TUESDAY, MAY 9  ■  The middle brings results -- and risks  (Bender column on the 2006 legislative session) -- The WSLC 2006 Legislative Report and Voting Record is now available online. It will be distributed at this Saturday's COPE Convention and mailed to affiliates next week.

Also today:  ■  AFL-CIO, CTW reach deal on coordinating 2006 election activities -- The deal  also includes an apparent resolution to the latest dispute re: UFW and Solidarity Charters.

Health Care news:
■  In today's Washington Post -- Keep the feds out (editorial) -- Today the U.S. Senate will consider a bill that would radically change the nation's health insurance market, shifting power from states to the federal government and to a regulatory regime lighter than nearly all states have now.
(This bill would remove/override all state statutes on health insurance coverage -- things its supporters call "mandates," but we call "standards." Things like the mental health parity and much, much more would go out the window with this law. The bottom line is that business associations and conservative lawmakers think the answer to our health care crisis is to create stripped-down insurance plans that cover fewer procedures. That will solve nothing except create incentives for employers to offer fewer benefits. Once the door is open for "small businesses" to do so, it won't be long before ALL businesses start offering only Health Care Lite™.)

Local news:
■  In today's Olympian -- New tax, smoking ban haven't hurt tax flow -- Tobacco companies and even some state officials had warned of a decline in cigarette tax collections, but despite new taxes and the smoking ban, cigarette sales are up and the state expects $35 million in extra revenue.
■  In Sunday's Columbian -- Anxiety rises at Camas G-P mill -- Excitement turns to disappointment as it becomes clear the mill's new owner may not be interested in the pulp and paper business.
■  In today's Seattle P-I -- Larry's Markets files for bankruptcy; shopping for a buyer
■  In today's Seattle P-I -- Three ferry ticket sellers charged in 2004 tollbooth thefts
■  In today's Salem S-J -- Oregon lottery workers get ballots asking if they want to unionize (SEIU)

Political news:
■  In the Seattle Times -- Judges, let's show some restraint (op-ed from Constitutional Law PAC) -- The right-wing conservatives who formed this Constitutional Law PAC try to position themselves as "not just for nutbags." They complain about those dern activist judges but fail to point out that their PAC is funded by corporate special interests -- like the BIAW -- that have a very specific "activist" agendas of their own on land-use and development, limiting corporate liability, etc.
■  In today's Seattle Times -- Renewable resources focus of I-937 -- An initiative requiring utilities to get 15% of their power from resources like wind and solar appears headed for November's ballot.
■  In today's NY Times -- Optimistic, Democrats debate the party's vision -- Analysts are convinced that the Democrats face a moment of historic opportunity, but some argue the party needs something more than a pastiche of policy proposals. It needs a broader vision, a narrative, an unapologetic appeal to the "common good" and occasional sacrifice for the sake of the nation.

National news:
■  In today's Seattle P-I -- Democrats take up energy -- Led by Sen. Maria Cantwell, Senate Democrats accuse Republicans and the White House of standing by as oil companies and financial traders manipulate markets to drive the cost of gas, just as they did when Enron.
■  In today's NY Times -- The pretenders (editorial) -- Republicans are desperately trying to portray themselves as the defenders of budget discipline, driving them to new heights of hypocrisy.
■  In today's NY Times -- State proposals on illegal immigration largely falter
■  In today's Detroit Free Press -- NWA flight attendants' union seeks to merge with TWU, AFL-CIO
■  In today's Detroit News -- Air traffic controllers fear mass exodus with contract
■  In today's Sacramento Bee -- State workers' union (SEIU) issues strike threat in California
■  In today's Orlando Sentinel -- 120,000 set to strike in Puerto Rico, union leader says -- More than 120,000 union workers are set to walk off their jobs today and demonstrate at pharmaceutical companies, banks and major commercial centers after Puerto Rico's leaders failed to resolve a fiscal crisis that has forced almost 100,000 public employees out of their jobs since May 1.

The following column by Rick Bender, President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, appears in the 2006 WSLC Legislative Report (follow the link to an abbreviated electronic version of the report posted at this web site). Hot off the presses, the report will be distributed at this Saturday's WSLC COPE Convention and will be mailed next week to everyone on our newsletter mailing list and who have requested copies: 

The following press release was distributed today by the AFL-CIO and the Change to Win Coalition:

AFL-CIO president John Sweeney and Change to Win chair Anna Burger today announced that they have reached a tentative agreement on a plan for coordination of member mobilization activity for the 2006 election year.

“The entire labor movement is united by the desire to make working people’s issues the country’s priorities this election year, and we are taking all the necessary steps to effectively coordinate our efforts toward this end,” said Sweeney and Burger.

The AFL-CIO and Change to Win will create a National Labor Coordinating Committee (NLCC) to be chaired by Gerald McEntee, AFL-CIO political committee chair and president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and vice-chaired by Edgar Romney, secretary-treasurer of Change to Win and executive vice president of UNITE HERE.  Political directors and staff from the organizations will work in close collaboration on every aspect of the program, and the organizations will share the costs of joint activities.

As part of the agreement, Change to Win releases its affiliates to participate in state and local central labor bodies, and AFL-CIO President Sweeney will recommend to the AFL-CIO Executive Council that the United Farm Workers be eligible to participate in state and local bodies.