AFL-CIO national election: 

►  At AFL-CIO Now -- Richard Trumka announces candidacy for president of AFL-CIO -- AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka formally announces his candidacy for president of the AFL-CIO to succeed the retiring John Sweeney. IFPTE President Gregory Junemann announced June 8 he is running for secretary-treasurer. At a rally Thursday, Trumka also introduced his running mates: Liz Shuler, executive assistant to IBEW President Edwin Hill, for secretary-treasurer, and incumbent AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker for re-election. This marks the first time two women have run for the AFL-CIO’s top offices.

NOTE:  Liz Shuler has ties to the Pacific Northwest. A University of Oregon graduate, she worked at Portland General Electric, where her father, an IBEW Local 125 member, works as a lineman and her mother as an estimator in service and design. Shuler became political/legislative director of Local 125 (a WSLC affiliate) and lobbied the legislatures of both Oregon and Washington.

►  From AP -- Trumka launches bid to lead huge labor federation -- Trumka is unopposed in his bid and has already lined up support from more than enough member unions to put him over the top when the federation chooses its new president at its September convention in Pittsburgh.

Local news: 

►  At SeattlePI.com -- I-1033 could turn Washington into Mississippi (Joel Connelly column) -- Its spending limit would start in 2010, setting down as base line a state economy struggling with its worst recession in 29 years. Every time there is a recession year -- when the need for government services goes up -- it would reduce amount of money governments can spend. Bluntly put, I-1033 jerks away the ladder by which this state would climb out of recession.

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Group hopes to build 75-megawatt solar park near Cle Elum -- Local developers say the 75-megawatt "solar park" could be up and running in about 18 months, and what attracted the project was 300 days of sunshine a year in Cle Elum, generous tax breaks, a citizen initiative that requires utilities to get some of their power from renewable sources.

►  In today's Tri-City Herald -- Work to start on K reactors burial ground at Hanford -- Work should begin this month to dig up another Cold War burial ground at Hanford used to dispose of boron balls once employed to soak up radioactive neutrons. The debris was to remain buried permanently, but it's being dug up to protect ground water and the nearby Columbia River.

►  At SeattlePI.com -- It could happen: No King County money for public health, human services -- If people in King County want things like public health clinics, disease prevention programs and money for food banks, they're almost certainly going to have to agree to pay more taxes.

►  In today's Everett Herald -- Everett pulls emergency services measure from fall ballot -- The city council does an about-face on whether to put it before voters, mainly because a panel of business owners and residents argued that this is the wrong time to ask for a tax increase.

Boeing news: 

►  In today's Everett Herald -- New training center a message to Boeing -- Snohomish County joined an aerospace group and community colleges in Spokane and Edmonds to create the state’s first aerospace institute at Paine Field. The idea of an aerospace institute was pushed during the legislative session by state Rep. Mike Sells (D-Everett), the leader of the Snohomish County Labor Council. His bill passed the House, but failed in the Senate. “We needed to get moving,” he said, “I have a sense of urgency about it.”

►  In the News Tribune -- Boeing rhetoric (Peter Callaghan column... scroll down) -- Sen. Mike Hewitt (R-Walla Walla): “If we don’t make our state more attractive to employers, I fear we could see Boeing and other companies taking steps like the one we saw today -- steps that could lead them right out of Washington.” Rep. Brendan Williams (D-Olympia): "If the price of keeping Boeing is to turn Washington into South Carolina, then Boeing is welcome to Mark Sanford’s amorous embrace.”

Employee Free Choice Act: 

►  At AFL-CIO Now -- The EFCA: from 2003 to today -- Over the past few months, opponents of the EFCA have more than once declared the bill dead, ignoring or pretending to ignore, ongoing discussions on Capitol Hill to ensure labor law reform happens this year. We’re a hair’s breath away from improving the nation’s labor laws, but it took many years to get to this point. Check out a timeline from 2003, when the AFL-CIO Executive Council offered a resolution in support of labor law reform, to yesterday’s seating of Sen. Al Franken, whose first move was to co-sponsor EFCA.

►  From Politico -- Sen. Al Franken spurs labor pains for business --  Sen. Al Franken arrived on Capitol Hill this week wearing the union label. It was hardly coincidental that Franken, in his victory speech after winning the court-contested Senate election, saved his most effusive thank-yous for his “brothers and sisters in labor,” who helped get him elected by a mere 312 votes. “I am a member of four labor unions,” he crowed, adding that he and his wife “would not have had health care insurance for the last three years if I hadn’t been a member of a union.”

National news: 

►  In today's NY Times -- Democrats are at odds on health care financing -- House and Senate Democrats appear to be on a collision course over how to pay for a sweeping overhaul of the health care system, with the House planning to propose an income tax increase on the wealthiest Americans, an idea that Senate negotiators have all but dismissed as unworkable.

►  In today's Washington Post -- Airport screeners a step closer to bargaining rights -- Officers have the right to join unions -- and many are AFGE or NTEU members -- but those unions don't have the ability to bargain on their behalf. Complaining that screeners now are treated "like spare parts," Rep. Nita M. Lowey (D-N.Y.), the chief sponsor of the bill, said that "extending basic workplace protections to TSOs will decrease costs and improve results in our air security." 

►  In today's NY times -- AIG seeks feds' OK for more bonuses -- Seeking to avoid the public furor that erupted last spring, the insurance firm has been quietly seeking approval from the new federal compensation czar to pay a total of $2.4 million to dozens of senior executives.

►  In today's LA Times -- In California, illegal immigrants again in budget spotlight -- The economic downturn has activists pushing for a measure that would limit the services Californians provide.