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Tacoma

Tacoma City Council Passes Climate Commission Ordinance

December 21, 2024 Talison Crosby, Fight Back! News. , , ,
Tacoma, WA – Dozens of community members gathered at the Tacoma City Council chambers on Tuesday, December 17, in preparation for the city of Tacoma’s vote to pass the city’s first Climate and Sustainability Commission into law. “It’s great that the city council is planning to pass an ordinance enshrining the Climate Commission into law, but as it stands there are some serious problems with it,” said Haze Bender, a rank-and-file member of Teamsters Local 174. “As written, the commission is only advisory, has no real power, and all members are appointed, rather than elected.”

ILWU, ITF Secure Wages, Safety Of Burmese Seafarers In Tacoma

February 24, 2023 The Stand. , , , ,
The actions of the Puget Sound Inspector from the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) with support from members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 23 helped to protect a group of vulnerable seafarers who were being grossly underpaid and who feared for their safety after receiving threats for standing up for their rights. On Feb. 7, seafarers aboard the ASL Uranus (IMO: 9317511), an ocean-going grain ship docked at an export grain facility in the Port of Tacoma, contacted ITF Inspector Jeff Engels to report that they were not being paid the proper wages.

How Intermodal Yard Workers Doubled Their Pay

August 31, 2022 Caitlyn Clark, Labor Notes. , , , ,
Like many of his co-workers, Levi Kamel was nearly ready to quit. But before he did, he decided to try one thing: win a union. Kamel was making $18 an hour doing backbreaking work repairing container chassis—the trailers that attach to containers so they can be pulled down the road by semi-trucks—at the Port of Tacoma in Washington. He was a mechanic at P&B Intermodal, a logistics maintenance company that operates at intermodal yards across the country. The job was a revolving door. In February 2021, Kamel had been there more than a year, but most workers lasted less than three months. And no wonder: “We didn’t have very good health care,” Kamel said. “We were treated really badly.”