NEWS ROUNDUP
More Boeing groundings ● ‘On a path’ to new NAFTA ● Watch the rich pay less taxes
Wednesday, October 9, 2019
LOCAL
ALSO at the Stand — Teamsters win big ruling in UNFI relocation to Centralia
► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Teachers overcome concerns to narrowly approve new union contract with Spokane Public Schools — Despite concerns about student discipline, larger class sizes and other working conditions, Spokane teachers narrowly approved a new three-year contract Tuesday night. Members of the Spokane Education Association voted 385 to 334, or 53.5% to 46.5%, to approve a tentative deal reached 10 days earlier.
BOEING
► From KOMO — Southwest Airlines grounds two Boeing 737 NG planes with cracked critical part — Late last month, KOMO News was the first to report that inspectors found cracks in a critical part of an 737 NG known as the pickle fork. Following that report, last week, the FAA ordered emergency inspections, known as an “airworthiness directive,” or “AD,” to take place within seven days.
► In today’s Seattle Times — American Airlines pushes out 737 MAX return to mid-January — The airlines pushed out its scheduled return to service of the Boeing 737 MAX another six weeks, saying it now expects to begin commercial service with the MAX on Jan. 16 and will then “slowly phase the MAX in our operation over the course of a month.”
► In today’s Seattle Times — Russian carrier Aeroflot cancels order for 22 Boeing 787 Dreamliners — Boeing’s backlog of 787 orders was cut by 14 in September when Russian airline Aeroflot canceled its 2007 order for 22 Dreamliners.
ELECTION
► In today’s Seattle Times — Ads opposing Eyman’s car-tab initiative focus on roads, bridges and buses — not Sound Transit — The ads offer the first window into how opponents plan to take on Eyman, whose car-tab cutting initiatives have twice before passed on the statewide ballot. With less than two weeks until ballots hit voters’ mailboxes, I-976 opponents are rolling out a campaign focused on the measure’s wide-ranging funding cuts, which the state says could total $4 billion over six years.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Seattle foundation gives $500,000 to pro-affirmative action campaign — A Seattle organization has donated $500,000 to the coalition urging Washington voters to approve a new law that reinstates affirmative action. Group Health Community Foundation’s donation to the Washington Fairness Coalition represents the bulk of the $588,996 raised by that campaign.
ALSO at The Stand — National veterans’ group backs I-1000 to expand opportunity
THIS WASHINGTON
► In today’s Spokesman-Review — School employees start to enroll in new statewide health insurance program –Washington state school employees, regardless of job title, who work more than 630 hours in a school year now have access to health insurance and other benefits after the School Employees Benefits Board Program opened this month for enrollment. Depending on the county, the majority of school employees will have the option of at least two carriers and at least four plans.
THAT WASHINGTON
ALSO at The Stand — Without fixes, AFL-CIO must oppose the new NAFTA (Sept. 17)
► From HuffPost — The Trump administration wants restaurant servers to do more work for less pay — On Monday, the Labor Department rolled out a new proposed “tip rule” clarifying how employers can divvy up gratuities among their staffs. While most of the plan had been hashed out last year in a compromise with congressional Democrats, it includes a separate recommendation that has angered worker advocates: the elimination of the “80-20 rule.”
► From The Intercept — Massachusetts unions vote to vet presidential candidates on Medicare for All, breaking with labor’s top brass — The Massachusetts AFL-CIO recently passed a unanimous resolution to endorse a presidential candidate only if that candidate supports Medicare for All, marking a break from the labor federation’s national leadership, which has equivocated on the question of whether to support universal health care.
ROGUE PRESIDENCY
► In today’s Washington Post — White House says it will defy impeachment inquiry, escalating standoff with an unbowed Congress — The White House letter highlights the limitations of Democrats’ ability to exercise their oversight authority in the face of an administration that appears unfazed by flouting subpoenas.
► In today’s Washington Post — Former national security officials fight back as Trump attacks impeachment as ‘deep state’ conspiracy — Those who have come forward said they are determined to make clear that the president’s conduct falls well outside the institutional boundaries of the presidency.
► From The Onion — GOP lawmakers watch silently as Trump strangles each of their loved ones in turn
NATIONAL
► From CNN Business — The GM strike is costing the company $90 million a day — GM has lost $660 million so far since the start of the strike, according to Anderson Economic Group, a Michigan research firm specializing in the auto industry. But those losses are getting worse by the day.
► In today’s Detroit News — GM strike, day 24: Talks resume after downbeat note from UAW
► In today’s Detroit Free Press — UAW officer leading talks with GM is from assembly line, ready to fight
TODAY’S MUST-SEE/READ
How the taxes on the wealthy have fallen over the past 70 years (USA)
► In today’s Washington Post — For the first time in history, U.S. billionaires paid a lower tax rate than the working class last year — The average effective tax rate paid by the richest 400 families was 23 percent, a full percentage point lower than the 24.2 percent rate paid by the bottom half of American households, a new book-length study found.
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.