NEWS ROUNDUP
Now fix it, Clark Co. exhibit, unions vs. ObamaCare…
Monday, July 22, 2013
STATE GOVERNMENT
► From AP — Tuition freeze in place at state schools — Higher education budgets are getting their first increase from the Washington general fund since 2009, and with that boost, comes a mandated one-year tuition freeze that provides a welcome break for those paying for college.
► In today’s Olympian — Costs prompt state to close data center early — In a switch of strategy, state government now plans to completely shut down one of its major data centers in Olympia, merging data-processing from that older facility into a $262 million State Data Center and office building complex built two years ago near the Capitol.
► In the NW Labor Press — Oregon unions see results in 2013 legislative session — With Democratic majorities in the House (34-26) and Senate (16-14), legislators passed a law barring public sector union-busting, closed a loophole in the state prevailing wage law, and approved hundreds of millions of dollars in new construction and infrastructure spending, enough to keep many building trades union members busy in the coming two years.
EDITOR’S NOTE — What a difference not having a Republican Majority Coalition Caucus can make.
LOCAL
ALSO at The Stand — Clark Co. labor history exhibit opens; special reception July 24 — Delegates and guests to the Washington State Labor Council 2013 Convention — and all other interested union members and supporters in the area — are invited to see this exhibit at a special reception from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, July 24, the night before the convention begins.
► In Sunday’s Seattle Times — Mayor McGinn goes all out on Whole Foods over worker pay (by Danny Westneat) — Mayor Mike McGinn is going where no mayor has gone before, saying he won’t support a Whole Foods development in West Seattle unless the company raises the wages of its workers.
► In Sunday’s Seattle Times — Local hiring picks up, but recovery varies among sectors — The Seattle-area economy has recovered 99 percent of the 123,800 jobs it lost in the Great Recession. But four years after the end of the worst recession since the Great Depression, getting a job isn’t a slam dunk as employers still can afford to be picky.
► In Sunday’s Seattle Times — Highway 99 tunnel machine is Seattle’s biggest grind — The massive drill nicknamed ‘Bertha’ will push the limits of technology by navigating soft soil, seeping saltwater, road pilings and the ground under historic brick buildings. Later this month it will start an arduous, 1.7-mile underground voyage from Sodo to South Lake Union.
AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
► At TPM — What’s behind the big union attack on ObamaCare — It turns out this Labor-Republican alliance of convenience is bound by two interwoven acts of self-interest: the GOP’s unwillingness to fix one flawed piece of the law; and certain unions’ efforts to create a special carveout for their members — to offset potential disruptions Obamacare might create for workers and unions — at a politically vulnerable moment for the ACA.
MOTOR CITY
► In today’s NY Times — Cries of betrayal as Detroit plans to cut pensions — Detroit’s pension shortfall accounts for about $3.5 billion of the $18 billion in debts that led the city to file for bankruptcy last week. How it handles this problem — of not enough money set aside to pay the pensions it has promised its workers — is being closely watched by other cities with fiscal troubles.
► In today’s NY Times — Detroit, the new Greece (by Paul Krugman) — The important thing is not to let the discussion get hijacked, Greek-style. There are influential people out there who would like you to believe that Detroit’s demise is fundamentally a tale of fiscal irresponsibility and/or greedy public employees. It isn’t.
► A MUST-READ at Huffington Post — Detroit, and the bankruptcy of America’s social contract (by Robert Reich) — There’s a more basic story here, and it’s being replicated across America: Americans are segregating by income more than ever before. The geo-political divide has become so palpable that being wealthy in America today means not having to come across anyone who isn’t. … In drawing the relevant boundary to include just the poor inner city, and requiring those within that boundary to take care of their compounded problems by themselves, the whiter and more affluent suburbs are off the hook. “Their” city isn’t in trouble. It’s that other one — called “Detroit.” It’s roughly analogous to a Wall Street bank drawing a boundary around its bad assets, selling them off at a fire-sale price, and writing off the loss. Only here we’re dealing with human beings rather than financial capital. And the upcoming fire sale will likely result in even worse municipal services, lousier schools, and more crime for those left behind in the city of Detroit. In an era of widening inequality, this is how wealthier Americans are quietly writing off the poor.
NATIONAL
► From Gannett — Flip side of SD’s business-friendly climate: Low wages — In the past month, South Dakota’s business-friendly climate has won national acclaim. But area labor groups say it’s time to change the low-wage piece of that equation.
► From AP — Voters shifting right force House GOP to keep pace — Research supports the belief by House Republicans that they owe their jobs to increasingly conservative activists, and that it’s safer than ever to veer right on many subjects rather than seek compromise with Democrats.
► In the NY Times — Justice sequestered (editorial) — The madness of across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration is causing real damage to the American justice system — undermining the sound functioning of the courts and particularly imperiling the delivery of effective legal representation to poor people accused of federal crimes.
► At Salon — McDonald’s workers strike after enduring 110-degree heat — Workers at a Manhattan McDonald’s and a Chicago Dunkin’ Donuts mounted strikes Friday to protest alleged unsafe heat. The single-store strikes are the latest in a wave of fast food walkouts, and could represent an additional front in low-wage workers’ struggle against the mammoth industry.
CHEATERS PROSPER
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.