BossFeed Briefing for July 12, 2022. Last Tuesday, the Seattle City Council chose not to override a mayoral veto of a bill that would have required landlords to tell the City how much they charge for rent. Last Wednesday, the CDC recommended mask wearing in 15 WA counties. Today is Prime Day, a made up holiday with serious impacts on Amazon workers. This Wednesday is the 145th anniversary of the start of the Great Upheaval, a widespread strike led by Black railroad workers which at its height included more than 100,000 people and shut down railroad travel across much of the United States. This Saturday, the Raise the Wage Tukwila campaign is hosting a picnic to celebrate qualifying for the November ballot.
Three things to know this week:
Angie Lara spoke with Crosscut about how agricultural workers are building power at Centro Chinampa, our new hub for worker and immigrant rights in Central WA. Lara helped lead the fruit packing house strikes that swept Yakima in 2020 to demand improved health and safety protections.
Starbucks says it’s closing six Puget Sound area stores at the end of the month, supposedly due to concerns over safety. Workers at two of the stores recently voted to form unions, and may have to move to stores without union representation.
Landlords in WA have increased rent by an average of 19% since 2020, according to internet market company Quotewizard, which is owned by Lending Tree. That's more than double the high rate of overall inflation the past year, which is about 8.5%.
Two things to ask:
Let’s look a bit closer, shall we? The average annual wage in WA went up 7.4% to $82,508 over the past year. Hospitality industry workers saw the biggest wage increase at 14.2%—but even after that increase, their average annual wage was still just $30,000.
Maybe just build a smaller boat? Turns out the Dutch city of Rotterdam won’t dismantle a historic bridge to let Jeff Bezos’ latest yacht pass through, after all. The original plan prompted massive public backlash, including from thousands of people who signed up to throw rotten eggs at the boat as it sailed by.
And one thing that's worth a closer look:
The growing solar energy industry in the United States is mostly powered by low-wage temp workers who face dangerous conditions and unstable employment, writes Lauren Kaori Gurley in Vice. The solar power workforce grew from 93,000 people in 2010 to at least 231,000 in 2020, and conditions are terrible: Vice spoke with workers who describe low wages, seven-day workweeks, 14-hour days, cramped living spaces, frequent wage theft, and a lack of health & safety protections. Most workers on solar installation projects are employed by temp agencies or subcontractors—where labor rights abuses are quite common—and, despite the low pay, must travel across the country every few weeks to find more work in the industry. A transition to green energy is urgent as ever—and so is the need for strong worker protections as we make that transition, especially since fossil fuel jobs often pay much better.
Read this far? Consider yourself briefed, boss.
Let us know what you think about this week's look at the world of work, wages, and inequality!