TUESDAY, JULY 31  ▪  Join your community's leaders in urging fair grocery contract -- Starting Wednesday, delegations of labor and community allies will accompany grocery workers for meetings with management in several Western Washington stores to emphasize why achieving a fair contract is so important to their employees, customers and communities.

Local news:
▪  In today's Olympian -- Meetings stalled as St. Peter nurses picket -- Contract talks between nurses and Providence St. Peter Hospital are stalled over how to manage heavy workloads.
▪  In today's Bellingham Herald -- Brown & Cole in talks with investor -- The local grocer appears to be on track to emerge from bankruptcy largely intact this fall, but it will mean changes at the top. Says Craig Cole: “This deal would allow for all 20 stores to be refurbished and stay in operation."
▪  In today's Seattle P-I -- Fisken's scrutiny at Port of Seattle rattle cargo workers -- While he has received the endorsement of the Teamsters and unions representing carpenters and operating engineers, the all-important International Longshore and Warehouse Union has been silent. 
▪  In today's Oregonian -- Hanford leak shows shoddy work, critics say -- Last week, workers were checking a clogged pump and noticed the ground was soaked with spilled nuclear sludge.
▪  In today's Seattle P-I -- Captain fired after Mukilteo ferry crash -- He'll appeal through his union.
▪  Today from AP -- Postal Service worker in Seattle sues, says USPS sold personal data
▪  In today's Seattle Times -- Private-equity tax measure could cut into state pensions -- Leaders in Congress are pushing to more than double the tax rates on fees earned by private-equity firm managers. For more than 440,000 retired state and local government employees, the returns earned by their pension funds have been boosted by investments in these private-equity firms.

National news:
▪  At AFL-CIO Now -- Does the Bush administration see union membership as sign of terrorism? -- If a passenger flying from Europe to the U.S. is a member of a union, or is gay or a Buddhist, will knowing that help Homeland Security fight terrorism? The Bush administration thinks so. 
▪  In today's Wash. Post -- As UAW negotiates, Toyota workers consider union -- As auto workers negotiate with the faltering Big Three under intense pressure to surrender benefits, employees at Toyota's flagship U.S. plant want what their counterparts in Detroit have: union representation.
▪  In today's NY Times -- UPS agrees to benefits in civil unions -- The decision is a reversal. UPS had said it could not offer such benefits because the couples were not legally married, and will affect an unspecified number of its 8,700 employees who belong to the Teamsters union.
▪  At BusinessWeek.com -- Can business solve the immigration mess? -- After the U.S. government failed to pass immigration reform, states and cities look to companies to address the issue.
▪  In today's Wash. Post -- A closer look at airport screeners' pay -- The Senate has asked the TSA to report on the pay system covering about 40,000 passenger and baggage screeners.
▪  In today's LA Times -- With dearth of pilots, Northwest flight cancellations continue -- It canceled 8% of its flights Monday as disruptions linked to a pilot shortage extended into a fourth day.
▪  In today's Oregonian -- To reduce cancellations, Northwest calls back all of its pilots
▪  At BusinessWeek.com -- The outsourcing upstarts -- The secret's out. Estonia has become a target of several U.S. companies hoping to take operations offshore at the right price.
▪  At BusinessWeek.com -- What of the workers? -- Building is booming in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, but Human Rights Watch is flagging abusive labor practices.

Election news: 
▪  In today's NY Times -- Democratic field presents pleasant predicament for unions -- Union leaders say they are so happy with the Democratic presidential aspirants, though unsure of whom to support, that they are unlikely to endorse any of them before the primaries next year. If the unions do delay throwing their weight behind any candidate early, it would be particularly frustrating to former Sen. John Edwards, who has vigorously courted unions
▪  In today's Seattle Times -- Obama must persuade black voters (Eugene Robinson column) -- One of Barack Obama's principal tasks in the coming months may be convincing African-American voters that this whole phenomenon -- a black candidate with a well-financed campaign, proven crossover appeal and a real chance to win -- isn't just another cruel illusion.

Last Throes update:
▪  From AP -- Audit finds what U.S. builds, Iraqis let fall apart -- One power plant rebuilt with tens of millions of U.S. dollars fell into disrepair once transferred to the Baghdad government. Theft, fraud, skimming and other corruption amount to a "second insurgency," says the report.
▪  Of the 3,651 U.S. troops killed in Iraq; 3,512 of them have died since Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" and an end to major combat operations in May 2003; 3,190 have died since the capture of Saddam; and 2,792 have died since the government was handed over to the Iraqis.
▪  The WSLC's affiliated unions have called for an end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq.