NEWS ROUNDUP

Boeing disrespect, missing voters, workers should own it…

Monday, August 4, 2014

BOEING

► From KPLU — NLRB judge: Boeing failed to bargain in good faith — Boeing failed to negotiate in good faith when it refused to provide evidence to substantiate its claim that workers in the Puget Sound area cost more than workers elsewhere, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled Friday. The ruling was in response to an unfair labor practice charge filed by SPEEA. Ray Goforth, executive director of SPEEA, said he was surprised by the resounding nature of the judge’s decision, which he called a clear win for engineers, technicians and pilots — all professionals who use information to solve problems. “Hiding data, hiding information is probably one of the most disrespectful things you can do within an engineering culture,” Goforth said.

ALSO TODAY at The Stand — NLRB: Boeing illegally ‘tainted’ bargaining

► In the P.S. Business Journal — Not so fast: Correcting Sen. Graham, other South Carolina politicians’ Boeing hyperbole — In their enthusiasm about winning exclusive production of Boeing’s 787-10, top South Carolina politicians made a few factual errors in their statements this week.

ELECTION

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — With only 14% of ballots in, apathy is winning the primary — Voting ends Tuesday in what may rank as one of Snohomish County’s least enthralling mid-term elections. But it’s not just Snohomish County. “We’re certainly seeing record low turnouts across the country,” Secretary of State Kim Wyman said Friday. “The very high voter apathy is very disappointing.”

► In today’s NY Times — As oysters dies, climate policies go on the stump — Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, aided by what is expected to be millions of dollars from his billionaire friend Tom Steyer, is using the story of Washington’s oysters — scientists say a rise in carbon levels has spiked the acidity of the Pacific and is killing off shellfish — to make the case for passing the most far-reaching climate change policies in the nation. Inslee, who is campaigning for his agenda across the state this summer with oyster farmers in tow, is trying to position himself as America’s leading governor in the climate change fight. But Inslee does not have the support of the majority of the Washington State Senate, particularly those conservative lawmakers from the rural inland, so Steyer’s advocacy group, NextGen Climate, is working with the Washington League of Conservation Voters to handpick Democratic, pro-climate policy candidates across the state.

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — ‘Political reality’ surrounds seat vacated by Mike Hope — Republicans in Snohomish County are moving to replace ex-representative Mike Hope as soon as possible but worry the Democratic-controlled Snohomish County Council may thwart their plans.

► In today’s News Tribune — Steve O’Ban (R-University Place) is top spender in state legislative races — Heading into Tuesday’s primary election, Republican state Sen. Steve O’Ban of University Place has spent more than any other state legislative candidate.

► In the Federal Way Mirror — Money matters in heated 30th District Senate race (editorial) — You can tell the race for the 30th District Senate seat between Democrat Shari Song and Republican Mark Miloscia is of statewide significance as the gloves came off this week.

► In today’s Seattle Times — A sleazy personal attack in Roger Goodman-Joel Hussey race by New Majority PAC (editorial) — The New Majority PAC has spent $50,000 to splash allegations from the divorce file of state Rep. Roger Goodman, a four-term Democrat from Kirkland, across TV ads, campaign fliers and social media. The New Majority’s hit pieces use Goodman’s children as pawns. Goodman rightly objects and denounces the ads. So should his opponent, Republican Joel Hussey. Instead, he essentially shrugged.

► In the News Tribune — Freedom Foundation uses tactics of intimidation (by JZ Knight) — If right-wing groups like the Freedom Foundation (led by Tom McCabe, pictured at right) called themselves the John Birch Society II, it would be cause for alarm. By wrapping themselves in the American flag and shouting “Freedom!” they seek to soften their agenda by making it sound patriotic. Here in Washington, the Freedom Foundation’s tactics of attempting to intimidate its enemies – opposing the SeaTac minimum wage, opposing working people who join labor unions, drowning the IRS in paperwork, promoting voter ID laws to make it harder for minorities to vote – isn’t patriotic; it is destructive. Thurston County and Washington don’t need their brand of “freedom.”

ALSO at The Stand — McCabe’s Freedom Foundation plans legal assault on labor (June 9, 2014)

LOCAL

► In today’s Peninsula Daily News — Public to get close-up view of ‘pit-to-pier’ project during open house today — An open house today will present information and take comment on a proposed project involving a 4-mile-long gravel and rock conveyor belt, processing facility and 998-foot pier on Hood Canal. The public can make comments on a draft environmental impact statement on the proposed project, known as “pit-to-pier,” during the open house from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Bay Club, 120 Spinnaker Lane.

► In today’s News Tribune — Pierce County Jail expected to rack up $2.6 million deficit by year end, sheriff says — Overtime pay to run an overflow unit is a major cause of the jail’s shortfall. Some county leaders want to see that overtime slashed.

DEPORTATIONS

► In the Las Vegas R-J — Central American children deserve due process (by Tefere Gabre) — Many Central American refugees arriving at our border need urgent resettlement action, just as I did when I left my home country. Their cases need to be addressed. They must not be casually turned back or left in detention centers to languish. I know because I’ve been in their shoes.

► At Think Progress — Meet Carolina, who brought her daughters 1,500 miles to the U.S. so they wouldn’t be raped — Too often lost among the drama of Washington political battles are the stories of the actual people crossing the border — men, women, and especially young children who have risked everything to make the dangerous trek to the United States. People like Carolina.

► In the Washington Post — 112 arrested at protest against U.S. deportations — Police say they have arrested 112 people for blocking traffic outside the White House during a rally called to protest U.S. policies on deporting migrants in the country illegally.

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

► In The Hill — Federal contractors vow to fight Obama executive order — Obama is ordering up new regulations that would require firms seeking federal contracts to disclose labor law violations and create new compliance advisors at agencies to oversee decisions about which firms get the work. But contractors, already facing executive orders requiring them to pay a higher minimum wage and subjecting them to additional anti-discrimination rules, say the president went too far.

► In The Hill — Obama: My policies have been business friendly — “They always complain about regulation,” Obama says of business leaders. “That’s their job. I would take the complaints of the corporate community with a grain of salt.”

NATIONAL

► From Motley Fool — How the decline of unions led to stagnant wages — Without unions to enforce the sharing of corporate profits, those at the top have made the most gains, while all others see little or no improvement in their compensation levels. In 2012, the manufacturing sector took in record profits of nearly $290 billion, even as it wrested more concessions from unions. General Electric, for example, now pays new union workers $14 per hour, compared to the hourly rate of $22 it was paying prior to 2005.

► From AP — Not so golden: Wealth gap lasts into retirement — With traditional pensions becoming rarer in the private sector, and lower-paid workers less likely to have access to an employer-provided retirement plan, there is a growing gulf in the retirement savings of the wealthy and people with lower incomes. That, experts say, could exacerbate an already widening wealth gap across America, as more than 70 million baby boomers head into retirement — many of them with skimpy reserves.

► In today’s NY Times — Celebrated trial lawyer to head group challenging teacher tenure — David Boies, the star trial lawyer who helped lead the legal charge that overturned California’s same-sex marriage ban, is becoming chairman of the Partnership for Educational Justice, a group founded in part to pursue lawsuits challenging teacher tenure.

TODAY’S MUST-READ

► In New Republic — When workers own their own companies, everyone wins — In 1921, the Olympia Veneer Company became the first worker-owned cooperative to produce plywood. By the early 1950s, nearly all of the plywood produced in the United States was manufactured by worker-owned cooperatives. Today, however, worker-owned cooperatives seem few and far between. Say “co-op” and most people think of Park Slope foodies or strictly guarded apartment buildings. Worker ownership may seem a relic of the past, but it could actually play a significant role in reviving the union movement, bolstering the green economy, and stemming the tide of deindustrialization.

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