Swedish Hospital Workers’ Strike
About 7,800 workers among seven regional Swedish Hospital locations went on strike beginning Tuesday morning at 7 am. In preparation for the walk out, hospital management had cancelled elective surgeries, closed emergency department services in Redmond and Ballard and stopped labor and deliveries service at their Ballard location. Strikers announced their return to work for 7:30 am on Friday, February 1st. KBCS’s Yuko Kodama was at Swedish Hospital at Cherry Hill to interview some of the workers who walked out on Tuesday morning.
Ron Cole – Swedish Hospital Nurse
John Poquiz – Swedish Hospital Nurse
Laura Wood – Swedish Hospital Emergency Department Social Worker
Angelita Sherburne – Swedish Hospital Environmental Service Technician
Hunger Strike in Effect at Tacoma’s Northwest Detention Center
The newest hunger strike at Tacoma’s immigration detention center started February, 2018. KBCS’s Yuko Kodama speaks with Maru Mora Villalpando, community organizer of Northwest Detention Center Resistance, about conditions inside the Northwest Detention Center, for its detainees.
Lawsuit Against the Northwest Detention Center
On September 20th, Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced a lawsuit against the GEO Group, the second-largest private prison provider in the country, which operates the Northwest Detention Center. The state’s lawsuit asks the court to order the company to give up the profits netted from paying detainees up to one dollar a day for their work in the detention center.
KBCS’s Yuko Kodama caught Maru Mora Villalpando, community organizer of Northwest Detention Center Resistance, on the phone to talk about the conditions regarding work inside the Northwest Detention Center, for its detainees.
