The News Tribune Business Team will keep you updated on what's happening in the South Sound and beyond. Check here for news about economic development, aerospace, shopping and much more.
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Contributors
Marce Edwards is the business editor. She has been at The News Tribune for seven years and has written about technology and big businesses in the South Sound including Weyerhaeuser and Russell. Before moving to Tacoma, she worked at The Idaho Statesman in Boise. She is a Northwest native who likes to garden and refuses to use an umbrella. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and two kids.
C.R. Roberts is a Tacoma native. Before joining The News Tribune, he worked as a freelance writer and part-time cowhand on a cattle ranch in Northern Idaho. He writes about small business, personal finance and other business issues.
John Gillie writes about the aerospace and airline industries, commercial development and consumer issues. During his 30-year-tenure at The News Tribune he has covered issues as diverse as the Native American fishing rights disputes, crime and the courts, the wood products industry and energy. He lived in Tacoma with his family for 25 years, but now lives in Kent because his wife heads a five-state non-profit foundation headquartered in Ballard, and it only seemed a sensible compromise to make considering their workplaces are 40 miles apart.
Kelly Kearsley has been a business reporter at The News Tribune since 2005. She covers the Port of Tacoma and international trade. Being born and raised in Spokane she’s used to living in cities with inferiority complexes and, in fact, prefers it. Prior to working at The News Tribune, she spent three years as a reporter for The Bulletin in Bend, Oregon and another year working stints for The Associated Press and Seattle Times. She graduated from Pacific Lutheran University. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and miniature schnauzer.
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This is the last official work week for the dozens of Port of Tacoma employees who were either laid off to took the port's voluntary buy out.
The port is hosting a good bye gathering for the employees today as a way to "acknowledge the work of the people who have given so much to the port ... and to tell them thank you," said Commission President Clare Petrich.
The port notified 47 people in May that their positions were being eliminated. It also offered a voluntary separation program for staff interested in leaving their jobs.
The eliminated positions included the port's senior director of finance, directors of engineering, intermodal services and container terminal business as well several people from the port's maintenance department.
Many of the staff leaving this week have been at the port for years.
The layoffs have caused much tension at the agency, with staffers circulating a petition of no confidence in the port's executive director and questioning whether the layoffs were necessary.
Executive Director Tim Farrell has said that the port's shrinking body of business means it no longer needs as many employees.
TrueBlue, the Tacoma temporary staffing agency, reported a profit of $3.7 or 9 cents per share million for the second quarter -- down 77 percent from the same time last year.
Revenue was down 33 percent to $247 million.
"We continue to manage our business with tremendous discipline and experienced better-than-expected results in several areas this quarter," said TrueBlue CEO Steve Cooper. "Monthly same branch revenue trends improved, our risk management programs drove lower workers’ compensation expense, and our focused approach to controlling costs further reduced operating expenses. Our results demonstrate the strong operating leverage in our business model as well as the expanded need for our services."
TrueBlue closed 36 branches in the quarter, resulting in 775 branches in operation at the end of the quarter.
Under a new state law that takes effect this Sunday, most employers in Washington can avoid unemployment-insurance charges for laid-off workers temporarily hired to fill positions left vacant by military reservists.
The new law allows employers to request relief from benefit charges for temporary employees whom they must then lay off when the permanent employee comes back from active military service, according to a news release from the state's Employment Security Department.
The measure goes into effect on July 26. The legislature passed the law this past session.
To avoid being charged for these benefits, employers must contact Employment Security and specify which layoffs are due to military members returning to work.
“We corrected a clear wrong,” said Sen. Chris Marr, a Spokane Democrat who sponsored the legislation. “We should be encouraging employers to do what they can to support our servicemen and women, not saddling them with higher unemployment insurance costs for doing so. This new law removes that very obstacle and gets the state out of the way.”
“Employers who welcome reservists back into the work place shouldn’t be penalized through higher unemployment taxes,” said Employment Security Commissioner Karen Lee. “This law allows our unemployment system to treat both the temporary workers and their employers with compassion.”
The new law does not apply to certain employers, including state, local and federal governments; public schools; some tribal entities; and some non-profit organizations with 501(c)(3) status. These reimbursable employers are still required to pay dollar for dollar for all unemployment benefits paid to former employees.
Sitecrafting, a Tacoma-based Web site design company, opened its new Spokane office this month.
"We see a real niche in this market for our services," said CEO Brian Forth. "We see some strategic opportunities to grow."
Those opportunities include provide Web site design and applications to Spokane's growing health care industry.
The Sitecrafting Spokane office will house four employees. Forth plans stay in the Puget Sound, though he'll be visiting the Spokane office on a regular basis.
