Boeing news: 

►  In today's News Tribune -- Boeing demands no-strike pledge -- Neither IAM 751 nor SPEEA have been approached with any formal proposal or a request to reopen contracts. IAM 751 was upset that Boeing’s demands had become public through a public official (U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks). Said IAM 751 President Tom Wroblewski: “To use politicians as microphones to deliver a message, creates problems and does nothing to improve the relationship. The two sides need to work without the outside influence of politicians, analysts and reporters. ... Many of Boeing’s problems with their employees have escalated because of this type of tactic.”

►  In the PSBJ -- Labor has pivotal role in keeping 787 production in Washington -- Boeing management is reportedly demanding that Machinists District 751 promise to refrain from striking as a condition of keeping the assembly of 787 jets in Washington. Labor experts believe the union is more likely to agree to a contract extension -- which is becoming more common, especially in the recession -- than a semi-permanent no-strike clause.

►  In today's Spokesman-Review -- Boeing may be tempted to fly away for good (editorial) -- The state’s chief advantage is a skilled labor force with a tradition of high quality work, but that asset quickly loses value if workers don’t show up.

►  At HorsesAss.org -- Boeing dropping the other landing gear? -- Nobody wants to see Washington state workers lose jobs, but there should be limits to this kind of pathetic and transparent corporate blackmail. A “no strike clause” is in reality a “no union clause;” they might as well just dissolve the machinists’ union.

Local news: 

►  In today's Olympian -- State workers, retirees to see rise in health costs -- State employees protested the increases on Wednesday, but the state’s Public Employees Benefits Board formally adopted higher co-payments and deductibles on a 4-3 vote. The three protest votes were from representatives of state worker and retiree groups. Some workers’ co-pays and deductibles could double. “This today is an absolute travesty. State workers are taxed even more,” said Greg Devereux, executive director for the 40,000-member Washington Federation of State Employees. He blamed lawmakers for providing a fraction of the expected 8.7% increase in premium inflation. “They don’t want to tax anybody else but they will tax state workers."

►  At UFCW21.org -- Two big unions endorse Dow Constantine for King County Executive -- IAM 751 and UFCW 21 announce their endorsements of Constantine. UFCW 21 has over 35,000 members in Washington with a large number in King County and IAM 751 has 35,000 members (including retirees) in the state, also with large numbers in King County. Also see P-I coverage.

►  In today's Tri-City Herald -- Senate seeks hike of Hanford budget; House wants it cut -- The House budget originally would have cut the Obama administration's proposal by $180 million, but Reps. Doc Hastings and Norm Dicks reduced the proposed cut to $51.8 million. In the Senate, Sen. Patty Murray increased the administration's proposed budget by $120 million. Final versions of the bills will be reconciled after they are passed by the full House and Senate.

►  In today's Tri-City Herald -- Hanford worker's fall came as contractor wins safety award -- The fall of a Hanford worker 50 feet from a catwalk happened just as Washington Closure Hanford had received confirmation that it had made major improvements in its efforts to keep workers safe.

►  In today's News Tribune -- Stop work on gravel dock, state asks -- State Commissioner of Lands Peter Goldmark has put the brakes on a plan to build a large gravel-loading dock on Maury Island, saying he needs further assurance that the operation won’t harm Puget Sound.

►  In the Seattle Weekly -- Developmentally disabled, unable to speak... ready to work? -- The state wants developmentally disabled people to learn real-world job skills, as opposed to so-called "sheltered workshops" often run by nonprofits. Some families think that’s asking too much.

►  In today's Oregonian -- Challenge may follow renaming of Portland street for Cesar Chavez -- The hard-won triumph to rename a street for the farmworker activist was minutes old when opponents began exploring a legal challenge or a charter change to send the decision to voters.

Health care news: 

►  In the Detroit News -- No tax on workers' health benefits (op-ed by IBT President James Hoffa) -- A tax hike on health benefits to pay for a public plan would be a poison pill for middle-class wage-earners to swallow. It would touch off a stampede to the public plan, undermining the entire system. There is no reason that revenue to pay for health care reform has to come out of the current health care system. Middle-class taxpayers just gave Wall Street the biggest bailout in history. Wall Street can well afford to return the favor. Eliminating subsidies and preferences for the wealthiest Americans would go a long way to pay for the health reform this country so desperately needs.

►  In today's NY Times -- Democrats divide over proposal to tax health benefits -- A tax on generous employer-provided health plans is favored by Republicans and several centrist Democrats. But opinion polls show the idea to be generally unpopular, and several senators up for re-election in 2010, including the majority leader, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, have said they oppose it.

►  From AP -- House Dems look at taxing rich for health care -- Pushing to complete a comprehensive health care overhaul plan by Friday and bring it up for committee votes next week, House Democrats abandoned earlier money-raising proposals, including a payroll tax. Now they are looking at a surtax applying to individuals with adjusted gross income of more than $200,000 and couples over $250,000, according to officials involved in the discussion.

►  At Talking Points Memo -- Amid pressure, "centrist" Sen. Lincoln now open to public option --  Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) -- a key Democratic hold out on the question of a public option -- is starting to cave. She has been under fire from reformers for being unwilling to unequivocally endorse the public option. She still hasn't done that, so they'll likely keep the pressure on.

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Health care costs soar for individuals -- Regence BlueShield is raising premiums for 135,000 individual health-plan members in Washington by an average 17% on Aug. 1. Group Health Cooperative and LifeWise Health Plan of Washington also recently imposed similarly steep increases. "We need a public plan," said Terry Naughton of Quilcene, who, with her husband, is facing a 40% jump next month in her Regence premiums.

►  At KUOW.org -- Million dollar doctors -- Fifteen nonprofit hospital leaders in the Seattle area earned at least $1 million in 2007. This elite group includes the CEOs of Swedish, Providence, Virginia Mason, Group Health, Seattle Children's and MultiCare in Tacoma. Another three dozen hospital officials in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties earned at least half a million.

Employee Free Choice Act: 

►  In today's LA Times -- Rite Aid facility symbolic of union's push for EFCA -- Rite Aid's decision last month to reinstate as many as 46 employees dismissed after an acrimonious union organizing drive is the latest chapter in a divisive saga that has made the Lancaster warehouse a national symbol of organized labor's priority: passage of the EFCA, federal legislation that would ease the way for workers to join unions. Labor activists say Rite Aid's anti-union onslaught has included intimidation, misinformation and illegal terminations, along with bad-faith bargaining.

►  At Huffington Post -- Sen. Al Franken signs on as EFCA co-sponsor --  "I just became a cosponsor of my first bill in the Senate, the Employee Free Choice Act," the Minnesota Democrat declared at a gathering at the AFL-CIO on Tuesday evening.

►  At AFL-CIO Now -- Canadian scholars: Freedom to form unions has positive economic impact -- A group of Canadian scholars is helping to cut through the myths and lay out the facts about the EFCA. In an open statement, these 100 academics say wide access to collective bargaining in Canada is good for Canada’s economy. Contrary to the unsupported statements of corporate mouthpieces, Canada’s broad union membership hasn’t hurt its labor markets; indeed, in recent years, Canada -- where some 31% of workers are in unions -- has experienced lower unemployment than the United States.

National news: 

►  In today's NY Times -- Infighting distracts unions at crucial time -- With their allies controlling the White House and Congress, labor unions should be making hay. Instead many unions are making war -- largely with one another -- in the biggest, nastiest surge of labor fratricide in decades. With some union leaders condemning other leaders as dictators and Darth Vaders, business leaders are smiling. Every million spent by unions to bash one another depletes their coffers for battling corporate America and Republican political candidates.

►  In today's NY Times -- Government to require verification of workers -- The Obama administration will require businesses that win federal contracts to use a government electronic database system to verify that their employees have legal immigration status to work in the U.S.

►  In today's NY Times -- Doubts about Obama's recovery plan rise along with unemployment (analysis) -- President Obama has been facing attacks that his $787 billion stimulus program was either too timid or wrong-headed or both. Now, just five months after Congress agreed on the plan, with only a fraction of the money actually out the door, Washington is debating the need for a second round of stimulus amid economic and political crosscurrents.

►  In today's NY Times -- Fair pay for caregivers (editorial) -- If the Labor Department further delays rescinding a measure that denies home care caregivers fair pay, their plight could get mired in the broader debate over health care costs. Home care aides should not have to wait any longer for the fair pay they have been denied for so long.

►  In today's NY Times -- Cities lose out on road funds from federal stimulus -- Transportation stimulus funds are going disproportionately to rural areas, which could stall economic progress.