Monday, July 25, 2016

STATE ELECTIONS

► In the P.S. Business Journal — Statewide minimum wage measure qualifies for November ballot — Washington voters in November will will decide whether to raise the minimum wage and require businesses to guarantee paid sick leave for many employees. The Washington Secretary of State’s office on Friday announced supporters gathered enough valid signatures for the measure to make the Nov. 8 ballot.

ALSO at The Stand — It’s official: Initiative 1433 qualifies for this fall’s ballot

► In the Spokesman-Review — Washington voters get minimum wage initiative

► A related story from The Stranger — New study: ‘No compelling evidence’ that increased minimum wage has led to Seattle businesses shutting down — Another UW study has turned up no evidence to back up that oft-repeated claim that businesses small and large can’t survive higher minimum wages. The study, provided this week to the City Council, examines Seattle’s economy in the first eight months after it began phasing in higher wages in 2014, from $9.47 up to $11 per hour, on a track toward $15. Here’s the money quote:

We do not find compelling evidence that the minimum wage has caused significant increases in business failure rates. Moreover, if there has been any increase in business closings caused by the Minimum Wage Ordinance, it has been more than offset by an increase in business openings.

► In the News Tribune — Will ‘Trump effect’ help Democrats regain control of Legislature? — Democrats are planning a legislative comeback in the Evergreen state, and pinning their hopes on the divisiveness of the Republican presidential nominee, real estate magnate Donald Trump.

LOCAL

► In today’s — REI boosting wages for workers in 7 cities, including Seattle — REI says it’s boosting pay for workers in certain cities, including Seattle, starting next month — a move the outdoor co-op says has been under way for months and that comes after employees have been increasingly vocal about wage and scheduling issues.

NATIONAL ELECTIONS

► From Huffington Post — Hillary Clinton names Tim Kaine as her running mate — Hillary Clinton has picked Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) to be her vice presidential running mate, tapping the popular former governor of a swing state over several more liberal picks on her short list… A Clinton aide says that Kaine had told Clinton that he would oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement in its current form.

► From Politico — Kaine pick draws mixed reviews from liberals — Prominent labor groups, however, met the Kaine announcement with open arms. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka praised Kaine’s “strong record on workers’ issues” while the SEIU vouched for the senator’s labor bona fides, saying in a statement: “We know what is in Tim Kaine’s heart.”

► From Politico — Kaine on labor — Hillary Clinton’s running-mate Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) is generally pro-union, with a 96 percent lifetime Senate voting rating from the AFL-CIO.

► In the NY Times — AFL-CIO leader says Trump won’t sway working class — “I think [Hillary Clinton is] running to change America, not to manage America,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Asked if that meant he considered her to be an agent of change, he replied, “I do.” Trumka also predicted that appeals from Republican nominee Donald Trump would sound hollow to working-class voters.

► From The Hill — Trump’s courtship of union members complicated by Pence — Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is a free-trade supporter who has opposed lifting the minimum wage. Neither of those positions is going to help the GOP ticket with labor unions; AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called Pence the “second worst” vice presidential pick in history.

► From Think Progress — Wasserman Schultz resigns from DNC in wake of WikiLeaks email dump — Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) resigned as chair of the Democratic National Committee the day before the party was set to kick off its national convention in Philadelphia. She has become a lightning rod for criticism from Bernie Sanders supporters, many of whom saw the Democratic primary process as rigged or at least biased against the Vermont senator. On Friday evening, WikiLeaks released almost 20,000 internal emails from the DNC, with some showing a closeness with Clinton’s campaign and an intent at times to undermine the Sanders campaign.

► From The Hill — Wasserman Schultz booed off stage in Philadelphia

► From Huffington Post — Elizabeth Warren to keynote Democratic convention

EDITOR’S NOTE — AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is scheduled to address the Democratic National Convention between 4-5 p.m. Pacific time.

► From The Olympian — RNC leaves message of fear (editorial) — The message of the Republican convention, repeated in a thousand ways over four days, was simple: Be afraid; be very afraid. But fear is not a foundation for an agenda for our future. Facts are. The truths of our 21st-century world — its complexity, its challenges, and its possibilities for progress — were not discussed in the Quicken Loans Arena. So here’s our hope for the Democratic convention: Make America think again.

NATIONAL

► In the Wall St. Journal — Want paid sick leave? You probably need to be paid more — Whether a worker has access to paid sick leave varies widely by income, a new Labor Department report found. Among the top 25% of income earners in the private sector — those earning $28.60 an hour or more — 84% had access to paid sick leave, the Labor Department said. Among the bottom quarter of workers — those earning $12 an hour or less — 39% had the benefit as of March.

► From The Hill — Why old school organized labor is needed in new digital newsrooms (by Stephanie Russell-Kraft) — My firing sparked a wave of outrage in the newsroom that ultimately led a majority of editorial employees to seek union representation… The ever-shrinking legacy newspaper business is also seeing newsrooms turn to collective bargaining to beat back owners who have turned to layoffs and cuts to secure higher profit margins.

EDITOR’S NOTE — In case you’re wondering, The Entire Staff of The Stand is proud to have the representation of Office and Professional Employees Local 8.

TODAY’S MUST-READ

► From The Atlantic — Why poor, low-level offenders often plead to worse crimes — In the United States, local jails process over 11 million admissions in a single year. Most of those who are arrested get the option to post bail and go free until they are arraigned. But those who can’t afford bail sit in jail awaiting trial, which can hurt their ability to mount a defense. It’s harder to collect evidence. It’s harder to meet with lawyers. A defendant can’t do things that might be looked upon favorably by a judge, like entering rehab, or getting a stable job, or attending anger-management classes. This may be particularly damaging for people charged with low-level crimes like misdemeanors.

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