DAILY NEWS
A primary thrashing ● Teacher pay ● Caring about unions
Thursday, August 9, 2018
ELECTION
► In today’s Seattle Times — Washington’s primary-election vote puts Republicans on the spot in three U.S. House races — National political analysts downgraded Republican odds in some state congressional races, while leaders of both parties predicted increased attention to the state in the fight for control of the U.S. House.
YESTERDAY at The Stand — A fantastic day for labor candidates, causes
► In the News Tribune — Democrats celebrate ‘an embarrassment of riches’ from primary election results — A muscular showing had Democrats leading Republicans in races for at least 20 seats currently held by the GOP — 16 in the House and four in the Senate.
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — After this primary thrashing, GOP could be SOL in Olympia
► In today’s NY Times — The wind at labor’s back (editorial) — The two-to-one margin by which Missouri voters overturned the so-called right-to-work law appears to be the latest sign of resurgent and effective labor activism. The vote comes months after teacher strikes around the country forced Republican-controlled legislatures in states like West Virginia and Oklahoma to hand out big raises to overworked and underpaid workers for the first time in many years.
► From The Onion — Selfish Missouri voters reject anti-union law after everything bosses have done for them
LOCAL
► From AP — Tribune calls off $3.9B buyout by Sinclair — Tribune, which owns dozens of local television stations around the country including Seattle’s Q13 Fox, is on the hook for a $135 million breakup fee. It said that it is suing Sinclair for breach of contract.
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Boeing faces new production snarls for cash-cow 737 jetliner — The planemaker has about $1.8 billion of 737 inventory sitting on the tarmac at Renton.
► In today’s Tri-City Herald — Plutonium-contaminated equipment taken into Richland by mistake — A radiologically contaminated piece of equipment left the Hanford nuclear reservation and was taken into north Richland by mistake.
► In the (Aberdeen) Daily World — Salary increase discussions heat up between Aberdeen School District and teachers
THIS WASHINGTON
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Bids for new Mukilteo ferry terminal are millions too high — The state thought $65 million would be a good price, but the lowest bid came in at $72 million.
THAT WASHINGTON
► From Time — The last major TV factory in the U.S. is shutting down because of Trump’s tariffs — A South Carolina plant that assembles televisions using Chinese parts plans to shut down and lay off nearly all its employees because of new tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration, the company announced this week.
► From ProPublica — The shadow rulers of the VA — How Marvel Entertainment chairman Ike Perlmutter and two other Mar-a-Lago cronies of Donald Trump’s — none of them have ever served in the U.S. military or government — are secretly shaping the Trump administration’s veterans policies.
NATIONAL
► From AP — Puerto Rico acknowledges more than 1,400 people killed by Hurricane Maria — Puerto Rico has conceded that Hurricane Maria killed more than 1,400 people on the island last year and not just the 64 in the official death toll. The government acknowledged the higher death toll with no fanfare in a report submitted to Congress this week in which it detailed a $139 billion reconstruction plan for the island.
► In today’s Washington Post — The revised death toll in Puerto Rico makes Trump’s comparison to Katrina look even worse — It only took an hour or two for President Trump’s attempt to downplay the death toll in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria to be undercut by more accurate data. On Thursday, that effort looks even more starkly misguided with the release of new, much-higher estimates of mortality after the storm.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Rite Aid, Albertsons agree to abandon merger in the face of opposition — The Rite Aid pharmacy chain announced Wednesday that it had called off its proposed merger with Albertsons, the grocery retailer, after the deal appeared to lose the support of its shareholders.
► In today’s NY Times — New York hits Uber with cap, taking lead in crackdown — The New York City Council voted to halt licenses for ride-hail vehicles for a year while it studies the booming industry, the first legislation of its kind for a big U.S. city.
► NOT from The Onion, but in today’s Chicago Tribune — Gov. Rauner drinks chocolate milk to demonstrate his commitment to diversity — an awkward onstage appearance this week, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner drank a glass of chocolate milk to demonstrate his belief in diversity. “It’s really, really good,” Rauner said after taking a sip of the sugary drink. “Diversity!”
TODAY’S MUST-READ
Owing largely to a sustained political assault on unions, their memberships have been declining since the mid-20th century — a trend that, not coincidentally, maps neatly onto rising economic inequality and falling wages. The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Janus v. AFSCME is the latest blow to unions, effectively instituting a nationwide “right-to-work” regime for public-sector unions. Right to work forces unions to represent even those who don’t pay dues or claim membership, discouraging workers from joining and contributing. In short, it kills unions by attrition.
JOIN TOGETHER! — If you are interested in hearing how you and your co-workers can join together to win better wages and working conditions — and respect on the job — contact a union organizer today!
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.