DAILY NEWS
First Student talks resume | Sick airline suit | SCOTUS vs. unions
Thursday, February 8, 2018
LOCAL
► From The Stranger — Teachers join bus driver strike, company and union to meet Thursday — The ongoing school bus driver strike saw two developments Wednesday: After school let out, teachers and other members of the Seattle Education Association joined drivers on the picket line. The union and driver contractor, First Student, also announced they have scheduled their first bargaining meeting since the strike began last week.
► In today’s Seattle Times — School-bus-driver union and First Student to meet with a federal mediator — Leaders of the union representing Seattle’s 400 school-bus drivers and their employer, First Student, will return to the negotiating table Thursday for the first time since the union went on strike last week. The two sides will be meeting with a federal mediator.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Airlines sue Washington over paid sick leave law — Airlines are suing Washington state to avoid complying with the voter-mandated paid sick leave law that took effect Jan. 1. Airlines for America, a trade association that includes Alaska Airlines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, UPS and others, argues that the paid sick leave mandate, when applied to Washington-based pilots and flight attendants, is unconstitutional.
EDITOR’S NOTE — They argue that most of the airlines offer paid sick leave benefits that exceed state requirements, so what’s the problem? The “burdens” of offering something airlines say they already offer “substantially outweigh” the public health interest in trying to make sure the flight attendants serving food and drinks can afford to take a day off when they’re sick?
► From Crosscut — City Light paid $375,000 to settle discrimination complaints — The City of Seattle agreed last spring to pay $375,000 to three former City Light employees to quietly end the 2014 lawsuit. The settlement was signed last March but was not made public until now, shielded by a confidentiality clause in the agreement.
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Unionized county jail workers must be served hot meals — A ruling last month found officials violated labor laws when they stopped serving free, warm breakfasts.
THIS WASHINGTON
► In today’s (Longview) Daily News — Package of labor bills would boost local union membership — Union membership among local public employees and home caregivers could be strengthened under a trio of bills in Olympia, but opponents argue the legislation would coerce workers into paying unwanted membership dues.
► In today’s Yakima H-R — Bill protecting public employees’ birth dates from disclosure survives legislative cutoff
► In today’s Spokesman-Review — House votes to ‘Ban the Box’ — The Fair Chance Act, more commonly known as the “Ban the Box” bill, passed on a mostly partisan vote after supporters said it was important to give people a second chance and opponents said was unfair to businesses.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Democracy dies without voting: Support bills that make it easier (by Julie Wise) — Let’s rid the state of its old-style rules and make it easier for people to register to vote — it’s the simplest way to make our voices heard.
THAT WASHINGTON
► From The Hill — Senate to vote on two-year budget Thursday
► From The Hill — Paul Ryan says he has the votes for budget deal
► In today’s Washington Post — Republicans are doing a complete reversal on the deficit — The annual gap between spending and revenue is projected to push past $1.1 trillion in 2019 as the GOP has been swept up by President Trump’s demands for more spending and tax cuts.
► From NPR — Pelosi protests stalled immigration talks with marathon House speech — A little after 10 o’clock Wednesday morning, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., began a one-minute speech on the House floor. Just over eight hours later, she concluded her record-breaking remarks. According to the House historian’s office, she delivered the longest floor speech since 1909 — and possibly ever.
► In today’s NY Times — Trump’s backward view of immigration (editorial) — It appears that President Trump will consider undoing his threat of deportation for young “Dreamers” only if Congress considers the first deep cuts to legal immigration since the 1920s. The changes the president is demanding stem from a nativist, zero-sum view that what’s good for immigrants is bad for America. That view runs counter not just to the best of American tradition and principles, but to evidence of what’s best for the country.
DEMOCRACY
► From Politico — George W. Bush: There’s clear evidence Russia ‘meddled’ in 2016 election — Bush said that there is “pretty clear evidence that the Russians meddled” in the 2016 presidential election, a seeming rebuke of President Trump, who has at times questioned the intelligence community’s assessment that the Kremlin is to blame.
NATIONAL
► From Real Clear Politics — PA-18 special election a key test for Dems’ labor support — A special House election in Pennsylvania next month is the first major race of 2018, taking the temperature of voters and testing both parties’ strategies eight months before the midterms. It’s also a major first test for Democrats as they work to re-establish ties to a core constituency that drifted away from them in 2016: union members.
TODAY’S MUST-READ
ALSO at The Stand — ‘When our voices are united — we win!’
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.