Rail workers win key concessions in deal to prevent strike
Railroad workers secured a deal Thursday that will deliver 24% raises and $5,000 bonuses over five years and it will also address some of their concerns about strict attendance rules and time off. The deal that’s retroactive to 2020 will give rail workers the biggest raises they’ve seen in more than four decades. But the concessions related to working conditions may prove to be more important to them. The nation’s biggest railroads, including Norfolk Southern, CSX, BNSF, Union Pacific and Kansas City Southern all negotiated jointly with 12 unions. Continue reading at Capital Press. (BNSF Railway)
Washington state’s tax system is worsening income inequality
As she opened her $1,600 property-tax bill in February, Edith Baltazar suddenly lost her appetite for the eggs she’d prepared for lunch with her daughter. Her thoughts raced: Would their home be taken away if she couldn’t pay it. Baltazar’s daughter wept. The family would have to make a difficult decision: the property tax or $2,000 for diabetes medication. The taxes won. Continue reading at Crosscut. (Melissa Hellmann/Center for Public Integrity)
Public safety is about solving tough problems, not scoring political points
“Do not extend this dangerous program! How many repeat offenders will be put on the streets to steal, rob, assault and possibly kill.” Lately, my inbox has seen several emails like this. The program this person was referencing in this case is Restorative Community Pathways (RCP), a youth diversion program that my Democratic and Republican colleagues on the Metropolitan King County Council approved unanimously. It is an intervention that helps youth who have committed their first offense turn their lives around through community-based efforts — which studies show can be more effective than courts and jails. Continue reading at The Seattle Times. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Associated Press
Rail workers win key concessions in deal to prevent strike
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Opinion: Public safety is about solving tough problems, not scoring political points
Spokesman Review
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Washington Post
White House announces ‘tentative’ deal to avert rail strike
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Broadcast
KING 5 TV (NBC)
Biden says tentative railway labor agreement reached, averting strike
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Web
Crosscut
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