Thursday, March 15, 2018

LOCAL

► From KUOW — Students pour out of class to say they’re fed up with gun violence — They wrote it in marker on poster boards; they turned it into a trending hashtag; they spelled it with their bodies across football fields: “Enough.” Students across the nation and Washington state walked out of school Wednesday morning to demonstrate their support for more gun control measures one month after a deadly shooting at a Florida high school where 17 people were killed.

MORE local coverage in the (Aberdeen) Daily World, Bellingham Herald, Columbia Basin Herald, (Ellensburg) Daily Record, (Everett) Herald, Kitsap Sun, (Longview) Daily News, Olympian, Peninsula Daily News, Seattle Times, Skagit Valley News, (Spokane) Spokesman-Review, (Tacoma) News Tribune, Tri-City Herald, (Vancouver) Columbian, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, Wenatchee World, and Yakima Herald-Republic.

► In the NW Labor Press — New leadership at New Seasons — CEO is out, and so are union-busters, for now — Four months after pro-union workers made a surprise visit to New Seasons Market headquarters, CEO Wendy Collie is out, and so is the union-busting law firm the grocery chain brought in to talk to workers — for now at least. New Seasons announced Collie’s departure Feb. 6 as part of a “strategic shift in business direction.” Could Collie’s handling of the union situation have had something to do with her departure? New Seasons spent 18 years cultivating a reputation as a progressive employer, and there’s no bigger stain on that record than its decision to hire a union-buster within days of the public announcement of the union campaign.

► In today’s (Longview) Daily News — Commerce sides with Norpac in antidumping case — In response to a trade petition filed by Norpac last summer, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced that it will impose anti-dumping duties on uncoated groundwood paper from Canada. A coalition of media organizations has warned that slapping tariffs on Canadian newsprint will threaten thousands of jobs in the publishing industry. Norpac’s Longview mill, which employs about 300 workers, is one of just five mills in the United States that still makes newsprint and is only one of two with U.S.-based ownership.

ALSO at The Stand — Enforcing trade rules is not a ‘trade war’ (by Stan Sorscher)

THIS WASHINGTON

► From Working Life — Climate change gets real in Washington state (at 15:00) — An interview with WSLC President Jeff Johnson about the Alliance for Jobs and Clean Energy and the ballot measure (I-1631) recently filed. “At the core of it is a set of equity values. As climate change… does its work, we wanted to make sure communities and workers were not left behind.”

► In today’s News Tribune — Tacoma state lawmaker defies calls to resign following allegations of inappropriate behavior — Timothy Farrell, chairman of the Pierce County Democrats, said he urged Tacoma state Rep. David Sawyer to resign his position this week. Sawyer is facing allegations from eight women that he has engaged in behavior ranging from inappropriate to harassing before and after he was elected to the Legislature in 2012.

THAT WASHINGTON

► In today’s NY Times — Senate passes bill loosening banking rules, but hurdles remain in the House — In a rare showing of bipartisanship, the Senate voted 67 to 31 to pass the bill, which is intended to help small- and medium-size banks but which critics say is a dangerous rollback of financial regulations intended to prevent another meltdown. The legislation faces an uncertain fate going forward, as House Republicans are expected to push for a much more expansive rollback of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Both Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell voted “no.”

ALSO at The Stand — Senate about to put economy at risk by dismantling bank rules

► From AFGE — Education aims to bust labor union by forcing new terms on AFGE — The Department of Education, having made headlines over the past year for its attacks on both teachers and students, has now launched its newest attack directly at public employees. In a violation of the law, the department implemented a management edict that aims to kill the union and deny workers their legal right to representation, the AFGE said.

► In today’s Washington Post — In fundraising speech, Trump says he made up trade claim in meeting with Justin Trudeau — President Trump boasted in a fundraising speech Wednesday that he made up information in a meeting with the leader of a top U.S. ally, saying he insisted to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the United States runs a trade deficit with its neighbor to the north without knowing whether that was true.

► In today’s Washington Post — 4 Pinocchios for Trump’s narrative on immigrants and crime — Trump’s weekly address on immigrants, crime and sanctuary cities President Trump has a habit of linking undocumented immigrants to grisly crimes when, in fact, most of the available data and research say immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than the U.S.-born population.

► In today’s Washington Post — Larry Kudlow may have been more wrong about the economy than anyone alive (by Dana Milbank) — “There’s no recession coming. The pessimistas were wrong. It’s not going to happen,” wrote Larry Kudlow, the man President Trump just tapped to be his top economic adviser, in late 2007 on the eve of the biggest economic collapse since the Great Depression.

► In today’s Washington Post — Trump Cabinet members accused of living large at taxpayer expense

NATIONAL

► In the NW Labor Press — No more ‘American Idle’? — Remember the “Look for the Union Label” jingle on TV? If you do, you’re probably over 50:   The ad, created as part of a union-sponsored contest, last aired in 1981. United Auto Workers (UAW) is ready for an update: On March 7, it announced a “Make it in the USA” song and video contest with four $5,000 prizes for the best 2018 version of the jingle. The Make it in the USA contest calls on participants to submit short videos that focus on the value of manufacturing and buying products domestically. Prizes will be given to winning entries in each of four categories: song; non-song; union member; and people’s choice. The deadline for submissions is April 25, and the winning videos will be announced June 1.

► In today’s NY Times — Will employment keep growing? Disabled workers offer a clue — A seemingly inexorable economic trend has changed direction in the past few years, as people who cited health reasons for not working are returning to the labor force.

► From Reuters — Toys ‘R’ Us goes out of business, 30,000 jobs at stake — Toys ‘R’ Us Inc, the iconic toy retailer, will shutter or sell its stores in the United States after failing to find a buyer or reach a deal to restructure billions in debt, putting at risk about 30,000 jobs.

► From HuffPost — For women behind the camera, sexual harassment is part of the job –Over the course of four months, HuffPost spoke to more than 25 people, including nearly 20 women who work behind the scenes in the film industry in Los Angeles, New York and Vancouver. These women spanned departments ― from production assistants to cinematographers, set dressers to makeup artists ― but together their stories painted a picture of an industry that is at best passively uninviting and at worst openly hostile to women, especially those who are just beginning to build their careers. These women are not Hollywood heavyweights, but they, too, are ready for a cultural reckoning in their workplaces.

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