Last Friday, June 1, University of Washington TAs went out on strike to protest the University's refusal to bargain with their new union (GSEAC/United Auto Workers). The UW administration is resisting just about every issue the TAs want to discuss, including the most important one: the GSEAC's right to exclusively organize and bargain for all the tutors, graders, and TAs on campus. At the UW's request, the state Attorney General issued an opinion that the state legislature must first pass enabling legislation before the UW can recognize the GSEAC. Labor experts, on the other hand, point out that public sector employees all over the US--including here in Washington--bargain new contracts with their employers without the need for enabling legislation. The UW needs to change its attitude quickly: the GSEAC has timed their walk out to coincide with final's week, and a number of professors have canceled final exams.--Maria Tomchick

I spent most of last Friday afternoon (June 1st) at 23rd and Union, where a seething crowd held the intersection for two hours and spent several more venting its rage at the latest SPD shooting and killing of an unarmed black man. The intersection was held by a large Kenmore tractor-trailer that was stopped in the middle of the intersection (southbound on 23rd), and Reginald Denny was on a lot of people's lips--the protest could have turned into something much uglier pretty easily.

Through the chaotic, leaderless hours, one theme constantly emerged in the discussions of what to do next: that the rage over the death of Aaron Roberts cannot be allowed to blow over, that Seattle cannot be allowed to return to business as usual while its cops literally whitewash, yet again, the death of yet another black man. No "community leaders" (black or otherwise) came to join the crowd, and very few white activists or residents were there, either. This was clearly a racial thing in the minds of everyone present, for obvious reasons; but that's no excuse for white Seattleites not to be pissed, too. These are our cops that murder people with impunity, getting only a paid vacation and a Cop of the Month award for their deed. If we want that to stop, all of us--black and white--must unite and force the changes we need. One of the spray-painted slogans next to the spray-painted outline where Aaron Roberts fell, mortally wounded by a City of Seattle bullet, said it all: "Unite or Perish."--Geov Parrish

But on the bright side, at least Paul Schell was in Scandinavia when it all happened. Had he been in Seattle heading the crisis response team, who knows how many more people would have died. And had Mark Sidran been mayor...well, let's just not go there. --G.P.

The state legislature has burned through a regular session and a special 30-day session with no budget bill, no transportation bill, no new plan for conducting primary elections, no education bills, nada. The logjam has been in the House, where the 50-50 Democrat-to-Republican split has killed all but the most trivial legislation. Everyone is whining about this, but no one has pointed out that this situation is the single best argument for establishing a third party (or two) in state politics. In other parts of the world where there are more than two parties with elected representatives, this 50-50 split never occurs. In addition, small parties have more influence because they're courted to form coalitions.

For example, a progressive third party could have a major impact on the state budget, could push for increases in pay for state workers, could demand full pay increases as approved by recent citizen initiatives for school teachers, could change the current unfair state tax system, might offer a transportation package that actually deals with mass transit and environmental issues, and could present proportional representation as a viable alternative for our state primary election system. The Green Party should look more closely at running candidates for the state House of Representatives.--MT

Welcome to the decade of rolling telecom blackouts. Breaking up Ma Bell and privatizing the phone system was supposed to bring us lower prices, better equipment, faster customer service, and greater reliability. We have exactly the opposite. The two major phone service companies in town, AT&T and QWest, have been the source of an increasing number of complaints from customers. Service interruptions, hours spent on hold when calling for customer service or repair, faulty equipment, inaccurate billings, and steep increases in rates a few months after you sign up for new service all point to basic weaknesses of privatization. The companies are competing with each other--but not to offer you the best and cheapest service; they're competing for profits. They'll figure out twenty different ways to give you inferior service while taking more of your money, as long as they can still pay healthy dividends to their shareholders. I still can't believe that phone system privatization was supposed to be a model for energy deregulation. What a scam.--MT