More bad p.r. for the Port of Seattle, courtesy of an email from Seattle nonprofit Puget Sound Sage:

Port of Seattle Commissioners will vote Tuesday, August 24 on a proposed 4 percent pay raise for Port CEO Tay Yoshitani, already the second highest-paid public employee in the state and the highest-paid port CEO in the nation.

Yoshitani’s $334,000 salary — exceeded only by that of the University of Washington President — is more than the governor’s salary and those of all other state, county and city officials. He also is the highest paid port CEO in the country even though other ports, such as Los Angeles and the New Jersey/New York ports, have considerably higher container traffic than does Seattle.

The raise is questioned by local leaders and by port employees who have faced layoffs, furloughs and union contract concessions during this recession. Last year, $3 million was cut from port expenses by imposing involuntary furloughs on non-union employees. This year, the port eliminated 110 positions, representing 6.2 percent of its workforce. Meanwhile, some port truck drivers earn wages at or below poverty levels and have no health insurance, sick leave or other benefits.

Other public officials (Mayor McGinn, King County Executive Dow Constantine and Governor Gregoire) have foregone pay raises, as did Yoshitani last year. Let's hope we see a repeat performance.

The salary consideration is the 17th item on a 22-item agenda for the two-hour meeting, which starts at 1 p.m. Tuesday. The meeting will be held in the Port of Seattle offices located at the south end of the main terminal at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, one floor above the ticketing level. Those who want to comment on the issue can sign up to do so immediately before the meeting.