DAILY NEWS
Growing unions ● Will 747+50 = 797? ● Foxxconned ● Snow’s very nice
Friday, February 8, 2019
LOCAL
► In today’s (Longview) Daily News — Local unions seeing membership increase following statewide trend –According to the Washington State Labor Council, union members now make up 20 percent of the state’s workforce, making Washington the third most unionized state in the country, behind Hawaii and New York. “This is great news for all of Washington’s working families,” WSLC President Larry Brown said in a news release. “Union members earn more money, they boost our state and local economics and they lift working standards for everyone.” Shawn Nyman, former president of the Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Labor Council and member of SEIU 925, said unions in Cowlitz County are seeing an upward “energy” after successful strikes and negotiations by teachers, secretaries and other union workers.
ALSO at The Stand — Union growth in Washington is good for all working people (by Larry Brown)
ALSO at The Stand — Seattle, 1919: Labor’s most spectacular revolt (by Cal Winslow)
► In today’s Spokesman-Review — 100 years ago in Spokane: Labor Council says local workers likely wouldn’t mount sympathy strike in support of Seattle general strike — William J. Coates, the president of Spokane’s Central Labor Council, did not see any reason for Spokane workers to go on a sympathy strike in support of Seattle’s general strike.
► In today’s Yakima Herald — ICE agents can no longer simply ask Yakima County Jail to put immigration holds on prisoners — In a settlement, the Yakima County jail has agreed to stop handing local inmates over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers merely at their request. The settlement could affect other jails that may be using the same practice.
BOEING
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — 50 years after the 747 first flew, a 797 is on the horizon — Saturday marks the golden anniversary of the first test flight of Boeing’s iconic jumbo jet. Since then, Boeing has produced more than 1,500, all of them built at the big factory in Everett… Could the non-celebration also indicate Chicago-based Boeing has bigger things on its mind this year than throwing a nostalgic party? There are at least two major events on the 2019 calendar. Boeing plans to test-fly the 777X this year, with commercial deliveries to start in 2020. And the big question Washington and other aerospace states are asking: Will Boeing build a new “mid-market” airplane, the so-called 797 — and where?
ALSO at The Stand:
Washington #1 state (by far) to build new Boeing jet, study says (June 7, 2018)
Washington ranked #1 (again) for aerospace manufacturing (Sept. 13, 2018)
► In today’s Seattle Times — For Boeing, juggling cash flow often means “another ‘Houdini moment’” — Cash flow is the all-important measure by which Wall Street judges Boeing. Despite any setbacks, the company typically manages to exceed analysts’ estimates with maneuvers that can move around hundreds of millions of dollars.
THAT WASHINGTON
ALSO at The Stand — Pay issues lingering long after shutdown
PLUS — Tell your Representative to support H.R. 824
► From Politico — GOP border security negotiator: Chances of another shutdown are ‘nil or next to nil’ — A Republican member of the bipartisan conference committee responsible for reaching a deal on border security said Friday that there is “no appetite” in the Capitol for a second government shutdown this year.
► From The Hill — Former Rep. John Dingell dies at 92
► And then there’s this…
AOC: “We have a system that is fundamentally broken.”pic.twitter.com/sCwpkRzcHB
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) February 8, 2019
NATIONAL
► From Bloomberg — Inside Wisconsin’s disastrous $4.5 billion deal with Foxconn — “This is the Eighth Wonder of the World.” So declared Trump onstage last June at a press event at Foxconn’s new factory in Mount Pleasant, Wis. He was there to herald the potential of the Taiwanese manufacturing giant’s expansion into cheesehead country. He’d joined Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou and then-Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker to celebrate a partnership he’d helped broker — “one of the great deals ever,” Trump said. In exchange for more than $4.5 billion in government incentives, Foxconn had agreed to build a high-tech manufacturing hub on 3,000 acres of farmland south of Milwaukee and create as many as 13,000 good-paying jobs for “amazing Wisconsin workers” as early as 2022…
► And the beat goes on, from Reuters — U.S. Steel wins tax breaks from one of America’s poorest cities — Last year, Gary, Indiana, harbored hopes for a revival after Trump imposed tariffs on steel imports and the company planned a $750 million investment to modernize Gary Works, its largest North American plant. But it’s now clear those hopes will not translate into new steel jobs, even after the city and state offered the firm a $47 million tax break package.
► From The Hill — Illinois Senate passes bill raising minimum wage to $15 — If approved by the Democratic-controlled House, it would increase the state’s $8.25-an-hour minimum wage every year by $1.75 until 2025, when the hourly wage reaches $15.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Look what you did, SeaTac.
► In the SF Chgronicle — California workers waiting ‘on call’ must be paid, court rules — Employees who are required to stay “on call” before the start of a possible work shift — phoning their employer two hours before the shift to learn whether they’re needed — are entitled to be paid for that two-hour period regardless of whether they’re called in to work, a state appeals court ruled Monday.
► From Splinter — One of the world’s most iconic craft breweries is unionizing — Workers at San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing Company have announced a drive to gain union recognition on Thursday, according to members of the organizing committee. If successful, the maker of the iconic Anchor Steam beer will be the first craft brewery in the country to become a union shop.
► In today’s WSJ — Another Virginia official has a yearbook with blackface photos — A top Republican Virginia lawmaker was forced to defend his role editing a college yearbook with photographs of students in blackface, as the state’s political crisis spread to both parties Thursday.
T.G.I.F.
► As Snowmageddon 2019 bears down on western Washington, The Entire Staff of The Stand presents Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in a former building of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan. Very nice. Great success.
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.