DAILY NEWS
VOTE TODAY! ● WAFLA cashes in ● Keep Postal Service public
Tuesday, August 7, 2018
PRIMARY ELECTION DAY!
ELECTION
EDITOR’S NOTE — Find that ballot, fill it out — and make sure you support candidates who support working families — and get it in!
IMMIGRATION
► In today’s Yakima H-R — Some call for changes to H-2A guest worker program — It’s no secret that farmers are relying more on the guest worker program to fill gaps in a declining field labor force due in part by stiffer control at the Mexico border and President Trump’s anti-immigrant sentiments. And with the increase comes a call for change by growers, who complain the program is too expensive, difficult to access and not available to the year-round agriculture industry such as dairy farmers.
ALSO TODAY at The Stand — We marched for the dignity of farm workers (by Jeff Johnson) — We need to do so much more to protect domestic and foreign guest workers from the exploitation that continues to go on every day in the fields in Washington state. Farm workers shouldn’t have to go to work to suffer, but rather to earn family-supporting wages and to be treated with dignity.
► In today’s Washington Post — When a Trump supporter’s wife is deported (by Dana Milbank) — Sgt. Temo Juarez was a Trump guy. An Iraq combat veteran who served as a Marine infantryman and then an Army National Guardsman, his friends called him a “super conservative.” With his wife, he brought up their two daughters in Central Florida. He supported Trump in 2016, eager for a change. But now, “I am eating my words.” On Friday, Juarez and his family became the latest victims of Trump’s zero-tolerance policy on immigration.
ALSO TODAY at The Stand — Join vigil for immigrant justice Thursday at Seattle ICE office — Wear your union colors and bring signs to the Seattle Labor for Keeping Families Together Vigil from 8 to 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 9 outside the Seattle ICE Office, 1000 2nd Ave. in downtown Seattle. UFCW 21 will provide donuts and coffee. See the Facebook event page to RSVP or get more details.
► From NBC News — Now the Trump administration wants to limit citizenship for legal immigrants — The Trump administration is expected to issue a proposal in coming weeks that would make it harder for legal immigrants to become citizens or get green cards if they have ever used a range of popular public welfare programs, including Obamacare.
THIS WASHINGTON
► From KNKX — Substitute teachers in Seattle push for better health insurance coverage — In Seattle, teachers who work as substitutes said they’ve been largely shut out of the district’s health insurance plan and they’re pushing to have better health coverage included in the new contract.
LOCAL
► In today’s Seattle Times — King County Metro named nation’s top public transportation agency — The American Public Transportation Association picked Metro for the honor based on 12 criteria, including safety, efficiency, maintenance and financial management. “This award goes to each one of the 4,700 employees at King County Metro, in honor of the hard work and amazing customer service they provide every day,” said Metro General Manager Rob Gannon.
► From The Stranger — That EMT who saved your life might be making barely more than the minimum wage — EMTs are calling on the City of Seattle to require their employer, the private company American Medical Response, to increase their pay. Council Member Kshama Sawant has taken up their cause.
THAT WASHINGTON
ALSO at The Stand — Congress: Block privatization of America’s Postal Service! — UPDATE: Since we first posted this call to action, Washington Reps. Suzan DelBene and Denny Heck have signed on as co-sponsors to HR 993 to ensure that the U.S. Postal Service remains an independent agency of the federal government and isn’t subject to privatization. Keep up the pressure! Visit this National Association of Letter Carriers action page to send a message urging your representative in the House to sign on as a co-sponsor of the resolution.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Did we mention he was talking about Bill Clinton?
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.