Local news: 

►  In the Seattle Times -- Big raises in SPEEA pact with Boeing -- After more than two weeks of intensive negotiations, Boeing and SPEEA came to terms Friday on a handsome monetary proposal. The salaries would rise an average 5% each year of the four-year contract.

►  In the Seattle P-I -- Customers waiting for Boeing to deliver -- Some customers won't get the prized 787 Dreamliner for up to three years after they were supposed to. Boeing announced Friday that the first new 747-8 will be up to a year late. The first delivery of the new 777 freighter will be delayed about two months because of the recently ended 57-day Machinists strike. And Boeing also has a problem with its popular 737 due to a contractor's defective fasteners.

►  In the PS Business Journal --- Coalition: Balance state budget by clamping down on spending -- The business community comes together to present legislators with a common message: look to cuts, and not tax or fee increases, to balance the budget. In addition, they say the state should focus on higher education spending, finish already-funded transportation projects and reform the state’s unemployment and workers’ compensation programs to keep costs down. 

►  In today's Seattle Times -- UW, WSU presidents among highest paid in country -- UW's Mark Emmert's compensation for the year ending June 30 was nearly $888,000, placing him 2nd at U.S. public universities. WSU's Elson Floyd ranks 17th with a bullet. His 2007-8 compensation, $623,000, did not include a $125,000 raise he received in August, which would rank him at 6th.

►  In today's Columbian -- Clark County public health contracts reopened -- Pinched by falling state and federal grants, the health department plans to slice its staff by a third and pass along $2.1 million in contracts to nonprofit groups that say they can provide the same services at less cost.

►  In the Oregonian -- BPA subsidies for aluminum industry under siege -- The latest chapter in the perennial battle over BPA's power sales to aluminum companies is drawing to a noisy close.

►  In today's NY times -- Facing deficits, states getting out sharper knives -- A majority of states -- many with budgets already full of deep cuts and dependent on raiding rainy-day funds -- are scrambling to get through the year without hacking apart vital services or raising taxes.

Election news:  See the latest results in close races 

►  In today's News Tribune -- BIAW fight paints Democrats as sore winners (editorial) -- The liberal advocacy group Fuse wants the Legislature to kneecap the BIAW by cutting off a major source of political cash, the workers' compensation Retrospective Rating Program. 

►  In today's Washington Post -- Obama wrote federal employees about his goals -- In wooing federal employee votes on the eve of the election, Barack Obama wrote a series of letters to workers that offer detailed descriptions of how he intends to add muscle to specific government programs, give new power to bureaucrats and roll back some Bush administration policies.

National news: 

►  In the SF Chronicle -- Labor working for Employee Free Choice Act -- The 250,000 volunteers from AFL-CIO unions around the country may still be hoarse and weary from the dogged stretch effort to get out the vote for Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden, but they're taking a victory lap. Labor feels much more confident that their top legislative priority -- a bill that would make organizing workers substantially easier -- will be passed and signed.

►  In the Seattle Times -- The economy: Bring in the unions (letter to the editor) --  As an economist, I feel that the best way to remedy income inequality and to start America working is to make sure that all men and women have access to a union that will strengthen their ability to get fair pay, health care and safe workplaces. I urge Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

►  In today's Wall St. Journal -- Democrats shouldn't rush on labor legislation (editorial) -- The labor movement has announced it will push passage of the EFCA in Obama's first 100 days. There is even talk of adding it to Obama's stimulus legislation. This haste is a mistake. (So says the official mouthpiece of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Anyone surprised? Anyone? Bueller?)

►  In the Seattle Times -- Free trade: Democrats need to know when to walk away from a bad hand (David Sirota column) -- As globalization became a major campaign theme in the last two elections, free-trade critics replaced free-trade proponents in 69 House and Senate races. These new populists comprise a powerful new voting bloc promising to reject deals like the Colombia agreement and protect labor and human rights.

►  In the Seattle P-I -- The case for a major stimulus package (Paul Krugman column) -- All indications are the new administration will offer a major stimulus package. The package should be huge, on the order of $600 billion. Will the Obama people dare to propose something on that scale?

►  From AP -- Labor Department finalizes family leave rules -- The Bush administration's revisions include new rules defining how families of wounded service members will be able to take unpaid leave to care for them. But other revisions caused concern among labor advocates.