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‘We’re not going anywhere’ | Insleecare | Who needs allies?

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

 


JANUS

 

► From ABC News — Union workers stay overnight on Capital stairs to protest upcoming Supreme Court decision — An upcoming Supreme Court decision about union rights is causing workers to protest nationwide, including the Capital City. On Monday, protesters stayed overnight on the Capitol building’s stairs to send a message to lawmakers. “We’re not going anywhere. We’re here for the duration until what happens has to happen, and tomorrow, we’ll be here all day again,” said Donna Heimbach, healthcare union worker.

ALSO at The Stand — Get ready for the Janus decision! — UPDATED: The U.S. Supreme Court will now be releasing opinions on Thursdays in addition to Mondays, so the decision could come down as soon as TOMORROW morning. See Decision Day rally updates on Bellingham (cancelled), Everett (added), and Olympia (only if it’s a Monday and a 2 p.m. start time), plus locations for Decision Day sign-waving at highway overpasses.

ALSO TODAY at The Stand — After court decision, Inslee order supports workers’ rights — Following an anti-worker ruling on mandatory individual arbitration, the governor responds, “We can’t change the Supreme Court’s ruling, but we can change how we do business.”

 


LOCAL

 

► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Union accuses STA official of racist comments on Facebook — Thomas Leighty, president of ATU Local 1015, said the Spokane Transit Authority’s human resources director, Nancy Williams, should resign or be fired for the “explicitly and vilely racist” comments she made on Facebook in January 2017. Williams was hired by STA in March 2017, according to its website. The STA pledged to “take immediate action to investigate.”

► In today’s Seattle Times — Seattle City Council repeals head tax amid pressure from businesses, referendum threat — The repeal of the $275 per-employee tax marks a victory for Amazon and other businesses that would have paid it and have been funding a referendum campaign against it.

► From KUOW — Seattle’s head tax got chopped. Now what? — “Every day, we turn clients away because we don’t have enough beds and we don’t have enough staff to provide long-term case management to clients in the system,” said Andrew Coak, a member of the task force and case manager at the Downtown Emergency Services Center. “It’s literally a matter of life or death for the people I work with.” Head tax supporters are now asking business to find money for the homelessness crisis.

► In today’s News Tribune — Message to harassed female teachers: Don’t give up, vindication at hand (editorial) — The slow pace of justice for four female Fife School District middle school teachers facing a hostile work environment illustrates why the #metoo movement was and still is sorely needed.

 


THIS WASHINGTON

 

► From KUOW — Should states launch their own ‘Obamacare’? — How about letting states offer their own universal health care plans? That’s the goal of a new bill that Seattle Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal unveiled this week. She said there are two big reasons why states don’t do that now. “Number one, they don’t have enough money, and number two, they don’t have enough flexibility with regulation,” she said. The bill would modify Obamacare to make its revenue available.

ALSO at The Stand — Jayapal unveils universal health care bill

— WSLC’s Dodson: ‘This is the time for bold action’ on health care

► In today’s Seattle Times — Hader sweeps endorsements from Democratic groups in race for Reichert’s House seat — Shannon Hader made a comparatively late entry into the Democratic primary race for retiring U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert’s 8th Congressional District  seat. But the former federal public-health official has shown undeniable momentum on one front — sweeping up endorsement after endorsement in recent months from county and legislative-district Democratic organizations.

EDITOR’S NOTE — At the WSLC’s political endorsement convention in May, union delegates from across the state voted for a dual endorsement of Jason Rittereiser and Kim Schrier in this race.

 


THAT WASHINGTON

 

► From TPM — The domino effect of the Trump admin gutting pre-existing conditions protections —  Insurance trade groups, health care experts and lawmakers say the fallout is likely to extend beyond the individual market, impacting many of the tens of millions of Americans who get their health insurance from an employer.

► In today’s Washington Post — House to vote next week on two competing immigration bills — The announcement of the planned votes came shortly after rebellious GOP moderates appeared to come up two votes short in their effort to force votes on immigration in defiance of Republican leadership.

► From The Hill — Pelosi, Dems hammer GOP for ‘derailing’ DACA debate — House Democrats are hammering GOP leaders for scuttling the bipartisan effort to protect undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children.

► From The Hill — Equal pay for women elusive 55 years after landmark law — Fifty-five years have passed since the Equal Pay Act became law, but the federal government may still be paying women billions less than men for the same work. The Equal Pay Act, which former President Kennedy signed into law on June 10, 1963, requires men and women within a given organization to be paid equally for work that is materially the same. The federal government does not regularly assess and analyze how female employees are paid relative to men or why, but two studies in the past decade indicate that women may be getting short shrift.

ALSO at The Stand — All workers in Washington state now have equal pay protections (June 8, 2018)

 


NATIONAL

 

► From Reuters — U.S. accuses Fiat Chrysler, union of conspiring to break labor laws — Top officials of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and the United Auto Workers union conspired to violate U.S. labor laws, federal prosecutors alleged in a court document, saying a former executive at the automaker knew bribes paid to union leaders were designed to “grease the skids” in labor negotiations. Outgoing UAW president Dennis Williams told union leaders at a conference in Detroit on Monday “our leadership team had no knowledge of the misconduct – which involved former union members and former auto executives – until it was brought to our attention by the government.”

► In today’s NY Times — AT&T takeover of Time Warner cleared, in blow to Justice Dept. — A federal judge approved the blockbuster merger between AT&T and Time Warner, rebuffing the government’s effort to stop the $85.4 billion deal. The decision is expected to unleash a wave of takeovers in corporate America.

 


TODAY’S MUST-READ

 

► From Vox — How Trump is killing America’s alliances (by Zack Beauchamp) — Trump’s betrayal of South Korea and eruption at Trudeau are not one-offs, or events you can write off as simple quirks of the president’s personality. It is part of a broader slate of Trump policies and diplomatic efforts that have, put together, fundamentally weakened America’s ties with its traditional allies — in ways that could have potentially disastrous consequences for the world. America’s alliances depend on the US’s reputation for upholding its agreements and treating its allies fairly. Trump’s blithe disregard for diplomacy and international agreements has damaged the US’s reputation in a way that some scholars worry may be irreparable. And a deep body of research on international relations suggests that the strength of America’s alliances in Europe and East Asia have played a pivotal role in preventing another world war. The more Trump mucks around with American alliances, the more unstable the world becomes — making a large military conflict more imaginable.

 


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