►  At AFL-CIO Now -- Hundreds rally in Washington State for health care reform --  More than 600 people rallied in Seattle this weekend as part of a statewide push for health care reform. Union members, religious leaders, community activists and elected leaders came together for the rally.

►  In today's Washington Post -- Obama urges senate to pass health reform bill -- He urges Senate Democrats to overcome lingering disputes and push a health-care overhaul through the chamber before Christmas, as vigorous negotiations continued behind the scenes to lock down the last votes needed for final passage.

►  In today's -- Public cooling to health reform as debate drags on -- A bare majority of Americans still believe government action is needed to control runaway health-care costs and expand coverage to the roughly 46 million people without insurance.

►  In today's NY Times -- The million-dollar man (editorial) -- Sen. Joseph Lieberman’s professed support for health care reform seems hypocritical. He is now against an over-55 Medicare buy-in, an idea he supported in September. Asked about his 180-degree turn, he claims he forgot that he had taken that position. Sen. Lieberman has taken $1 million from the insurance industry during his career. In his 2006 re-election campaign, he ranked second in the Senate in contributions from the industry. He doesn’t seem to have forgotten that.

Local news:

►  In today's Olympian -- Crowded field to replace Baird grows by three -- Two Democrats, Sen. Craig Pridemore and Maria Rodriguez Salazar, and Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera join a field that already had two Democrats and three Republicans. More appear to be on the way.

►  In today's Olympian -- City council OKs budget, job cuts -- The Olympia City Council passes its 2010 budget, which cuts $4 million, 13 employees and 14 other positions.

Unemployment news:

►  In the Seattle Times -- State's November jobs report shows economy may have touched bottom -- The unemployment rate fell to 9.2% in November, from 9.3% a month earlier. But the recession has taken a heavy toll on working Washington. Since nonfarm payrolls peaked in February 2008, they've shrunk by 166,500 jobs -- a decline of 5.6%. Although most of the state's major employment sectors have lost jobs during the downturn, the hardest-hit have been construction and manufacturing. 

►  Local coverage -- Benton/Franklin (7.4%▲), Clark (13.2%▲), Cowlitz (13%▲), Kitsap (7.6%▲), Pierce (9.4%▲), Seattle metro 8.6%▼) Snohomish (9.8%▼), Spokane (8.7%▲), Thurston (7.5%▲)

►  From Bloomberg -- Biden to host manufacturing CEOs for meeting on jobs -- Today's session is another in a series of Obama Administration events intended to focus on efforts to drive down the unemployment rate, which was at 10% last month.

Immigration news:

►  At AFL-CIO Now -- Immigration reform bill protects all workers --  The AFL-CIO is backing immigration reform legislation introduced Tuesday, which provides a long overdue and sensible approach to immigration reform and protects the interests of all workers -- foreign and U.S.-born. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says, “(we) can no longer allow a broken immigration system to strips workers of their rights on the job, robbing them of earned pay, the ability to collectively bargain for benefits and often placing their lives in danger."

►  In today's LA Times -- Immigration overhaul bill unveiled in House -- Raising the curtain on a new round of debate over immigration reform, a group of Democratic congressional lawmakers introduced a comprehensive bill Tuesday that, among other provisions, would offer a path to legalization for the country's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Coalition pushed for immigration reform -- A pro-immigrant reform measure introduced in Congress was celebrated at rallies in Seattle and across the country.

National news:

►  In The Hill -- Pelosi to shield vulnerable members from controversial votes -- The House Speaker has privately told her politically vulnerable Democratic members that they will not vote on controversial bills in 2010 unless the Senate acts first. Her promise could dim the prospects for other White House priorities as well, including the Employee Free Choice Act.

►  From AP -- British Airways, striking union agree to emergency talks -- The talks are part of an attempt to avert a 12-day strike by cabin crew staff over Christmas. Management is still pushing ahead for a court injunction to prevent the walkout, which is scheduled to start Monday.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2009
Zarelli's misguided attack on salaries

The following message to rank-and-file state employees represented by the Washington Federation of State Employees, AFSCME Council 28 (an affiliate of the Washington State Labor Council) was posted on the union's website Tuesday at www.wfse.org:

THERE HE GOES AGAIN; SEN. ZARELLI GOES AFTER STEP INCREASES 

Like autumn's falling leaves, Sen. Joseph Zarelli's perennial attack on your step increases has returned again for what seems like the umpteenth time. 

Step increases are not pay raises. They are salary. They are part of the pay the state promises its employees when they come to work for the state. Step increases in fact are an actuarial accounting tool that saves the state money. By phasing in pay over the first six years or so of a state worker's employment, the state saves from having to pay the full salary from Day 1.

With the normal turnover of state employees, the state is never paying full salary for all its workers. One way to think of it is step increases give the state a discount on paying its employees. 

So these misguided perennial attacks on step increases and health benefits and more of what you get as a state employee deflect from the real issues.

Sen. Zarelli can cut your step increases, but that's no guarantee that will reverse the cuts to public safety in Community Corrections, or bolster the juvenile rehabilitation continuum of care, or stop the disabled and mentally ill from being summarily ejected from caring campuses like Frances Haddon Morgan Center or Rainier School or the PALS program at Western State Hospital. 

So, we need to say to Sen. Zarelli and the rest of his colleagues in the Legislature, both Democrats and Republicans, move off the phony issue of step increases and instead support a Book 2 budget that:

• Generates new revenue;
• Suspends targeted tax breaks; and 
• Asks us where to find common sense efficiencies to protect public safety and quality services. 

We need a budget that does no more harm and preserves the quality of life in Washington. Call 1-800-562-6000 and give legislators that message.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2009
Seattle Times: Cut pay, subsidize us

The following response to a Dec. 10 editorial in The Seattle Times calling for suspension of state employees' step increases and major cuts in their health benefits was posted by the Washington Public Employees Association, UFCW Local 365 (an affiliate of the Washington State Labor Council) on the union's website at www.wpea.org:

OH, PLEASE…

In an editorial published this morning (December 10, 2009) entitled "Gregoire’s Budget a Good Start," The Seattle Times calls on the governor to eliminate step increases for state employees and to increase all state union members’ health care premium costs from 12% to 20%, "a figure still well below that of the private sector." The Times editorial, being a Times editorial, ignores the fact that on average state employees earn 75% of private sector wages.

This impassioned plea for balancing the budget on the backs of state employees comes from the same family-owned newspaper company whose leader, Frank Blethen, had no difficulty at all testifying in favor of a 40% cut in the state’s B&O tax for newspaper companies. In an article entitled "Newspapers in Washington Get Key 40% Tax Break," Editor & Publisher, America’s oldest journal covering the newspaper industry (itself about to bite the dust) reported that "The Society of Professional Journalists and the National Conference of State Legislatures was not aware of any other state that has granted a similar tax break to the newspaper industry." According to our state Office of Financial Management, the fiscal impact of the newspaper industry B&O tax break will be $1.2 million this year, $1.3 million next year, and a total of $8 million through 2015 -- assuming the ailing newspaper industry lasts that long.

So, while The Seattle Times calls on the governor to reduce your salaries even further, and increase your health care costs even more, it lobbies for and receives a handout for itself. Note: In fairness, it must be said that not all newspaper companies in Washington favored the approach taken by the Times. Rufus Woods, publisher and editor of another family-owned newspaper company -- The Wenatchee World -- sees it differently: "I don’t think it is up to the government to make us survive. We need to figure out how to make that happen. We are like any other business. We need to figure out new ways to do things."

While Governor Gregoire strives to find new ways of doing things, The Seattle Times clearly is not. Another Times editorial regarding the budget deficit from early this year says all their editors ever say: "the state must cut, cut, cut." Why not start, then, with eliminating the 40% B&O tax cut The Seattle Times and other newspaper companies now enjoy?

^{Copyright © 2009 --  Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO}