DAILY NEWS
Kelso strike continues, Eyman cashes in, women don’t…
Monday, September 21, 2015
LOCAL
► In today’s Seattle Times — Seattle teachers ratify contract — Members of Seattle’s educators union voted Sunday to approve their contract deal with Seattle Public Schools, officially ending a strike that began nearly two weeks ago. After the vote, union President Jonathan Knapp said he wanted to reiterate what a “groundbreaking and far-reaching contract this was.”
► In today’s (Longview) Daily News — Why did KapStone employees end the strike? — Answers are elusive because the union has declined to discuss its strategy. But attorneys, bankers and labor studies professors speculate that several factors — the company’s ability to run the plant in spite of the strike, legal considerations, workers’ loss of health insurance — may have contributed.
► From the NW Labor Press — IBEW Local 125 authorizes strike at Pacific Power — Workers across Northern Oregon and Southeastern Washington voted overwhelmingly Sept. 1 to reject a contract offer and authorize the union bargaining committee to call a strike at Pacific Power. IBEW Local 125 represents 320 linemen, meter readers, substation wiremen and other workers at the electric utility, in a service area that extends from Astoria to Bend to Walla Walla. Pacific Power and parent company PacifiCorp are owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy.
► From the NW Labor Press — Union coalition reaches agreements at Clark County — Clark County has reached agreement on contracts with four unions (OPEIU 11, AFSCME 307, PTE 17 & LIUNA 335) covering 700 workers. The three-year agreements provide for across-the-board wage increases of 1.75, 2, and 2 percent and run from July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2018.
► In the Oregonian — Haggen says it’s working with Albertsons to help laid-off workers — In a memo to Haggen employees, the grocer now says it was working with Albertsons to waive the restriction on hiring Haggen workers. This would allow Albertsons to potentially hire some of the displaced workers.
ALSO in The Stand — Show Haggen employees respect they’re due
ALSO see coverage at Slog.
GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
► In today’s News Tribune — Budget showdown worries JBLM workers, could upend Boeing tanker contract — The latest budget impasse in Congress has civilian workers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord bracing for a possible government shutdown and the Air Force raising an alarm about a threat to a $51 billion tanker program Boeing is developing in the Puget Sound region. JBLM’s civilian workforce of up to 15,000 people would suffer most if Congress fails to pass a budget by its Oct. 1 deadline, triggering a government shutdown for the second time in two years.
BOEING
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Crucial Boeing tanker 1st flight follows China leader’s visit — It’s a big week for the Boeing Co., which will be on display for two of its biggest customers: China and the U.S. Air Force. Both are key cash sources for Boeing in coming years. Thousands of jobs in the area depend on the Chicago-based company keeping both customers happy.
STATE GOVERNMENT
► In the P.S. Business Journal — Washington women make $12,000 less per year than Washington men — In Washington, D.C., women make almost the same amount as men: the gap is only 10 cents on the dollar. In the other Washington, though, women make 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. It puts our state No. 35 in pay equality — behind states such as South Carolina and Kentucky — and lower than the national average.
► In today’s Olympian — It’s a great day to register to vote (editorial) — The pool of voters grows when more people register. That makes National Voter Registration Day — celebrated Tuesday with registration drives in 50 states — important. Register online at vote.wa.gov, by going to the elections office at your county courthouse.
► In today’s Columbian — Rep. Liz Pike files write-in candidacy for county chair — Rep. Liz Pike (R-Camas) filed Friday afternoon as a write-in candidate for Clark County council chair. She says she will give up her House seat if elected.
CALENDAR
EDITOR’S NOTE — Join the conversation at 6 p.m. tonight at the UFCW Hall, 507 S. Third St. in Yakima. RSVP to Micaela Razo at micaela@quantummed.org.
NATIONAL
► From ABC News — Archbishop Cupich defends unions, criticizes ‘right to work’ — Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich defended labor unions and criticized politicians pushing for “right to work” laws in Illinois on Thursday at Plumbers Hall in the West Loop.
► In the Business Insider — U.S. auto workers could be getting their first raise in a decade — The UAW succeeded at clawing back some of the major concessions made in order to help the Detroit Three carmakers survive the 2008 financial crisis.
► In the L.A. Times — UFW wins key ruling in decades-long fight with grower — An administrative law judge dealt the state’s largest grower of peaches and nectarines a key labor setback, ruling that a worker vote that sought to decertify the United Farm Workers union should be nullified.
TODAY’S MUST-READ
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.