DAILY NEWS
Local CEOs got 35% raise. You? ● “Welcome home, Ilhan!” ● What’s So Funny
Friday, July 19, 2019
LOCAL
ALSO at The Stand — Rich CEOs get richer, unlike the rest of us — Legere was paid 1,116 times the median employee pay at his company.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Northwest CEOs saw a lopsided bump in equity pay — The average CEO compensation package in the Pacific Northwest jumped by 35 percent over 2017, to $4.81 million. That increase was far more than the average worker saw — a discrepancy that will only add fuel to the controversy over what some critics refer to as “runaway” CEO pay. But there was another part to the compensation story in 2018 — a less visible part, perhaps, but arguably the more important one. In nearly all cases, the bulk of the huge increases in 2018 came in the form of equity — company stock or “options” to buy stock — a pattern that is increasingly common across the corporate world.
► In today’s Tri-City Herald — Benton County workers picket as salary negotiations stall — Stalled contract negotiations between Benton County and the union that represents 110 courthouse employees are headed to mediation. Negotiators for the county and the Washington State Council of County and City Employees Local 874HC will meet with a mediator next week. County employees conducted information pickets throughout the day Thursday to draw attention to the impasse. Salary demands are the main sticking point.
BOEING
► In today’s Seattle Times — Boeing faces largest quarterly loss in its history after a $4.9 billion financial hit — Girding to compensate its worldwide airline customers for delayed deliveries and disrupted schedules, Boeing on Thursday bit the bullet and announced a $4.9 billion after-tax accounting charge for the ongoing grounding of the 737 MAX jet. This huge hit to earnings will produce the biggest quarterly loss in Boeing’s history when it reports its financial results next week… In arriving at the multibillion-dollar charge figure, Boeing said it “assumed approval of 737 MAX return to service in the U.S. and other jurisdictions begins early in the fourth quarter 2019.
► From Bloomberg — FAA has no timeline for lifting grounding of Boeing’s 737 Max — U.S. aviation regulators have no timeline for returning Boeing’s grounded 737 Max to service and won’t act until they are sure it is safe, the nation’s top transportation official said.
THIS WASHINGTON
► In today’s Columbian — Ballots on way for Aug. 6 primary vote — Ballots are on their way to registered voters, capping an unusually busy primary season in local politics.
ALSO at The Stand — Labor walk for Sen. Liz Lovelett on Saturday
► From Crosscut — As Seattle gets closer to an income tax, state Republicans work to stop it — State Sen. Steve O’Ban (R-Tacoma) is urging Democratic Attorney General Bob Ferguson to step in to defend the income-tax prohibition, which Washington lawmakers originally approved in 1984. O’Ban asked Ferguson to intervene in the case, which is expected to be taken up by the state Supreme Court.
► From KNKX — Statewide group deploys ‘trusted messengers’ so nobody is left uncounted in 2020 census — The count doesn’t begin for several months, but organizations are already getting the word out about the importance of taking part. Washington Census Alliance Manager Kamau Chege says his group has focused specifically on populations that are historically undercounted, including people of color.
THE PRESIDENT IS A RACIST
► In today’s Washington Post — Trump supporters’ newest rallying cry — ‘Send her back!’— reverberates across a nation fraught with racial tension — After days of inflaming the nation’s racial tensions, President Trump stood before a mostly white crowd of supporters Wednesday and observed what he had wrought. “Send her back! Send her back!” the crowd chanted as Trump looked on silently for 13 seconds, basking in the response to his attacks on a Somali-born Muslim congresswoman whom he had accused of supporting terrorists and hating America. The new rallying cry of Trump’s supporters unleashed emotional responses from people across the country, with some outraged by and others supportive of the president’s latest polarizing act.
► In today’s NY Times — Trump disavows ‘send her back’ chant as GOP frets over ugly phrase — Nervous Republicans, from senior members of Congress to his own daughter Ivanka, urged Trump to repudiate the “send her back” chant directed at a Somali-born congresswoman during his speech the night before at a rally in North Carolina.
► From TPM — Trump suddenly doesn’t seem so sorry about the ‘send her back’ chant — Not even 24 hours after telling reporters that he was “not happy” with the “send her back” chant against Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) at his reelection rally earlier this week, Trump on Friday seemed to be more onboard with the widely condemned message.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Here’s Rep. Ilhan Omar getting a hero’s welcome in her district (accompanied by our own Rep. Pramila Jayapal) to chants of “Welcome home, Ilhan!”
Congresswoman Omar just arrived back in the Twin Cities. pic.twitter.com/ZiFqWnDJgQ
— Tom Hauser (@thauserkstp) July 18, 2019
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Trump’s attacks warrant his impeachment (by Rep. Rick Larsen) — I made the decision to call for impeachment after the president’s statement that some members of Congress should go back to the countries they came from. It is clear from this message that the president has no understanding of what it means to be a U.S. citizen, what it takes to become a citizen, or what it means to the people of the world to strive for the dream of being an American.
THAT WASHINGTON
► In today’s NY Times — House passes bill to raise minimum wage to $15, a victory for liberals — The House voted Thursday to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025, delivering a long-sought victory to liberals and putting the Democratic Party’s official imprimatur on the so-called Fight for $15, which many Democratic presidential candidates have embraced.
ALSO at The Stand — House Dems OK $15 minimum wage but Senate GOP vows to kill it
► From KTVZ — Merkley co-sponsors clean-energy jobs bill — Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and AFL-CIO President Richard L. Trumka unveiled the Good Jobs for 21st Century Energy Act on Thursday, major new legislation to create good-paying jobs in the transition to clean energy. “This is the right bill at the right time to fight climate change and create the kind of family-sustaining jobs our country is desperate for,” Trumka said. “For too long, the corporate right-wing—the polluters and the union-busters—conspired together to create a false choice: a raising wages economy or a clean environment. We can and must have both.”
ALSO at The Stand — Labor-environment alliance still strong, getting major wins (by Larry Brown)
► From FEDweek — Many possible roads ahead in executive orders fight — Federal unions say they will continue to fight three Trump administration orders on union and disciplinary matters in light of an appeals court ruling that the dispute belongs before the FLRA rather than in the federal courts, at least at this point. The course is unclear for the present, however; the unions say they are looking at their options, most of which could stretch out the case for months at least.
NATIONAL
► From Bloomberg — Organize 100,000 new workers in 5 years? UNITE HERE says it will — Organize, fight, win contracts. Repeat. That was the central message UNITE HERE left hundreds of delegates during its three-day constitutional convention in Las Vegas last week. The union, one of the nation’s fastest-growing and most militant, carried that philosophy to the ambitious goals it set for itself over the next five years. UNITE HERE President D. Taylor said his union would organize 100,000 new workers by the time it met again for another convention in 2024. It’s an almost unprecedented goal for the 300,000-member union that would represent a roughly 33% growth rate.
T.G.I.F.
► This song, written and produced by Nick Lowe, appeared on Elvis Costello and The Attractions’ Armed Forces album 40 years ago — and the Entire Staff of The Stand really needed it this week.
Modern Drummer writes, “A beautiful thing happens on this song, common to many early Attractions songs. It’s that feeling that the track could derail, when in reality (drummer Pete) Thomas has everything locked down. He does a lot of playing here without overplaying. Like most Attractions songs from that era, this was cut live, full-band and lead vocal. That’s probably why so many years later, it still sounds so energized and inspired.”
The lip syncing in this video is a little less inspired but we wanted to share the studio recording because it’s so powerful — as is the message. Crank. This. Up.
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.