Boeing news: 

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Key lawmakers warn of Boeing no-strike ultimatum -- Members of the state's congressional delegation say Boeing is laying down an ultimatum to its biggest union: Unless a long-term agreement barring strikes by the Machinists is reached by this fall, Boeing will build a second production line for the 787 someplace outside Washington. "The whole thing comes down to, can they get a long-term agreement with the union, with a no-strike clause," says influential U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks. "That's what ultimately has to happen here in the next two or three or four months -- or they are going to go elsewhere. I think if they get this agreement, they would stay." Says IAM District 751 President Tom Wroblewski, "If we were to have these discussions, the company would have to come through with something... guaranteed employment of some sort. The trade-offs would be huge." Says IAM President Tom Buffenbarger, "The union's ears are always open. Talk to us about it."

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Boeing's East Coast presence grows; still-grounded 787 begins taxi tests -- Boeing's dramatic, billion-dollar move to acquire the factory of a major 787 partner was forced by Vought Aircraft Industries' unwillingness to invest further in the plant and its inability to find another buyer for the operation. However unplanned, the upshot is Boeing Commercial Airplanes for the first time owns substantial aircraft-assembly facilities on the East Coast.

►  In today's News Tribune -- Boeing buys 787 part provider -- Says aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia: “This clearly is more about securing the supply chain and undoing numerous mistakes. It’s a good move, it’s a proactive move, it undoes some damage. But on the other hand, it shows this program still has more than a few challenges to overcome.”

►  In today's Charlotte (SC) P-C -- Boeing: In for a landing -- Boeing Co. is stretching its wings in the Lowcountry with an acquisition that puts the Charleston area in line to land a full-scale assembly plant for the 787 aircraft and hundreds of jobs that would come with it. Says Scott Fancher, Boeing's vice president and general manager of the 787 program: "Clearly, we have a footprint here in Charleston, with the Global Aeronautica partnership we have across the street and now with the Vought plant here that we're acquiring. So you can expect Charleston to be on that list of areas that will be considered (for a second 787 production line)."

►  In today's Everett Herald -- Boeing low-key on purchase of 787 supplier's plant -- The Charleston facility is much smaller than Everett, employing only about 500 workers to Everett's 25,000. But it is surrounded by undeveloped land and could be easily expanded.

Boeing opinions: 

►  In today's Seattle Times -- State in an intense competition to keep aerospace jobs -- Maintaining a strong aerospace presence here will take a change of attitude and tone among all the key players: Boeing, labor and political leaders. What's needed is a mutual recognition of the future jobs at stake, and the skills and talent of those who build the world's best airplanes.

►  In today's Everett Herald -- Region's economy at stake (editorial) -- For their own self-interest, it's time for Boeing's local union members, and the company, to turn the page from past animosity to a new era of cooperation. ... Now is the time for action on what the industry needs to thrive here: serious work to bring business costs here in line with other states, and a meaningful, targeted investment in maintaining the world's best-trained aerospace workforce.

►  In today's News Tribune -- The game to keep Dreamliner is on (editorial) -- Boeing is playing its purchase for all its worth. South Carolina is an insurance policy whose mere existence gives customers peace of mind and whose redemption could rescue 787 production. It’s also a mighty threat. Being able to hold the possibility of job losses over Washington’s and the unions’ heads could be alone worth the $580 million purchase price. 

Health care news: 

►  At NYTimes.com -- Union leaders to meet with Obama next week -- A dozen union presidents will meet with the president in the White House next Monday to discuss health-care legislation as well as the Employee Free Choice Act. Labor leaders plan to discuss what the labor unions can do to advance the administration’s efforts to assure passage of health care legislation that includes a public option, but also plan to reiterate their opposition to a tax on employee-provided health benefits to help finance health-care reform. Such a move that would hurt union members disproportionately because so many receive health benefits from their employers.

►  In today's Wall St. Journal -- Support slips for tax on employee health benefits -- Senators are cooling to a proposal that would impose a first-ever tax on employer-provided health insurance and are giving renewed attention to taxes on the wealthy to pay for a sweeping health reform.

►  From AP -- Setback for bipartisan health bill -- Attempts to draft bipartisan legislation in the Senate have suffered a significant setback, with Democratic leaders objecting to a proposed tax on high-cost health benefits. Democratic leadership also expresses support for a stronger provision allowing the government to sell insurance in competition with private companies.

►  In today's Wash. Post -- Health reform: Where is Obama's army? (Harold Meyerson column) -- If universal coverage is to succeed, Obama's army of supporters must create a movement.

►  In today's NY Times -- Health deals could harbor hidden costs -- As the White House trumpets big agreements, what will industry groups get in return?

►  In today's Wash. Post -- Small business, big fable (Steven Pearlstein column) -- The small-business lobby remains just as stubbornly opposed to an "employer mandate" as it was 15 years ago when President Clinton proposed it. Requiring small firms to offer health insurance, they warn, will drive millions of them out of business while sapping from all the others the profits they need to invest and grow. And since small business, as we all know, accounts for virtually all job creation, an employer mandate will stop the U.S. economy dead in its tracks. This argument, of course, is 100% Grade A hooey, beginning with the myth of small-business job creation. After all, one reason small businesses "created" all those jobs in the first place is that they enabled big companies with generous health plans to outsource work to small companies that had lower cost structures because they offered no insurance at all. 

Local news: 

►  At SeattlePI.com -- Group for disabled sues over budget cuts -- A watchdog organization for the disabled has filed suit against the state, arguing that, in its haste to slash expenses, up to 900 severely disabled adults have been cut loose from needed medical care.

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Nickels gives Seattle City Light chief $40,000 bonus -- The city of Seattle's highest-paid executive got a $40,000 bonus this year, even as his department, Seattle City Light, considers rate increases and other measures to fill a $90 million budget gap.

►  At SeattlePI.com -- Mallahan a hit with Seattle Dems; hit by anti-union memo (Joel Connelly column) --  T-Mobile Vice President Joe Mallahan has made such a hit with district Democrats in his Seattle mayoral campaign that he is on the receiving end of an anonymous hit. A memo from T-Mobile's human resources, on how to thwart a union's initial organizing moves, has circulated among local union activists. Seattle is still, as much as anyplace nowadays, a labor stronghold.

►  In today's Yakima H-R -- Workers' attorneys want $2.3 million for legal costs -- Attorneys for Latino farm workers who accused a labor contractor of rejecting them in favor of imported Thai workers say they should be awarded $2.3 million to cover their work, considerably more than the $535,000 the plaintiffs got earlier this year -- $350 to $500 for each of the 650 workers.

►  In today's Everett Herald -- Pay cuts will save Arlington $10,000 -- Police and fire personnel have joined the rest of the city's employees in taking pay cuts to help Arlington through lean times.

National news: 

►  In today's NY Times -- Woman to seek high labor post -- AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka has chosen Elizabeth Shuler to be his running mate in his campaign to succeed John Sweeney as president of the 56-union federation. In choosing Shuler to run as secretary-treasurer, the federation’s No. 2 post, Trumka would make her the highest-ranking woman in the federation’s history. Shuler is executive assistant to the president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. IFPTE President Gregory J. Junemann is also running to be secretary-treasurer.

►  From Reuters -- Next AFL-CIO leader may be more militant -- "Here's the deal," says Richard Trumka, who is running for AFL-CIO President. "For employers who want to work with us and want to work with workers, we'll be the best friend they ever had. For those that want to abuse people, take benefits away, jettison retirees, then we are going to do everything in our power to stop that from happening. And we will use innovative techniques."

►  In today's Wall St. Journal -- Jobless feel effects of states' stimulus decisions -- Many in Alabama and Mississippi don't qualify for benefits because their states turned down stimulus funds.

►  In today's Wash. Post -- Pope criticizes world economic system, calls for social responsibility -- Pope Benedict XVI criticizes the world economic system and called for a new global structure based on social responsibility, concern for the dignity of the worker and a respect for ethics.

►  From Democracy Now! -- "Change to Win is dead" -- In a dramatic blow to SEIU’s efforts to raid UNITE HERE members and jurisdictions, 15 of the nation’s leading unions pledge to provide UNITE HERE with “material and moral” support. Democracy Now! co-host and Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez says this is “a seminal moment in the American labor movement.”

Employee Free Choice Act: 

►  At AFL-CIO Now -- Sen. Al Franken joins Senate, immediately co-sponsors EFCA -- After a long, hard campaign and almost eight months of vote counting and litigation, Al Franken was sworn in Tuesday as the newest U.S. Senator representing Minnesota. Then he signed on for the first time as co-sponsor of a bill -- the Employee Free Choice Act.

►  At AFL-CIO Now -- Analysis of NLRB stats: Workers who want union rarely get one -- When workers try to form unions, they often face harassment and intimidation from their employers. A new analysis of labor board elections by a University of California-Davis professor shows the odds of making it all the way through the process, from filing a petition to getting a first contract, years later, are only 573 out of 2,388, or less than one in four.