News & Stories

Today is Equal Pay Day, which each year highlights the continuing disparity between men’s and women’s earnings. This disparity, commonly known as the ‘wage gap‘, shows just how far we still have to go to achieve gender equity. Despite making modest gains in hourly earnings, women earn less than men in every sector of the […]

From the Public News Service: What men earn in a five-day work week takes women, on average, seven days to earn. This week, Tuesday is “Equal Pay Day,” a date marked every year by workers’ and women’s rights groups as the point at which a woman’s pay “catches up” to a man’s pay from the […]

From LivingGreedy.com: vs. It’s the quintessential “sport” – friends gathered in their best pink argyle, smoking cigars around the first tee at dawn, waiting for their caddies to carry over their clubs and yardage books. The best part? Members of swanky golf and country clubs pay no sales tax to enjoy this bastion of privilege. […]

From State Budget Cuts: Starting at the Top By Dean Baker The elite media are on yet another jihad. They are determined to cut the pay and benefits of public sector workers who can still enjoy a middle-class lifestyle. The idea that a schoolteacher or highway worker can retire with a pension of $2,000-$3,000 a […]

A recent article in the Seattle Times titled Why straight-A’s may not get you into the UW this year explores the real-world impacts of state budget cuts on high school seniors, including Chief Sealth student Brandon Stover. Stover, the valedictorian at Chief Sealth high school with a 4.0 GPA, was rejected from the University of […]

From Creating Good Jobs for Our Communities: Pension Dollars at Work Washington state, like many other states across the nation, is facing a continuing budget shortfall. But as state legislators address these budget challenges, pension critics have been vocal in their misguided calls to cut or eliminate public sector pensions. Countering those claims, American Rights […]

By Stan Sorscher, from the Huffington Post: Public attitudes toward workers send a weird mixed message lately. We are busy ripping out support for wages and benefits, while simultaneously asking why the recovery is going badly. Diane Ravitch’s bitter joke captures the spirit of this contradiction: “It reminds me of an old Soviet joke where […]

Last week the credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded Nevada’s general obligation bonds – one of the most common type of state-issued bonds – from Aa1 to Aa2. Could the same happen to Washington state? Nevada’s lower rating certainly doesn’t put them in the “junk bond” category – but the downgrade does represent growing investor uncertainty […]

At $8.55 per hour, Washington state has the best minimum wage in the nation. This honor is due, in large part, to an overwhelming majority (66%) of Washington voters who approved Initiative 688 in 1998. Initiative 688 raised Washington’s minimum wage to $6.50 per hour in 2000, and now provides for annual cost-of-living adjustments tied […]

From The Olympian: Bill just wanted a home with a warm bed. Too bad he’s not a chicken, because under Washington state law he’d be getting better treatment. Bill, a south Puget Sound-area resident, suffers from mental illness and chemical dependency. In his mid-20s, he’s been working on getting treatment and rebuilding his life. Last […]

From the Everett Herald: We are not broke, or even close. We have more money, income and wealth than 10 years ago, even more than 20 years ago, and way more than 30 years ago. So when lawmakers are making Sophie’s choices about whether to cut basic health to nothing, or to cut two weeks […]

Via Seattle Coalition for a Healthy Workforce: It’s been a long fight, but the will of the voters has prevailed in Milwaukee – for now. Yesterday, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals upheld Milwaukee’s voter-approved paid sick days ordinance, nearly two and a half years after its initial passage. Passed by a 69% majority (and now […]

From the Bureau of Labor Statistics Spotlight: Women at Work: Until things slowly changed during the last century, women’s participation in the labor force was limited by traditional cultural, educational, and legal practices. Women’s work outside of home and marriage was restricted to a handful of occupations such as domestic service, factory work, farm work, […]

From the Center for Economic and Policy Research: The U.S. health care system is possibly the most inefficient in the world: We spend twice as much per person on health care as other advanced countries, but we have worse health outcomes, including a lower life expectancy. The government, through programs like Medicare and Medicaid, pays […]

Foreclosure by Marilyn Zuckerman Before the auction, the realtor puts out a sign and places flowers on the windowsill. Someone has mowed the lawn shut off the water and electricity —still the swing in the back yard moves as though someone is in it, a doll is found kicked to the back of a closet […]

From LivingGreedy.com: vs. It’s true: a ShamWow is more exciting when it’s being shown in the fourth city in six weeks. But we’re unconvinced that super-absorbent towels and other “unique” items deserve a tax exemption just because they’ve been on display at a trade show. Trade in this tax exemption to save medical interpreter services […]

Early in the 1930s – what would later become known as the Great Depression – Washington’s legislators faced a mounting problem. Property tax collections, which were the main source of state revenue, dropped precipitously as property values fell and people lost their jobs. Washington’s economy stalled, and at the time they were needed most, Washington […]

From the Everett Herald: First you lose your job, then you lose your health insurance. If you take a lower wage job, chances are you won’t get health coverage with it. As a result, there are now more than 1 million people in Washington without health insurance. Debate all you want about the long-term policy […]

From the Hartford Courant: By Louis Lista Earlier this year, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy addressed the Connecticut Business and Industry Association and voiced his support for legislation requiring large businesses in Connecticut to provide employees with a few paid sick days a year. The CBIA, the state’s main business lobby, was up in arms. To […]

A recent article in the National Journal titled Golden Years? notes the gap between public and private sector retirement benefits has grown because today’s private sector workers have lost so much ground: In 1985, about four in five workers at medium- and large-sized private firms received a defined-benefit pension, according to federal statistics. Today, less […]

From LivingGreedy.com: vs. Buy 9 Botox injections and get the 10th free, courtesy of the taxpayers of Washington! With a sales tax credit this generous, we expect to see a parade of plastic Hollywood stars moving north any time. Trade in this $12.5 million tax giveaway to save prescription drugs for low-income seniors! Legislators are […]

By Gary Burris, Senior Policy Associate The mortgage crisis has hit millions of Americans. Most recent estimates show that 23% of home owners nationwide owe more than their homes are worth – including tens of thousands of Washingtonians. Banks used unethical tactics to get people into loans that weren’t in their best interest, inflated the […]

From the White House Blog: By Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis I grew up in a time when graduating from high school was an accomplishment, and expectations of young women were very low…especially for women of color. My high school guidance counselor told me that I was best suited for a career as a secretary… […]

From the Public News Service: SEATTLE – Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker may be facing off against his state’s workers over the budget crunch, but in Washington state, a new report says there’s no need for that. It also reinforces President Obama’s recent advice to governors to not blame state employees, or their unions, for the […]