Rich Smith retweeted
“Management has admitted at the bargaining table that it could use AI to replace jobs. All of our members… deserve job security against machines.”
geekwire.com/2026/seattle-ti…
Rich Smith retweeted
Seattle just became the first city to pass a ban on surveillance pricing by grocery stores.
The City Council passed a proposal stopping large grocery stores and online grocery retailers from using race, gender, browsing history, employment status, AI software or other data to change prices from consumer to consumer.
The policy passed with no corporate amendments, and the Mayor Katie Wilson supports the bill.
Rich Smith retweeted
BREAKING: Seattle City Council just passed historic legislation banning surveillance pricing on groceries with NO corporate amendments!!
Rich Smith retweeted
NEW: Seattle is about to ban supermarkets from using your data to set individualized prices and coupons to curb price gouging and discrimination. The big grocer lobby is pissed, and is spamming Seattleites with scary text messages. Read in @TheStranger: thestranger.com/news/seattle…
Rich Smith retweeted
Union journalists at The Seattle Times say the paper's lawsuit against OpenAI is at odds with its stance on AI in contract negotiations.“If the Seattle Times Co. truly cares…it should protect the workers who produce the copyrighted material at the heart of this case,”-the union
Rich Smith retweeted
DoorDash just saying shit. No, Seattle’s AI price fixing ban does not ban discounts. See you at the vote tomorrow at 2pm!
Rich Smith retweeted
The Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild is shocked and disappointed by @mcclatchy 's decision to lay off 33% of its unionized workers at the Idaho Statesman, The News Tribune (Tacoma), Tri-City Herald, The Olympian and Bellingham Herald. This includes 10 journalists in Idaho, and seven across Washington.
These severe cuts will hobble these news organizations and leave the public throughout the Northwest less informed about the events and decisions that affect them, and with fewer people holding the powerful to account.
These are journalists who investigated local hospitals, served as watchdogs over state and local government, showed up at every high school game, jumped in to cover breaking news like wildfires, covered news in overlooked communities, and monitored development in one of the fastest growing regions in the country. One of these papers will no longer have a dedicated reporter covering city hall. Another will no longer have anyone dedicated to covering the state capitol.
McClatchy has decided that short-term profits for a hedge fund matter more than the wellbeing of the communities that its newspapers are supposed to serve. That is a model that is destined to fail.
Rich Smith retweeted
The Seattle Times is suing OpenAI over alleged copyright infringement but still wants the right to replace my colleagues with AI
Rich Smith retweeted
Seattle City Council will hear amendments tomorrow for their landmark municipal ban on algorithmic grocery pricing. Read more about the bill here:
Seattle weighs ban on ‘surveillance pricing’ at grocery stores, but will it save shoppers money? geekwire.com/2026/seattle-we…
Rich Smith retweeted
INBOX: Mayor Wilson is about to drop new legislation to bar large grocery retailers from using personal info (employment status, race, gender, social media, browsing history, chatbot convos) to set different prices for different customers. Rally at 8:45am Friday!
Rich Smith retweeted
Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi would have been 28 today if an Israeli sniper didn’t kill her while she was volunteering in the West Bank. Coming up on almost two years since her killing and still no independent investigation.
The Israeli military must be held accountable.
Rich Smith retweeted
NEW: PCC is once again sending workers home for wearing watermelon pins, but this time the buttons have union branding, which PCC explicitly permits in its handbook and sets up an argument that the pins are protected under the NLRA theburnerseattle.com/post/pc…
Rich Smith retweeted
.@seattletimes management has offered the union some protections around the use of AI — but only to reporters.
Management still insists it needs the right to replace other @SeaTimesUnion workers with AI.
Rich Smith retweeted
An REI co-op member sitting peacefully in her camp chair -- reading a book, wearing a hand-painted "Boycott REI" shirt, warmly greeting customers -- got arrested by six police officers yesterday at REI's Seattle flagship.
That's who REI called the cops on.
Rich Smith retweeted
America’s unions are standing with @REIunion workers throughout their boycott of the REI anniversary sale.
REI: stop union-busting and reach a fair contract now. Show your solidarity and don’t shop at REI during their anniversary sale through May 25! ourrei.com/boycott?utm_sourc…
ALT Boycott REI Co-op this May 15th to 25th.
Rich Smith retweeted
And now she's quiet on REI boycott, an effort lead by the second union to back her campaign. I emailed her office about REI boycott several weeks ago, no response
This is a fascinating story about Seattle’s socialist mayor, Katie Wilson. Last year, she called on people to boycott Starbucks, one of the city’s major corporations. Now she has some regret.
The comments, she said, “caused more harm than good.”
nytimes.com/2026/05/17/us/po…
Rich Smith retweeted
An absolutely astonishing account of Israel's AI-assisted targeting in the @latimes
They called 62-year-old Ahmad Turmus and asked: “Ahmad, you want to die with those around you or alone?” His response, below, is chilling.
Story by @nabihbulos
latimes.com/world-nation/sto…
