WEDNESDAY, MAY 10  ■  Waive Monday's deadline, penalties for Medicare drug plan -- CALL TO ACTION: Urge Reps. Reichert, McMorris and Hastings to end their support of this arbitrary and punitive deadline. Call them and/or deliver this message on Monday in person!
■  Today from AP -- Critics urge extension of Medicare drug deadline -- The state's Republican congressmen are urged to join Democrats in trying to force a congressional vote this week.
■  In today's Spokesman-Review -- Medicare Part D called costly, confusing -- It is failing the state's  neediest senior citizens, and Monday's deadline for enrolling should be extended until the "costly, confusing and corrupt" drug program can be fixed, labor and consumer advocates say.
■  In today's NY Times -- GOP sees big voting block flocking to Medicare drug plan -- Bush's aides now think the program has emerged as a surprise plus for the GOP in a rocky election season.
■  But then again... from AP -- Bush approval ratings continue freefall -- 31% matches Daddy's low.

Solidarity Forever (Until November) news:
■  In today's Detroit News -- AFL-CIO, rival CTW team up for elections -- Both federations say too much is at stake in the 2006 congressional elections for labor not to have a united front.
■  At the Working Life blog -- Memo outlines new AFL-CIO/CTW political coordinating group (PDF file)

It's Not the Economic Indicators, Stupid! news:
■  In today's Seattle Times -- Why does a good economy not feel that way? -- Sluggish wage growth, rising gas prices and interest rates, and the gloomy background music from the Iraq war are overshadowing the good economic news in the minds of most Americans.
■  In today's NY Times -- Barely staying afloat (editorial) -- The Bush administration wants more credit for the state of the economy... But voters don't base their opinions on aggregate statistics. They react to their own paychecks and benefits, weighed against their fixed costs like housing, health care and gasoline. For all but the wealthiest, the latter are rapidly outpacing the former. In fact, in a time of plenty, more American workers are in danger of slipping into outright poverty.
■  Republicans to the Rescue, in today's LA Times -- GOP reaches accord on $70 billion in tax cuts -- Republican leaders agree on extending expiring dividend and capital-gains tax breaks and authorize new ones, particularly for upper-income taxpayers. (The borrow-and-spenders continue to lavish more tax breaks on people who don't need them, after running up $760 billion in unpaid bills in 2005. That's $156,000 of debt for every man, woman and child in America. In one year.

Couch-Jumping in Aberdeen news:
■  Today from AP -- Huge biodiesel plant will be built in Grays Harbor -- The $40 million plant will create 250-350 jobs during construction, and 50 permanent jobs once it is up and running... It's welcome news to a region that suffered the closure of a Weyerhaeuser large-log mill, costing 97 people their jobs, and a Cosmopolis pulp mill scheduled to close this year, displacing 245 more.
■  We have nothing to fear, but... -- Tom Cruise's Aberdeen visit "biggest thing since FDR was here"

Other local news:
■  In today's Everett Herald -- Wal-Mart foes fear crime wave -- A union study documents a high incidence of crime at 551 U.S. store locations, but it is dismissed by company officials.
■  In today's Seattle P-I -- Following union vote, P-I workers called on to fund two-newspaper group
■  In today's Everett Herald -- Cargo conversion paying off for Boeing (Corliss column)
■  In today's News Tribune -- Federal Way school budget plan cuts 27 of 34 librarians
■  In today's Olympian -- School nurses face expanding duties, challenges  

Why We Need Federal Labor Law Reform:
■  In today's NY Times -- Court rules pork processor broke law in fighting union -- Nearly nine years after a unionization drive failed, a U.S. appeals court has ruled that the Smithfield Packing Co. repeatedly broke the law in battling unionization at a N.C. pork-processing plant... The court ordered Smithfield to reinstate four fired workers, one of whom was beaten by the plant's police the day of the election. Another worker was ordered to stamp hogs with a "Vote No" stamp.  

Immigration news:
■  In today's SF Chronicle -- Labor's lukewarm welcome: Unions divided over guest worker programs
■  In yesterday's Columbian -- No immigration bill? (editorial) -- No consensus is shaping up so far and, after all, four-day weekends for campaigning make it tough to buckle down to gnarly matters of public policy, especially when any action will anger some voting bloc.
■  In today's Washington Post -- Arrests target use of illegal workers -- Feds arrest four construction supervisors and 76 illegal immigrants at a Kentucky home-building company, continuing a promised government crackdown on employers that rely on illegal labor.

Other national news:
■  In today's Detroit News -- AFL-CIO, rival CTW team up for elections -- Both federations say too much is at stake in the 2006 congressional elections for labor not to have a united front.
■  At the Working Life blog -- Memo outlines new AFL-CIO/CTW political coordinating group (PDF file)
■  In the USAToday -- States move to raise the minimum wage -- Campaigns to raise the minimum wage gain ground in a dozen states; some say it could help swell Democratic voter turnout.
■  In today's LA Times -- Delphi seeks right to void labor pacts -- The firm tells a judge that the move is needed to cut costs. Unions say it would give the supplier an unfair advantage.

Medicare Part D has Failed Washington’s Low-Income Seniors
and People with Disabilities, New Report Finds

Today, Washington Citizen Action and the Campaign to Fix the Part D Disaster released a new report revealing that Part D leaves the most vulnerable Washingtonians out in the cold. The report by Families USA documents the latest Washington State data and underscores the need to fix Part D.

Many of the neediest Washingtonians have been failed by the program, the report asserts. Over 80 percent of Washington ’s low-income seniors are not receiving the benefits they were promised. On average the poorest 6.3 million Medicare beneficiaries nationwide are worse off under Part D than they were before. Nationally, relatively few beneficiaries are newly covered for prescription drugs under Part D. More than two-thirds of the “covered” beneficiaries had drug coverage before the start of the prescription drug program.

An extension of the May 15^th deadline would allow the time to make the desperately needed changes to Part D – without penalizing the millions of eligible Americans without drug coverage who have not yet enrolled or who aren’t receiving the low-income subsidies they were promised.

“The fact that thousands of the neediest Washingtonians are not getting the prescription drug help this administration promised is very disturbing, but unfortunately not surprising given the problems that have plagued Part D from the outset. This new report demonstrates yet another reason why our decision-makers must stand up for Washington’s seniors and people with disabilities and support an extension of the May 15^th deadline to enroll in Part D,” said Steve Kofahl, President, American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 3937, representing 1700 Social Security Administration employees in AK, ID, OR & WA.

“Part D is clearly failing to meet the prescription drug needs of Washington seniors and people with disabilities – which is particularly galling given the cost of the program to taxpayers. Congress should sign House Resolution 585 to extend the deadline and take the time to fix the program to make it simple, affordable and guaranteed,” said Gina Owens, Washington Citizen Action member.