Today's Loser: Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz

Seattle Coalition for a Healthy Workforce, the group that's backing legislation introduced by City Council member Nick Licata to make all Seattle businesses offer paid sick leave, is beginning a series of demonstrations—they'll be doing one a week for the next month—to highlight businesses that provide paid sick leave, or, in this week's case, don't.

From the group's Facebook page:

We're kicking off the shame campaign with one of the big boys: Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks.

At 12:30pm this Wednesday, July 13th, we'll be gathering at the Starbucks on 4th and Cherry to protest Starbuck's decision to eliminate paid sick days for retail employees back in 2008.

Follow Erica's coverage of Licata's paid sick leave proposal here. We also had a fat ThinkTank debate on the proposal in May. (By the way, ThinkTank is taking a short summer break, but will return next week.)

And we had two winners over the weekend.

First winner: US Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers.

McMorris Rodgers drew the lucky straw. In the wake of the dismal job numbers announcement on Friday—18,000 new jobs instead of the 90,000 expected (and far short of the 300,000 new jobs needed every month to beat the recession), she got to give the weekly Republican address on Saturday.



She took advantage of the assignment to bash Obama...

The Obama Administration promised its ‘stimulus’ would keep unemployment below eight percent.  Two and a half years later, the unemployment rate is more than nine percent and still rising.  That’s unacceptable.  America can do better.

... and hit the Republican themes of "uncertainty" and spending cuts:

By and large, it’s uncertainty that’s holding our economy back, whether it’s uncertainty about our overwhelming debt, uncertainty about energy prices, or uncertainty about all the burdensome mandates coming down from Washington.  Small business owners are pleading for government to just get out of the way.

From the look of things, the Democrats who run Washington don’t have a jobs plan; they have a spending agenda. They’re proposing a rehash of what’s already been tried: more spending, more taxes, and bigger government. These are the Washington-knows-best policies that steered us towards a dead end.

If we’ve learned anything, it’s that we cannot spend, tax, or borrow our way to prosperity. To create jobs and set our country on a sound fiscal course, we must stop spending money we don’t have.

That’s why Republicans have maintained there can be no increase in the national debt limit unless it is accompanied by serious spending cuts and reforms.  To be truly serious, these cuts should exceed the amount by which President Obama wants the debt limit increased.  And there can be no job-crushing tax hikes on families and small businesses.

Second Winner: Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn

Seattle Times business columnist Jon Talton had some news for Seattle's disgruntled business community: Mayor McGinn is "whip smart" and "thinks about the economy in sophisticated, holistic terms."

And in a convincing column, Talton seconds McGinn's green agenda, writing:

He understands that discontinuity is our future — the next 25 years are not going to be a replay of the past quarter century. And, most of all, he understands that two of the greatest challenges ahead are a high-cost energy future and either addressing climate change or paying the price for inaction.

Thus, the notion of strong, walkable neighborhoods with good schools, connected by transit to a vibrant downtown, is not a throwaway line or a luxury — it's key to economic health. This dovetails with the green-building challenge and retrofitting charming districts with broadband and other advanced infrastructure.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to thaw his relationship with local business leaders (a sympathetic interview with a Seattle Times business columnist), McGinn told Talton, "I'm pro-business, but not business as usual"—a catchy soundbite. And a catchy overture to business.

On his terms, of course.