NPI's Cascadia Advocate

Offering commentary and analysis from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, The Cascadia Advocate provides the Northwest Progressive Institute's uplifting perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Category Archives: Economic Security

VICTORY! Washington State House approves unemployment pay for striking workers

Excerpt: House Bill 1893 would allow striking workers to gain access to unemployment insurance assistance in the Evergreen State.
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Other Categories:Legislative Advocacy, Policy Topics
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69% of likely 2024 Washington voters support the Oil Industry Accountability Act

Excerpt: More than two-thirds of a sample of likely voters surveyed from November 14th-15th, 2023 by Public Policy Polling for NPI backed the idea of regulating unfair oil company business practices with pricing transparency legislation, which is what Senator Joe Nguyen's recently introduced Oil Industry Accountability Act (Senate Bill 6052) proposes to do.
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Other Categories:Legislative Advocacy, Our Environment, Policy Topics
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2023 was a bad year for banking and 2024 could be worse

Excerpt: After the Great Recession, lawmakers promised that the reforms they instituted secured America’s banking sector. However, as long as the United States sticks to a predominately private banking sector — one that cannot operate counter-cyclically nor dedicate financing to social needs — that promise of long-term security is elusive.
Written by:Marco Rosaire Rossi
Other Categories:Policy Topics
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Book Review: Kim Kelly’s Fight Like Hell is a useful synthesis of American labor history

Excerpt: Slowly at first, and then with increasing energy, Fight Like Hell brings together radical themes from our nation’s past that make the book a worthwhile read.
Written by:David Kobrin
Other Categories:Media & Culture, Policy Topics
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WGA, AMPTP reach tentative agreement to end lengthy 2023 writers’ strike

Excerpt: NPI congratulates the WGA (WGAW and WGAE) on reaching an agreement in principle with the studios that will hopefully ensure the future of the writing profession in the entertainment industry.
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Other Categories:Policy Topics
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A public bank could help Washington tackle the growing threat of climate damage

Excerpt: If Washington is going to deal seriously with the impacts of global warming, including making the necessary investments throughout the state, then it should embrace the promise and potential of public banking.
Written by:Marco Rosaire Rossi
Other Categories:Policy Topics, Public Planning
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Happy Labor Day 2023!

Excerpt: Labor Day, established in the late nineteenth century, was born out of the union movement. It's a day to recognize the immense contributions and sacrifices of our workers.
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Other Categories:Holidays, Policy Topics
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Teamsters secure big, historic wins in tentative contract agreement with UPS

Excerpt: “Rank-and-file UPS Teamsters sacrificed everything to get this country through a pandemic and enabled UPS to reap record-setting profits. Teamster labor moves America. The union went into this fight committed to winning for our members. We demanded the best contract in the history of UPS, and we got it,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien in a statement.
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Other Categories:Policy Topics
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Two-thirds of Washington voters support barring gender-based price discrimination

Excerpt: 67% of 874 likely voters interviewed in March of 2023 by Public Policy Polling voiced support for prohibiting people or businesses "from charging different prices for two substantially similar goods based on the gender of the persons to whom the goods are marketed," which is what Senate Bill 5171 would do if enacted. 59% were strongly supportive and another 8% were somewhat supportive.  
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Other Categories:Civil Liberties, Policy Topics
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Manka Dhingra’s youth-inspired bill to ban gender-based price discrimination advances

Excerpt: SB 5171 is youth-inspired legislation that Dhingra, a Northwest Progressive Foundation boardmember, introduced in partnership with civically-oriented students from Lake Washington High School in Kirkland. If passed, it will stop retailers from charging Washingtonians (especially those who identify as female) extra for products merely because they are marketed to a particular gender.
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Other Categories:Civil Liberties, Policy Topics
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Senator Maria Cantwell: A workhorse for the people and the Pacific Northwest in Congress

Excerpt: Cantwell, sixty-four, is not one of the usual suspects seen on networks’ Sunday morning talk shows or shouting over talk radio. She gets stuff done by mastering details, quiet work with colleagues and by serving on a trio of A-list Senate committees where legislation is put together.
Written by:Joel Connelly
Other Categories:Our Environment, Policy Topics, Public Service
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U.S. Senate Republicans use chamber’s undemocratic sixty-vote threshold to deny railroad workers sick leave they need

Excerpt: Senate Republicans used the chamber's undemocratic sixty vote threshold to nix a concurrent resolution in Congress to require paid sick leave for railroad workers. Democratic and independent senators voted for it, but most Republicans withheld their votes.
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Other Categories:Policy Topics
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U.S. House votes to adopt railroad labor agreement plus provide workers sick leave

Excerpt: If the Senate signs off on the proposed modification to the labor agreement, President Biden could sign the new terms into law and obligate railroads to provide sick leave to their workers, which they should have simply agreed to do in the first place in negotiations, obviating the need for congressional intervention.
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Other Categories:Policy Topics
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An overwhelming majority of King County voters oppose the Kroger/Albertsons merger

Excerpt: 68% of respondents surveyed for NPI by Change Research said they opposed the merger, while just 17% said they supported it. Nearly half (48%) said they were strongly opposed, while only 5% were strongly supportive.
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Other Categories:Policy Topics, World Commmunity
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