NEWS ROUNDUP
Hope for Hanford workers ● Confluence update ● Janus cashes in
Monday, July 23, 2018
THIS WASHINGTON
► In today’s Tri-City Herald — After 12 years at Hanford, this father is wracked by seizures. New state program offers hope. — Bill Evans, a Richland father of three, suspects his extensive medical problems are caused by exposure to chemicals, possibly mercury, during the 12 years he worked at the Hanford nuclear reservation. But lacking an official diagnosis, he did not think he could qualify for the federal workers compensation program that has helped many ill Hanford workers. However, a state program expanded in the last legislative session for Hanford workers may offer some hope.
ALSO from the WSLC Legislative Report — Safety net strengthened for Hanford workers
LOCAL
► In the Columbian — Camas school district, teachers union at odds — The Camas School District and Camas Education Association could be in for a tense August after their most recent bargaining session left the two sides in disagreement, with union officials saying they’re prepared for a strike on Aug. 27 if negotiations haven’t progressed.
► In the Wenatchee World — Contract negotiations continue with Confluence Health — Numerous people driving by Central Washington Hospital honked their horns in support of picketing healthcare workers gathered at the entrance to the hospital’s parking lot earlier this week. Hospital healthcare workers’ contract with Confluence Health expired in June 2017. UFCW Local 21 has been helping employees negotiate since then.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Seattle council to vote on new rights for nannies, house cleaners and gardeners — Cooks and household managers also would be guaranteed minimum wages and rest breaks under Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda’s legislation, which would set up an appointed board to oversee the domestic-work industry.
► In the (Longview) Daily News — Celebrate unions at Labor Day picnic — The Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Central Labor Council will host a Labor Picnic from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 3 in the large covered picnic shelter at at Tam O’Shanter Park in Kelso. There will be plenty of food — hamburgers, hot dogs, salads, cake and more — and anyone attending is welcome to bring a potluck dish to share. There will also be a croquet tournament. Families are welcome to attend.
ELECTION
EDITOR’S NOTE — Delegates representing the Washington State Labor Council’s affiliated unions think it’s time for a change. They voted to endorse CMR’s Democratic challenger Lisa Brown.
EDITOR’S NOTE — WSLC delegates voted to endorse Democratic candidates Jason Rittereiser and Kim Schrier, and to OPPOSE Dino Rossi, who has an abysmal 7% lifetime voting record on working families’ issues.
EDITOR’S NTE — WSLC delegates voted to endorse Morgan and to oppose Sawyer.
► In today’s Bellingham Herald — ‘It’s time for us as women, and as women of color, it’s time for us to step in’ — Whatcom County voters will find women seeking office in nearly every local ballot race in the August, 2018, primary — the largest number of women on a local ballot ever.
► In today’s Columbian — Stamp out low turnout (editorial) — Return envelopes for primary election ballots throughout Washington now come with prepaid postage. Voters may still drop off ballots at boxes throughout the county, but they no longer will need to affix a stamp if voting by mail. Ideally, this will make it easier for registered voters to make their voices heard and will increase voter turnout.
ALSO at The Stand — Vote for pro-labor candidates in the primary
THAT WASHINGTON
► In the (Everett) Herald — ACA’s pre-existing conditions protections at risk (editorial) — Unable to repeal Obamacare in Congress, the Trump administration and Republicans have instead worked to remove its underpinnings in hope of its collapse. So far, the ACA has not obliged. During last year’s open enrollment period, more than 11.8 million signed up for health plans through the ACA, a 3 percent decrease from the year before but not the drop many had expected. But removal of the ACA’s protections for pre-existing conditions could be the final blow and one that would return Americans to ever-spiraling health care costs and leave millions again without coverage.
NATIONAL
EDITOR’S NOTE — Under his union contract, Janus made at least $71,000 a year as a child support specialist for the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services in a state where both the average pay for social work and the statewide median income is less than $60,000. He also earned time-and-a-half for working overtime. Almost every year he got a step pay increase and/or cost-of-living increase. He got paid holidays and paid vacation time. He got his choice of several health care plans and was also eligible for retiree health care coverage. He got paid sick leave and paid paternity leave. He was eligible to receive a defined-benefit pension that, when he retires, will pay him a portion of his salary for the rest of his life. He had job security and the peace of mind that if some manager violates his rights or tries to fire him without cause, the union would represent him to protect his job and his family. In fact, many credited his union for saving his job and those of his peers by successfully fighting against a proposal to contract out that work to the private sector.
And for all that, Janus paid a fair-share fee of $45 per month to the union, about what the average American pays for a gym membership. But that was too much for him. The Illinois Policy Institute, that state’s equivalent to our billionaire-backed “Freedom Foundation,” won’t disclose what they’re paying him, but two years ago it had at least nine employees making more than six figures. Congratulations, Mr. Janus!
► From Reuters — Mortgage, Groupon and card debt: how the bottom half bolsters U.S. economy — By almost every measure, the U.S. economy is booming. But a look behind the headlines of roaring job growth and consumer spending reveals how the boom continues in large part by the poorer half of Americans fleecing their savings and piling up debt.
► In the Seattle Times — It’s suite at the top, but runaway CEO pay doesn’t help the economy (by Jon Talton) — Between 1978 and 2015 CEO pay grew 90 times faster than that of the typical employee, as middle-wage jobs have collapsed… We’ll keep publishing how much CEOs make. Many of them are perfectly nice individuals. Together, however, their extreme wealth is one symptom of a society pulling apart. It can’t end well.
INTERNATIONAL
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.