Wednesday, October 10, 2018

LOCAL

► In today’s Seattle Times — Boeing finally begins to reduce its 737 delivery backlog — Boeing delivered 61 of the single-aisle 737s in September, up from 29 in July and 48 in August. Managers added some 600 workers in Renton to help clear the backlog, but getting them up to speed proved difficult. Brought in either as new hires or transferred from other jet programs, many had no experience on the specific 737 work.

► In the Skagit Valley Herald — Shell refinery shuts down its units — Shell Puget Sound Refinery shut down its units in Anacortes today due to an issue with an offsite natural gas line used by the refinery.

► In today’s News Tribune — Councilwoman Pam Roach drops a four-letter bomb on her son during a public meeting — During a budget retreat, Pierce County Councilwoman Pam Roach, angered about being gaveled down during a testy debate, dropped an f-bomb on her son, Councilman Dan Roach, who was running the meeting and pounding the gavel. The News Tribune has obtained an audio clip of the meeting.

THIS WASHINGTON

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — New tax and tax cut make it in state schools chief’s big plan — The leader of the state public schools system on Tuesday called for enacting a capital gains tax to provide hundreds of millions of additional dollars for education and shave hundreds of dollars from state property tax bills. Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal also wants laws revamped for school districts to collect more money from local levies and pass construction bonds more easily.

► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Legislators ‘not that special’ when it comes to public records law, media lawyers say — Washington law has hundreds of exemptions to the Public Records Act that would likely allow legislators to protect sensitive information, attorneys who specialize in media law told a task force.

THAT WASHINGTON

► From The Hill — Dems to force health care vote weeks before midterms — The vote will highlight that President Trump and congressional Republicans support the expansion of non-ObamaCare plans which can deny coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. “On Wednesday, Senate Republicans get an opportunity to demonstrate independence from Trump and vote against junk insurance plans,” said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).

► From HuffPost — Trump officials plan Obamacare site shutdowns during open enrollment — The Trump administration plans to take the Healthcare.gov website offline for hours at a time for maintenance during the coming Obamacare enrollment season. Healthcare advocacy groups question whether the administration is trying to prevent people from signing up for plans through the Affordable Care Act.

► From at AP — Missouri judge blocks key portions of Voter ID law ahead of midterms — A Missouri judge on Tuesday blocked key portions of the state’s voter photo identification law, meaning some voters could find it easier to cast ballots in a November election headlined by a hotly contested U.S. Senate race.

► From Salon — Nikki Haley called out by ethics watchdog right before her surprise resignation — On Monday, a group asked to have Haley investigated for accepting unethical air travel expenses for herself and her husband in luxury private aircraft from three wealthy businessmen in North Carolina.

► From The Hill — Dems eye ambitious agenda if House flips

EDITOR’S NOTE — This report includes interviews with all the senior Democrats in line for committee chairmanships, including Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) of the Armed Services Committee and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

NATIONAL

► In the USA Today — Marriott workers on strike in eight U.S. cities — About 7,700 Marriott International employees in eight cities have walked out on strike and say they will stay off the job until they reach an agreement on a new contract with the world’s largest hotel company. The largest strike locations are Hawaii, Boston and San Francisco. The cities of Oahu and Maui in Hawaii have 2,700 Marriott workers on strike, San Francisco has 2,500 and Boston has 1,800. The other affected cities are: San Diego, Oakland, San Jose and Detroit. Almost two dozen hotels have been affected.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Visit UNITEHERE’s Marriott Travel Alert site for information about the strike and how event planners can protect themselves. Also, check out the site’s “At Risk Hotels” page. Every Marriott hotel listed has moved from the At Risk column to the On Strike column, save one: Westin Seattle by Marriott. Will they be next?

ALSO at The Stand — Seattle Westin (Marriott) hotel workers vote to authorize strike

► From Bloomberg — AFL-CIO faces a strike of its own — On Tuesday, AFL-CIO employees represented by the OPEIU unanimously voted to authorize a strike. The vote by union members, including about 50 janitors, secretaries and accountants for the AFL-CIO, empowers union leaders to set a date for a walkout. OPEIU said the vote followed AFL-CIO management’s decision to impose a new contract that employees had unanimously rejected.

► From HuffPost — UPS drivers voted down their union contract, but the Teamsters are ratifying it anyway — The union approved a new 5-year agreement with the shipping giant after 54 percent of the 92,604 UPS workers who cast ballots voted down the proposal. But under the union’s constitution, if less than half of eligible union members vote, at least two-thirds of the votes must be “no” in order to reject a final offer.

TODAY’S MUST-READ

► In today’s NY Times — What union organizers can teach Democrats (by Jane McAlevey) — Because the very tactics long used against workers in workplace elections have now been exported to the broader electoral arena, it’s important to understand three lessons about how to win by union organizers who continue to achieve victory even when faced with a ruthless, break-all-the-rules, determined opposition. First, even though one side needs only a simple majority of those who vote, workers who want to succeed must try to build supermajority participation and support (75 percent) to stand a chance on Election Day… Second, you must build supermajority participation, because, as the election approaches, the opposition will succeed at stripping support from a key percentage of previous yes voters… Third, to counteract the litany of outrageous lies from the employer’s hired guns, it takes discipline to constantly connect the undecided and anti-union voters to the issues they themselves think matters most, like reasonable workload limits, on-the-job safety, putting sexually harassing managers in their place and the right to retire (to know this, you have to have asked them first). Union organizers help the voter realize that the union buster offers zero solutions. The most important aspect of defeating the avoidance specialists is to inoculate people against the opponents’ lies before they start and throughout the campaign.

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