Employee Free Choice Act news:

►  In today's News Tribune -- Starbucks, Costco fight EFCA -- They now find themselves facing sharp criticism from all sides in a nasty fight over legislation that would make it easier for unions to organize. Organized labor denounced the effort by the three companies as “naive,” anti-union and misguided because the fight over EFCA was far from finished. “EFCA is on life support,” said Rhonda Bentz, a spokeswoman for a business group called the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace. “It makes no sense to negotiate when we are winning."

►  In today's SF Chronicle -- EFCA is getting revised -- Efforts are primarily focused on the card check provision. As written, it would allow workers to bypass the traditional secret ballot and form a union if more than 50% sign cards. One compromise being bruited: ensuring a worker's right to opt for a secret ballot election, rather than simply checking "yes" on a card.

►  At Huffington Post -- As "secret-ballot" myth sputters, Chamber launches new anti-union attack -- The provision now under attack requires arbitration after 120 days if workers and employers can't come to a contract agreement after a union has been recognized. It aims to put an end to the delays and stalling that lead nearly half of all union election victories to never achieve a first contract for workers. New Chamber of Commerce ads say that the arbitration provision would lead to commissar-like bureaucrats telling executives how to run their businesses.

Legislative news:

►  In today's Olympian -- Activists push for tax-vote plan -- Activists are trying to twist the arms of legislators to put a sales-tax package on the Nov. 3 ballot, but lawmakers want to see polling first. A coalition including the Washington State Hospital Association, nursing groups, SEIU and others is doing polling Monday through Wednesday, hoping to get results by week's end -- when lawmakers start figuring out their tax-and-spending plan before adjourning April 26.

►  In the Olympian -- WEA looks to school levy strategy for money -- The 82,000-member union had previously been part of a coalition exploring support for a Nov. 3 ballot measure to increase the sales tax, but now it is working to increase higher levy lids for local school districts.

►  In Saturday's Everett Herald -- House budget keeps money for ferries, roads -- Money for building new ferries, widening Highway 522 and making safety improvements on U.S. 2 remained intact in the $8.3 billion House transportation budget approved Friday.

►  In the News Tribune -- Is Pierce County shortchanged in transportation budget? -- State House and Senate negotiators this week will resume negotiations on what ultimately will be the largest transportation construction budget ever passed by the Legislature.

►  In the News Tribune -- Plan to close McNeil Island has many critics -- Among others, the plan lacks the support of Department of Corrections Secretary Eldon Vail; the Teamsters union; and the DSHS, which runs a civil commitment center for sex offenders on the island.

►  In the Kitsap Sun -- A state income tax is inevitable (Sen. Rosa Franklin op-ed) -- Our tax structure was developed more than a century ago for an economy based on agriculture, manufacturing and local commerce. It was appropriate then and for many decades afterward, but over time it has become less and less appropriate -- and adequate -- for the needs of our modern economy.

►  In Sunday's Seattle Times -- Time for state to discuss taxes despite difficulties (Jon Talton column) -- State revenue has to come from somewhere. A proposal to create an income tax and another to increase the sales tax are just two ways to pay for services.

►  In the Everett Herald -- Commit to prioritizing children by funding education first (op-ed by Reps. Anderson, Cox and Priest) -- Over the last decade, legislators have foolishly skipped payments to pension funds, creating a $6 billion shortfall. Pensions are a promise made to former state employees that must be honored, but not on the backs of our children's education.

Local news:

►  In today's Kitsap Sun -- Kitsap's labor unions struggle to stay strong in soft economy -- Many workers in all sectors have taken pay cuts as the recession deepens, but most of them figure it could have been worse. They could have been laid off. And while many around the world have reason to fear for the jobs, it doesn't mean everyone does.

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Port wants to offer terminal operators deal to help police dirty trucks -- The Port of Seattle wants to give $7 million in rent breaks to companies that run its cargo terminals in exchange for help in a plan to ban the dirtiest trucks from Port property.

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Employers apply for fewer skilled guest-workers -- U.S. employers have applied for guest-worker visas that would allow 62,000 new foreign professionals to get jobs in offices, labs, public schools and hospitals beginning this year. It's but a fraction of the total number of so-called H-1B visas that employers have sought in each of the past few years.

►  In today's Spokesman-Review -- Complex to house migrant workers -- A seasonal housing development near Malaga -- government financed, but grower owned -- may be the answer to the decades-old question of how best to house migrant farmworkers needed to pick crops.

►  In the PS Business Journal -- Seattle Times staff union agrees to concessions -- Pacific NW Newspaper Guild members voted to approve a plan seeking to reduce by 12% compensation for its 400 union-represented workers in advertising, circulation, marketing and news.

►  In today's Tri-City Herald -- New La Clinica head wants to put past behind -- Carl Walters inherits an organization that's weathered some controversy in the past few years.

National news:

►  In today's NY Times -- State cuts delay U.S. benefits -- The nation’s top Social Security official says benefits for tens of thousands of people with severe disabilities are being delayed by furloughs and layoffs of state employees around the country.

►  In the NY Times -- States slashing programs for vulnerable -- Battered by the deepest and most widespread budget deficits in several decades, a majority of states are slicing into their social safety nets -- often crippling preventive efforts that officials say would save money over time.

►  In the NY Daily News -- CEOs get millions as their companies die, thousands lose their jobs -- In one of the worst years ever for the U.S. economy, many CEOs appeared to exist in a parallel universe of mega-pay raises and ostentatious perks. A Daily News review of 2009 SEC filings document how big brass bagged big bucks in treacherous times.

►  In today's LA Times -- Lay "death tax" debate to rest (editorial) -- The tax currently hits fewer than 3 in 1,000 estates and has exemptions (on the first $7 million after the death of both spouses) and deferments for the rest. Yet it consumes enormous time and energy in Washington, D.C. 

►  At LaborRadio.org -- UFCW has win at Quebec Wal-Mart -- It took years of legal battles, but a Quebec arbitrator has ruled that Wal-Mart must honor a labor agreement with the workers at a St. Hyacinthe, Quebec Wal-Mart. It’s the only Wal-Mart in North America to have a union.

►  In Sunday's NY Times -- The first showdown on health care (editorial) -- A bipartisan agreement would be nice, but what the country needs right now is effective health care reform.

►  In today's NY Times -- 391% payday loan (editorial) -- Congress should resist an ersatz reform that would allow lenders to continue to charge exorbitant interest rates on payday loans.