DAILY NEWS
Climate alliance, TPP pitch begins, Ex-Im cover…
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
STATE GOVERNMENT
ALSO at The Stand — Alliance plans climate initiative for 2016
► From KPLU — Broad-based coalition announces carbon cap initiative to fight climate change — More than 150 groups in Washington state have come together to form the Alliance for Jobs and Clean Energy. It’s an effort to fight climate change that some are calling “historic in scope.”
► In today’s Seattle Times — Second group plans state initiative on climate change — Meanwhile, backers of a competing measure have been gathering signatures for I-732, which would tax carbon emissions, but would take a “revenue neutral” approach — offsetting the new tax with cuts in business and sales taxes.
ALSO at The Stand — Wash. Machinists Council votes to oppose I-732 carbon tax
► From KPLU — As legal limbo continues, public funding still flows to charter schools — Though the state Supreme Court ruled last month charter schools violate Washington’s constitution, state education officials sent regular funding payments to the schools at the end of September.
► In the Minneapolis Star-Tribune — Rule enforced; lives saved — Farmers in Washington state have embraced the nation’s most comprehensive agricultural safety program, an initiative that contrasts sharply with the hands-off approach that prevails in much of the Midwest.
► In the Olympian — Olympia state Sen. Karen Fraser enters 2016 race for Lt. Governor — That means the longtime state senator won’t be seeking re-election to her Senate seat in the 22nd Legislative District, which she has held for more than two decades.
BOEING
► In today’s P.S. Business Journal — Profit could take a hit if Boeing slows Everett 777 production rate — A Goldman Sachs report argues Boeing won’t be able to keep building 777s at the current rate of 8.3 planes per month until the new 777X is in full production after 2020. That’s because Boeing doesn’t have enough orders for the older model. Instead, Boeing will have to slow Everett production to keep the line alive, just as Airbus is doing with its competing A330.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Probe of 777 engine’s explosive failure pinpoints its origin — After a British Airways 777’s jet engine broke up explosively on a runway last month, investigators have pinned down the precise location of the initial fracture in the innards of the GE-90 engine.
LOCAL
TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP
► From The Hill — Obama pitches TPP to business leaders — Business groups have expressed support for the TPP but said they will fully evaluate whether it meets their standards. There was a similar tone on Capitol Hill, with some pro-trade lawmakers rescinding their support over the emerging details of a final deal.
► MUST-READ from Touch Stone — The TPP good for workers? The big lie (by Owen Tudor) — The biggest lie of all is the suggestion that the TPP guarantees that the rights in the ILO’s core labour conventions will apply to all TPP signatory countries. The suggestion that freedom of association (i.e. the right to join a trade union of your choice) will apply to Vietnam is ridiculous, as is the suggestion that Malaysia will be free of forced labour or trafficking (although the U.S. government decided to upgrade the country’s status on the issue in July, against the arguments of the AFL-CIO, in a clear example of preparing the ground by moving the goalposts.) What’s even more disgraceful is that the USA itself doesn’t guarantee its own workers the rights set out in the ILO core conventions!
► In today’s Oregonian — TPP deserves full Oregon support (editorial)
EDITOR’S NOTE — The Nike sycophants at The Oregonian, like the Boeing ones at The Seattle Times, and the rest of the public have not yet been allowed to read the TPP. But you know, Trade Is Good!™ From what we already know, the vast majority of the TPP is not even about trade, it’s about corporate/investor rights.
► From ABC News — Biden backing Asia trade pact despite union opposition — Labor groups have a warning for Vice President Joe Biden as he lobbies for a major trade pact with Asia: We won’t forget this if you run for president.
CAMPAIGN 2016
► From BuzzFeed — Poll says promising a minimum wage hike would boost voter turnout — Two thirds of low-wage workers who are registered to vote say they would turn out for a presidential candidate who supports a $15 an hour minimum wage and a union.
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
► In today’s Wash. Post — Why sell off the Postal Service if it’s still making money? — The two largest postal unions have said for a long time that the Postal Service’s billion-dollar deficits are artificial. Yes, the volume of First Class mail is in a downward spiral. Yes, the recession brought still steeper losses. But if not for Congress’ unusual pre-funding mandate, required by no other public or private entities, the post office would be making money today, with the recession over and its package business booming.
EDITOR’S NOTE — The majority leader of the Senate, which has already passed the Ex-Im bill, tries to nix hopes for the “discharge petition” in the House. Why? To create some political cover for House Republicans like those from Washington state, who should be signing that petition and supporting jobs in their state. They should sign it anyway. Remember when, at the behest of Boeing boss Jim McNerney, Sen. Maria Cantwell cut that deal with Sen. Mitch McConnell? She handed over her critical vote for Fast Track in exchange for his promise to allow an Ex-Im vote. Good times, good times.
► From AP — Senate to vote on massive defense bill — The Senate is poised to vote Wednesday on a $612 billion defense policy bill that President Barack Obama says he’ll veto over a larger dispute about government spending.
► From The Hill — Heritage blasts ‘union buyoff’ in oil export bill — The conservative lobbying group is blasting House Republicans for inserting into a crude oil export bill a provision to increase payments to certain unionized maritime shipping companies.
► In the Washington Post — ‘Cadillac tax’ is bad for working families (letter by Richard Trumka) — This harmful and unnecessary tax is fundamentally flawed. It will hollow out health-care plans and drive up costs because people will not get the care they need until it is too late. Instead of asking industries and corporations that benefit richly from health-care reform to make a fair contribution, the editorial board wants to increase what working people have to pay out of pocket. This means cutting benefits for those who need them the most. That’s bad policy and bad for working families.
NATIONAL
► In today’s NY Times — UAW warns Fiat Chrysler to make deal or face strike — The union has set a Wednesday-night deadline for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to agree to a new contract or risk a nationwide strike by the company’s 36,000 hourly workers.
► In the Wash. Post — Al Jazeera writers continue unionization streak in digital media
► From Huffington Post — Huffington Post employees in talks to unionize
TODAY’S MUST-READ
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.