DAILY NEWS
$15 redux, NLRB rejects, Sakuma reconsiders…
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
MINIMUM WAGE
ALSO TODAY at The Stand — Seattle passes historic $15 wage ordinance (including video coverage)
► At Slog — Three things to watch for now hat Seattle has passed 415 minimum wage — (1) 15 Now is expected to decide within a week or two whether to put their faster $15 measure with fewer exceptions on the ballot. Spoiler alert: They’re not going to. (2) The International Franchise Association is threatening a lawsuit. The association representing franchise owners has said in a statement that Seattle’s new law, which counts individual franchises as parts of their parent company (and therefore sets them on the steeper “big business” wage schedule), is “discriminatory” toward franchisees. (3) If the city doesn’t enact some serious change in how it enforces its labor laws, this whole fight will have been for nothing.
► From AP — Seattle raises minimum wage; will others follow? — Seattle activists celebrated a successful campaign to gradually increase the city’s minimum wage to $15 by calling for a national movement to close the income and opportunity gaps between rich and poor.
MORE COVERAGE from Crosscut, KPLU, P.S. Business Journal, PubliCola and N.Y. Times.
LOCAL
MORE coverage in the (Everett) Herald and the Seattle Times.
► From KPLU — Sakuma Brothers Farms withdraws application for H-2A guest workers — Sakuma Brothers Farms, one of Washington state’s biggest berry farms, says it has withdrawn its application for foreign guest workers under the Department of Labor’s H-2A program. The move comes after workers who went on strike last year contended that the farm was using the program to replace them.
ALSO at The Stand — Judge to Sakuma Bros: Stop retaliation (May 29, 2014)
MORE coverage at Slog and the Seattle Times.
► In the P.S. Business Journal — Washington ranks No. 2 among best states for nurses — Researchers at WalletHub report that Washington is the second best state for nurses to practice in, based on opportunity, competition and work environment. Oregon ranks first.
► In today’s Columbian — Fire departments’ merger spurs savings — Six months after Camas and Washougal finished consolidating their firefighting resources, officials say the merger of the two departments has produced modest-but-notable savings.
STATE GOVERNMENT
► In today’s News Tribune — It’s long past time to build highway across Lewis-McChord (editorial) — Commuters on the I-5 corridor though JBLM experience traffic backups daily during peak commute hours. If an accident occurs, a commute from Olympia to Tacoma can take hours. The Cross-Base Highway Project has been delayed too long. Studies conducted in the late 1990s demonstrated the need for state Route 704 due to expected population growth in Pierce County… The WSDOT projected a $410 million price tag in 2012. Currently the project is suspended awaiting funding.
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
► In the National Journal — Highway funding crisis has lawmakers scrambling — Members of the Senate Finance Committee will meet behind closed doors Wednesday to try to find a way to prevent the Highway Trust Fund from going broke at the height of the construction season this summer.
► In today’s Washington Post — Sanders’ bill allows for VA staff appeals — The draft bill by Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.) provides a more reasonable approach to disciplining Department of Veterans Affairs employees than legislation passed by the House and a Senate panel. Those measures would strip SES members in the VA of certain civil service protections by not allowing them the appeal rights of employees in other agencies.
NATIONAL
ALSO TODAY at The Stand — Stand with Walmart workers this Wednesday — As part of a national day of action, join the “Walmart Moms” protesting this Wednesday, June 4 at Walmarts in Mount Vernon and Lynnwood. Union members and community supporters are encouraged to show their solidarity outside the Mt. Vernon Walmart, 2301 Freeway Dr. from 7 to 8 a.m., and outside the Lynnwood Walmart, 1400 164th SW from 11 a.m. to noon.
ALSO — Courageous moms striking Walmart deserve our support (by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka)
► In the Detroit Free-Press– Volkswagen labor official vows to back UAW organizing effort in Tennessee — Frank Patta, general secretary of Volkswagen’s Global Group Works Council, vowed to help the UAW continue to organize workers at the automaker’s plant in Chattanooga, Tenn. The UAW lost an election last February by 44 votes after top Tennessee politicians and Republican interest groups helped to sway some workers against the union.
TODAY’S MUST-READ
► In Sunday’s NY Times — Why you hate work (by Tony Schwartz and Christine Porath) — For most of us, in short, work is a depleting, dispiriting experience, and in some obvious ways, it’s getting worse. Demand for our time is increasingly exceeding our capacity — draining us of the energy we need to bring our skill and talent fully to life. Increased competitiveness and a leaner, post-recession work force add to the pressures. The rise of digital technology is perhaps the biggest influence, exposing us to an unprecedented flood of information and requests that we feel compelled to read and respond to at all hours of the day and night.
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.