Monday, June 4, 2018

NO JANUS DECISION TODAY. Check back every Monday morning in June for the latest. Also see Building Strong Unions: Get ready for Janus!

LOCAL

► From KNKX — UW teaching assistant strike canceled after union members ratify contract — University of Washington teaching assistants and other academic student employees have approved a new contract and canceled plans for a strike. The TAs, research assistants, readers, graders and tutors number about 4,500 and they’re represented by UAW 4121. They had previously announced plans to strike this week.

ALSO TODAY at The Stand — UW student employees approve contract

► In today’s Seattle Times — UW grad-student workers OK contract — The new UW contract includes a 2 percent pay raise each year for the next three years for teaching assistants, researchers and grad-student employees at the school and avoids a finals-week walkout.

► In the Columbian — After Georgia-Pacific cut up to 300 employees, workers trying to find footing — The cavernous Georgia-Pacific paper mill, which churned with thousands of papermakers a generation ago, is now a ghost town, said Felicia Tillery; and former workers like her are in limbo. “It is hard,” she said, trying to describe this past month when up to 300 workers have been laid off. Her last day was June 1.

► In today’s News tribune — A middle school principal in Fife sexually harassed his teachers, school board determines — After Fife School District administrators found last November that a middle school principal’s behavior didn’t rise to the level of misconduct, the Fife School Board has concluded that then-Principal Jim Snider sexually harassed teachers.

► In the Peninsula Daily News — Puget Sound Pilots honored at ceremony marking 150 years — Elected officials joined Puget Sound Pilots officials, maritime advocates and educators in celebrating 150 years of the state’s marine pilotage program at the Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend.

BOEING

► In the Charleston Post and Courier — Union presence could benefit all workers at Boeing’s North Charleston campus, experts say — South Carolina’s right-to-work law guarantees employees don’t have to join a union to keep their jobs, but Thursday’s vote at Boeing Co.’s North Charleston campus will likely be felt throughout the workplace. Employers typically raise wages and benefits for all workers — not just those covered by union contracts — whenever a labor union is successful in organizing part, but not all, of a business, a labor expert said.

THAT WASHINGTON

► From Roll Call — Unions brace for pivotal court decision amid politicking — In preparation for a Supreme Court decision (Janus v. AFSCME) that may deal a significant setback to public-sector unions, organized labor groups are launching new recruiting efforts as they mobilize for the midterm elections. The AFL-CIO in recent days has started a nationwide advertising campaign, along with a companion website dubbed “Freedom to Join,” making a sales pitch for the perks of union membership. The ads are running in newspapers in nine states.

ALSO at The Stand —  Building Strong Unions: Get ready for Janus!

► From Politico — House Republicans careen toward immigration showdown — House Republicans are on the brink of an embarrassing showdown over immigration that Speaker Paul Ryan and his leadership team have been desperately trying to avoid. As lawmakers left Washington for the Memorial Day recess in late May, GOP centrists gave immigration hard-liners a choice: Allow a vote on a bill that includes a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers — or we’ll team with Democrats to force votes on bipartisan immigration legislation you hate.

► In today’s Washington Post — Cops are called when a senator tries to see kids taken from their immigrant parents — Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) went to a shuttered Walmart in Brownsville, Texas, that has been converted into a detention center for immigrant children who have been separated from their parents. He asked for a tour. Instead, the government contractor that runs the converted store called the cops. An officer filled out a police report, and the senator was asked to leave.

► In today’s NY Times — The shame in Puerto Rico (editorial) — What Puerto Rico really needs to recover is the sort of generous, urgent and long-term assistance that would come with a recognition by the states that a great calamity has befallen their fellow Americans, that these people dying from a lack of the most basic services are their countrymen, their responsibility.

OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE

► In today’s Washington Post — Trump says he has ‘absolute right’ to pardon himself of federal crimes, but denies any wrongdoing — President Trump on Monday asserted an “absolute right” to pardon himself of any federal crimes but said he has no reason to do so because he has not engaged in any wrongdoing.

► In today’s NY Times — President Trump thinks he is a king (by Harry Litman) — The president believes he is above the law. That’s the takeaway from the confidential 20-page memo sent by President Trump’s lawyers to the special counsel, Robert Mueller. The central claim of the legal memorandum is that it is impossible for the president to illegally obstruct any aspect of the investigation into Russia’s election meddling. That’s because, as president, Mr. Trump has the constitutional power to terminate the inquiry or pardon his way out of it. Therefore — and this is the key and indefensible point — he cannot obstruct justice by exercising this authority “no matter his motivation.” This understanding of presidential power is radical and absolutist. It is also unsound and almost certain to be sharply rejected should it ever be proffered in court.

NATIONAL

► In the Las Vegas Review Journal — MGM Resorts reaches tentative deal with Las Vegas unions — MGM Resorts International, the state’s largest hotel operator by employees, late Saturday joined Caesars Entertainment Corp. in approving new five-year contracts with Culinary Local 226 and Bartenders Local 165.

► From Jacobin — Time for unions to step up on Medicare for all (by Mark Dudzic) — Most national unions, as well as the AFL-CIO, have passed resolutions in support of Medicare for All. What is needed now is for unions to move beyond “resolutionary politics” to commit substantial resources and organizing capacity. If a united labor movement were to get behind the campaign, it would be a game changer. Not only would it benefit millions of people, it would revitalize a beleaguered labor movement.

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