MONDAY, MAY 1  ■  Three to go for House majority on Employee Free Choice Act -- The Washington State Labor Council again calls on Reps. Reichert, McMorris and Hastings to join the 15 Republicans, and the state's entire Democratic delegation, who support labor law reform.

Also today:  ■  Call to Action: Join us at today's immigration reform march in Seattle
■  At AFLCIO.org -- Why we fight for immigrants' rights (John Sweeney column) -- Many workers ask why unions support a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Why, as one union member puts it, are we fighting for the "illegals who have been taking our jobs?" I remind them of a powerful statement from labor’s past that lives on today: An injury to one is an injury to all.
■  In today’s Seattle Times -- Nation divided as immigration marches, boycott occur today
■  In today’s Seattle Times -- Out of the shadows, strangers no more (editorial) -- The answer to the issues of human, civil and labor rights bound up in the march is a predictable path to citizenship.

Boeing news:
■  In the PS Business Journal -- Machinists union attacks tax breaks, offloaded jobs -- IAM 751 President Mark Blondin is angry that state tax breaks intended to aid Washington's aerospace industry are helping nonunion suppliers win work once done by Boeing's union workers. His union will push the legislature to change tax-break laws and will try to unionize new suppliers.
■  In Friday's Everett Herald -- Boeing eyes two 787 assembly lines -- Adding a second assembly line will depend on the global network of parts suppliers, a Boeing executive says.
■  Today from AP -- Boeing to buy Dallas-based aviation parts/service firm Aviall for $1.7B in cash

Local news:
■  Today from AP -- Garbage strike averted with tentative settlement -- The threat of a strike by area garbage haulers was averted at least temporarily with tentative agreement on a contract with one company and plans to resume talks with another, a Teamsters 174 leader said early Monday.
■  In Real Change -- Laborers take on asbestos contractor -- The union says the Seattle Housing Authority hired Three Kings despite knowledge of environmental and workplace safety violations.
■  In today’s News Tribune -- Puyallup's Good Samaritan Hospital gets out the scalpel -- It has cut at least 140 medical and support jobs (WSNA and SEIU 1199NW) in recent months.
■  In today’s News Tribune -- Alaska Airlines signs four-year deal with flight attendants (brief)
■  In Saturday’s Bellingham Herald -- Workers who died on the job are honored
■  In the Everett Herald -- School district need to compensate cooks (letter...  also see www.SEIU925.org)
■  In Saturday's  Seattle P-I -- Seattle teachers' union boosts tax plan -- It is gathering signatures for two property-tax initiatives that aim to raise $40 million a year for Seattle Public Schools.
■  In today’s Spokesman-Review -- Spokane schools hope to stave off big budget cuts
■  In today’s Peninsula Daily News -- Opponents target Wal-Mart expansion in Port Angeles
■  In the Columbian -- Apprentice: Getting paid to learn job -- In an era when many young people are being funneled right to college, where they'll rack up an average of $18,000 in loans, more than 300 Clark County residents have opted for another, older, form of training: apprenticeship.

State Government news:
■  In today's Olympian -- State, union on track in contract talks -- Both sides report the WFSE talks are off to an amicable start and on a schedule for completion by the end of July, if all goes well.
■  Today from AP -- State walks quietly into pension morass -- Lawmakers set aside $350 million as a down payment on its enormous pension obligation, and they're edging toward rescinding an expensive benefit that mandates “gain-sharing” when Wall Street earnings are on a rampage.
■  In Sunday’s Bellingham Herald -- L&I looks on the bright side -- Almost one-third of last year's site visits were voluntary consultations as the agency focuses more on educating than penalizing.

Hanford news:
■  In today’s Seattle P-I -- Hanford cleanup cost soars to $11.3 billion... if Congress will pay
■  In today’s Tri-City Herald -- Respirator rule lifted at Hanford -- Workers are working around some underground tanks without respiratory protection for the first time in about two years.

Political news:
■  In Saturday's Seattle P-I -- New PAC to back judges on the left -- Reacting to the creation of a PAC  to elect conservative candidates to the state Supreme Court and other judicial posts, a coalition of mostly progressive organizations -- including organized labor -- is forming FairPAC.
■  At the Horses Ass blog -- Finkbeiner's sudden retirement puts state GOP in world of hurt

Won't Get Fueled Again news:
■  In today’s LA Times -- High gas prices will last years, Bush aides say -- Even as top officials talk up Bush's plan for relief, the White House chief of staff concedes its effect will be modest.
■  In today’s NY Times -- Sharp reaction to GOP plan on gas rebates -- The Republican plan to mail $100 checks to voters to ease the burden of high gas prices is eliciting scorn from all sides.
■  In today’s Tri-City Herald -- Cantwell fighting to rein in Big Oil -- For the past year, Cantwell has been pushing legislation to outlaw market manipulation by oil companies. Her bill was backed by 57 senators, including 12 Republicans, but failed to survive a parliamentary challenge. Last week, Cantwell again tried to move the issue to the Senate floor, but Republicans blocked it.

National news:
■  In the PS Business Journal -- Foes of small-business health plans "redefine debate" -- The Senate is scheduled to vote in May on allowing trade associations to sell health plans that are exempt from state coverage mandates. Health groups ranging from the American Cancer Society to the American Academy of Pediatrics oppose the bill, contending the legislation would undo 30 years of work to make sure treatments for certain diseases are covered by insurance plans.
■  In today’s NY Times -- Groups opposing Wal-Mart get help from new web site -- Wal-Mart Watch and Sprawl-Busters have teamed up to create an online toolkit for groups opposing the retailer.

Some 57 million U.S. workers say they would join a union if they could, based on research by Peter D. Hart Research Associates. But when workers try to gain a voice on the job by forming a union, employers routinely respond with intimidation, harassment and retaliation.

During union election campaigns, management routinely coerces employees to convince them not to choose union representation. According to a survey of NLRB election campaigns in 1998 and 1999 by Cornell University scholar Kate Bronfenbrenner, private-sector employers illegally fire employees for union activity in at least 25 percent of all efforts to join a union.

Employees not fired fear losing their jobs if they support union representation. According to the Bronfenbrenner survey, management forces employees to attend group anti-union presentations in 92 percent of all union campaigns. Brent Garren, senior associate counsel for UNITE HERE, told a House subcommittee this past September that 79 percent of workers agreed workers are “very” or “somewhat” likely to be fired for trying to form a union.

“These employers are literally robbing working people and their communities of better lives,” said AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney. “At a time in our nation when the middle class is shrinking, when the gap between the rich and poor is growing, workers deserve the right to form a union to win a real voice on the job through collective bargaining.”