Wednesday, March 2, 2022

THIS WASHINGTON

► From the Spokesman-Review — New bill to allow legislative staff to unionize passes state House — Legislative staff could soon begin collective bargaining if a bill that passed the state House of Representatives becomes a law. A previous version of the bill died earlier this session, but Rep. Marcus Riccelli (D-Spokane) revived the idea after more than 100 staffers called in sick to protest. That bill passed the House 56-41 on Tuesday. “This legislation gets us one step closer to fairness and justice in the workplace,” Riccelli said.

The Stand (Feb. 17) — Sickout in Olympia over bargaining rights

► From Crosscut — WA capital gains tax ruled unconstitutional by trial judge — A Douglas County Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday that the state’s new capital-gains tax violates the state constitution. The tax, which applies to large profits from selling stocks and bonds, was approved by the Legislature last year and took effect in January. Lawyers for the state are expected to appeal the ruling, which will likely be decided by state Supreme Court.

TODAY at The Stand — Trial court sides with super-rich on new tax

► From Crosscut — $340M WA immigrant relief fund plagued by monthslong delays — When Washington’s Legislature approved $340 million in aid for undocumented immigrants last April, advocacy groups hailed the state as a national leader in providing pandemic relief to undocumented workers. More than 10 months later, none of that $340 million has reached the wallets of the intended recipients. Lawmakers and some immigrant rights advocates are frustrated with the delay.

► From the Olympian — Providence hospitals sued by WA state over billing of lower income patients — Providence hospitals in Olympia and Centralia, as well as Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland, are among those being sued by the state of Washington over accusations they failed to give legally required discounts to low-income residents and aggressively collected money from people eligible for charity care. The hospitals are among 14 nonprofit Swedish and other Providence-affiliated hospitals in the state named in the lawsuit filed Feb. 24 by state Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

MORE coverage in the (Everett) Herald.

► A related story from the (Everett) Herald — Study suggests WhidbeyHealth CEO was paid too much — Ron Telles earned $430,000 a year, while many of the hospital’s employees made less than $20 per hour.

SOUTH OF THE BORDER

► From the Oregonian — Oregon House approves hotly debated farmworker overtime bill, sending it to Senate — Democrats in the Oregon House on Tuesday pushed through a hotly debated bill that would grant agricultural workers overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours in a week. HB 4002 was sent onto the Senate for consideration after a 37-23 party line vote.

WSLC 2021 Legislative Report — Historic end of a racist legacy: Farmworkers win overtime pay

BOEING

► From the Seattle Times — Boeing suspends Moscow engineering center and halts support to Russian airlines — Late Tuesday Boeing issued a brief statement announcing that it has temporarily suspended major operations in Russia, including at its Moscow Design Center where it employs more than 1,000 engineers. The U.S. jet maker said it is also suspending parts, maintenance and technical support services for Russian airlines.

The Stand (May 8, 2014) — Profits come before democracy as Boeing exports jobs to Russia (by John Burbank)

THAT WASHINGTON

► From the Washington Post — Biden’s State of the Union applauds unity against Russia, seeks more unity at home — President Biden sought to rally the country against war, inflation and the pandemic during his first State of the Union address Tuesday night, using one of the biggest moments of his presidency to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and pitching a diminished agenda he hopes can win bipartisan support.

We need to make it easier for working people to come together in a union, pass the #proact!#SOTU pic.twitter.com/EpSpMKUToH

— AFL-CIO ✊ (@AFLCIO) March 2, 2022

► From the AP — Boebert outburst on Afghanistan jolts State of the Union — It was just the latest breach of decorum for a presidential address, an annual event where unruly behavior by lawmakers has become almost expected.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Normally, The Entire Staff of The Stand wouldn’t waste a column inch of your screen on attention-seeking by the racist and hateful likes of Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) But then I saw this photo of our own Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) smiling and enjoying the breach of decorum while other Republicans look embarrassed or scurry away from the heckling KKKarens. Stay classy, Cathy.

NATIONAL

► From Poynter — Journalists at Jezebel, The Root, Gizmodo, Lifehacker and other G/O Media newsrooms strike — Roughly 100 unionized journalists at six different G/O Media newsrooms went on strike Tuesday morning after negotiations for a third contract broke down. The workers are part of the Gizmodo Media Group Union, which includes editorial employees at Jezebel, The Root, Lifehacker, Kotaku, Jalopnik and Gizmodo.

► From Dayton247now — Nearly 300 Troy union employees still locked out, picketing — It has been more than a week since nearly 300 union employees at Collins Aerospace employees (UAW Local 128) were locked out of the facility. They say they have been without pay during this time.

► From the Washington Post — MLB cancels regular season games as labor negotiations with players union implode — Major League Baseball announced Tuesday that it will delay the start of the 2022 season after the MLB Players’ Association rejected its latest proposal for a collective bargaining agreement.

► From the PSBJ — Mariners’ home opener canceled amid ‘deadlocked’ labor talks

► From the NY Times — An offer that was engineered to be rejected (by Tyler Kepner) — MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred boasted of his streak of successful labor negotiations, but by effectively creating a salary cap he had to know this deal would fail.

► From the Seattle Times — MLB deserves scorn after being steered to ‘disastrous outcome’ by Rob Manfred, owners (by Larry Stone) — It’s important to remember this is a lockout, imposed by the owners, not a strike called by the players. The sport deserves all the scorn and resentment it is getting right now.

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