Respect at Walmart, Year 1 begins for Boeing-NLRB…

RESPECT AT WALMART:

►  In today’s NY Times — Walmart workers try the non-union route — After numerous failed attempts to unionize Walmart stores, the United Food and Commercial Workers has a new approach: it has helped create a new, nonunion group of Walmart employees that intends to press for better pay, benefits and most of all, more respect at work. The group, Organization United for Respect at Walmart, or OUR Walmart for short, says it has quietly signed up thousands of members in recent months, and it is going public this week with a Web site, ourwalmart.org, and a Facebook page. “I’m hoping that OUR Walmart will make a difference in the long run,” said Margaret Van Ness, an overnight stocker at a Wal-Mart store in Lancaster, Calif. She earns $11.40 an hour after four years of working there. “The managers at our store and others are running over their associates as if they didn’t exist,” she said. “They treat them like cattle. They don’t seem to care about respect.”

BOEING NEWS:

►  From AP — Seattle hearing begins on labor complaint against Boeing — The hearing is just the beginning of what could be years of litigation between Boeing and the government. Arguments before an administrative law judge could last a month or two, NLRB spokeswoman Nancy Cleeland said, with a decision likely to come later this year. If Boeing loses, it could appeal the case to the five-member NLRB and then to a federal appeals court.

►  In today’s (Everett) Herald — Judge in NLRB case urges Boeing, IAM to reach settlement — Judge Clifford H. Anderson urges Boeing and the union to reach a settlement rather than wait for a legal process that could take up to five years. “We don’t give justice quickly enough,” he said in the first day of the hearing in Seattle.

►  At SeattlePI.com — Boeing “encouraged” by SPEEA’s arbitration offer — Says a Boeing spokesman: “We are encouraged by this proposal and SPEEA’s offer for a dramatically changed way to negotiate a labor contract. We’ll need some time to review this proposal and engage in some serious internal discussions about it.”

STATE GOVERNMENT NEWS:

►  In today’s (Everett) Herald — The road to unaffordability (editorial) — Education, at all levels, is the key to permanently reducing unemployment. Colleges and universities provide the training and innovation that fuel our economy. We can’t afford to continue starving them, or pricing them out of a typical family’s reach.

THE REPUBLICAN WAR ON UNIONS:

►  From Reuters — Divided Wisconsin Supreme Court upholds anti-union law — A sharply divided Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a controversial measure that curbs the collective bargaining rights of public workers in the state can go into effect. In what was essentially a 4-3 decision, the high court overturned a lower court, which had ruled Republican lawmakers violated the state’s open meetings law when they passed the measure in March.

►  At AFL-CIO Now — Ruling upholding Walker’s law will not silence unions — Yesterday’s ruling “will not silence the voices of millions of Wisconsinites who are appalled by Walker’s extreme choices,” says Wisconsin AFL-CIO President  Phil Neuenfeldt.

►  At RobertReich.org — Why the Republican war on workers’ rights undermines the economy (Robert Reich column) — The only way back toward sustained growth and prosperity in the United States is to remake the basic bargain linking pay to productivity. This would give the American middle class the purchasing power they need to keep the economy going. Part of the answer is stronger labor unions. The current Republican assault on workers’ rights continues a thirty-year war on American workers’ wages. That long-term war has finally taken its toll on the American economy. It’s time to fight back.

NATIONAL NEWS:

►  At TPM — Three most common mistakes by GOP Medicare plan “fact-checkers” — Fact-check assessments ding Democrats for overstating how radical the GOP plan, give political ammunition to Republicans, and threaten to skew the public policy debate in ways that obscure the truth. The biggest fact-checker error is that the Republican plan doesn’t end Medicare. Specifically, that if you replace one health insurance scheme with a different health insurance scheme, but call both of them “Medicare,” then you haven’t really “ended” anything. … For Republicans who have long considered Medicare a radical program, killing Medicare is precisely the goal, even if the broad political support for the program requires tempering their rhetoric.

►  From AP — Republicans dodge farm subsidy cuts — Republicans have quietly maneuvered to prevent a House spending bill from chipping away at federal farm subsidies. The move will probably prevent up to $167 million in cuts in direct payments to farmers, including some of the nation’s wealthiest. Meanwhile, food aid for low-income mothers and children will be cut by $685 million, about 10% below this year’s budget.

►  In today’s Seattle Times — Speedy Afghanistan exit gains support — Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray on Tuesday joined two dozen Senate colleagues in calling for a course shift in Afghanistan, urging President Obama to begin a “sizable and sustained” military pullout from the decadelong war.

►  At Politico — Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck sell their endorsements to conservative groups — In search of donations and influence, prominent conservative groups like Americans for Prosperity™, FreedomWorks™ and The Heritage Foundation™ are paying hefty sponsorship fees to the popular talk show hosts.

The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 9 a.m. Make this electronic “clip service” your first stop each morning! These links are functional on the date of posting, but sometimes expire.