WSLC Legislative Update -- February 13, 2004

Do state legislators share President Bush's
enthusiasm for sending U.S. jobs overseas?

This week, President Bush's economic advisors somehow slipped a report past Karl Rove's political filter that offered a rare, unsanitized-for-public-consumption look at the jobs policy of the Bush administration. The report said the outsourcing of American jobs overseas is a good thing, calling it "a plus for the economy." Fox News Channel immediately commenced 24-hour special coverage under the logo: "Damage Control: At Least He's Not Bill Clinton."

Legislative Conference
& Reception next week!

The Washington State Labor Council’s annual Legislative Conference will be next FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20 at the Red Lion Olympia Hotel. All rank-and-file union members are invited and encouraged to attend and get updates on the status of 2004 legislation affecting working families.

On Thursday night from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., there will be a reception offering an excellent opportunity for informal conversation with legislators and other officials. But get there Thursday afternoon to sign up early! (Registration lines are long right at 6:30 p.m.) A registration table will be set up in the hotel lobby from 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday for folks who would like to avoid the lines that evening. There is also a Safeway rally/picket planned in Olympia on Thursday from 4 to 5:30 p.m.

On Friday, the conference begins at 8:30 a.m., with registration tables opening at 7:30. (Again, get there early.)

The registration fee is $30 per person and includes materials, lunch Friday and admission to the reception Thursday night. Download a registration form (in Word format), or call (206) 281-8901 for more info.

In this Washington, we know better. Headlines report that AT&T Wireless and many other local employers are shipping thousands of information technology jobs overseas. The Washington Alliance of Technology Workers/CWA estimates the state has lost as many as 10,000 technology jobs since 2001.

"Faced with ever tightening IT budgets, a growing number of state agencies are scrambling either to import cheaper foreign workers or to outsource the work offshore to countries such as Canada or India," reads a WashTech report that broke the story back in December. "The bottom line: millions of dollars in Washington state’s shrinking tax revenues are leaving the country rather than circulating within the local economy."

Organized labor has joined WashTech in rallying behind three bills to address this important issue (Take Action by contacting your legislators on these bills):

The outsourcing issue promises to be a hot political topic this election season.
A new survey challenges conventional wisdom about "independent" IT workers who cannot be galvanized around a set of issues to seek political change. In fact, IT workers appear to be an emerging political constituency looking for political action to address concerns like outsourcing.

It sure would be nice to know which state legislators support their issues and which ones oppose them.

Speaking of issues upon which legislators need to go on record, what about the right to organize a union free from harassment and intimidation by employers?

HJM 4037 would send a message to Congress urging passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. The EFCA would allow employees to freely choose whether to form unions by signing cards authorizing representation; provide mediation and arbitration for first contract disputes; and establish stronger penalties for violation of employee rights when workers seek to form a union.

Every Democrat in our congressional delegation has signed onto the EFCA as co-sponsor: both U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and every House Democrat from Rep. Jim McDermott to Rep. Adam Smith (left to center).

Every Democrat in the State Legislature should support this as well. Let Washington's working families find out which elected officials support their right to organize a union.

As we reported earlier this week, the Republican-controlled State Senate has commenced an assault on the state workers' compensation system. Several bills passed -- some with the help of Senate Democrats -- that slash benefits, make it harder to qualify, and hand over more control to employers.

The worst of the worst is SB 5378 imposing four-quarter averaging (across-the-board cuts) in the calculation of benefits, similar to what was done last year with the $200-million-a-year unemployment benefit cuts. It would especially harm workers most likely to get injured on the job in the most dangerous industries: agriculture and construction. Like last year, it passed the Senate on a party-line vote with all Republicans in favor except Sen. Shirley Winsley (R-Fircrest) and all Democrats opposed except Sen. Tim Sheldon (D-Potlatch).

Also like last year, SB 5378 is expected to die in the Democrat-controlled House. House leaders say they share Governor Locke's commitment to rejecting workers' compensation bills that lack support from both business and labor, so that a new task force has a chance to take a critical look at the system.

In other words, State Senators were merely beefing up their election-year pro-business voting records on a series doomed bills. Perhaps that explains why so many Democrats voted in favor of some of the labor-opposed bills as well. (See the roll-call votes posted in our earlier report.)

Or maybe they bought into the Association of Washington Business talking points circulated this week, which decried Washington for having some of the highest injured worker benefits in the country. The desired assumption: high benefits must mean high employer premiums, right?

Wrong. The truth is that Washington state has a model system in terms of cost-effectiveness; it's among the least expensive in the nation, while still providing relatively high benefits. A 2002 state-by-state comparison by the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services listed Washington as having the 7th lowest rates in the nation. Even with the latest rate increases factored in, more than two-thirds of states have higher average workers’ compensation costs than Washington.

And as WSLC President Rick Bender pointed out in his February column, "Let’s not forget that Washington is the only state where workers pay a portion (25 percent) of the workers’ compensation premiums. If you compare apples to apples and count only the employer share of those premiums, Washington ranks 48th in terms of workers’ compensation costs."

HB 2295, the bill allowing charter schools, continued its charmed path through the House committee process this week. After being killed and then resurrected in the Education Committee through some fancy hearing footwork (to another, more private room), the bill passed the Appropriations Committee on a 16-11 vote on Feb. 11, beating a Feb. 10 cutoff deadline.

After midnight legislators let it all hang out, ending an impassioned debate with a committee vote, and avoiding the cutoff because they started the hearing while it was still Feb. 10.

The WSLC opposes charter schools because they are a counterproductive distraction from what should be the state’s focus: addressing the K-12 financing crisis and restoring the state’s obligation to provide quality public schools. In addition, classified employees of new charter schools are restricted from joining their local school district’s bargaining unit, creating unit fragmentation and therefore discouraging the unionization of those employees.

House floor action on HB 2295 could happen at any time between now and the cutoff for bills to pass their house of origin, next Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 5 p.m. sharp. So call the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000 and urge a "No" vote.

A recent Seattle P-I article indicated that budget woes restricting access to public colleges is generating support for creating a higher education voucher system for private schools. This is another bad idea for the same reasons. The state's priority must be properly funding public colleges. Draining money from the urgent need for improved capacity at state universities and community and technical colleges is bad public policy.

"The state’s private colleges are an important component of the higher education system. They already receive state assistance through financial aid to individual students," said Sandra Schroeder, President of the Washington Federation of Teachers. "However, every seat that is 'bought' through a misguided voucher program will be a seat that is not opened in a public college."

Along those lines were SB 6332 and HB 2681, WFT-opposed efforts to institute "performance contracts" for state colleges and universities. These contracts seek to establish measurable performance indicators for things like graduation rates, post-employment outcomes and degree cost.

Sounds great, but all they would really do is create unnecessary and burdensome paperwork for things that can be measured and accomplished without the contracts. Plus, they cost money (which is why they were both referred to fiscal committees in both houses)... money we ain't got (which is why they both died with no action in those committees in time for Tuesday's cutoff deadline.)

Next Tuesday, Feb. 17 is cutoff for bills to pass their houses of origin. The WSLC plans to post a list of every labor-related bill that survives at our web site, and keep that list updated daily with status reports. Dig it.