Thursday, October 17, 2019

LOCAL

► In today’s (Tacoma) News Tribune — We endorse: Restore affirmative action with a ‘yes’ on R-88. Because Washington’s not as inclusive as some think (editorial) — Twenty-one years ago, voters did away with affirmative action by passing state I-200. On the threshold of a new century, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of a color-blind society seemed within reach. But that misguided optimism moved our state backward, not forward. Since 1998, government contracts for minority- and female-owned businesses have dropped from 13 percent to 3.6 percent. Admission rates for black, Native and Hispanic students at the University of Washington are far off the pace of statewide demographics. In the Nov. 5 election, our state has a chance to self-correct. As Dr. King Jr. once said, “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability.” There’s a reason why 42 states have chosen not to ban affirmative action. It’s time for Washington to rejoin the ranks by approving I-1000/ R-88.

► From KING 5 News — Nationalist group ‘Proud Boys’ linked to opponents of Washington’s affirmative action referendum — Referendum 88 on Washington’s ballot supports Initiative 1000, an affirmative action measure. A group of “Proud Boys” in western Washington has aligned themselves with the Reject 88 campaign. Proud Boys describe themselves as a “pro-Western fraternal organization for men who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world; aka Western Chauvinists.”

In a YouTube video, they are seen helping opponents of Referendum 88 turn in signatures in Olympia. Campaign members said they feared for their safety and the Proud Boys offered to help. Former Washington Governor and U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke says the video is disappointing. “What’s interesting is the Proud Boys volunteered to offer that security and openly brag about it in a video about how they are aligned with this anti-1000 initiative group. And then you look up what the Proud Boys stand for, and you find out they are a white supremacist, anti-immigrant, anti-female group that is also part of the organization that led to violent, ugly demonstrations and tragedy in Charlottesville a few years ago.”

► In the Kitsap Sun — I-976’s cuts would come from local projects (by Daren Konopaski and Alex Hudson) — Our state has added a million people in a dozen years, and we’re going to continue to grow. That’s caused some serious growing pains in urban and rural areas across the state. Our streets are more congested, and residents want more options for getting to school, work and home. I-976 is a misleading and dangerous initiative on the November ballot. Instead of helping us to fix roads and improve transit options, this initiative cuts state, regional and even city transportation funding. Before you vote, it’s important to know how you — and our entire community — will be affected.

► In today’s Seattle Times — As election nears, Seattle School Board president loses support of teachers union — In 2015, as she ran for her first term on the Seattle School Board, Leslie Harris picketed with teachers on strike. She is now School Board president, but as the general election neared, the union endorsed her opponent, Molly Mitchell, citing her track record of working directly with students that schools fail to serve.

LOCAL

► In today’s Olympian — Providence St. Peter nurses could vote this month on a possible strike — After overwhelmingly rejecting a contract proposal over the summer, nurses at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia could vote later this month on a possible strike. The strike authorization vote is scheduled for Oct. 30. Unions representing staff at Providence hospitals across the state have scheduled similar votes for the last two weeks in October.

ALSO at The Stand — WSNA, UFCW 21 strike votes set at Providence Sacred Heart

► In today’s Tri-City Herald — Richland’s Kadlec hospital nurses to vote on strike — Kadlec Regional Medical Center nurses plan to vote on Oct. 29 and 30 on whether to strike, the Washington State Nurses Association announced Wednesday. The Richland hospital and Kadlec registered nurses have been negotiating for a year, with another mediation session scheduled before the strike vote on Oct. 25. It’s the second round of contentious contract negotiation for the 915 nurses employed at Kadlec since the Richland hospital was affiliated with Providence Health & Services in 2014.

► In today’s Columbian — Union workers rally at PeaceHealth Southwest — Members of the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (AFT 5017) staged a rally on Wednesday afternoon at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver. A procession of at least 60 members wearing pro-union red clothing marched through the hospital’s main lobby and across the campus.

► In today’s Tri-City Herald — Worker collapses at Hanford and dies. It’s the 2nd death in a week there — A worker died on Wednesday after collapsing in the early afternoon at the Hanford nuclear reservation. The woman’s death appeared to be from natural causes, say officials.

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Alaska CEO: ‘We really need to look at growing Paine Field’ — At a conference, Brad Tilden speculated about expanded passenger service, but flights are capped — for now.

► In today’s Columbian — Burgerville announces across-the-board wage hikes — The changes come in the midst of ongoing negotiations between the company and the Burgerville Workers Union, which represents workers at five Burgerville restaurants in Portland.

► In today’s News Tribune — New carpenters training center to hold open house in DuPont — If you’re curious about the new carpenters training center in DuPont, here’s your chance to go see it. An open house for its grand opening is set for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 18 at the Northwest Carpenters Institute Training Center, 2575 Williamson Place in DuPont.

BOEING

► Seriously, ICYMI yesterday, this is a MUST-READ in the Seattle Times — ‘Hunter killer assassins’: Why the Boeing saga is the story of our times (by Danny Westneat) — The most revealing suggestion of how Boeing went astray came from a local aerospace engineer, Cynthia Cole, who led SPEEA until 2010: “It was two camps of managers, the Boeing Boy Scouts and the ‘hunter killer assassins.’ How do you merge those two management philosophies? The hunter killer assassins will destroy the Boy Scouts. That’s what happens.” … all this talk of corner-cutting to boost the short-term bottom line reminds me of a zone I do know something about: Our political system, and specifically Boeing’s outsized role in going all hunter killer assassin on it… You all know the story of how Boeing threatened to jilt our state if it didn’t get the biggest state tax-cut package in U.S. history back in 2013. Of course we ended up giving Boeing all the money and also losing the jobs. The last time I was up at Boeing, it was for an event on this same theme, when then-Speaker of the U.S. House Paul Ryan came to Everett in 2017 to push a mammoth corporate tax cut at the federal level. Since that 2017 day, corporate taxes have plummeted as if we were in a recession. While the yearly federal deficit has ballooned 48%, to just under $1 trillion. This is the political version of paying too much attention to Wall Street, of cutting corners for short-term gain, of the scouts getting rolled by the hunter killer assassins.

THAT WASHINGTON

► In today’s Washington Post — Elijah Cummings, Baltimore congressman who took on Trump administration, dies at 68 — Elijah E. Cummings, a Democratic congressman from Maryland who gained national attention for his principled stands on politically charged issues in the House, his calming effect on anti-police riots in Baltimore, and his forceful opposition to the presidency of Donald Trump, died Oct. 17 at a hospice center in Baltimore. He was 68.

► In today’s NY Times — Elaine Chao, Mitch McConnell and questions of conflict (editorial) — Congress wants answers from the transportation secretary, wife of the Senate majority leader, about the apparent mixing of public and family business.

► In today’s NY Times — We need more government whistle-blowers (by Margaret Garnett and Preet Bhahara) — New York City requires its employees to report corruption. It has worked.

NATIONAL

► In today’s Detroit News — Union leaders meeting Thursday to mull GM-UAW agreement — About 200 local United Auto Workers leaders are meeting Thursday morning in Detroit to review the details of a proposed tentative agreement with General Motors Co. After leaders review the new four-year agreement, they will vote if it should be presented to the 49,000 GM-UAW members for ratification. The union local presidents and chairpersons will also decide if the 32-day strike ends before the ratification vote takes place or after.

ALSO at The Stand — UAW has a tentative deal to end UAW strike

► In today’s Chicago Sun-Times — 32,500 Chicago teachers, staff on strike: Here’s what led to the first major walkout since 2012 — Months of slow-moving negotiations, back-and-forth attacks and public posturing between Chicago officials and the city’s teachers union have led to 32,500 teachers and school support staff deciding to walk off their jobs and onto picket lines Thursday morning.

► From The Hill — Teachers Strike Journalist: The corporate media doesn’t want to see working class power — Journalist Eric Blanc gives an update from the picket line of the Chicago teachers strike.

► In today’s LA Times — Los Angeles Times reaches historic agreement with its newsroom union — The Times Times on Wednesday reached a tentative labor agreement with the guild that represents about 475 members of its newsroom, a milestone for a newspaper that for generations was known as a bastion of anti-unionism.

► From Deadline — SAG-AFTRA approves new music video contract — A new three-year music video contract has been unanimously approved by the SAG-AFTRA national board of directors.

► From the AFL-CIO — “State of the Unions” podcast: Out of the woods — On the latest episode of podcast, co-hosts Julie Greene Collier and Tim Schlittner talk to Maine Senate President Troy Jackson (IUPAT, IAM) about his path to power and the experiences that have shaped his life and career.

► In today’s NY Times — How unpredictable work hours turn families upside down — Unpredictable schedules can be brutal for hourly workers, upending their lives. New research shows that African-Americans, Hispanics and other minorities — particularly women — are much more likely to be assigned irregular schedules, and that the harmful repercussions are felt not just by the workers but also their families. The findings come from continuing surveys of 30,000 hourly workers by the Shift Project at the University of California. The researchers compared workers who earned the same wages, including at the same employers, but had different degrees of predictability in their schedules. Those with irregular hours fared worse — and so did their children. Black and Hispanic women had the worst schedules, and white men had the best, the researchers found. The children of workers with precarious schedules had worse behavior and more inconsistent child care than those whose parents had stable schedules.

TODAY’S MUST-SEE

► In today’s Washington Post — Trump tried to insult ‘unhinged’ Pelosi with an image. She made it her Twitter cover photo. — The image was meant to be an insult — “Nervous Nancy’s unhinged meltdown!” Trump wrote as a caption. But instead, it ended up as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Twitter cover photo. The photo is striking: Pelosi (D-Calif.), in electric blue, the only woman visible at the table, standing across from a homogeneous row of men and pointing her finger at the president.

EDITOR’S NEWS — Look at the faces and body language of the men on Trump’s side of the table. Truly, a thousand words.

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