News & Stories

As a follow up to our post from Marilyn Watkins this morning on education funding, we’re cross-posting a recent op-ed from The Seattle Times by a teacher at Rainier Beach High School. Enjoy. Recently, a colleague and I visited another Seattle high school. When we were introduced to the class as teachers from Rainier Beach […]

Flu season peaks this month. Public health officials tell us to stay home at the first sign of fever but millions of American workers can’t afford to take off work and far too many fear that staying home with the flu will cost them their job. We all need paid sick days. The Healthy Families […]

When we talk about “getting us out of the recession”, who are we really talking about? A recent report by the Economic Policy Institute reveals that the top 1% has captured the lion’s share of economic growth since 1979, even shrugging off the Great Recession with a 13.1% income gain.  But with gains concentrated at […]

On December 18th, the Public Broadcasting Service’s flagship station WNET issued a press release announcing the launch of a new two-year news series entitled “Pension Peril.” The series, promoting cuts to public employee pensions, is airing on hundreds of PBS outlets all over the nation. It has been presented as objective news on  major PBS programs including the PBS […]

Mayor Ed Murray will give his inaugural State of the City address on Tuesday.  While it’s still unclear whether he’ll mention the push to raise the minimum wage, folks on the local, state, and even federal levels are already talking about it. Lawmakers in Olympia are currently considering a proposal that would raise the minimum […]

Even measured by his own standards, Arthur Laffer’s predictions in ALEC’s “Rich States, Poor States” undermine his supply-side economics. Each spring since 2007, the conservative advocacy and lobby group known as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) teams up with Dr. Arthur Laffer, the “father of supply side economics”, to publish “Rich States, Poor States” (RSPS). The RSPS report is best-known […]

If you are like me, you have been spending a little too much time in front of the TV, hoping to see your favorite events in the Sochi Olympics.  Some of the events, like slopestyle snowboarding, just make you wonder about the amazing athleticism and sanity of the participants.  Others, like curling, just make me […]

New Jersey may be in the news for bad politics, but on paid sick days, at least, they’re leading the way – a second city there just unanimously passed paid sick days. Newark’s win, the result of work by a great network including the Time to Care Coalition that led the fight for the state’s […]

Looking for some clarity in the debate on what makes a living wage? Last month, Erica Barnett over at Publicola decided to round up the varying reports on living wage calculations. A couple of left-leaning economic policy experts took issue with an MIT study we cited in Morning Fizz last week, which concluded that Washington state’s minimum […]

For Shenita Simon-Toussaint, all that stands between having—on the one hand—a roof over her head, food on the table, and at least a cake for each of her three children’s birthdays, and—on the other hand—abject poverty, is her $8-per-hour salary at a Brooklyn KFC. It’s a precarious existence that makes keeping her job vital. Although […]

Most New York City businesses, big and small, will soon be required to offer paid sick leave to workers. The city is set to enact a law in April that requires businesses with at least 15 employees to offer paid sick days. Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to go even further and require it from […]

Today the federal Family and Medical Leave Act turns 21. The law has helped millions of Americans take time off work to nurture their newborn child, care for a critically ill family member, or recover from their own serious health condition.  But America’s families will not regain economic security until all workers have access to […]

The United States is one of four countries in the world that doesn’t offer new moms paid maternity leave. Pakistan has better maternity leave policies than us.  Now, I can be an American exceptionalist as good as the next girl, but are you kidding me? Just two months ago, the FAMILY Act was introduced to […]

Getting people to save for their future automatically is the goal of legislation that gets a Senate committee hearing today in Olympia. Called “Save Toward a Retirement Today” or “STaRT,” the bill creates a basic, voluntary retirement savings plan that small businesses could offer to their workers. Washington and many states face unprecedented demands on […]

With minimum wage bills active in 35 U.S. states and several cities including Seattle, here’s a quick FAQ on the minimum wage. Who benefits from a minimum wage increase? Short answer: People earning minimum wage, and near minimum wage. Longer answer: According to estimates from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), almost 17 million workers nationwide would see an increase […]

This week, lawmakers in the state House stood with Washington’s working families and passed the legislature’s first paid sick days bill. The bill’s prime sponsor, Representative Laurie Jinkins (D-Tacoma), along with her colleagues shared rousing testimony in support of paid sick and safe days. Check out video of their floor speeches below. Representative Laurie Jinkins […]

Last week Snohomish County state representatives Mike Sells and June Robinson, D-Everett, Cindy Ryu, D-Shoreline, Derek Stanford and Luis Moscoso, D-Shoreline, and Mary Helen Roberts, D-Edmonds, joined Jessyn Farrell, D-Seattle, in proposing to increase our state’s minimum wage to $10 in 2015, $11 in 2016, and $12 in 2017. It is about time. Our minimum […]

In tonight’s State of the Union address, President Obama is expected to focus on the crisis of income inequality, fueled by stagnated wages, regressive tax codes and diminishing public resources for education, unemployment insurance and retirement. The President outlined the growing disparity between the rich and poor in a recent speech to the Center for […]

Today, the Washington State House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed HB 1313 – a bill establishing minimum standards for earned paid sick and safe time. The bill will protect 1 million Washington workers who do not currently have access to paid sick days. “No working family should be forced to leave a sick child at home […]