive director of the Pittsburgh-based nonprofit Breathe Project, said Nippon's bid would not have benefited union workers or the community, as it did not include a long-term plan for helping the Mon Valley. He added Nippon said they would honor all collective bargaining agreements, but the union contract expires in 2026.
"If you look at the big picture, really what Nippon wants is the Big River Steel, brand new electric arc nonunion facilities in Arkansas that U.S. Steel spent over $4 billion over the past couple years purchasing and building up as a threat to deunionize U.S. Steel."
Mehalik noted Nippon Steel's $1 billion Mon Valley investment pledge lacked detail, only specifying a new hot strip mill at Irvin Works, one of the three components of the Mon Valley Works along the Monongahela River. For its part, Nippon Steel said it has committed to preserving jobs, the U.S. Steel name and branding, and the Pittsburgh headquarters.
Mehalik argued Nippon's investment plan lacks specifics on how it will address the long-term health issues caused by decades of pollution in the community. He pointed out U.S. Steel has faced more than $65 million in fines and settlement agreements since 2020 due to Clean Air Act violations, primarily stemming from its Mon Valley facilities.
"The ongoing pollution that's been present for a long time in the Mon Valley; our county is in the top 1% of counties nationwide for cancer risk from toxic air pollution," Mehalik outlined. "The asthma rate in the communities is more than double the state average and the national average."
Mehalik noted carbon-based steelmaking faces a major shift as the steel industry transitions to decarbonization. Automakers are already seeking carbon-free steel, a growing market driving innovation in steel production. However, the Nippon deal includes no commitments to decarbonization and instead appears to reinforce fossil fuel-based steelmaking.
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Some New York hospitals are not adequately staffing nurses, according to a new report.
The New York State Nurses Association report showed between January and October 2024, hospitals failed to staff intensive care units and critical care patients at the state-mandated ratio more than 50% of the time. The report also said most hospitals do not publicly post staffing ratios as state law requires.
Margret Franks, a registered nurse at Vassar Hospital in Poughkeepsie, said it greatly affects patient care.
"We were regularly coming into a shift where we had eight patients when we were only supposed to have five, with one nurse at six on a 36-bed unit," Franks outlined. "Eight patients means out of every hour that you're there you can only give seven and a half minutes worth of care to that patient in your shift."
She argued it is impossible to provide good patient care and do everything a nurse has to in a given shift. While one recommendation is hiring more and retaining nurses, it is not so simple. Reports have shown labor expenses at New York hospitals grew 36% since 2019. While 2024 is the second year they declined, it is still double what they were in 2019.
Other report recommendations included the Department of Health increasing transparency so people see a hospital's actual staffing levels, enforcing safe staffing levels and expanding nurse recruitment and retention.
Franks stressed the issues outlined in the report exist beyond her workplace.
"This is not a problem that's exclusive to the Hudson Valley where I work," Franks pointed out. "It's not a problem that's even exclusive to New York State, it's nationwide. The reason for this is because you have these corporations coming in, taking over health care systems, and they're all using the same playbook."
Many studies have shown the ongoing nursing shortage is only set to continue due to many factors. Chief among them is the high stress nurses face in their work. Franks feels the shortage is not about people not wanting to enter the profession. Instead, she said it is about nurses wanting better work environments.
"Each facility has to create the kind of work environment somebody would want to willingly go into and work," Franks asserted. "It's not that the nurses who are not at the bedside right now don't want to work, it's just that they don't want to work in the situations that have been created by the facilities."
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