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March 8, 2010 |
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Updated DAILY... Almost Every Day!™ by 9 a.m. Pacific
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Monday
, March 8, 2010'STOP Big Insurance' rally Tuesday in Seattle
On
Tuesday, insurance industry executives will gather in Washington,
D.C., to plot how to kill health care reform once and for all. Union activists
and other health care supporters will be protesting outside that Ritz
Carlton conference. But you can send the same message -- "STOP Big
Insurance and Pass Health Reform! -- at a rally at noon on Tuesday outside the
downtown Seattle headquarters of Regence BlueShield. Read
more.
► From AP -- Obama: Health overhaul will stop insurance company abuses -- Obama says insurers believe they can continue raising rates and refusing to cover the ill because there is so little competition among health insurers.
► From AP -- Baird among 3 Democrats undecided about changing votes -- Central to success of the bill is persuading some of the House members who voted against the original legislation to go along with the Senate bill. “The complexity, I think, worries a lot of people,” says Baird. "That worries a lot of people and, frankly, it troubles me.”
State employee news:
► In Sunday's Seattle Times -- How state workers' pay really stacks up -- Some government critics contend state workers are earning more than their private-sector counterparts. An analysis of wage data shows that claim in many cases is incorrect or oversimplified. Although state employees do receive benefits that are richer than those earned by many other workers, out of nearly 200 standard occupational categories, median pay was higher for state workers than for all other workers in only 74 categories.
► In the Olympian -- State human resources staff shrinks again -- The Department of Personnel cut its work force by 21 people last week, a more than 10% reduction that is part of ongoing downsizing in state government. Personnel’s monthly head counts show that general-government employment totaled 63,131 full- or part-time employees as of Jan. 31, which is 2,159 fewer people than on June 30, 2009, and 4,009 fewer than in July 2008.
► In Sunday's Spokesman-Review -- Republicans' "emergency" call wouldn't change much -- Republicans say the governor should declare a financial emergency and reopen contracts with the state employees unions, cutting pay and benefits to help balance the budget. But a fiscal note last week on a GOP budget amendment to do so estimated savings for fiscal 2011 to the general fund at $6.6 million, which is about two-tenths of 1% of the budget shortfall.
Legislative news:
► In
Sunday's Olympian -- Senate
approves taxes to help close gap -- Majority
Senate Democrats narrowly approved an $890 million tax package, setting the
stage for a four-day sprint toward adjournment of their recession-plagued
session.
► From AP -- Senate OKs $890 million tax passage -- The main measure, centered on a temporary three-tenths-of-a-cent sales tax increase, passed on a 25-23 vote, with six Democrats crossing the aisle to vote against it. A bill to add $1-per-pack to the cigarette tax, bringing the state an extra $86 million, passed on a 29-19 vote.
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Washington needs bold action on jobs!
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► In today's Olympian -- No-new-taxes approach is immoral, unjust (editorial) -- The final budget solution must include both program cuts and tax increases. The all-cuts budget, which Republicans seem to favor without offering up a budget proposal of their own, is inhumane and unacceptable.
► In Sunday's News Tribune -- Pierce County wants data center tax break -- The proposed data-center tax break would apply only to rural counties. Pierce County lawmakers say that if the proposal included this region, a server farm under development in South Hill could benefit.
► In today's News Tribune -- Senate may pursue new corrections site -- State Senate Democrats have proposed building a new prison somewhere in Western Washington, another sign they’re serious in their call to mothball McNeil Island Corrections Center.
► In today's Seattle Times -- School superintendents split on levy bill -- An effort to allow districts to do more to help themselves faces opposition from some superintendents who worry rich districts could benefit and poorer ones would be left further behind.
► In today's (Everett) Herald -- Aerospace tax incentives go unclaimed -- The 2003 tax breaks were valued at $3.2 billion, but only 34% of the state’s aerospace companies claim the tax credits available to them. Some of them may not be aware of all the incentives the state offers.
► At HeraldNet.com -- Rep. Sells seeks $2 million for aerospace training -- The $2 million would go to the Washington Aerospace Training and Research Center at Paine Field here in Everett.
► From AP -- Bill would curtail travel money for ferry workers -- A Senate bill aims to cut a ferry worker perk that provides free ferry passage even after their employment ends.
Local news:
► In
the (Aberdeen) Daily World -- The
pontoon plan -- Kiewit-General
has committed to hiring only union labor to work directly on the proposed
pontoon project in Aberdeen. K-G was awarded the $367.3 million contract to
design and build the casting basin and related pontoons that will support
the Highway 520 bridge. The company said it plans to work with local unions
on Grays Harbor to hire as many people as possible.
► In the (Everett) Herald -- Even if Boeing is sole tanker bidder, it must choose its price carefully -- Should Boeing add in too much padding to its price, it's likely to find itself in hot water with members of Congress. But Boeing can't bid too low if it doesn't want to turn its tanker contract into a losing proposition for the company.
► In today's Yakima H-R -- Fired workers file suit against Zillah grower, labor contractor -- Three local workers have filed a lawsuit against ACL Farms and Washington Farm Labor Source alleging they were fired so the grower could hire foreign workers under a guest-worker program.
► In today's Spokesman-Review -- STA proposes "modest" route reductions -- Agency officials are proposing a small decrease in bus service starting in September, to be followed by potentially larger cuts of 7% each in 2011 and 2012.
National news:
► At AFL-CIO Now -- International Women's Day: Time to recommit to equal rights -- Women make up more than half the American workforce and are approaching half of union members. Today, on International Women’s Day, the AFL-CIO is recommitting itself to continue the struggle for equal rights, dignity and respect for all working women.
► From AP -- Obama wants former top Army intel officer at TSA -- He plans to appoint Gen. Robert Harding, a former senior Army official with a career in intelligence, to lead the TSA.
► Ay Huffington Post -- GOP's Delay: People unemployed because they want to be -- The former Republican House Majority Leader calls Sen. Bunning (R-Ky.) "brave" for his one-man filibuster of unemployment benefits, arguing that they dissuaded people from going out and finding work.
► In today's LA Times -- Toyota workers raised safety concerns with bosses in 2006 memo -- It told of worries about employees and vehicles amid the push to trim costs and boost production.
► In today's NY Times -- Sure-fire crowd pleaser: Reining in Wall Street -- Public opinion has not been kind to the Democrats lately, but there may be hope for them in a finance-regulation bill.
► In NY Times Magazine -- The limits of Rahmism -- Rahm Emanuel was chosen as White House chief of staff because he could make things happen. What happened?
MONDAY,
MARCH 8, 2010
'STOP Big Insurance' rally on Tuesday
When the heads of the
nation’s insurance companies go to Washington, D.C., this week to plot
strategies for killing real health care reform, they’ll be greeted by thousands
of union members, community, health care and religious activists with
one message: Stop. We’re sick of the obscene high rates and insurance
company abuses. We want health care reform now.
But you don't have to go
to that Washington to deliver that message to Big Insurance. A rally
organized by Health
Care for America Now! will take place in downtown Seattle on
Tuesday, the same day union activists are gathering in D.C., at
noon outside the offices of Regence BlueShield, 1800
9th Ave., in downtown Seattle.
Since 2007, Regence has raised rates in the individual market by 54.2% and raised rates in the small group market by 31.9%. At the same time, the big insurance companies, their lobbyists and their congressional allies are trying to bully Congress into doing nothing.
America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), one of the major corporate insurance opponents of health care reform, will be holding its national conference in Washington, D.C. on March 9. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will be leading a large union contingent to participate in a mass rally at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington, D.C., during the AHIP meeting.
We cannot sit by and let business go on as usual. We must take to the streets to STOP Big Insurance. We'll see you on Tuesday in Seattle!
Copyright © 2010 -- Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO