Thursday, September 6, 2018

PAY OUR TEACHERS

► In today’s News Tribune — School canceled Thursday for Tacoma and Puyallup students as bargaining continues — It’s official: no school in Tacoma or Puyallup Thursday. Strikes by teachers in both districts are moving forward. After a long day of bargaining, the district and Puyallup Education Association (PEA) teachers had not reached an agreement on salaries. Tacoma teachers were also locked in continuing negotiations Wednesday evening, with no settlement in sight.

ALSO at The Stand — WSLC grants strike sanction in Tacoma teachers strike

MORE coverage of the Tacoma strike from KNKX and the Seattle Times.

► In today’s News Tribune — Angry over Tacoma and Puyallup teacher strikes? Economic insecurity might play a part in that (by Matt Driscoll) — The anger that teachers in Tacoma, Puyallup and elsewhere will face likely has little to do with them or their demands. It has much more to do with the economic insecurity too many of us face.

► In today’s (Longview) Daily News — Longview district seeks injunction against teachers’ strike — Longview schools will remain closed on Thursday, but the district says it will go to court to force striking teachers back to their classrooms. Students Thursday will miss their sixth day of classes, even though some progress was reported in the latest round of contract talks. Superintendent Dan Zorn met with union negotiators face-to-face, though he did not actually engage in bargaining.

► From The Olympian — Tumwater will go to court to try to get striking teachers back to work — The Tumwater School District will go to court Friday to try to get its teachers back to work. Teachers have been on strike since Saturday, when their contract expired. The two sides have been unable to reach a deal on a new contract, with issues of teacher pay, class sizes and safety all on the table, according to the union.

► In today’s Columbian — Washougal teachers union, district reach tentative agreement — The Washougal School District announced that it reached a tentative agreement with the Washougal Association of Educators shortly after 6 p.m. Wednesday. The teachers union has been on strike since Aug. 28. That leaves only teachers in Evergreen and Battle Ground on strike (in Clark County). Washougal teachers will hold a ratification vote on the agreement Thursday morning. 

► In today’s Olympian — Rainier schools to open Thursday, but Tumwater, Centralia still out — Schools in Rainier will start Thursday after the Rainier School District reached a tentative contract agreement with the Rainier Education Association.

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — School canceled for third day in Stanwood-Camano district — Bargaining teams planned to work into Wednesday night to find a resolution.

► In today’s Yakima H-R — Some Yakima Valley teachers’ contracts remain unsettled — At least five Yakima Valley school districts reached settlements with their teachers unions in the past week, leaving at least four others still in negotiations.

► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Tentative deal reached in Central Valley School District teachers’ contract negotiations

FOR THE LATEST on which school districts are on strike and which have reached contract settlements, visit the Washington Education Association’s website or check out their interactive map.

LOCAL

► In today’s Seattle Times — Group of Whole Foods workers aims to unionize, report says — A group of workers at Whole Foods Market is trying to form a union, charging that compensation has declined since Amazon bought the organic grocer last year. The workers planned to send an email to employees of most Whole Foods stores on Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported. Organizers, the email said, want to “collectively voice our concerns to Whole Foods Market and Amazon leadership.”

► In today’s Seattle Times — King County Council approves $135 million in taxpayer funds for Mariners ballpark — The Metropolitan King County Council voted 5-4 Wednesday to approve $135 million in taxpayer funds for repairs at the Seattle Mariners ballpark. A Mariners executive said after the vote that the team should now be able to sign a new long-term lease to keep the club at the ballpark for the next 25 years.

► In today’s Bellingham Herald — ICE arrests 16 in Whatcom County during ‘criminal investigation’ — Agents from the U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement arrested 16 people in Whatcom County last week in an “ongoing criminal investigation,” according to an ICE spokesperson.

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Mayor recommends cuts, including 13 jobs, and fee increases — Everett faces a $13 million budget deficit. No reduction of police officers or firefighters is planned.

THAT WASHINGTON

► From TPM — In leaked docs, Kavanaugh challenged whether Roe v. Wade was ‘settled law’

EDITOR’S NOTE — Kinda like when the conservatives on the Supreme Court decided that the unanimous Abood decision and more than 40 years of subsequent legal precedent was not “settled law” when they imposed so-called right-to-work restrictions on public employees nationwide with Janus. Apparently, these right-wing activist justices consider no issue settled when they personally disagree with it.

► From TPM — Judiciary Dems say they’ll risk punishment to release withheld Kavanaugh docs — During a round of remarks before the questioning kicked off, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said he was going to release an email titled “racial profiling,” which the senator referenced Wednesday, that had been designated committee confidential.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Watch as Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) threatens to expel or dismiss senators who release Kavanaugh documents that republicans want to keep confidential, Booker looks him dead in the eye and says, “Bring it.”

► MUST-READ in today’s NY Times — I am part of the resistance inside the Trump administration (by Anonymous) — The dilemma — which (President Trump) does not fully grasp — is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations. I would know. I am one of them… The root of the problem is the president’s amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making… Meetings with him veer off topic and off the rails, he engages in repetitive rants, and his impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back.

► From Politico — ‘It’s open season on the president’: Op-ed unleashes West Wing meltdown — One senior administration official described a White House in “total meltdown” by Wednesday evening, after the president went on television to directly attack the author and the New York Times.

NATIONAL

► From HuffPost — Thousands of Marriott workers to vote on multi-city strike — UNITE HERE says affiliates around the country will be holding a series of strike authorization votes involving as many as 12,000 members starting on Sept. 10. Local unions in four cities ― Waikiki, Maui, San Francisco and Boston ― have already scheduled their votes. Local unions in five other cities ― Seattle, Oakland, San Jose, Detroit and Boston ― may follow them.

ALSO at The Stand — Labor Day protesters to Marriott: One job should be enough!

► In today’s Seattle Times — Minimum wage increases in six cities working as intended, Berkeley study of food-service jobs finds — The minimum wage increases that started four years ago are spreading across the country, but economists continue to debate the impact of the policies. The latest look at increased wage floors in six U.S. cities, including Seattle, finds that food-service workers saw increases in pay and no widespread job losses.

ALSO at The Stand — No job loss from higher minimum wages

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