WSLC Reports Today -- January 14-18, 2002

WSLC Reports Today logo UPDATED DAILY M-F by 9 a.m. Pacific

Links to commercial press stories are functional at the date of posting. In some cases, links "expire" when the source would like to begin charging you for old news. (* Indicates news outlets that require free registration to view stories) DISCLAIMER: WSLC Reports Today links to all stories of interest to organized labor; some are "positive" and some "negative." The intention is to inform. The creation of a link on this page does not constitute an endorsement of the ideas or content of that story.

Reports for January 14-18, 2002

News from previous weeks: Jan. 7-11 -- Jan. 3-4 -- Dec. 10-14

FRIDAY, January 18 -- HERE WE GO, AGAIN
The first WSLC Legislative Update newsletter of the 2002 session.

...plus -- Coalition has "Prescription for Action" on drug access, cost
*** DON'T FORGET *** WSLC 100th anniversary tonight and IBT's Pasco rally Sunday
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Boeing prepares to lay off 1,425 more (includes 842 IAM members)
...plus -- Proof is sought that business tax breaks work, create jobs
...plus -- Heed message from Boeing -- Editorial: Legislators shouldn't pass the buck to voters, they should do what Boeing asks and pass transportation funding on their own. The Seattle Times agrees.
...and finally -- Tim Eyman has become a politician -- A must-read Shapley column.
— In today's Seattle Times -- Sen. Snyder advocates gas tax as referendum-proof "emergency"
...plus -- GOP gasps at governor's proposal to suspend spending limits
— In today's Salem (Ore.) S-J -- Governor rejects lawmakers' budget, demands revenue increases (!!)
— In yesterday's Aberdeen Daily World -- More help available for Lamb GH workers
— In today's Bremerton Sun -- The unemployment check? Lost again.
— In today's L.A. Times -- Union membership steady in 2001 at 13.5% of nation's workforce
...plus -- Ex-workers who lost retirement savings auction off Enron stuff online
— In today's N.Y. Times * -- Congress rebuffed on Enron meeting documents -- See also, Joel's Connelly's excellent column in today's P-I: Public has a right to know about Cheney's task force
— In today's Washington Post -- Learning from the Enron moment -- Dionne column: "If men were angels," James Madison wrote in the Federalist Papers, "no government would be necessary."

THURSDAY, January 17 -- Murray: Save Boeing Spokane, workers have earned it
— In today's Spokesman-Review * -- Nethercutt's tough talk on Boeing plant a touchy tactic
— In today's Seattle Times -- Boeing's Mulally warns state that gridlock could imperil more jobs
...plus -- In budget crisis mode, Sims weighs big layoffs, park closures
...plus -- I-727 shrinks class sizes in Seattle elementary schools
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Highway "efficiencies" bill off to a slow start in the House
...plus -- How to stimulate the economy -- Editorial: Bush should drop alternative minimum tax repeal.
— In today's Eastside Journal -- Weyerhaeuser lays off 60 in wake of land preservation deal
— In the Seattle Weekly -- Tax cuts now! Business leaders demand relief
— In today's Salem S-J -- More than 140 road projects get funds -- A wistful look south.
— In today's Oregonian -- Hospital, OSHU nurses halt talks as strike enters second month
...plus -- Enron didn't pay taxes for four years by using foreign tax havens
— In today's Washington Post -- Kennedy urges deferral of some tax cuts
— In today's Las Vegas Sun -- Teamsters join Bush in pushing for Arctic oil drilling
— In today's N.Y. Times * -- Bush pushes for FTAA -- Talking points still focus on the P-word: "Some question the fairness of free and open trade, holding out the false comfort of protectionism."
...plus -- Enron and the Gramms -- Herbert column: "Phil and Wendy Gramm are just convenient symptoms of the problem that has contributed so mightily to the Enron debacle and other major scandals of our time, from the savings and loan disaster to the Firestone tires fiasco... the obsession with deregulation that has had such a hold on the Republican Party and corporate America."

WEDNESDAY, January 16 -- Labor takes issue with Competitiveness Council report
— In today's Spokesman-Review * -- Nethercutt to Boeing: Closing Spokane plant "unacceptable"
— In today's Seattle Times -- Accident kills Boeing worker (a 16-year IAM member)
...plus -- Let's not tie Boeing to a process of elimination -- Ramsey column re: permitting process
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Boeing 767 work will stay in U.S.; but Sonic Cruiser is another story
...plus -- Luxury car owners reap I-695 windfall while clunker owners get little or nothing
...plus -- This may not be the best climate for business climate reform (Virgin column)
— In today's Yakima Herald -- Radio KDNA honors farmworker advocate Lupe Gamboa
— In the P.S. Business Journal -- A bad year on paper -- Post-newspaper strike assessment of the financial health of Seattle's daily newspapers.
— In today's News-Tribune -- No matter one's economic status, we all rely on government (column)
— In today's N.Y. Times * -- Citing security, Bush bans unions at some Justice Dept. agencies
...plus -- Georgia finds itself in a jobless benefits bind -- Under pressure from business and having unemployment insurance trust funds filled with cash in the 1990s, many states reduced the corporate taxes that pay for the benefits, and they are now reluctant to raise them.

TUESDAY, January 15 -- Rally in Spokane on Wednesday to save Boeing plant
— In today's Olympian -- State employee union takes "high-profile" walk
...plus -- Bipartisanship sinks on session's first days
— In today's Seattle Times -- House vows to tackle gridlock at top speed
— In today's Bellingham Herald -- Time to bite the budget bullet -- Editorial: Gov. Gary Locke's best option to help balance the budget is to give voters what they asked for... he should exclude backfilling (city and county budgets) for I-695.
...plus -- Sen. Murray pushes state to match transportation funds
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Lawmakers look at repealing some gas tax exemptions
...plus -- A lesson that works for building a school -- Students "adopt" construction workers.
...plus -- WTO rejects U.S. tax law that could cost Boeing, Microsoft billions
— In today's South County Journal -- Boeing to part with some of its Auburn site
— In today's N.Y. Times * -- Crony Capitalism, USA -- Krugman column: While political reporters have been busy waving the flag, business reporters have taken the lead in telling us what's really going on. And they seem disgusted by what they see. It was CBSMarketWatch's executive editor, not some whining political commentator, who warned that "a small group of business leaders exert enormous clout over Bush and his team in getting the rules changed to their benefit."
— In today's Washington Post -- A time for outrage... -- Cohen column: (If you have) the impression that the collapse of Enron is some sort of political scandal. It is not. Instead, it's a #%$*# outrage.
...plus -- ...Especially from Republicans -- Will column: In some crucial final days, Enron employees, locked in steerage like the lower orders on the Titanic, were blocked from selling the Enron stock that comprised, on average, 62 percent of employees' 401(k) holdings. If insider trading and other laws do not proscribe such things, they should.

MONDAY, January 14 -- Bush bypasses Congress to appoint Scalia Labor Dept.'s top lawyer
...plus in today's News-Tribune -- Washington State Labor Council celebrates big birthday
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Tax exemptions on agenda as session convenes -- Frequent references to the fact that there is no way to assess effectiveness of tax exemptions. WSLC will again press for corporate disclosure bill so the public can see what tax breaks exist and decide for themselves.
...plus -- Olympia must stand up to Eyman to improve roads (Connelly column)
— In today's Olympian -- Gov. Locke has high hopes for 2002 Legislature
— In today's Seattle Times -- A hurry-up session: Roads and a tough budget -- Editorial advocating for legislature to quickly enact measures to contract out public jobs and weaken prevailing wage standards. Here's a better idea for frustrated Times subscribers.
— In today's Yakima Herald -- Partisan vote a fine line in the House -- Former Co-Speaker Ballard appears to take glee in state's budget predicament and Democrats' narrow control.
...plus -- Foundation fields farm workers' concerns
— In today's Eastside Journal -- King County utilizes inmate workers to save millions
— In today's Roll Call -- GOP's Enron plan: Blame it on Clinton and the Democrats -- Moving quickly, see Chicago Tribune story placed in today's Spokesman-Review *: Enron bought access for years. Further, in a breathtakingly bold spin of the evidence, U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham posits in today's Washington Post: Deregulation is working (!?)
— Today from AP -- Reagan in '81: "When are we going to quit trying to be nice to Lane Kirkland?"

News from previous weeks: Jan. 7-11 -- Jan. 3-4 -- Dec. 10-14

FRIDAY, JANUARY 18
Coalition has "Prescription for Action" on drug access, cost

The Prescription for Action Coalition will hold a public briefing for supporters in Olympia for a "lobbying day" at 11 a.m. Tuesday, January 22 at the Sundial outside the John L. O'Brien Building. The subject will be HB 2431, an effort to create a comprehensive prescription drug education and utilization system, which is scheduled for a hearing in the House Health Care Committee at 1:30 p.m. that afternoon.

"This bill will educate the public, save the state money by consolidating prescription drug purchasing for state health care programs, and then allow the general public to participate in that purchasing group to improve access and affordability," said Barbara Flye, Executive Director of Washington Citizen Action and a coalition spokeswoman.

"It's all about improving access to and affordability of prescription drugs, something virtually every state legislator now in Olympia campaigned for during the last election season," said Rick Bender, President of the Washington State Labor Council, another coalition member.

At Tuesday's briefing, supporters will hear from seniors struggling with the exorbitant costs of necessary prescription drugs. In addition, pharmacists and health care providers who support the legislation, and some of the bills sponsors, will be on hand to discuss the effort.

Prior to the briefing, Washington Citizen Action invites you to a 9 a.m. gathering at the United Churches of Olympia, 110 11th Ave. SE, for tips on lobbying you elected representatives and more information on the bills it supports regarding the prescription drug issue. (Directions: I-5 to exit 105 (state capitol/city center), ramp leads to 14^th Ave SE, turn right onto Capitol Way S., go a few blocks and turn right onto 11^th Ave SE.)

After the 11 a.m. public briefing at the Sundial, folks will spend the next hour or so lobbying their representatives and senators before attending the 1:30 p.m. committee hearing on HB 2431.

The Prescription for Action Coalition seeks create solutions to making prescription drugs affordable in Washington state. It includes the AARP, Washington State Pharmacists Association, Washington State Labor Council, Washington Academy of Family Physicians, Washington Citizen Action, Washington Association of Churches, Washington State Nurses Association, Group Health Senior Caucus, Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans, SEIU, Northwest Health Law Advocates, IFPTE Local 17, WashPIRG, Grey Panthers, Just Health Care.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 17
Murray: Save Boeing Spokane, workers have earned it

In an effort to convince Boeing Company officials to retain their Spokane plant, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray added her voice Wednesday to the hundreds of Boeing employees, union officials and local leaders at a "Save Boeing Spokane" rally organized by the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA, IFPTE Local 2001).

Delivering remarks from Washington D.C. via speaker phone, Murray urged Boeing to save Spokane jobs and reiterated her support for Spokane plant workers. Boeing is expected to deliver a decision on the fate of the Spokane plant, which employs around 500 workers, in February. Her remarks:

Thank you SPEEA for organizing this rally.

This morning, I called Alan Mulally and reminded him of the fact that Spokane has a first-rate workforce. As you know, Boeing workers in Spokane have a strong record of saving money by using production improvements and adhering to other cost-saving principles. The values of the people in the Spokane area -- because of the type of town it is -- are reflected in this strong work ethic at the Boeing-Spokane plant. I expect Boeing to recognize this work ethic and the superior value it brings to Boeing's commercial airplane division.

The Boeing Spokane plant deserves to be a part of Boeing's long-term future operations. In November, I organized a meeting with Alan Mulally, Union officials and Spokane leaders, and expressed my confidence in the workforce at the Boeing-Spokane plant. And, today, I spoke with Alan Mulally again about Spokane.

I will continue to urge Boeing to take a hard look at the numbers and consider their Spokane workers.

Thank you, each and every one of you, for attending this rally and being a part of this broad-based community effort to keep the Spokane Boeing plant open. Working together, we will strengthen the Spokane economy.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16
Labor takes issue with Competitiveness Council report

If you heard the Governor's State of the State speech Tuesday or if you have read the newspaper editorial pages recently, you've no doubt heard a lot about the Governor's Competitiveness Council, a panel of business, labor and government leaders that has met for months to come up with recommendations to "ensure a healthy business climate" in Washington state.

The Competitiveness Council's final report has just been issued and contains a number of recommendations that labor representatives disagreed with (labor merited just two out of 35 council seats, compared to 19 for the business community). Following is the entire "minority statement" written by WSLC President Rick Bender and Roger Boatwright, Executive Director of the Washington State Building and Construction Trades Council:

Given the Competitiveness Council’s task, membership representation, and process for deriving recommendations labor finds itself in the position where the best way to accurately reflect our views on this most important issue is through a minority summary statement in the Executive Summary of the report and minority comments in the main text of the report.

First off we would have preferred to serve on a committee with equal representation from labor, business, community and environmental groups to assess our state’s overall economic climate, vitality, and diversity. Such a process, we believe, would have resulted in a more balanced and comprehensive set of recommendations that would have been able to address an economic stimulus package for the current recession as well as a direction for long term economic growth.

Washington State is facing a fiscal crisis of serious proportions. This crisis will impact the level and quality of services that we can provide to the poor, the elderly, and our children. It will also impact the employment, wages and benefits, and working conditions of our public sector workforce. It is not fair to expect the poor and working families to make up the brunt of the $1.2 billion budget shortfall. Business must be responsible and shoulder part of the burden as well.

Over the 2001-2003 biennium our Senate Ways and Means Committee estimates $6.9 billion in General Fund tax exemptions. The truth is we can no longer afford to maintain this existing level of tax exemptions. We need to assess these exemptions and to close some of them. We need to also enact a subsidy disclosure law that allows us to evaluate the social return we get from our body of tax exemptions and incentives.

At the same time it is important for us to recognize that our current fiscal crisis goes well beyond the current recession and the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11. Our crisis is squarely rooted in our regressive tax structure and the inability of our tax system to generate sufficient funds to meet the growing needs of our economy and society. Unlike the business community the general public perceives that they pay a disproportionately high share of our state’s taxes and this has resulted in the passage of two popular anti-tax initiatives that have further hamstrung our revenue base. It is time to seriously analyze the regressivity of our tax structure, on both individuals and businesses, as well as the need to generate additional revenue in the system.

The February 28 earthquake and September 11 have highlighted in dramatic ways the exemplary level of commitment and quality of service provided by our public sector workforce. Another key to putting our fiscal house in order is to enact legislation granting collective bargaining rights for state employees which is not only the right thing to do but would for the first time allow true bargaining over efficiencies in state government.

For the past decade the legislature, the executive branch, and various stakeholders have been engaged in a serious debate over government regulations and regulatory reform. Labor has been an outspoken advocate for clear rule writing, removing inconsistencies and duplications, and creating rulemaking processes that are fully participatory and fair. We also support permit streamlining so long as we maintain strong environmental standards.

We do not support the Council’s recommendation for a cabinet level secretary of regulatory reform. The Governor already has the ability to demand accountability from his agencies and the Council anticipates roles for the secretary that run counter to civil service parameters. Real efficiencies will only come about through real collective bargaining.

Nor can we agree with the Council on recommendations to change the Administrative Procedures Act. For example, shifting the burden of proof from the petitioner of a rule change to the agency takes well-established legal and administrative principles and turns them upside down. This is a recipe for tying up agency resources, getting them to second guess every move, and inhibiting them from implementing the law.

Labor vehemently opposes any delay in the ergonomics rules. Over 50,000 workers a year in Washington State are injured or crippled by largely preventable ergonomic injuries. Some major corporations in this state have already significantly reduced these types of injuries and saved millions of dollars by implementing simple ergonomic principles. The issue of ergonomics has been debated and dissected for the last decade, it is now time to move forward with preventing injuries.

We believe that the single biggest source of our region’s competitive disadvantage is traffic congestion. The Council’s position could be strengthened by demanding that the legislature itself vote for a statewide transportation financing package and to agree to back up those legislators who take the vote during the election season.

The human capital and innovation section of the report brings into sharp relief the need for our state to increase our revenue base. Allowing universities more flexibility in setting tuition may have some impact but until we have more revenue to work with and a more progressive, stable, and predictable revenue structure all we have is a zero sum game where one set of competing needs are set off against another.

Any discussion of faculty salaries and investments in strategically important fields needs to be done in the context of collective bargaining for higher education faculty and faculty governance organizations.

Finally what we measure makes a difference. From a labor and social perspective we would like to know how the wages and benefits of the net new jobs created in our economy stack up to the Washington State self-sufficiency standard for the counties in which the jobs were created.

This type of information would be very useful to elected officials and policy makers in assessing the effectiveness of our economic development and fiscal policies and would as well allow us to engage in some goal setting for our economic benchmarks. What we measure and where we are trying to go makes a difference.

Respectfully submitted,

Rick S. Bender, President
Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO

Roger Boatwright, Executive Secretary
Washington State Building & Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO

TUESDAY, JANUARY 15
Rally in Spokane on Wednesday to save Boeing plant

The Boeing Co. is expected to decide by the end of the month whether to continue operating its profitable Spokane facility or close it and layoff more than 500 employees. So in a show of support for the Boeing Spokane plant, Boeing employees, city leaders and at least one congressman will rally at 11 a.m. Wednesday (Jan. 16) at the main gate of the Boeing Spokane facility on Flint Road.

The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA, IFPTE Local 2001) is organizing Wednesday’s rally. The union represents 59 technical workers at the plant. Boeing’s other large union, the International Association of Machinists (IAM), is assisting and will be on hand. (For more information about IAM actions to save Boeing jobs, see www.iam751.org.)

The rally is the culmination of SPEEA’s “Save Boeing Spokane” campaign. The campaign started in November shortly after Boeing leaders said they were considering closing the facility.

“This is a profitable and efficient plant, with some of the best employees at The Boeing Company,” said Charles Bofferding, executive director of SPEEA. “Closing it and moving the work somewhere else will be costly for Boeing, painful to the employees who work here and a blow the Spokane community does not need.”

Rep. George Nethercutt (R-5th) said he would attend the rally. Senator Maria Cantwell, out of the state on business, is expected to send a representative. In November Senator Patty Murray pulled together officials from Boeing and local leaders to discuss the possible closure.

Recently, SPEEA helped technical workers in Southern California organize a rally and lobbying effort to save the 717 production line in Long Beach. Boeing recently announced production of the midrange 717 would continue.

SPEEA represents 24,500 engineers, technical workers and other professionals at Boeing. Members are located in Washington, Kansas, Oregon, California, Texas, Utah and Florida.

MONDAY, JANUARY 14
Bush bypasses Congress to appoint Scalia DOL's top lawyer

President George W. Bush on Friday installed Eugene Scalia, who has a record of extreme positions opposing worker protections, as the U.S. Department of Labor’s top lawyer.

Bush elevated Scalia to the solicitor general post as a “recess appointment,” acting while Congress is in recess and bypassing the Senate confirmation process. Scalia faced stiff opposition in the Senate and Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) had predicted he could not win confirmation. Scalia’s appointment will continue until the end of this congressional session in the fall.

As the Labor Department’s chief lawyer, Scalia will be responsible for enforcing more than 180 laws that provide basic worker protections in areas such as safety and health, minimum wages, equal employment opportunity and pension security. The AFL-CIO and other allies of working families strongly opposed Bush’s nomination of Scalia, who has worked to kill or weaken worker safety standards nationally as well as in California, North Carolina and Washington.

While 1.8 million workers a year suffer painful “ergonomic” injuries on the job caused by repetitive or poorly designed work and heavy lifting, Scalia, son of conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, has termed the science of ergonomics “junk science par excellence” and “quackery.”

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney called Bush’s appointment of Scalia “a slap in the face of American workers.”

“This is an appointment that by all standard rules should not have happened,” Sweeney said.

If you have news items regarding unions or workplace issues in Washington state that you would like to see posted here, please submit them via e-mail to David Groves or via fax to 206-285-5805.