WashACE Blog

Good Follow-up on Yesterday's Aerospace Summit

Lots of coverage from the aerospace summit held yesterday. As some of you know, I tried my hand at contemporaneous blogging, essentially pulling quotes from presenters. Mine ended up as a series of posts yesterday - my first shot at laptop on lap coverage of an event. Call it a learning experience.

A nice job, however, was done by Andrea James at the seattlepi.com. Here's her coverage from the event.

James  also reports on the most provocative question asked yesterday: Would Boeing workers consider decertifying the union here? The question, asked by a member of the audience, was triggered by the news yesterday that workers in South Carolina had filed to decertify the plant Boeing acquired in North Charleston. Follow the link for the not-too-surprising responses from labor.

Dominic Gates also has good coverage in this morning's Seattle Times.  His story highlights something that seemed apparent - and troubling - to many at the conference.

...a clear discrepancy emerged there between the Machinists, Boeing and politicians as to the deadline for what needs to be done to win the new 787 line.

As he reports, Boeing's in a hurry and the union thinks it has time.

The only possible guarantee of no-strike when our current contract expires is for Boeing and the Machinists union to be committed to negotiating a settlement and not a strike," (IAM legislative and political director Larry] Brown said.

"We have time to build the kind of relationship we need to make that happen."

In contrast, Boeing's Fred Kiga, vice president of state and local government relations, reiterated that management wants a long-term, no-strike agreement and wants it in place well before the current contract ends.

"I don't believe we have until 2012," said Kiga in an interview.

"We at the Boeing Company have a sense of urgency about finding production stability."

See also this good story in the Everett Herald by Michelle Dunlop.

There Will be A Tax Package on the Ballot ... Or Maybe Not

Lots of stories over the weekend on the prospects of lawmakers sending a tax package to the voters. This close to the scheduled April 26 adjournment, tax and spending issues dominate. And there's a great deal of uncertainty.

A series of reports from Austin Jenkins on Crosscut captures the mood. On the 18th: "Poll results apparently nix a sales tax proposal." Then, "No sales tax boost? Not so fast." Then again, "Latest polling doesn't bode well for a tax vote."

Brad Shannon also had the break-up of the tax-backing coalition at the end of the week. And Joe Turner provides additional detail.

I'm told the reason the tax referendum was revived from near-certain death over the weekend was that House Speaker Frank Chopp has some members of his Democratic caucus who absolutely refuse to vote for a budget with $4 billion in spending cuts -- unless there is a tax proposition on the ballot, too.

We'll find out more tomorrow. That when the tax vote coalition members say whether they are in or out. The campaign really needs two components: It's gotta have the Service Employees International Union which represents homecare workers and nurses, to provide the foot soldiers for doorbelling. And it needs the hospitals and nursing homes to pony up the money.

The Everett Herald takes an unusually sharp tone in its Sunday editorial warning lawmakers: "Don't blackmail the voters." They take Rep. Eric Pettigrew to task for saying "people will die" if voters don't approve new taxes.

Yes, the recession has hit the state budget hard. But before asking taxpayers for more, lawmakers need to do a better job prioritizing existing dollars. Why not, for example, ask state employees to share a greater portion of their health-benefit costs? They're getting a significantly better deal than most private-sector workers -- the very people who would be asked to pay more in sales taxes.

The Daily News and the Seattle Times editorialize against tax hikes.

Puget Sound Business Journal Reports on Competitiveness Agenda

This week's Puget Sound Business Journal has a good story on the competitiveness challenges faced by our state's entrepreneurs in the coming legislative session. In a front page article, Deirdre Gregg writes (sigh, subsciption required) of the WashACE competitiveness themes.

As Washington state confronts an economic downturn that appears deeper and more painful than any in decades, the business community is coming together to present state lawmakers with a common set of messages.

... In addition to developing a budget that preserves public services without tax increases, state lawmakers should focus on higher education spending that will contribute to economic growth, according to the Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy, a coalition of business groups that includes the Association of Washington Business and the Washington Roundtable. The group says the budget should finish already-funded transportation projects and reform the state?s unemployment and workers? compensation programs to keep costs down.

An PSBJ op-ed by this year's chair of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, Tayloe Washburn, further outlines business concerns. Again, you'll need to be a subscriber to gain access to the online coverage.

Welcome!

Thank you for visiting the Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy (WashACE) website.

Perhaps you were drawn here by this radio ad. Or this one. Or maybe you saw this or this in your local newspaper. Regardless of how you found us, we're happy to have this opportunity to introduce ourselves.

WashACE was founded in 2000 as a partnership among the Association of Washington Business, Washington Research Council and Washington Roundtable to focus attention on issues relating to our state's economic competitiveness. In 2008, the Alliance was expanded to include a number of like-minded business associations and chambers of commerce. Here's a nice WashACE background article by Mike Flynn, former publisher of the Puget Sound Business Journal.

Over the years, WashACE has published a number of in-depth Competitiveness Briefs and Special Reports, examining issues from unemployment insurance to infrastructure, health care to education. A major issue for us this year is the looming $3 billion budget deficit lawmakers will be facing in January and its implications for families and employers.

Please take your time here. Review the blog posts below. Check out the 2008 research (link at right) and the archives. The candidate questionnaires. And sign up to be on our email list (form at top right).

And don't hesitate to email us with your suggestions, questions, and comments.

Thanks for stopping by.

WashACE in Flynn's Harp

As far as I can tell, Mike Flynn makes the first public mention of the new and improved WashACE effort. Flynn, the long-time publisher of the Puget Sound Business Journal, closely watches the intersection of business, politics and public policy, currently on his blog, Flynn's Harp. His post is a good introduction to our efforts.