News about rich guys who don't like taxes and unions: 

►  In Seattle Business Monthly -- Blethen's choice -- The Seattle Times now owes more than $100 million to its pension fund and lenders, with its bankers dictating some of the company’s major financial decisions. The management performance of the Blethens during the past decade has contributed significantly to the Times’ current troubles. ... During the run-up to the disastrous 2000-01 strike, Times publisher Frank Blethen took such a hard line, anti-union negotiating stance that the Times labor relations chief, in a post-strike memo, called the resulting strike “inevitable.” Times officials were so sure the unions would fold they failed to secure adequate strike insurance before the 49-day walkout. After the strike, Blethen continued to rail against the unions, accusing them of having a “targeted and destructive” agenda (and later threatening to leave Seattle for being to pro-labor).

►  At HorsesAss.com -- Citizen Blethen -- It’s hard not to respect Blethen’s goal of building family cohesion, and instilling pride in the newspaper and its values amongst the fifth generation of Blethens. But as a businessman, that doesn’t let Frank off the hook, and I’m tired of reading his editorial board demand that individuals take the same sort of personal responsibility for our actions that the Blethen family has thus far refused to publicly take for their own. 

►  In the new Rolling Stone -- The "death tax" scam (an abbreviated version of a MUST-READ report) -- America's wealthiest families are pouring millions into slashing the estate tax -- and some Democrats are siding with the super-rich. (Dog-shootin') Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen, who drives to work in a $93,000 Porsche, is obsessed with getting rid of the estate tax -- a move that would enable his descendants to pocket a family fortune once estimated at $650 million, without paying a penny in taxes. (Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray were two of the 10 Democrats who recently voted to slash estate taxes by billions, while Rep. Jim McDermott, with the support of people like Bill Gates Sr., is leading the charge to reinstate the tax to its pre-Bush levels.)   

►  At HorsesAss.com -- A 40% state tax cut for newspapers, criminals on the streets -- Now that Gregoire has approved the tax break, it’s going to be entertaining to watch newspaper editorial boards in this state pump out their usual anti-union pap now that they’re big-time freeloaders.

►  Meanwhile, in today's Seattle Times -- Maine newspaper union voting on givebacks ahead of sale -- The largest union at the Portland Press Herald is voting on whether to accept contract concessions paving the way for the Seattle Times Co.'s sale of its Blethen Maine subsidiary.

News from Olympia: 

►  In today's News tribune -- Gregoire's veto disappoints transit supporters -- The provision of the bill that the governor vetoed would have allowed transit boards to ask voters to raise their vehicle registration fees by as much as $20 a year to pay for bus service. 

Local news:

►  From AP -- Hanford violators will get stimulus -- Contractors that were heavily fined for environmental and safety violations at the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site will receive much of the $2 billion in stimulus money the government is spending on cleanup there.

►  In today's Columbian -- County officials hope pared hours spare layoffs -- Clark County is out of time to cut a deal with its unions by Monday, but officials still want some workers to agree to cut their hours to avoid layoffs. They're giving themselves extra time in hopes of reaching a deal.

►  In today's Columbian -- 4 more unions pass on raises -- Four more Vancouver city unions have agreed to forgo COLA raises for two years, saving the city an estimated $495,000 in 2009.

►  At SeattlePI.com -- Jarrett: Gold-plated health plan for county workers has to go -- All King County employees should have to pay a portion of their health-care costs to help avoid further cuts to public services during this severe budget crisis, says the county executive candidate. Fellow candidate Dow Constantine proposes only to charge well-paid, non-union workers.

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Bloated King County bureaucracy has to go, critics say -- As council members deal with a $50 million budget deficit, critics say one of the first places they should look is their own staff, which is by far the largest of any Puget Sound area county council. 

►  At SeattlePI.com -- Two ferry workers sue, say work ruined their hearing -- Two longtime ferry workers have sued the state, alleging they were exposed to unsafe noise levels that led to hearing loss while working in the engine rooms of different vessels.

►  In the Seattle Weekly -- Seahawks: Blue jerseys, red politics -- As the headline speech at county council member Kathy Lambert's re-election kickoff breakfast in Bellevue, new head coach Jim Mora joins a long line of Seahawks who have donned the GOP jersey.

Employee Free Choice Act news: 

►  From In These Times -- Battling over Employee Free choice -- The fate of the proposed legislation hinges on a few senators under intense pressure from corporations. But labor leaders remain optimistic that the legislation will pass -- most likely with some tweaks. Unions have maintained a steady push for EFCA, including more than 400 actions during Congress’ spring break. They’ve mobilized non-union supporters and given prominent roles to workers with personal stories to tell.

National news:

►  In today's NY Daily News -- UNITE HERE boss faces ax in labor war -- At an internal hearing to be held in Chicago today, UNITE HERE officials will review charges that their president, Bruce Raynor, improperly organized a breakaway faction to join a rival labor group, the SEIU. Raynor is also accused of conspiring to siphon millions of dollars of UNITE HERE's assets, including those of the union-owned Amalgamated Bank, for the benefit of SEIU. American labor has rarely seen such a massive raid by one union against another, or such a public power struggle within a major union.

►  At AFL-CIO Now -- Project Labor Agreements benefit communities, contractors and workers -- A new study finds that PLAs “make sense for public works projects” and debunks attacks by anti-union groups and contractors on such agreements, which set wages, benefits and working conditions on large multicontractor and multi-union public construction projects.

►  In BusinessWeek -- Competitiveness: The United States is tops -- That means Washington -- which is ranked as the third-best state to do business -- is the No. 3 most competitive place on Planet Earth!  That is, unless you have a legislative agenda to cut your state business taxes.

►  Today from AP -- UAW members likely to approve GM concessions -- The revised contract freezes wages, ends bonuses, eliminates noncompetitive work rules and ends the possibility of a strike until the next contract expires in 2015.

►  In today's Detroit Free Press -- UAW may need to weigh merger -- With its membership declining and facing ever more demands for concessions, the UAW may need to consider a merger with another union to remain viable, experts say.

►  In the Detroit News -- UAW defends its share of GM stock, blasts newspaper -- The union sends a letter to Congress, blasting inaccurate stories about the amount of GM stock a union health care trust fund will receive. The UAW also defends the stock split, noting the sacrifices auto workers and retirees have already made. 

►  In today's Washington Post -- For R&B star, day job's the real high note -- The idea of a pop star slumming in the working class with the rest of us isn't a regular part of the celebrity-culture diet. But Herb Feemster, the suave "Reunited" and "Shake Your Groove Thing" singer who rose to international fame in the 1960s and '70s with Peaches and Herb, prefers the life of a working-class soul man. Never mind that the first new Peaches and Herb album in more than a quarter-century is being released today, by 6 a.m. this morning he'll punch the clock at the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, where he works as a deputized court security officer.