MONDAY, APRIL 9  ▪  Will big employers get off the hook? (WSLC Legislative Update) -- Progress has been made on health-care issues except in one area: large employers that are deliberately shifting their employee health costs onto taxpayers... Plus, updates on Family and Medical Leave Insurance and other bills.

Family Leave news:
▪  Last week in the Seattle P-I -- Family Leave: 2 cents worth (editorial) -- Should we arrange for five weeks of paid leave, at $250 a week for employees who need to care for a newborn (or newly placed) child or a sick family member? Yes, we should... Gregoire is pushing for a vote on the matter; a fight we fear would be unnecessary, messy and expensive.
▪  Last week from AP -- Gregoire: Voters should have their say on paid family leave -- A House panel kept the bill alive, but stripped out its details and passed just its title and intent language. Sponsoring Sen. Karen Keiser doesn't like the referendum idea, but she says if it goes to voters, lawmakers might revisit the idea of making businesses pay into the premium.
▪  In today's Olympian -- Voters could break impasse on family leave (editorial) -- An Elway poll last month found that 61% of the people surveyed favor a paid family leave program. A full 70% of those polled thought businesses should help share in the costs of the program... If the Legislature can't resolve the paid leave measure this session, send it to the voters to decide.
▪  In the PSBJ -- It's time for a paid family leave benefit for all workers (Sen. Karen Keiser op-ed)
▪  In the PSBJ -- Paid family leave threatens Washington employers (AWB Don Brunell op-ed)
▪  In Sunday's Spokesman-Review -- Sick leave a vital benefit for working families (Caldwell column) -- Some provision for sick leave should be made, but SB 5659 and the bureaucracy that goes with it is the wrong approach. If limited to newborns and new adoptions, the plan might work.

Other legislative news:
▪  In today's Olympian -- 2007 session enters final 2 weeks -- Budget writers in the House and Senate both said they are moving well ahead of schedule on a $33 billion spending plan.
▪  Saturday from AP -- Gregoire's priorities include "rainy day fund" 
▪  Last week in The Columbian -- Lawmakers' axes raised over gain-sharing -- The Legislature is poised to break a pension promise it made to teachers and other public employees 9 years ago.
▪  In the PSBJ -- Business groups fear demise of stripped-down health plans -- Business lobbying groups were hopeful when Senate Democrats included Health Care Lite™ provisions in the governor's omnibus health-care bill. But now that House Democrats have removed those provisions, business groups are petitioning the governor to try to have them restored.
▪  In the PSBJ -- Legislature heads for another do-nothing year on payday lending (editorial) -- Olympia's inaction means another year of inadequate consumer protection for borrowers and another year of uncertainty for payday lenders trying to fend off more draconian regulations.
▪  In Sunday's Kitsap Sun -- Parties trade blame for NASCAR track's failure -- State and county leaders say corporation's approach was wrong; ISC says politicians wanted too much.
▪  In today's Seattle P-I -- New 520 bridge may mean tolls on I-90, too -- State Treasurer Mike Murphy says he won't sell bonds for the project without the additional tolling.
▪  In The Stranger -- The Democratic dictator? -- Disgruntled Dems suspect Chopp was kissing up to the BIAW when he killed a Senate-approved consumer-protection bill for homebuyers.

Local news:
▪  Last week in the Seattle P-I -- Seattle teachers' union joins AFL-CIO -- The Seattle Education Association, representing 5,500 public school teachers and staff members, joins the Martin Luther King Jr. County Labor Council, gaining a role in the council's political activities.
▪  In today's Bellingham Herald -- Restaurants trim fat to stay afloat -- More restaurants keep opening, but it's harder to make money with the high minimum wage, says industry lobbying group.
▪  In the PSBJ -- Journalists gamble on job security at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer 

Boeing news:
▪  In Saturday's Everett Herald -- New Machinists head sizes up Boeing -- Based on early talks with the company, Tom Wroblewski is optimistic about new contract negotiations.
▪  Last week in the Everett Herald -- Will Boeing pick up the pace? -- The company delivered 106 jets in the first quarter, but at that rate, it won't hit its 2007 goal of 440 to 445 deliveries.
▪  In today's Everett Herald -- 737 is Boeing's bread-and-butter jet -- It's no coincidence airlines who have bought the best-selling jet in aerospace history are also Boeing’s wide-body customers.

National news:
▪  In today's LA Times -- McDermott's aid plan for unemployed gains support -- A little-known federal program called wage insurance is winning bipartisan congressional support as a way to help workers displaced by international trade find new jobs and acquire new skills. But Democratic opponents, backed by labor unions, say wage insurance forces workers into low-paid jobs and undermines attempts to expand unemployment insurance and training programs.
▪  In Sunday's NY Times -- Latte liberals take on a latte-liberal business -- On March 30, the NLRB delivered a stinging accusation against one of the city’s -- and the nation’s -- most popular retail outlets. The labor board charged that Starbucks, the ubiquitous coffee chain, committed 30 violations of law in the process of trying to ward off union activity at four Manhattan outlets.
▪  In today's Washington Post -- Bush renewing his efforts on immigration -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has told the White House that she cannot pass a bill with Democratic votes alone. Bush will have to produce at least 70 Republican votes before she considers a vote on comprehensive legislation, a task that may be very difficult for a president saddled with low approval ratings.
▪  Today at AFL-CIO Now -- Farmworkers to expose the truth behind the golden arches -- The 2007 McDonald’s Truth Tour: Behind the Golden Arches will culminate in two national days of action April 13-14 in Chicago. The actions follow a March 28-April 4 week of action sponsored by the Student Labor Action Project, which also included protests at dozens of McDonald’s locations.
▪  In today's NY Times -- McDonald's to allow more unions in Chinese stores
▪  In Saturday's Rocky Mountain News -- Labor girds for 2008 Democratic Convention -- Leaders from AFL-CIO and Change to Win unions threaten to make trouble if the Democratic National Committee holds the 2008 convention in Denver's nonunionized Pepsi Center.
▪  From Reuters -- AFL-CIO to target Verizon over CEO pay -- CEO Ivan Seidenberg has earned more than $109 million in the past five years despite a total shareholder return of negative 5%.
▪  In Saturday's NY Times -- Chief of struggling union among highest paid -- The International Longshoremen’s Association, the East Coast dockworkers' union, paid its president $587,078.
▪  In The Onion -- Democrats demand inquiry into how they're doing so far -- Pelosi: "We cannot afford to make a wrong move as we face this crucial crossroads in our nation's history, which is why we need to know for sure what decision you'll support the most before we make it."

Last Throes update:
▪  In today's LA Times -- 10 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq -- Armed groups avoiding Baghdad's security dragnet attacked with bombs and other weapons in cities and towns just outside the capital.
▪  In today's NY Times -- Patterns of war shift amid U.S. troop buildup -- There is little sign that the security push in Baghdad is accomplishing its purpose: creating an island of stability for Iraqis.
▪  Of the 3,282 U.S. troops killed in Iraq so far, 3,143 have died (see a list) since President Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" and an end to major combat operations on May 2003; 2,821 have died since Saddam's capture. Five-and-a-half years after 9/11, Osama bin Laden is at large.
▪  The WSLC's affiliated unions have called for an end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq.