Unions Say Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell Won’t Budge on Contracts

This is an interesting point that stood out for me.

> Rachael Brooks, a dam safety engineer for Seattle City Light, moved 50 miles north of Seattle during the pandemic when the cost of living in the city got so high that renting became unaffordable. Her job takes her all to hydroelectric dams across the region and is “really variable—we can’t just say, ‘this is what my day to day looks like,'” Brooks said. But she and her coworkers are still required to show up to an office in downtown Seattle on a regular “hybrid” schedule—a requirement Brooks has managed to navigate by crashing with friends in Seattle two nights a week.

So Bruce Harrell is apparently keen on reverting the work from home policy for city workers, which was enacted during the pandemic, for no obvious reason. Why he doesn’t want to pay workers (other than cops) seems more obvious to me.

Another point I found interesting:

> Meanwhile, weekly negotiating sessions continue—as do plans for a rally of city workers on the steps of City Hall at 3:30pm on September 19. Employees are being asked to take leave to attend the rally, but a future strike isn’t out of the question.

This follow the Amazon walkout this spring (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36038992) which was not nearly as destructive to participants as many predicted (included many here on HN). I wonder if we are going to be seeing more of those walkouts going forward as an alternative (or rather a preamble) to strikes.