DAILY NEWS
UFCW on Haggen, Conner on China, Larsen on TPP…
Thursday, November 12, 2015
LOCAL
EDITOR’S NOTE — Read the whole UFCW 21 message here, which includes the list of “core” local stores that have ben added to the auction.
► In today’s Bellingham Herald — Bids exceed expectations for Haggen stores — Haggen stores far exceeded many initial bids in a “spirited auction” this week at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles that saw the grocer offered roughly $5 million more than originally proposed, according to lawyers who attended.
► A related story in today’s Wall St. Journal — On-demand workers need ‘portable benefits,’ tech and labor leaders say — The group called for new protections for contract workers — such as workers’ compensation and sick leave — that would provide a safety net if they get sick, injured or retire. With as many as 53 million Americans now self-employed, the letter states that benefits “have not kept pace with the rapid changes in the economy.”
BOEING
► In the P.S. Business Journal — Ray Conner: To beat Chinese competition, Boeing must be ‘better’ — Boeing’s strategy is to make sure it can compete with the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China: “What we have to do, we have to anticipate they’re going to be there,” Conner said. “We have to anticipate they’re going to be there with a product that is going to be competitive, both from the standpoint of performance and from the standpoint of price. And therefore we have to keep pushing ourselves to be better in every single way.”
STATE GOVERNMENT
► From PubliCola — Once again, Democrats will turn to courts to challenge successful Eyman initiative — The legal challenge will likely come in three different arguments. One is that I-1366 violates the “single-subject rule.” Washington law requires that bills and initiatives affect strictly one unified subject; state Sen. Jamie Pedersen (D-Seattle) says the unruly I-1366 mixes a tax decrease with a constitutional amendment. The second challenge would be a procedural argument that amendments can’t be approved by initiative. And the third, I-1366 gets in the way of the Legislature fulfilling the court mandate in McCleary that the legislature fully fund education; that be pretty difficult with a $10 billion shortfall over the next 10 years.
TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP
ALSO at The Stand — Recess! Tell your Rep. what you think about the TPP
► In today’s Bellingham Herald — Dislikes TPP (letter to the editor from one of Larsen’s constituents) — The TPP reads a lot like the old deals — bad for working people, bad for food safety, bad for our access to affordable life-saving medicines, bad for our Internet access, overriding local laws, derailing climate talks, privatizing everything. Rep. Larsen is holding a town hall meeting on Friday, Nov. 13, 5:30 – 7 p.m. at Bellingham City Hall. Let your voice be heard. There is not much time left.
► From Huffington Post — Why the TPP is too flawed for a ‘yes’ vote in Congress (by Jeffrey Sachs) — Perhaps most disappointing is the lack of creativity in the development, labor and environmental chapters. Yes, they rhetorically defend global economic development, labor standards and environmental sustainability, but they do so without specific enforcement powers. Why is it that companies can force arbitration tribunals to defend their investor rights, but workers have no such power? Why is climate change not even considered in the draft, despite the fact that it represents the most important environmental threat of the 21st century, and may have strong implications for future trade rules?
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
ALSO at The Stand — Sens. Murray, Cantwell propose to boost Social Security
► From The Hill — Talk grows of repealing ACA ‘Cadillac tax’ — Top senators from both parties say they see momentum building to repeal the “Cadillac tax” on high-end health plans, though they still have major questions about how to pay for it and what the negotiations would look like… Any bill to repeal or change the tax would likely require Democrats to concede on other unpopular parts of the ACA, such as agreeing to the repeal of the medical device tax.
CAMPAIGN 2016
► From The Hill — Poll: Clinton now up 19 points nationally — Clinton leads Sanders by 19 points, 52 to 33 percent, among Democratic primary voters, according to the New York Times/CBS News survey released early Thursday.
► From The Hill — Trump doubles down on debate claim: ‘Wages are too high’ — Donald Trump on Wednesday doubled down on his argument that American wages are “too high” after making a similar claim during Tuesday night’s GOP presidential debate.
NATIONAL
► From Al Jazeera America — Students across U.S. to march over debt, free public college — Students were set to walk out of classrooms across the United States on Thursday to protest ballooning student loan debt for higher education and rally for tuition-free public colleges and a minimum wage hike for campus workers.
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.