Tuesday, July 16, 2019

THIS WASHINGTON

► From Washington State Wire — New poll finds majority of likely Washington voters support guaranteed overtime pay policy — A new poll from Patinkin Research Strategies shows a majority of likely November 2020 Washington voters support a guaranteed overtime pay policy. The poll, which was commissioned by Civic Ventures, aims to evaluate voter opinion on the Department of Labor and Industries’ (L&I) recent draft changes to Washington’s overtime rules… Poll results show that 67% of those surveyed support a guaranteed overtime pay policy, with 19% in opposition and 14% undecided.

ALSO at The Stand — Attend hearings to restore overtime pay — Hearings continue TODAY in Seattle at 9 a.m. at The Swedish Club, 1920 Dexter Ave N., and TOMORROW (Wednesday) in Bellingham at 9 a.m. at Four Points by Sheraton Bellingham Hotel & Conference Center, 714 Lakeway Dr.

LEARN MORE at the WSLC’s Restore Overtime page.

► From the AP — State Court of Appeals rules Seattle’s wealth tax is unconstitutional, but gives cities new leeway — Seattle’s tax on wealthy households is unconstitutional and should remain off the books for now, the Washington state Court of Appeals ruled Monday. But Seattle and other Washington cities are allowed to tax net income as a matter of law, the Court of Appeals also determined in its significant ruling, declaring void a 35-year-old ban enacted by the Legislature and opening the door to a battle at the state Supreme Court that could have far-reaching consequences.

► In today’s Yakima H-R — New state rules for child care providers to take effect on Aug. 1 — People who provide child care inside their homes will be required to comply with new rules as of Aug. 1 in Washington state, raising uncertainty among some providers.

LOCAL

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — New deal makes Mukilteo teachers among state’s highest paid — Teachers in Mukilteo public schools will be among the best paid in the state under a new three-year contract approved Monday by the district’s board of directors. The most seasoned classroom instructors will earn nearly $124,000-a-year under the collective bargaining agreement, the top mark for a public school teacher in Washington. Meanwhile, starting pay for a first-year teacher will be $60,000, also one of the highest marks in the state.

► In the (Everett) Herald — After 40 years, Skagit college likely done on South Whidbey — Years of funding cuts and dwindling enrollment prompted the idea. The decision hasn’t been finalized.

► In today’s Seattle Times — Seattle City Council votes to adjust human-services contracts as cost of living rises — Under the bill, contracts will rise with year-to-year changes in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers in the region, which tracks shifts in how much workers pay for various goods and services.

► In today’s Seattle Times — Mayor’s approach to Seattle police reforms could prolong oversight, council members say; union offers to talk

BOEING

► From the AP — Man whose family died in Boeing 737 Max crash: Scrap the jet — A man who lost his wife, mother-in-law and three young children in the crash of a 737 Max in Ethiopia says Boeing should scrap the plane and top executives should resign and face criminal charges.

► From the AP — Boeing jet trouble leads to cuts at Europe’s busiest airline — Europe’s biggest airline, budget carrier Ryanair, will cut flights and close some of its bases beginning this winter because of the delay to deliveries of the Boeing 737 Max plane, which has been grounded globally after two fatal crashes.

ALSO at The Stand — Boeing’s cost-cutting business model is failing (by Stan Sorscher)

THE PRESIDENT IS A RACIST

► From the Washington Post — The complete list of GOP lawmakers reacting to Trump’s ‘go back’ tweet — Washington Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler and Cathy McMorris Rodgers are among the handful of Republicans who “took the opportunity to criticize Democrats at the same time they condemned the president’s words.” Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-4th) has so far refused to comment.

EDITOR’S NOTE — McMorris Rodgers simply called Trump’s racist comments “wrong,” but then released a screed against socialism and in defense of capitalism, which is her party’s campaign theme heading into the 2020 elections. In a statement through a spokesman, she said: “The president’s tweets yesterday were wrong and distract from the discourse we’re having in this country about socialism. Freedom-loving Americans will win this debate with the facts, not personal attacks: Capitalism has done more to lift people out of poverty and raise the standard of living than any other economic system in the world.” In other words, her statement is not about the hateful and divisive rhetoric of a racist president, it’s about trying to get both of them re-elected.

► In today’s Seattle Times — Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric calls for a bipartisan rebuke (editorial) — Trump deserves a bipartisan rebuke at every political level. By this point, only the specific words Trump chose should be surprising. He has used abhorrent descriptions for foreign countries and his fellow Americans alike for years. He is unapologetic in his discriminatory business practices and the racial rhetoric that buoyed him into political prominence.

► In today’s Washington Post — With breathtaking cynicism, the GOP pretends not to see Trump’s racism (by Eugene Robinson) — The silence from prominent Republicans is staggering — and telling. It amounts to collaboration — perhaps “collusion” is a better word — with the president’s assault on diversity and pluralism. In the coming campaign, you will hear Republican candidates at every level claim to be colorblind and embrace all Americans regardless of race or ethnicity. Do not believe them. Their failure to speak out now tells us everything we need to know about their true feelings.

► From NBC News — House to vote on resolution condemning Trump’s ‘racist comments’ — The House on Tuesday will vote on a resolution condemning President Donald Trump’s “racist comments” directed at four congresswomen of color who he should “go back” where “they came” from. The resolution twice refers to “racist comments” by Trump but does not call the president a racist.

► From Reuters — Trump tells Republicans not show ‘weakness’ over his attacks on congresswomen — Trump on Tuesday pressured fellow Republicans not to back House Democrats’ resolution to condemn his repeated attacks on four minority congresswomen, saying he was not a racist and tying the issue to his 2020 re-election bid.

► In today’s NY Times — A blaring message in Republicans’ muted criticism: It’s Trump’s party

► From TPM — Fox News bends over backward to paint Trump tweets as anything but racist

► In today’s NY Times — Racism comes out of the closet (by Paul Krugman) — This should be a moment of truth for anyone who describes Trump as a “populist” or asserts that his support is based on “economic anxiety.” He’s not a populist, he’s a white supremacist. His support rests not on economic anxiety, but on racism.

THAT WASHINGTON

► From Bloomberg — NLRB repeatedly topples precedent without public input — The National Labor Relations Board’s ruling last week that made it easier for employers to oust unions marked at least the 10th time during the Trump administration that the NLRB settled case law without giving prior notice or an opportunity for public input, according to a review of decisions.

► In today’s Yakima H-R — Who is ICE arresting and deporting? The answers aren’t clear — ICE data obtained by Syracuse University and the University of Washington’s Center for Human Rights shows that more than half of undocumented individuals detained in jails had no criminal convictions. And many who were incarcerated for criminal charges committed DUIs or other traffic offenses.

► In today’s Washington Post — Trump administration to move over 80 percent of key Interior Dept. agency employees out of Washington — The administration argues the move will bring roughly 300 federal staffers closer to the places they oversee, while critics contend it will dismantle the Bureau of Land Management.

► From The Hill — Labor leader to Democrats: How you win us back — UMWA President Cecil Roberts describes the United Mine Workers union’s plan, and says, “There’s no such thing as a ‘just transition.’ People are going to have to articulate what am I going to do if you lose your job, and what am I going to do if you lose your job.”

NOTHING TO SEE HERE

► In today’s Washington Post — Earth just had its hottest June on record, on track for warmest July — Boosted by a historic heat wave in Europe and unusually warm conditions across the Arctic and Eurasia, the average temperature of the planet soared to its highest level ever recorded in June. According to data released Monday by NASA, the global average temperature was 1.7 degrees Fahrenheit (0.93 Celsius) above the June norm (based on a 1951-to-1980 baseline), easily breaking the previous June record of 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit (0.82 Celsius), set in 2016, above the average. The month was punctuated by a severe heat wave that struck Western Europe in particular during the last week, with numerous all-time-hottest-temperature records falling in countries with centuries-old data sets.

NATIONAL

► From The Hill — Labor unions back strikes, boycotts targeting Amazon ‘Prime Day’ — The AFL-CIO, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, and the Communications Workers of America have asked would-be Amazon customers to stand with warehouse workers and delivery drivers in calling for safer working conditions.

A message of #Solidarity with @AwoodMpls @amazon workers from national @AFLCIO Secretary-Treasurer @lizshuler #PrimeDay #HearOurVoice pic.twitter.com/SvPhWQK1bt

— Minnesota AFL-CIO (@MNAFLCIO) July 15, 2019

► From HuffPost — Why thousands of Amazon workers are striking on Prime Day — Midway through the work day on Monday, the first day of Amazon’s Prime Day sale extravaganza, workers at the company’s distribution center in Shakopee, Minnesota, walked off the job in protest of what they’ve described as unreasonable and unsafe working conditions. It was reportedly the first major strike of Amazon workers in the U.S. during Prime Day, one of the company’s biggest sales events of the year.

► From The Onion — Amazon workers attempting walkout enter 7th hour wandering in ever-expanding, labyrinthian warehouse 

► In today’s LA Times — Uber and Lyft drivers were paid up to $100 to protest a bill that could make them employees — Fighting to stave off a bill that could force them to treat their workers as employees, Uber and Lyft last week deployed an unusual weapon: a promise of extra pay to drivers willing to lobby on their behalf.

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