DAILY NEWS
800,000 struggling families ● Boeing cuts ● Unsafe at work
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
TRUMP’S SHUTDOWN
ALSO at The Stand — “Stop the Shutdown” rally with TSA officers TODAY at Sea-Tac Airport — AFGE TSA officers will rally on Tuesday, Jan. 22 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Flag Pavilion at the Sea-Tac International Airport entrance on International Blvd. to call for an immediate end to the shutdown. All union members and community supporters are invited to attend.
‘My children come home from school hungry, they open the refrigerator, and there isn’t anything.’ — This is what Trump’s shutdown is doing to families across the U.S. pic.twitter.com/0j4AsudQ4b
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) January 20, 2019
► From KUOW — Federal workers in Washington state struggle to survive without pay during shutdown — There are nearly 11,000 federal workers in Washington, one of the few states providing unemployment benefits to furloughed workers. But federal regulations prevent the state from providing unemployment to those who are required to work without pay.
► In today’s NY Times — Shutdown’s pain cuts deep for the homeless, other vulnerable Americans — One month in, with the Department of Housing and Urban Development hit hard, subsidies for low-income renters have stopped. And without lifeblood payments from HUD, nonprofit groups are scrambling to avoid layoffs and cuts to support services.
► From Politico — Shutdown squeezes every part of air travel — Canceled training classes, unbought luggage scanners and delays in plane deliveries are adding to the burdens as thousands work without pay.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Senate Republicans all but surrender to Trump on wall, despite shutdown’s toll
TAKE A STAND — Call your U.S. Senators at 1-866-803-8830 — or by clicking here — and urge them to reopen the government NOW by demanding an immediate vote in the Senate.
► In today’s Washington Post — Trump voters now blame him for the government shutdown — Two years ago, Jeff Daudert was fed up with politics. He wanted to shake up the status quo. He didn’t mind sending a message to the establishment — and, frankly, he liked the idea of a disruptive president. But the 49-year-old retired Navy reservist has had some second thoughts. “What the [expletive] were we thinking?” he asked the other night inside a Walmart here, in an area of blue-collar suburban Detroit that helped deliver the presidency to Trump.
► In today’s Washington Post — Shutdown in U.S., slowing growth in China fuel concerns over global economy
► From HuffPost — Shutdown leaves government websites vulnerable to hackers
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Stop holding people hostage, furloughed NOAA worker pleads — Everett resident Anna Kagley is one of the 800,000 workers not being paid as the shutdown continues.
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Rep. Larsen says ending shutdown comes before other issues — The 10-term congressman addressed questions about the federal closure, the wall and Trump.
► In today’s Bellingham Herald — As federal shutdown spreads to Bellingham Coast Guard, more residents asking how to help
► In today’s Peninsula Daily News — Local groups offer assistance to federal workers during shutdown
LOCAL
► In today’s Columbian — Vancouver district plans unfair labor claim against support staff — Vancouver Public Schools and the union announced they had reached a tentative agreement on Dec. 21, 2018, after months of bargaining. But last week, VAESP told its members that the district canceled that agreement. The district denies having done so and has now flipped the accusation onto the union, saying its leadership are the ones who withdrew from the tentative agreement.
► From KNKX — Seattle school district plans budget cuts, including reducing some librarians to part time — The school district has laid out its plans for making $39.7 million worth of cuts, including removing assistant principals from some schools and reducing some librarians to part time.
► In today’s Seattle Times — ‘I’m just gonna presume it’s late forever’: Seattle school-bus delays consistent during first week of viadoom — The closure of the Alaskan Way Viaduct has nothing on the months-long driver shortage faced by Seattle Public Schools’ main bus contractor, First Student.
MORE MLK Day coverage in the Columbia Basin Herald, Kitsap Sun, Peninsula Daily News, Seattle P-I, Skagit Valley Herald, (Tacoma) News Tribune, (Vancouver) Columbian, and the Yakima H-R.
ALSO at The Stand — MLK: Champion of unions, economic justice
► In the Yakima H-R — Women’s March on Yakima highlights missing, murdered indigenous women — As more than 400 people marched through downtown Yakima on Saturday, the names of missing and murdered Yakama Nation women echoed off the buildings.
MORE Women’s March coverage in the Ellensburg Daily Record, Peninsula Daily News, Seattle P-I, (Spokane) Spokesman-Review, and the Yakima H-R.
► In the News Tribune — Tacoma’s renowned chronicler of the working waterfront has died. Ron Magden was 92. — The book Ron Magden co-authored was essential reading for those hoping to understand Tacoma’s maritime heritage, its labor history and how the region’s ports, especially Tacoma’s, wound up looking like they do now.
THIS WASHINGTON
► From the AP — Former lawmaker ousted amid #MeToo registers as lobbyist — Former Rep. David Sawyer has registered as a lobbyist months after he lost his primary election following an investigation that found he violated the House’s policies on harassment, decorum and ethics.
THAT WASHINGTON
► In today’s NY Times — This should be the final answer to the census question (editorial) — The Trump administration is likely to appeal. But after U.S. District Court Judge Jesse M. Furman’s comprehensive, unassailable 277-page drubbing, it would be astonishing if any judge allowed Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to proceed with his hasty, sloppy meddling in the census.
► In today’s NY Times — Donald Trump did something right (by Elizabeth Rosenthal) — His administration has ordered hospitals to reveal their prices. If patients and politicians pay attention, this could be a big deal.
NATIONAL
► From HuffPost — Union membership in the U.S. dropped slightly in 2018 — The share of U.S. workers belonging to a labor union fell slightly last year, hovering near a historic low. The number of workers who are union members dropped only marginally, from 14.8 million in 2017 to 14.7 million in 2018, but an increase in workers in the U.S. meant that the percentage in unions fell more sharply, from 10.7 percent to 10.5.
ALSO at The Stand — Washington state’s unions post big membership gains — The state’s union membership rate increased to 19.8 percent of the total workforce in 2018, up from 18.8 percent in 2017, according to a report released Jan. 18 by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. With an additional 65,000 workers joining the ranks last year, there are now an estimated 649,000 union members in Washington, making it the third most unionized state in the nation.
JOIN TOGETHER! — If you don’t have a union at your job, learn how to join together with your co-workers and negotiate a fair return for your work. Click here to get started.
► BREAKING from the LA Times — LAUSD teachers’ strike, Day 6: Joint announcement at City Hall at 9:30 a.m. — Mayor Eric Garcetti and leaders of the Los Angeles school district and the teachers union will speak at a City Hall news conference Tuesday morning in what is widely expected to be an announcement about a deal to end the six-day teachers’ strike.
TODAY’S MUST-READ
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.