NEWS ROUNDUP
Boeing soars ● Big raises ● Must-see Trumka
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
BOEING
► In today’s Seattle Times — Record Boeing earnings soar past Wall Street expectations — The key metric the stock market currently watches to judge Boeing’s performance is cash flow, which came in at $2.95 billion for the quarter and $15.3 billion for the full year. Also for the first time, Boeing’s revenue for the full year surpassed $100 billion.
► From Reuters — Exclusive: Boeing speeds 787 line to prepare for output of 14/month — Boeing Co has starting running 787 Dreamliner assembly lines at a rate ready to support higher output of 14 jets a month, raised from 12 per month, bringing it within reach of a goal designed to boost cash and reduce costs, people familiar with the matter said.
LOCAL
EDITOR’S NOTE — Want a raise? Get a union! Get more information about how you can join together with co-workers and negotiate a fair return for your hard work. Or go ahead and contact a union organizer today!
► From KIRO — Workers accuse grocery app Instacart of misusing their tips — Workers behind Instacart, the grocery delivery company and app, say they’re getting punished for getting a tip. People who shop and deliver for the app say the higher the tip, the less wage they make – and that the company is using customers’ tips to subsidize wages.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Howard Schultz is above the political fray — so high above he often doesn’t vote (by Danny Westneat) — Like a lot of outsider business execs who want to come in and fix politics, Howard Schultz has kept some distance from the mess of democracy in the past. By not voting.
THIS WASHINGTON
ALSO at The Stand — Worker classification needs more clarity in Washington state — Employees who are wrongly classified as independent contractors have a lot to lose, including minimum wage protections, overtime pay, unemployment insurance if they get laid off, workers’ compensation coverage if they are injured at work, and other protections that most of us take for granted.
► In today’s Olympian — No plan to arm teachers, but Legislature looks at other ways to keep schools safe — Democratic legislators outlined nine bills that would provide for the hiring of more guidance counselors and training and support for educators and students, among several items. None of them calls for arming teachers or other school personnel.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Inslee appoints Lisa Brown to lead Department of Commerce
THAT WASHINGTON
► From The Hill — No GOP appetite for a second shutdown — Senate Republicans are signaling they will do just about anything to prevent a second shutdown after the White House was widely seen as badly losing the political fight over the closure that ended with Trump’s retreat.
► In today’s Columbian — Herrera Beutler moves to reinstate rail safety rules –Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-3rd) has reintroduced a bill to reinstate oil train safety regulations. The rules, implemented by the Obama administration in 2015, were rolled back last year.
NATIONAL
► From HuffPost — Latino turnout surged. Then Texas questioned 98,000 voters’ citizenship. — A Republican-led effort to investigate the validity of nearly 100,000 voter registrations will likely hit Latinos hardest.
► In today’s Washington Post — Trump’s company plans to expand check of employees’ legal status following report that it hired undocumented workers for years
TODAY’S MUST-SEE
► From Media Matters — AFL-CIO president shuts down Fox host’s attack on immigrant workers — AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka: Undocumented workers are “great when no one’s around; when they try to organize and get a voice, then they start squeezing them… calling in ICE, and different things.”
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.