Thursday, May Day, 2014

MAY DAY

► At AFL-CIO Now — How will you celebrate May Day? — On International Workers’ Day, also known as May Day, working families are standing up across the United States, demanding action be taken on senseless deportations that hurt workers, families and communities. May Day is an opportunity to celebrate the world’s workers and the contributions we make to society.

► At SeattlePI.com — May Day march for workers, immigrants in Seattle — Organizers of a May Day march in Seattle say they’re marching for immigrant and worker rights, including the campaign for a $15 minimum wage. The action begins at 3 p.m. at Judkins Park, 2150 S. Norman St. The march will begin at nearby St. Mary’s Church (611 20th Ave. South) and will end with a rally at Westlake Park.

► In today’s Yakima H-R — March today in Yakima for immigrant, labor rights — Yakima’s ninth annual May Day march will call attention to the plight of workers and immigrants. Immigration reform, access to health services and education opportunities will be at the top of the list of issues. Marchers will organize at Miller Park at 502 N. Third St. about 5 p.m. Thursday. The march will proceed west down F Street and will turn south at North First Street.

► Also in today’s Yakima H-R — Yakima County says it won’t grant immigration holds on inmates — Yakima County will no longer automatically detain immigrants on behalf of federal immigration authorities once they’re eligible for release. The decision ends the decades-old practice of granting up to 72-hour holds on immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally at the request of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

► In today’s NY Times — Unions’ giant video near White House urges end to deportations — Labor leaders who normally side with President Obama planned to vividly demonstrate their anger and frustration with his immigration policies on Wednesday by projecting a 90-by-60-foot video onto the side of the AFL-CIO headquarters two blocks from the White House. Union officials will show the 11-minute video for three nights starting Wednesday. It will repeat in a loop for more than two hours in the hopes of persuading the president to cut down on the deportations of illegal immigrants.

ALSO, watch a video of the AFL-CIO program here.

► ALSO from the MayWorks Calendar:

TONIGHT in Tacoma — Anne Feeney and Evan Greer will perform a concert as part of their “Carry It On” Tour celebrating Pete Seeger’s legacy at 7 p.m. at UW Tacoma’s Carwein Hall. Get details.

TONIGHT in Seattle — May Day at the Film Forum, featuring a performance by the Seattle Labor Chorus, worker films and a community discussion, at 7 p.m. at the Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave. in Seattle. Get details.

STATE GOVERNMENT

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Legislators miss first assignment from state Supreme Court (by Jerry Cornfield) — The Supreme Court could deliver another scolding — there have been two so far — then wait to see if lawmakers next year come up with “the grand agreement” they deem necessary for doing as they’ve been told. Or it could exact punishment, as has happened in other states. In March, the Kansas Supreme Court directed the Legislature to provide more funds for education by July 1, or else part of the state budget will be voided.

BOEING

► In today’s Seattle Times — Boeing confident new planes will emerge smoothly — Boeing is moving swiftly ahead on the latest version of the 787, executives say, and they’re confident the company’s engineers will deliver on time the full series of new planes needed to win big against rival Airbus — the 787-9, 787-10, 737 MAX and 777X. Meanwhile, executives dismiss the notion that engineers’ morale has been damaged by job transfers as the company moves to shift thousands of their jobs out of state.

► In the P.S. Business Journal — Boeing highwire: Introducing new 737 model while boosting rate — Executives grapple with the challenge of meshing production of the new 737 Max and the current 737, while at the same time lifting production to a unprecedented 47 jets monthly.

LOCAL

► In today’s Tri-City Herald — Hanford Challenge cautions workers about participating in vapor study — Hanford Challenge is cautioning workers about cooperating with an investigation of Hanford’s chemical tank vapors to be done by the Savannah River National Laboratory.

► In today’s Seattle Times — Saltchuk ends deal to move Foss shipyard to Everett site — Seattle-based maritime conglomerate Saltchuk has dropped plans to buy Kimberly-Clark’s 66-acre former mill site on Everett’s waterfront as a new location for its 250-employee Foss Maritime shipyard.

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

► In today’s NY Times — Dems assail GOP after filibuster of proposal to raise minimum wage — With the Republican-led filibuster of a Senate proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 on Wednesday, Democrats moved swiftly to frame the vote as an example of the gulf that exists between the two parties on matters of economic fairness and upward mobility.

► At Daily Kos — USDA still pushing to harm workers and make chicken really, really gross — The U.S. Department of Agriculture still hasn’t dropped its plan to speed up chicken processing lines from 140 chickens per minute to 175 and allow “visibly contaminated” chicken carcasses to stay on regular processing lines rather than being taken away for cleaning. That would mean all the chickens would be sprayed with extra antimicrobial chemicals — and that means added problems for workers who already face a 42 percent rate of carpal tunnel syndrome from the repetitive, fast-moving work they do.

► At Huffington Post — Would you like salmonella with that? It’s time to sump the “Filthy Chicken Rule’ (by AFGE President David Cox) — Do you think any human can adequately inspect three birds every second to ensure they are free of feathers, feces, lesions, bile and other contaminants?

TAKE A STAND! Sign a petition urging the White House to dump the Filthy Chicken Rule!

► In today’s Washington Post — Union: Don’t force retroactive retirement payments from federal workers — AFGE says the government should not force workers to make retroactive retirement contributions after the government failed to collect them at the time the payments were due.

► At Politico — House Dem urges Defense cuts now — Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said he expects a defense bill amendment to close excess military bases will get “crushed” by his Republican colleagues, but he intends to propose it anyway.

► At Huffington Post — Senior citizens spoil Rick Scott’s hunt for Obamacare horror stories — Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s (R) hunt for Obamacare horror stories during a visit to a senior center on Tuesday didn’t go exactly as planned, as all but one resident expressed satisfaction with the new health care law.

► At TPM — Antonin Scalia’s blunder is unprecedented, legal experts say — Justice Antonin Scalia’s factual error in a dissenting opinion Tuesday has become the talk of the legal community as experts puzzle over the extraordinary nature of the Reagan-appointed justice’s blunder, which the Supreme Court quietly corrected as of Wednesday morning.

NATIONAL

► At Gazette.net — In last commencement, more than 100 graduate from labor college — More than 100 graduates participated in the National Labor College’s final commencement ceremony Saturday at the Silver Spring campus.

The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.