THURSDAY, MAY 31  ▪  UFCW to host Seattle Town Hall on disappearing middle class -- UFCW Locals 21, 44 and 81 are hosting a special forum, "Is the Puget Sound Losing Its Middle Class?" at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 10 at the Seattle Town Hall. Save the date!

Local news:
▪  At the Carpenters' site -- NW carpenters, contractors work together to promote livable wages (PDF)
▪  In today's Seattle P-I -- Labor agreement reached between contractors and Carpenters, IUOE -- The Carpenters union has reached an agreement affecting more than 5,000 carpenters and 490 general contractors in Western Washington. Vote totals are expected on a similar contract between the contractors and the largest union of heavy-equipment operators, IUOE Local 302.
▪  In today's Seattle Times -- WEA seeks two benefits for one (editorial) -- A lawsuit by the teachers' union (against the repeal of pension "gain-sharing") might have been expected, since an employee benefit was being taken away and replaced by a cheaper one. What's unexpected -- and unacceptable -- is that the lawsuit asserts a right to both benefits.
▪  From AP -- State, feds begin talks on Hanford cleanup -- Formal talks begin over long-stalled projects to clean up the nation's most contaminated nuclear site, including an over-budget plant to treat highly radioactive waste and the retrieval of that waste from underground tanks.
▪  In today's Spokesman-Review -- Spokane, unions make steps -- City officials are making progress in their stated goal of gaining medical benefit concessions. But the two contracts where sides have reached agreement are the smallest of the city's six unions, and they've come with a price.
▪  In today's News Tribune -- Safety vs. humane treatment at Western State (editorial) -- Psychiatric patients must be physically restrained as little as possible. Its staff must be protected from violent patients as much as possible. The two imperatives have created a serious dilemma.
▪  In today's News Tribune -- Appeals court rules against ferry workers -- A state appeals court has overturned a ruling that ferry workers should get back pay for working part of their shifts for free.
▪  In today's News Tribune -- Bethel teachers vote for possible strike -- They vote to give their negotiating committee authorization to call a strike on the first day of classes next fall.
▪  In today's Salem S-J -- Oregon's governor signs law requires insurance coverage of birth control 

Pay Discrimination news:
▪  At AFL-CIO Now -- Supreme Court: Workers have only 180 days to challenge pay discrimination 
▪  In today's Seattle P-I -- Equal pay's limit (editorial) -- The Supreme Court's 5-4 decision to limit workers' right to sue for pay discrimination shows how little the majority knows about being a working woman in what is still largely a man's world.
▪  In today's NY Times -- Injustice 5, Justice 4 (editorial) -- The court struck a blow for discrimination by stripping a key civil rights law of its potency. The ruling is the latest indication that a court that once proudly stood up for the disadvantaged is increasingly protective of the powerful.
▪  In today's Washington Post -- A matter of time (editorial) -- It's impossible for every victim of pay discrimination to know and take action within 180 days. Congress should adjust the law.

Immigration news:
▪  Today from AP -- Labor leaders divided over farm guest-worker provisions of immigration bill -- In the 1960s, United Farm Workers  founder Cesar Chavez rallied fieldhands against a guest worker program that recruited millions of Mexicans to pick crops at low wages. Today, the UFW is throwing its weight behind a proposal in the Senate immigration bill to bring thousands of laborers to this country but offer them virtually no chance of putting down roots in the U.S.
▪  In today's Yakima H-R -- Immigration bill draws fire at Hastings' town meeting -- Doc defends Bush's proposal, says it's not amnesty.
▪  From AP -- Illegal immigrants join lawsuit against janitorial firm -- Some say they worked 80- or 100-hour weeks for years for the firm contracted to clean restaurant chains like the Hard Rock Cafe, Planet Hollywood and the House of Blues without earning OT pay or the minimum wage.

Political news:
▪  Today from AP -- L.A. mayor's early endorsement of Clinton spotlights Hispanic vote -- The candidates' competition is intense for support within the growing Hispanic population.
▪  In today's NY Times -- Stir in GOP, as ex-Sen. Thompson moves to run -- His moves come as Republicans have failed to coalesce around a candidate, as they struggle with the war in Iraq, Bush’s unpopularity and questions about the party’s ideological direction. That has created a potential opening in a campaign field that, judging by polls and other reaction, has left Republican voters wanting more.

National news:
▪  In today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette -- Give workers a voice (op-ed by NAACP leader) -- Sadly, the debate on (the Employee Free Choice Act) is being hijacked by sound-bite arguments from the all-powerful business lobby, which falsely claims that the bill will eliminate union elections. The bill doesn’t eliminate anything. It simply gives workers another choice to form unions when a majority signs authorization cards. Such procedures have been in place since 1935, but today the choice is up to the boss. It should be up to workers.
▪  Today from AP -- Economy nearly stalled in 1st quarter -- The economy grew just 0.6%, the worst three-month showing in over four years. A main culprit: the bloated trade deficit.
▪  In today's Washington Post -- Congress weighs future of Andean trade scheme -- (Washington state's asparagus growers have been decimated by this trade deal, installed by Bush #1 in 1991 as part of the War on Drugs™, to subsidize Peruvian asparagus growers, among others.)
▪  In today's Oregonian -- Nike will aid overseas workers --  You know labor conditions in overseas factories are bad when a Fortune 500 company decides it needs to help workers learn how to form a union. Faced with persistent labor violations in contract factories overseas, Nike is pledging to train factory managers and workers about unionizing, eliminating excessive overtime and focusing on resolving some "root causes" of labor abuses by 2011.