MONDAY, JULY 31  ▪  Reichert & Co. again vote against minimum wage increase -- He joins the rest of the GOP in opposing the first minimum wage increase in nearly a decade, unless it's coupled with a $300 billion tax break for the heirs of America's superwealthy families.
▪  Saturday from AP -- GOP offers to raise minimum wage for estate tax cut -- Combining the two issues provoked protests from Democrats and was sure to cause problems in the Senate.
▪  At AFL-CIO Now -- House Republicans poison minimum wage increase -- They know their cynical sham bill won't pass the Senate. They just want cover because they’re facing tough re-election campaigns and an electorate that backs an increase by more than 80%.
▪  In today's NY Times -- Fooling the voters (editorial) -- The (minimum-wage-hike-for-estate-tax-cut) deal House Republicans are offering -- a few more dollars for 6.6 million working Americans; billions more for some 8,000 of the wealthiest families. It is cynical in the extreme.

Wal-Mart news:  ▪  2006 Change Wal-Mart, Change America Tour begins (WakeUpWalMart.com) -- For the next 840 hours, six over-caffeinated Americans on one really big bus nicknamed Smiley are going from New York City to Seattle to fight for good jobs, more affordable health care, and a better life for all hard-working families. Follow their progress and pledge your support here.
▪  Today from AP -- Wal-Mart critics take campaign on road with national bus tour -- One of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s most vociferous union-funded critics is taking its campaign against the world's largest retailer on the road with a cross-country bus tour from New York to Seattle.
▪  In today's NY Times -- Official union set up at Wal-Mart in China -- The government demands that the company allow organized labor in its stores. But China’s state-backed unions were known for supporting, rather than challenging, foreign corporations. 

Local news:
▪  In the P.S. Business Journal -- Olympia struggles for unity in expanding health care access -- The Governor's Blue Ribbon Commission for drafting a plan to improve access for all state residents probably will steer clear of recommending tax increases on businesses to accomplish that goal.
▪  In today's Olympian -- New state employee health plans expand choice -- Unions worry that new high-deductible, low-premium plans are a step toward ending traditional plans. "Our concern is all the healthy people move to value plans… and the classic plans have everyone else, and their costs spiral. It could be the death knell of classic plans," says WFSE's Greg Devereux.
▪  In today's Olympian -- State workers say praise is missing -- A new survey says they know what's expected of them, but don't always feel they're recognized for a job well done. Says a Teamsters representative: "I can tell the state exactly what they need to do to improve morale. It's really simple: pay their employees the same as city and counties pay their employees."
▪  In today's Everett Herald -- $5,231 makes nice reward -- Boeing workers will start getting stock grants this week worth up to $5,231. The company says many will likely sell them quickly.
▪  In today's Everett Herald -- Small steps to help control prescription drug costs (editorial) -- Soon, Washington and Oregon will form a cooperative to combine their purchasing power and help older, low-income citizens access drugs below market prices. It makes a whole lot of sense. 

Political news:
▪  In Saturday's Seattle P-I -- Eyman's latest $30 car tab initiative fails preliminary screening -- Elections officials must now check every signature submitted for I-917 and the final count determining whether it qualifies for the ballot won't be finished until mid-September.
▪  At Postman on Politics -- U.S. Chamber buys ads thanking Reichert for backing Medicare Part D -- In other parts of the country the chamber is running ads thanking members of Congress for their vote for the act in 2003. But Reichert wasn't elected until 2004, so his ad will be different.
▪  In today's Yakima H-R -- Activists reach out to Hispanic voters -- The group is part of what the Washington State Democratic Party is calling its "most organized, ambitious and comprehensive effort" to date to reach out and connect with Hispanic voters. 

National news:
▪  At the Working Life blog -- UNITE HERE gets card-check at Hilton -- Blogger says that the chain has agreed to card-check union recognition, as opposed to NLRB elections, at its properties.
▪  In the USA Today -- Got a nasty fight? Here's your man: Richard Berman -- He's been hired by Big Business to fight efforts such as further restricting drinking and driving, mandating healthier foods and raising the minimum wage. And they've hired him to bash labor unions.
▪  In the LA Times -- Employers outsource surgeries abroad -- As health benefits cut into American companies' bottom lines, insured medical tourists may grow from a trickle to a flood.
▪  In today's NY Times -- Men not working, and not wanting just any job -- Millions of men in the prime of their lives have dropped out of regular work. They are turning down jobs they think beneath them or are unable to find work for which they are qualified.

Immigration news:
▪  In today's NY Times -- U.S. puts onus on employers of immigrants -- Homeland Security's new crackdown has sent payroll managers rushing to re-examine their workers’ papers and rethink plans for their work force. It also created a new environment of fear in immigrant communities.
▪  In today's NY Times -- Splitting the difference at the border (editorial) -- Gov. Schwarzenegger is pursuing a pragmatic approach that warring elements in Washington might do well to emulate.

On Saturday, House Republican leaders offered forth a transparently cynical proposal to help their members who face difficult re-elections, and Rep. Dave Reichert (R-8th) jumped at the opportunity.

They passed a bill offering the first federal minimum wage increase in a decade, but only after pairing it with a cut in inheritance taxes on multimillion-dollar estates for superwealthy families such as the Waltons, heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune, that would save them (and cost the government) $300 billion over the next 10 years. The Senate, which has repeatedly blocked efforts to cut the estate tax, is expected to take up -- and reject -- the legislation this week.

Reichert is a self-described "moderate" one-term congressman facing a strong election challenge this fall from Democrat Darcy Burner. That makes him exactly the kind of congressman for whom this cynical vote was undertaken. And sure enough, Saturday's 230-180 vote gave 196 Republicans -- including Reichert and Reps. Cathy McMorris (R-5th) and "Do-Nothing" Doc Hastings (R-4th) -- the opportunity to tell voters the half-truth that they voted to increase the minimum wage.

But the real vote was forced by angry Democrats on a motion to strip the estate tax cut and other poison pills from the bill and have a straight up-or-down vote on the minimum wage increase alone. The motion failed 190-220, with Reichert, McMorris and Hastings voting "no," and all of Washington's Democrats voting "yes."

The federal minimum wage is currently $5.15 an hour and has not been increased in nine years, steadily eroding in value since that time. As the cost of health care, energy and other basic necessities have risen during that time -- often at paces that exceed the overall inflation rate -- full-time workers earning the federal minimum wage continue to make less than $11,000 a year, a wage well below the federal poverty line. 

With 80% of Americans supporting a minimum wage increase, Democrats in Congress have been trying to increase it to $7.25 an hour, but yesterday's cynical ploy notwithstanding, Republican leaders have consistently blocked Democrats' efforts.

“Congressman Reichert comes from a state whose voters overwhelmingly passed a statewide initiative to boost Washington’s minimum wage and make it the highest in the nation,” said Darcy Burner, a Democratic congressional candidate opposing Reichert in this fall's election. “I would love to know why Reichert feels that working families in the rest of the nation don’t deserve the same.”

Labor leaders in Washington also reacted strongly to the news of Reichert’s vote.

“Bottom line -- Dave Reichert is more in touch with Bush and conservative GOP leaders than with the voters in his district,” said Rick Bender, President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. “He just doesn’t get it. When November comes and Darcy Burner wins, maybe then he’ll understand that it’s not okay to ignore the needs of working families in our nation.”