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McKinley deal ● More UNITE HERE ● World’s best not getting paid

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

 


LOCAL

 

► In today’s Peninsula Daily News — An accord is reached: McKinley Paper Co., local union agree to labor contract — McKinley Paper Co. has reached agreement with the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers Local 155 on a new labor deal that will be in effect once McKinley opens its Ediz Hook paper mill. The question remains when the plant will begin production of containerboard out of 100 percent recycled cardboard. The mill was owned by Japanese-owned Nippon Paper Industries USA when it closed in March 2017, leaving 150 workers without jobs. “It’s good for the community up there and the entire region,” said the AWPPW’s Greg Pallesen.

► From KIRO 7 — Coding school on Eastside offers full-ride scholarships for laid-off teachers — Coding Dojo in Bellevue just launched a program offering full-ride scholarships, worth a total of $420,000, for up to 30 Washington State teachers who recently lost their job.

 


BOEING

 

► From KING 5 — First flight for Boeing 777X on hold until engine issues resolved — At Everett’s Paine Field there are two 777X planes on the Boeing flight line that are heading nowhere — for now. The 777X is still in development. It’s an advanced jet with the world’s biggest composite wings made of carbon fiber instead of aluminum. It has a folding wingtip and the world’s largest engines. The first flight is running up to six months behind.

 


THIS WASHINGTON

 

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Annual disclosure: Tax breaks saved Boeing $230M in 2018 — The Boeing Co. slashed its state tax bill last year by $230 million, taking advantage of multiple breaks available to Washington’s aerospace industry. Boeing’s 2018 tax savings was on par with the $227 million it saved in 2017 but was less than the $242 million tax break it reported for 2016… In 2018, Boeing hired 8,500 new workers in the state. Factoring in retirements and departures, that was a net increase of 3,984 employees, the Choose Washington Council reported in February.

► In today’s Seattle Times — Washington state clears one of several firms involved in deadly crane collapse — L&I said Monday it formally closed its investigation into Seaburg Construction and found no violations. The company– one of the five companies involved in the South Lake Union construction project where a tower crane collapsed in late April, killing four — had provided the personnel that operated the tower crane and wasn’t involved in dismantling it, work that was underway when it collapsed.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Ironworkers Local 86 has set up a fund to assist the families of Andrew Yoder and Travis Corbet, the two union members killed in the crane collapse. Donations can be made at Ironworkers USA Credit Union. Call 206-835-0150 or 1-877-769-4766 or make a donation online here.

► From Kaiser Health News — New payroll tax is pioneering experiment to help Washington state seniors age at home — Nearly a decade after federal officials discarded a provision in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that would have provided Americans with long-term care insurance benefits, two states — Washington and Hawaii — are experimenting with taxpayer-funded plans to help older residents remain in their homes.

► From Vox — California is cracking down on the gig economy — The state Assembly passed a bill Wednesday that would make it harder for companies to label workers as independent contractors instead of employees, a common practice that has allowed businesses to skirt state and federal labor laws. The bill will now go to the state Senate.

EDITOR’S NOTE — A similar effort in Washington’s Legislature failed to pass this year, but will be back.

► In today’s NY Times — With most states under one party’s control, America grows more divided — It is the first time in more than a century that all but one state legislature is dominated by a single party. Most legislative sessions have ended or are scheduled to end in a matter of days in capitals across the nation, and Republican-held states have rushed forward with conservative agendas as those controlled by Democrats have pushed through liberal ones.

 


THAT WASHINGTON

 

► In today’s Washington Post — How Mexico talked Trump out of tariff threat with immigration crackdown pact — Mexican negotiators persuaded Trump to back down from his tariff threat by agreeing to an unprecedented crackdown on Central American migrants and accepting more-expansive measures in Mexico if the initial efforts don’t deliver quick results.

► In today’s NY Times — Trump says Mexico tariffs worked, emboldening trade fight with China — Trump has concluded his tariff threat worked and forced Mexico to stop the flow of migrants. On Monday, he pivoted back to his trade fight with China and vowed to hit Beijing with more tariffs if it did not accede to America’s trade demands.

► From the National Law Review — NLRB finds inflatables debatable — “Scabby the Rat” and “Corporate Fat Cat”…beware.  A recent NLRB Advice Memorandum suggests that the use of oversized inflatable rats may constitute illegal secondary picketing… The U.S. Supreme Court long has held that handbilling (as opposed to picketing) at a neutral employer’s business is lawful, protected activity.  Three NLRB decisions issued during Obama’s terms applied the same reasoning towards bannering and inflatable balloons. In those cases, the NLRB concluded that a stationary banner was only a form of communication and not picketing. But the NLRB General Counsel now opines that a banner is a “functional equivalent” of a picket sign.

 


NATIONAL

 

► From HuffPost — The Marriott strike helped grow the largest hotel workers union — A labor union representing Marriott workers says it’s building off the success of a large strike last year to add new members inside the world’s largest hotel chain. Nearly 8,000 Marriott employees in eight cities took part in the work stoppages in October and November, under the rallying cry “one job should be enough.” The strike grabbed national headlines and ended with higher wages and better health care for housekeepers and other hotel staff. Since then, UNITE HERE has won elections at non-union Marriott properties in Baltimore, San Francisco, San Diego and Irvine, Calif., adding more than 1,000 new members to the union’s ranks.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Are you a hotel worker (or any other worker) who wants better wages and health care? 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 Time — Video game creators are burned out and desperate for change — As tens of thousands of video game fans and creators gather in L.A. this week for the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), a difficult truth about the gaming industry is beginning to emerge: what’s seen by outsiders as a fun, creative business is becoming psychologically and financially unbearable for those working in it. “Every game you like is built on the backs of workers,” says Nathan Allen Ortega, 34, a former game manager for Telltale.

EDITOR’S NOTE — See note above.

► From WWJ — Downtown Detroit security officers threaten strike if they’re not allowed to unionize — Security officers in the city of Detroit are the latest group to band together and demand a $15-an-hour wage. More than 100 of them threaten to boycott work if that demand is not met. They’re also seeking to organize a union.

 


TODAY’S MUST-READ

 

► From the NY Times Magazine — The best women’s soccer team in the world fights for equal pay — The United States women’s national team is the best in the world and has been for decades. The team is favored to successfully defend its World Cup title, despite a field of opponents whose depth, fitness and all-around sophistication improved drastically even in the past four years, reflecting the rapid growth of women’s soccer globally. It was particularly important, then, in the months leading up to this moment, for the American women to keep their focus, minimize distractions and avoid drama at all costs. Which they did, with one enormous exception. On March 8, they sued the United States Soccer Federation, claiming “purposeful gender discrimination.” “The bottom line is simple,” the star defender Becky Sauerbrunn said in a statement. “It is wrong for us to be paid and valued less for our work because of our gender.”

 


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

CHECK OUT THE UNION DIFFERENCE in Washington: higher wages, affordable health and dental care, job and retirement security.

FIND OUT HOW TO JOIN TOGETHER with your co-workers to negotiate for better wages, benefits, and a voice at work. Or go ahead and contact a union organizer today!