DAILY NEWS
Judge blocks SeaTac vote, Berkey dies, unions and the ACA…
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
LOCAL
PREVIOUSLY at The Stand — Alaska Airlines loses attempt to block SeaTac ‘Good Jobs’ vote (July 22)
Backers of SeaTac Good Jobs Initiative turn in petitions (June 6)
► At SeattlePI.com — Seattle, South Kitsap school teachers vote to reject contracts — Several thousand educators that work for the Seattle School District, and South Kitsap School District rejected their new contract in a vote Monday evening. There was no strike vote for Seattle teachers on Monday, but that could come at a membership meeting the day before school starts. Meanwhile, in South Kitsap, 446 teachers voted overwhelmingly to reject the district’s offer. If no agreement is met by August 31, teachers will strike September 1.
► In today’s Tri-City Herald — State says Hanford vit deadline missed — A court-enforced deadline to substantially complete construction of the Hanford vitrification plant’s Analytical Laboratory by the end of 2012 has not been met, according to the state Office of Attorney General. The Department of Energy notified the state in January that it believed the deadline had been met.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Bus drivers’ petition says stress getting worse — The recent downtown shooting aboard a King County Metro Transit bus is just one symptom of a work environment that creates unacceptable stress, bus drivers said Monday.
► In today’s Tri-City Herald — Northwest apple harvest begins, big crop expected — The Washington apple crop is estimated at 4.8 billion pounds this year, second only to last year’s crop.
► In today’s News Tribune — Labor Council posts invitation to Labor Day memorial, picnic — The Pierce County Central Labor Council will host a pair of events on Labor Day, Sept. 2.
ALSO at The Stand — Click here for details of Labor Day events statewide
STATE GOVERNMENT
HEALTH CARE
► In the Seattle Times — Unions, the Affordable Care Act and the Middle Class (by UNITE HERE Local 8’s Erik Van Rossum) — We are strong supporters of affordable health care for all Americans. Sadly, however, the promise made to us is under threat. Unintended consequences of the ACA are poised to shatter not only our hard-earned health benefits, but destroy the foundation of the 40-hour workweek that is the backbone of the American middle class… The government needs to make changes to the ACA so that it works for everyone.
NATIONAL
► In the LA Times — Two unions wage turf battle over oil refinery workers — Oil companies and the United Steelworkers (USW) are accusing a rival labor group of trying to grab control of thousands of union jobs at California’s 13 refineries. The spat between USW and the State Building & Construction Trades Council of California, which represents a number of craft unions, is playing out in the Legislature, and labor-friendly, majority-party Democrats are conflicted.
► At Politico — Barbara Boxer pushes $10 minimum wage — Sen. Barbara Boxer thinks minimum wage should be raised to be about $10 an hour to help close the ever-growing gap between the working poor and the rich and to promote a healthy nation.
► At Politico — Obama’s big voting rights gamble — Whatever President Barack Obama says at the March on Washington ceremony on Wednesday, his administration has already sent a loud message of its own: ramping up its push on voting rights by way of a risky strategy — and pledging more tough moves to come.
TODAY’S MUST-READ
He and his family are living in his 88-year-old mother’s home, and last month he awoke at 4:30 a.m., sweating profusely, in the midst of a heart attack. As happens to many Americans, when he lost his job, he lost his health insurance. He now owes $171,569.44 for the six nights he spent at the hospital. And so on the evening of Aug. 15, at a meeting of a job club he himself started in New Jersey two years ago — a volunteer networking organization with 28 chapters across the state serving 1,200 unemployed — he told the others he was just like them. “I need a job,” he said. “I need to make money now.”
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