NEXT UPDATE -- Tuesday, Feb. 17 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. WSLC Reports Today  links to all stories of interest to organized labor; some positive, some negative. The intention is to inform.  The creation of a link does not constitute an endorsement of that story's content.

Reports for February 9-13, 2004

Previous weeks' news: Feb. 2-6 -- Jan. 26-30 -- Jan. 20-22

FRIDAY, Feb. 13 -- Adopt-a-Store: Picketing campaign grows at Safeways around state
At AFLCIO.org -- Safeway earnings sink as workers gain nationwide support

The latest WSLC Legislative Update -- Outsourcing: Let's vote on it!
— In today's Bellingham Herald -- GOP worries over Bush cheerleading for outsourcing U.S. jobs -- Also see today's cartoon on the subject by the Seattle P-I's Pulitzer-winning David Horsey.
At SPEEA.org -- Boeing employees recertify SPEEA unit in Wichita; contract talks Tuesday
— In today's Seattle Times -- Boeing Wichita workers back representation by SPEEA union
...plus -- Rep. Jim McDermott says he'll run for another term
— In today's Tri-City Herald -- Hanford employees learn about DOL benefits for sick nuclear workers
— In today's Yakima H-R -- Price was right for new owners of Yakima's Boise mill
— In yesterday's Columbian -- Freeze minimum wage -- Editorial mimicking GOP press release sent earlier this week: Washington's minimum wage is too high. So is the state's unemployment rate.
— In today's Seattle P-I -- A push for a new three-county transportation tax
— In today's News Tribune -- Parties back Arizona-style primaries; oppose Cajun "top two" plan (AP)
— In today's L.A. Times -- Key to 7E7's success may be overseas; Singapore Air may be 1st buyer
— In today's N.Y. Times -- In face of Bush veto threat, Senate backs $318 billion for highways
...plus -- Officials discuss details of Bush immigrant workers plan
...plus -- Greenspan, with big "if," backs Bush tax cuts -- Fed boss says Bush's tax cuts should be made permanent only if Congress makes up for the lost revenue with spending cuts or tax increases. Big Al's suggestion? Make cuts in "entitlement programs" like Social Security and Medicare.
— Today at BusinessWeek Online -- Inventing the "Clinton recession" -- The Council of Economic Advisers is trying to alter the start date of the economic downturn in a way that benefits Bush.
...plus -- The biggest bomb in Bush's budget -- Column: The president's monstrous debt pile-up means lots of bad things, with starvation funding for education, R&D, and infrastructure the worst.

THURSDAY, Feb. 12 -- Senate OKs across-the-board benefit cuts for injured workers
— In today's Bellingham Herald -- State Senate passes workers' compensation changes (AP)
Outsourcing news:
At WashTech.org -- Tech workers galvanize around offshore outsourcing -- A new survey challenges conventional wisdom about “independent” IT workers who cannot be galvanized around any one set of issues to seek political change. In fact, IT workers appear to be an emerging political constituency looking for political action to address its economic concerns.
— In today's Seattle Times -- Seattle group's survey gauges outsourcing fears
— In today's Olympian -- Outsourcing limits may get vote in State House
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Debate over outsourcing heats up, ignited by election-year politics
At AFLCIO.org -- Bush administration: Ship more U.S. jobs overseas
— In today's N.Y. Times -- GOP Speaker Hastert criticizes Bush report on outsourcing jobs
Other labor news:
— In today's Olympian -- Budget writers (and home-care workers) get $45 million in good news
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Private firms to build Seattle monorail -- The debate pitted union against union. The Machinists support contracting with private firms and the ATU supports public operation.
— In today's Seattle Times -- Monorail board sticks with private operations -- The Machinists are already in talks with one of the private bid teams in hopes of winning a future union contract.
...plus -- Ferries could reopen gallies by April 1; some food-service bidders only want specific routes
— In today's Tri-City Herald -- Labor warns Hanford workers their retirement benefits in jeopardy
— In today's King County Journal -- Cantwell glad to get Boeing pledge on OT -- Boeing pledged that no employee will lose eligibility for overtime pay simply because they have served in the U.S. military.
..plus -- In first political glimpse, Reichart calls Bush tax cuts "a good start"
— In today's Spokesman-Review -- Two years into Kaiser bankruptcy, workers' future still uncertain
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Ban teacher strikes once and for all (editorial)
...plus -- Bill seeks to protect corporate profits -- Op-ed: Capping malpractice awards not only fails to address the real problems facing our health care system today -- it protects corporate profits at the direct expense of the consumer's constitutional right to hold wrongdoers accountable.
— In today's Bellingham Herald -- Boeing 7E7 deal's secrecy criticized by EFF boss Williams
— In today's News Tribune -- Medical costs will rise faster than incomes, report says
— Today at BusinessWeek online -- The jobs of tomorrow: A new low? -- According to a new Bureau of Labor Statistics forecast, most of the big growth areas will be low-skill -- and low-paying.
...plus -- Time for Safeway CEO Burd to fly away? -- The grocery chain's CEO has led the bitter battle with striking workers. Even if he wins the fight, the fallout could make him the ultimate loser
— In today's L.A. Times -- Grocery talks resume' yesterday's session were first talks in 7 weeks

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 11 -- Senate passes minimum wage freeze, R&D tax break extension
...plus -- Home-care union seeks probe of tax subsidy for pricey Amgen footbridge
— In today's Bellingham Herald -- Senate votes to freeze state minimum wage (AP)
— In today's Bremerton Sun -- Bill extending high-tech tax breaks goes to Gov. Locke (AP)
— In today's Everett Herald -- Tax incentives go beyond Boeing -- Many of the tax breaks the Boeing Co. was granted for assembling the 7E7 in Everett also apply to smaller aerospace companies, whether they're working on the Dreamliner or not, tax experts said Tuesday. "I think even your work for Airbus qualifies," said one Department of Revenue official.
— In today's Olympian -- Public airing of Boeing deal pursued; EFF files suit, media groups may join
— In today's King County Journal -- There is nothing hidden in the Boeing deal (Martha Choe op-ed)
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Tensions high as SPEEA decertification vote nears in Wichita
...plus -- Company sues Sound Transit over failed bid -- Firm complains project labor agreements were improperly included in the project, even though President Bush outlawed such provisions.
— In today's Bellingham Herald -- Georgia-Pacific tissue mill trims about two dozen jobs
— In today's Seattle Times -- Next wave for ferries: Small eateries?
...plus -- List of food service proposals for ferries, terminals and Colman Dock
...plus -- Former Mariner (and Taxes Republican) Jay Buhner endorses, raises funds for Rossi
Today at AFLCIO.org -- Bush report gives corporations greenlight to send jobs overseas
— In today's News Tribune -- White House jobs prediction too high, experts say (AP)
— In today's Washington Post -- Bush, advisor assailed for stance on "outsourcing" jobs
...plus -- "Offshoring" has its trade-offs -- Pearlstein column: What most rosy analyses of offshoring routinely neglect are the business and economic downsides from trade, either because they are not measurable or because they lie outside the economist's frame of reference.
— In today's N.Y. Times -- Watching the jobs go by -- Kristof column: The current wave of outsourcing jobs to India will hopefully jolt us into improving our math and science education.
— In today's L.A. Times -- Missteps hurt union in supermarket strike -- The union's offer of binding arbitration rejected by management revealed "increasing weakness in position" on the part of the UFCW, wrote one Smith Barney analyst to clients, even as union activists, bundled up against the cold, assembled near the New York Stock Exchange last week. She didn't mention them.

TUESDAY, Feb. 10 -- Senate votes imminent on bad workers' comp, minimum wage bills
— In today's King County Journal -- Darigold lockout/boycott taking toll on both sides -- Darigold says it's losing money -- nearly $1 million at its Rainier Valley plant alone -- and has withdrawn its Dec. 11 proposal and offered one that's even worse. Teamsters: "They've changed the goalpost on us."
— In today's Seattle Times -- Times failed to take GOP council members' names out of Darigold ad
— In today's News Tribune -- Saturday fund-raiser for locked-out Darigold workers -- Learn more.
...plus -- All home health care workers should get identical benefits -- This Rep. Chandler (R-Granger) op-ed is a convoluted and transparent attempt change the subject, saying the scaled-back home-care contract should be rejected in the name of "fairness" to nonunion workers. Make no mistake, he and others like him will continue to grasp for excuses -- any excuse will do -- to deny a fair union contract.
...plus -- U.S. job losses good in the long term, Bush report says -- Shipping jobs to low-cost countries is the "latest manifestation of the gains from trade that economists have talked about," says administration report, adding, "Good is bad. Up is down. You are getting sleepy, very sleeee-peeee."
— In today's Bellingham Herald -- Support tax break for Intalco (editorial)
— In today's Salem S-J -- Oregon owes state employees back pay for overtime
At AFLCIO.org -- Bush, Rumsfeld aim to strip union rights for thousands, Sweeney says
— In today's Washington Post -- Federal employees to protest Pentagon labor plan
— In today's L.A. Times -- Supermarket union (UFCW), grocers to resume contract talks
— In today's N.Y. Times -- Labor raises pressure on Calif. supermarkets -- The union representing 70,000 striking or locked-out Southern California supermarket workers is waging an increasingly confrontational -- some say desperate -- campaign to fend off cuts in members' health care benefits.
...plus -- Political money said to sway pension investments
...plus -- Jobs, jobs, jobs -- Krugman column: In the light of dreary employment and wage statistics, President Bush's recent cheerfulness about how well the economy is doing seems almost surreal.
...plus -- With Gephardt gone, Kerry is lining up labor support -- The AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department is likely to throw its weight behind Kerry after a meeting Tuesday, and The Alliance for Economic Justice, a coalition of 18 unions that had endorsed Gephardt is holding a conference call Wednesday and could endorse Kerry as early as this weekend.

MONDAY, Feb. 9 -- Fundraiser Feb. 14 in Tacoma for locked-out Darigold workers
...plus -- Rally Wednesday for PUBLIC monorail in Seattle; but contact its board now
— In today's UW Daily -- Wage freeze concerns University of Washington's classified workers
— In today's Bremerton Sun -- In stagnant economy, state tax breaks multiply (AP)
— In Saturday's Seattle P-I -- Builders seek the same as Boeing -- BIAW wants free legal defense from Attorney General for certain suits filed against builders like Boeing got in 7E7 incentive package.
...plus -- Fircrest will close two units next month; move continues toward eventual closure
...plus Sunday -- A fairer tax break in the works -- Editorial: Washington voters who are sincerely concerned about the impact of rising property taxes on neighbors least able to afford them should welcome a legislative alternative to (Tim Eyman's) more draconian tax-slashing proposals.
— In yesterday's Columbian -- WaferTech to spend $90 million, add 100 jobs
— In today's Oregonian -- Workers laced with pesticides, says new Yakima Valley-based study
...plus -- Clark County commissioner Pridemore to challenge state Sen. Carlson
...plus -- Jurors begin Wal-Mart overtime pay deliberations in case with national implications
— In the P.S. Business Journal -- Bush's call for permanent tax cuts suits businesses
— At BusinessWeek Online -- The Bush budget: Hey guys, get real -- President Bush says he wants to cut the deficit in half by 2009. This news analysis explains why that's not likely to happen.
— In today's L.A. Times -- From the front lines, grocery workers tell their sides
— In the USAToday -- Dean loses AFSCME support, keeps SEIU's for now
— In today's Washington Post -- Good beginning -- Editorial: Bush's response to the Hagel-Daschle bill will reveal how serious his own proposals for immigration reform were really intended to be.

Previous weeks' news: Feb. 2-6 -- Jan. 26-30 -- Jan. 20-22

FRIDAY,  FEBRUARY 13
Adopt-a-Store: Picket campaign grows at Safeways in state

Picketing and leafleting outside Safeway stores in Washington state continues and expands as hundreds of workers have demonstrated their solidarity with the 59,000 (not 70,000) striking and locked-out grocery workers in Southern California. Pickets will continue at five Seattle-area Safeways this weekend, a rally/picket is planned for next Thursday afternoon in Olympia, and union locals are stepping up to "Adopt-a-Store" for ongoing picketing activities.

You and your union should get involved.  Help "Hold the Line on Health Care" by supporting members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union in this critical struggle (see background information below). Contract negotiations for some 30,000 Puget Sound-area grocery workers at Safeway and other stores begin soon; their contract expires in early May.

IN SEATTLE THIS WEEKEND picketing and leafleting is happening outside five Seattle-area stores. Please spend an hour or two helping out at the following Safeway store locations:

• CAPITOL HILL, 530 Broadway E., Saturday/Sunday, Noon to 3 p.m.

• CAPITOL HILL, 1410 E. John, Saturday/Sunday, Noon to 3 p.m.

• RAINIER VALLEY, 3820 Rainier Ave. S., Saturday, Noon to 3 p.m.

• RAINIER BEACH, 9262 Rainier Ave. S., Saturday, Noon to 3 p.m.

• KENT-SOUTH COUNTY, Redondo 27035 Pacific Hwy S., Saturday, Noon to 2 p.m.

IN OLYMPIA NEXT THURSDAY, Feb. 19 there will be a rally and picketing from 4 to 5:30 p.m. outside the Safeway store at 3215 Harrison Ave N.W.  If you are attending the WSLC Legislative Conference on Friday at the Red Lion Hotel (and you should), make plans to attend this event before you head over to the WSLC Legislative Reception happening Thursday night at the hotel.

ADOPT-A-STORE!  Union locals are agreeing to Adopt-a-Store for ongoing picketing activities. Your local can adopt a store by committing to picket/leaflet outside that store at least two afternoons a month. To do so, contact the AFL-CIO's Bob Gorman at (206) 448-4888. Thank you to the following union organizations that have agreed to Adopt-a-Store (if you belong to one of these locals, call your union office to find out how to get involved):

• A. Philip Randolph Institute -- (206) 770-7697

• Communications Workers of America Local 7800 -- (206) 441-7800

• International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 46 -- (206) 441-4600

• Labor Council for Latin American Advancement -- Maribel Martinez at (206) 595-1017

• Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 8 -- (206) 441-8880

• Service Employees International Union Local 1199NW -- (425) 917-1199 

Background on the California struggle:  Last October, 59,000 UFCW members went on strike or were locked out at supermarkets owned by Safeway, Albertsons and Kroger in central and southern California. The grocers presented a take-it-or-leave-it proposal shifting huge new health care costs onto workers and cutting their wages -- the model pioneered by Wal-Mart.  Under the deal, health benefits would eventually reach $95 a week for many workers, making them unaffordable for their families.

Safeway’s CEO Steve Burd is leading the coalition of grocers with these extremely aggressive labor tactics which have his company bleeding red ink with a staggering $696 million net loss in the 4th quarter of 2003, jeopardizing the corporation's future. These losses could be far worse if not for
Safeway's questionable mutual-aid pact with the other grocery chains -- a pact under investigation by California's Attorney General for violating antitrust laws.

The grocers involved in the dispute -- whose combined profits are 91 percent higher than four years ago and whose health care contributions are far below the national average, according to the UFCW -- claim they must slash health care to compete with nonunion, low-wage Wal-Mart, which plans to open 40 super-centers over the next four years in California. At the end of those four years, those super-centers would make up just 1 percent of the California grocery sector, according to financial analysts.

The grocers are demanding what amounts to a 75 percent cut in health coverage for new workers and a 50 percent cut for current ones -- Wal-Mart-style coverage that leaves workers vulnerable to financial catastrophe if they become seriously ill.  As a result, UFCW leaders say premium contributions would gobble workers’ pay and meaningful health care would be unattainable.  Workers could lose key benefits, including dental, vision, well-baby care and preventive office visits -- and might have to pay as much as half of a $20,000 hospital bill.

Make a donation to the striking grocery workers by donating online through the AFL-CIO or send a check made payable to AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer to the Hold the Line for Health Care Strike Fund, AFL-CIO, 815 16th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006.

Learn more:

• Get more background on the UFCW strike for quality health care.
• Tell Safeway to negotiate a fair contract with workers.
• Read AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney’s statement on the “Hold the Line for America’s Health Care” initiative.
• View a new video documenting the strike and lockout.
• Get news from the strikes’ front lines from seven southern California UFCW local unions.
• Read the report, Squeezing Safeway Workers Won’t Solve the Problem: An Analysis of the Real Issues Undermining Safeway’s Competitiveness & Shareholder Value.
• Learn more about the striking UFCW members.
• Access the Commonwealth Fund study, The Growing Share of Uninsured Workers Employed by Large Firms.

THURSDAY,  FEBRUARY 12  (but UPDATED Feb. 13)
Senate OKs across-the-board benefit cuts for injured workers

The Republican-controlled State Senate on Wednesday passed a number of bills that are designed to dramatically cut benefits for injured workers and to hand greater control of the workers' compensation system to employers. Following are labor-opposed bills that passed and the roll-call votes for each (with Democrats listed in bold).

• SB 5378 passed 25-23.  It would impose 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 in the most dangerous occupations: agriculture and construction. This passed the Senate last year on an identical vote, but died in the Democrat-controlled House.

  VOTING YES: Sens. Benton, Brandland, Carlson, Deccio, Esser, Finkbeiner, Hale, Hewitt, Honeyford, Horn, Johnson, McCaslin, Morton, Mulliken, Murray, Oke, Parlette, Pflug, Roach, Schmidt, Sheahan, Sheldon, T., Stevens, Swecker, and Zarelli 
  
  VOTING NO: Sens. Berkey, Brown, Doumit, Eide, Fairley, Franklin, Fraser, Hargrove, Haugen, Jacobsen, Kastama, Keiser, Kline, Kohl-Welles, McAuliffe, Prentice, Rasmussen, Regala, Sheldon, B., Shin, Spanel, Thibaudeau, and Winsley
  
  ABSENT: Sen. Poulsen

• SB 6336 passed 31-18. would allow group self-insurance in the logging industry. Group self-insurance would allow these businesses to drop out of the State Fund and form associations to provide their own industrial insurance coverage. The experience in other states is that the lowest-risk employers tend to do this, causing the employers left behind to face higher premium rates. The solvency of these self-insured groups is also questionable, and in other states they have gone bankrupt, leaving injured workers twisting in the wind without benefits.  It's a bad idea.

  VOTING YES: Sens. Benton, Brandland, Carlson, Deccio, Doumit, Esser, Finkbeiner, Hale, Hargrove, Haugen, Hewitt, Honeyford, Horn, Johnson, McCaslin, Morton, Mulliken, Murray, Oke, Parlette, Pflug, Rasmussen, Roach, Schmidt, Sheahan, Sheldon, T., Shin, Stevens, Swecker, Winsley, and Zarelli 
  
  VOTING NO: Sens. Berkey, Brown, Eide, Fairley, Franklin, Fraser, Jacobsen, Kastama, Keiser, Kline, Kohl-Welles, McAuliffe, Poulsen, Prentice, Regala, Sheldon, B., Spanel, and Thibaudeau

• SB 6391 passed 27-22. It tries to apply the well-marketed Priorities of Government budgeting approach to L&I operations, requiring annual assessments of agency priorities and internal efficiency reports.  Some lawmakers have no problem mandating more annual reports from underfunded, understaffed state agencies, but when it comes to asking private businesses to report what jobs they create with public subsidies, it's called "burdensome paperwork."

  VOTING YES: Sens. Benton, Brandland, Carlson, Deccio, Esser, Finkbeiner, Hale, Hewitt, Honeyford, Horn, Johnson, McCaslin, Morton, Mulliken, Murray, Oke, Parlette, Pflug, Rasmussen, Roach, Schmidt, Sheahan, Sheldon, T., Stevens, Swecker, Winsley, and Zarelli
  
  VOTING NO: Sens. Berkey, Brown, Doumit, Eide, Fairley, Franklin, Fraser, Hargrove, Haugen, Jacobsen, Kastama, Keiser, Kline, Kohl-Welles, McAuliffe, Poulsen, Prentice, Regala, Sheldon, B., Shin, Spanel, and Thibaudeau

• SB 6395 passed 30-19.  It requires the claims process to begin with the reporting of injuries to employers.  Currently, the process begins when the injury is reported to the worker's medical provider. The WSLC opposes this bill because it requires reporting to employer instead of encouraging employer reporting, but still allowing safety valve of present system. The measure also would remove "change in circumstances" language, thus preventing people who currently receive benefits from having them adjusted. In light of the recent Cockle court decision ruling that health benefits were improperly being excluded when calculating benefits, the "change in circumstances" language is especially important to retain.

  VOTING YES: Sens. Benton, Brandland, Carlson, Deccio, Doumit, Esser, Finkbeiner, Hale, Haugen, Hewitt, Honeyford, Horn, Jacobsen, Johnson, McCaslin, Morton, Mulliken, Murray, Oke, Parlette, Pflug, Rasmussen, Roach, Schmidt, Sheahan, Sheldon, T., Stevens, Swecker, Winsley, and Zarelli 
  
  VOTING NO: Sens. Berkey, Brown, Eide, Fairley, Franklin, Fraser, Hargrove, Kastama, Keiser, Kline, Kohl-Welles, McAuliffe, Poulsen, Prentice, Regala, Sheldon, B., Shin, Spanel, and Thibaudeau

• SB 6414 passed 35-14. It calls for an independent audit of the workers' compensation system, but sets up a very cumbersome process creating much more work than necessary, only making L&I's work more difficult. The WSLC believes the Workers' Compensation Advisory Committee should have the authority to hire and work with an independent actuary to review reserves and rate settings.

  VOTING YES: Sens. Benton, Brandland, Berkey, Carlson, Deccio, Doumit, Eide, Esser, Finkbeiner, Hale, Hargrove, Haugen, Hewitt, Honeyford, Horn, Johnson, Kastama, McAuliffe, McCaslin, Morton, Mulliken, Murray, Oke, Parlette, Pflug, Rasmussen, Roach, Schmidt, Sheahan, Sheldon, T., Shin, Stevens, Swecker, Winsley, and Zarelli
  
  VOTING NO: Sens. Brown, Fairley, Franklin, Fraser, Jacobsen, Keiser, Kline, Kohl-Welles, Poulsen, Prentice, Regala, Sheldon, B., Spanel, and Thibaudeau

• SB 6428 passed 27-21.  It seeks to make it easier to suspend health service providers who assist injured workers in workers' comp cases. The first section of this bill is not opposed by labor, but the bill includes vague language, like allowing L&I to go after providers "engaging in overutilization," that give L&I to much authority of injured workers' choice of medical care providers. Parts of this bill also allow L&I and self-insurers to second-guess decisions doctors make with regard to the health of their patients.

  VOTING YES: Sens. Benton, Brandland, Carlson, Deccio, Esser, Finkbeiner, Hale, Hewitt, Honeyford, Horn, Jacobsen, Johnson, McCaslin, Morton, Mulliken, Murray, Oke, Parlette, Pflug, Rasmussen, Roach, Schmidt, Sheahan, Sheldon, T., Swecker, Winsley, and Zarelli 
  
  VOTING NO: Sens. Berkey, Brown, Doumit, Eide, Fairley, Franklin, Fraser, Hargrove, Haugen, Kastama, Keiser, Kline, Kohl-Welles, McAuliffe, Poulsen, Prentice, Regala, Sheldon, B., Shin, Spanel, and Thibaudeau 
  
  ABSENT: Sen. Stevens

• SB 6461 passed 42-7.  It requires L&I to prepare a report on basing premiums on total employer payroll, instead of hours worked as is currently done. Hours has a relationship to risk, payroll has no relation and will disproportionately affect employers that pay family wages. The governor has convened a business-labor task force to take a critical look at the workers' compensation system, and recommend ways to improve the system that make sense for employers and injured workers. Changing how premiums are based is one of the issues that the task force will deal with, so the bill is not necessary.

VOTING YES: Sens. Benton, Brandland, Berkey, Brown, Carlson, Deccio, Doumit, Eide, Esser, Finkbeiner, Franklin, Hale, Hargrove, Haugen, Hewitt, Honeyford, Horn, Jacobsen, Johnson, Kastama, Kohl-Welles, McCaslin, Morton, Mulliken, Murray, Oke, Parlette, Pflug, Poulsen, Rasmussen, Regala, Roach, Schmidt, Sheahan, Sheldon, B., Sheldon, T., Shin, Spanel, Stevens, Swecker, Winsley, and Zarelli

VOTING NO: Sens. Fairley, Fraser, Keiser, Kline, McAuliffe, Prentice, and Thibaudeau

Other labor-opposed workers' compensation bills still await Senate floor action. These bills could be voted upon at any time, so contact your Senator at 1-800-562-6000 to urge his or her opposition:

• SB 6317 would allow self-insured companies to make their own claims decisions and manage their own claims with only the formal process of legal challenge available to the injured worker. The self-insured employer would be able to choose their own independent medical examiners without reference to the list from which they currently must choose, to deny claimants access to their own files, to determine whether workers are eligible for vocational rehabilitation, to punish workers for the Department of L&I's failure to act in a timely manner, and much more. The performance audit of 1998 said that oversight of self-insurers should be reduced only after a compliance unit and a system for ombudsmen or mediators is in place. Neither of these preconditions have happened.

• SB 6394 is a "compromise-and-release" bill allowing the negotiation of final settlements to injured workers rather than ongoing benefits.  The obvious goal is to reduce costs (read: injured workers' benefits) by dangling a big check in front of an injured worker desperate to pay bills because he or she can't work.  That creates obvious concerns about whether these settlements are in their best long-term interest. Plus, if a worker suffers a re-injury to the same part of the body of their original injury, they would not be eligible for workers' compensation coverage.

• SB 6427 limits the fees that attorneys can charge injured workers they represent in workers' compensation claims. Reducing the maximum fee from 30% to 20% may sound like a good idea, but the effect will be that attorneys will leave this area of practice and injured workers will have fewer good attorneys to represent them in these cases. Under current law, if a client feels he or she has been improperly charged by an attorney, the client can get Department of L&I, the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals or the court to set a "reasonable fee." Therefore, this law is unnecessary and harmful, as it is designed to discourage attorneys from representing injured workers.

WEDNESDAY,  FEBRUARY 11
Senate passes minimum wage freeze, R&D tax break extension

The Republican-controlled State Senate by a 27-22 vote Tuesday passed SB 5697, a measure essentially freezing Washington's state minimum wage. That vote to take money out of the pockets of Washington lowest-paid people was juxtaposed by the Senate's hurried passage Tuesday of research-and-development tax breaks for high-tech businesses.

R&D tax breaks:  HB 2546, which sailed through on a 40-9 vote, is the first significant bill of the session to pass both houses and be sent to the governor's desk for signature.

During Tuesday's debate, Sen. Lisa Brown (R-Spokane) rhetorically asked her colleagues, "What's the rush?" After all, the tax breaks being renewed don't expire until Dec. 31, so why does this extension need to be the first item of business, before most bills have yet to get floor action in either house?

Of course, everyone knows the answer. They want tax breaks off the table when they start telling us which Priorities of Government™ we can't afford. The haste with which R&D tax breaks were extended underscores the desperation of state lawmakers to remove this $59 million expenditure (more than $250 million in the next biennium) from the context of the supplemental budget debate yet to begin.

HB 2546 included very modest steps -- which the WSLC maintains are insufficient steps -- on disclosure and accountability for these public subsidies. Firms that take the tax breaks must file reports disclosing how many employees they have, how many are in Washington and the ranges of their wages and benefits, but those reports will be kept confidential as trade secrets.

Only the names of companies and the amount of tax breaks they receive will be made public. So we will, for example, finally be able to find out how much money we're giving to Amgen, which is by far the richest biotech company in the Fortune 500. But we won't be able to determine whether they spent that money actually creating decent jobs in Washington, or just building a $10 million footbridge shaped like a DNA helix.

What is public information though is Tuesday's roll call on HB 2546: (Democrats in bold.)

VOTING YES: Sens. Benton, Berkey, Brandland, Carlson, Deccio, Doumit, Eide, Esser, Finkbeiner, Hale, Haugen, Hewitt, Honeyford, Horn, Jacobsen, Johnson, Kastama, Keiser, Kohl-Welles, McAuliffe, McCaslin, Morton, Mulliken, Murray, Oke, Parlette, Pflug, Poulsen, Prentice, Rasmussen, Roach, Schmidt, Sheahan, B. Sheldon, T. Sheldon, Shin, Stevens, Swecker, Winsley, and Zarelli.

VOTING NAY: Sens. Brown, Fairley, Franklin, Fraser, Hargrove, Kline, Regala, Spanel, and Thibaudeau.

Minimum wage:  Sponsored by Sen. Mike Hewitt (R-Walla Walla), SB 5697 would end Washington's voter-mandated inflationary adjustments except in years the state unemployment rate is below the national rate. The premise itself implies the minimum wage is to blame for high state unemployment rates despite clear evidence that job losses in the high-wage manufacturing sector -- not in minimum wage-paying retail, restaurant and agriculture sectors, where job growth is occurring -- are responsible for our current high unemployment rate.

The truth is that even in good economic times Washington’s jobless rate fairly consistently remains above the national rate. There are many reasons for this, one of which is that Washington is a desirable place to live (when you're looking for a job) and stay (when you have lost one). Other reasons cited by state economists include the seasonal nature of labor-intensive agricultural work and high unemployment in traditionally timber-dependent rural areas. For those reasons, only briefly during the past 25 years has the national rate ever risen above Washington's.

Had SB 5697 been in place since 1992 the state minimum wage would have only increased 4% in the past 12 years, from $4.25 to $4.42 an hour. The sponsors of SB 5697 know that. But they also know that passing an outright freeze on our minimum wage would anger voters and be politically impossible, so they came up with this bill that implicitly blames high unemployment on the minimum wage, and freezes it anyway.

In Tuesday's vote, three Senators who voted against SB 5697 last year, switched and voted for it. They were Sens. Luke Esser (R-Bellevue), Mary Margaret Haugen (D-Camano Island) and Pam Roach (R-Somewhere in or near the 31st District).  Switching from a "yes" vote last year to a "no" vote this year was Sen. Marilyn Rasmussen (D-Eatonville).  

Here is Tuesday's SB 5697 roll call: (Democrats in bold)

VOTING YES:  Sens. Benton, Brandland, Carlson, Deccio, Esser, Finkbeiner, Hale, Hargrove, Haugen, Hewitt, Honeyford, Horn, Johnson, McCaslin, Morton, Mulliken, Murray, Oke, Parlette, Pflug, Roach, Schmidt, Sheahan, T. Sheldon, Stevens, Swecker, and Zarelli.

VOTING NO:  Sens. Berkey, Brown, Doumit, Eide, Fairley, Franklin, Fraser, Jacobsen, Kastama, Keiser, Kline, Kohl-Welles, McAuliffe, Poulsen, Prentice, Rasmussen, Regala, B. Sheldon, Shin, Spanel, Thibaudeau, and Winsley.

SB 5697 now heads to the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives where it died last year and continues to face strong opposition.

Workers' compensation:  The Senate will resume floor action this afternoon, and it's likely they will take action on some or all of the workers' compensation bills described in Tuesday's web report. Please call the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000 and urge your Senator to oppose these bills harming the interests of injured workers.

WEDNESDAY,  FEBRUARY 11
SEIU 775 seeks probe of tax subsidy for pricey Amgen bridge

The following news release was distributed Tuesday by Service Employees International Union Local 775:

HOME CARE WORKERS DEMAND INVESTIGATION
INTO AMGEN'S USE OF STATE MONEY
Were State Tax Subsidies Used to Build a Fancy Footbridge?

 

SEATTLE -- The union representing tens of thousands of home care and nursing home workers today demanded an investigation into whether Amgen used any state tax subsidies to build their new fancy footbridge in Seattle . Amgen has applied for state tax subsidies over the last several years and along with Microsoft and other companies has sent their corporate lobbyists to Olympia this year demanding millions more in tax loopholes.

 

“We want to know exactly how many low-income children lost their health insurance so Amgen could build a ten million dollar footbridge shaped like a DNA helix,” said SEIU Local 775 President David Rolf . “This is just the most recent example of the orgy of corporate greed in Olympia . People are losing their health care, and the state is giving wealth companies millions of dollars to waste on public relations stunts.”

 

According to a Seattle Times article published on Saturday, February 7, the 412 foot long bridge cost Amgen $10 million, while a basic footbridge could have been built for $1 million. The article notes that Amgen, a Fortune 500 company is by far the world’s richest biotech company.

 

The bridge is located at Elliot Avenue West and West Prospect Street in Seattle .

 

“If Amgen has enough money to spend millions on a fancy footbridge,” asked Rolf, “why are they in Olympia stealing more money from working families? No wonder they don’t want any accountability or disclosure. Look how they’re spending the money.”

TUESDAY,  FEBRUARY 10
Senate votes imminent on bad workers' comp, wage bills

Floor action in the State Legislature will be fast and furious this week because the deadline for bills to pass from their houses of origin is one week from today. Senate Republican leaders have indicated a strong desire to pass bills "reforming" our state's workers' compensation system and voter-approved minimum wage laws. These bills have cleared committee hurdles and could face votes at any time.

Minimum Wage CALL TO ACTION:  Please contact your State Senator at 1-800-562-6000 or via email, and urge his or her opposition to the following two minimum wage bills:

• SB 5697 would essentially freeze our minimum wage, ending its voter-mandated inflationary adjustments except in years the state unemployment rate is below the national rate. That amounts to a freeze because Washington’s jobless rate has fairly consistently remained above the national rate for the past 25 years. The last time it didn't was 5½ years ago in August 1998.  Had SB 5697 been in place since 1992 the state minimum wage would have only increased 4%, from $4.25 to $4.42 an hour. (Learn more in our Jan. 22 Update.)
  
• SB 6605 would take away the right of local governments in this state to enact municipal minimum wages or living wage ordinances like the one adopted by the City of Bellingham. These ordinances essentially set higher minimum wages for businesses that choose to contract with local governments. (Learn more in our Feb. 6 Update.)

Workers' Compensation CALL TO ACTION:  Please contact your State Senator at 1-800-562-6000 or via email, and urge his or her opposition to these workers' compensation. Tell them that our system isn't broken (see WSLC President Rick Bender's latest column for more info), and that any changes should be agreed upon by both labor and business -- changes that make sense for both injured workers and employers. Unfortunately, none of the following WSLC-opposed bills meet that test:

• SB 5378 would impose four-quarter averaging (across-the-board cuts) in the calculation of benefits, similar to what was done with unemployment benefits last year. This would especially cut benefits for workers in the most dangerous occupations: agriculture and construction. This passed the Senate on party lines last year except Sen. Tim Sheldon ("D"-Hoodsport) who voted for it and Sen. Shirley Winsley (R-Fircrest) who voted against it. The measure then died in the House.

• SB 6317 would allow self-insured companies to make their own claims decisions and manage their own claims with only the formal process of legal challenge available to the injured worker. The self-insured employer would be able to choose their own independent medical examiners without reference to the list from which they currently must choose, to deny claimants access to their own files, to determine whether workers are eligible for vocational rehabilitation, to punish workers for the Department of L&I's failure to act in a timely manner, and much more. The performance audit of 1998 said that oversight of self-insurers should be reduced only after a compliance unit and a system for ombudsmen or mediators is in place. Neither of these preconditions have happened.

• SB 6336 would allow group self-insurance in the logging industry. Group self-insurance would allow these businesses to drop out of the State Fund and form associations to provide their own industrial insurance coverage. The experience in other states is that the lowest-risk employers tend to do this, causing the employers left behind to face higher premium rates. The solvency of these self-insured groups is also questionable, and in other states they have gone bankrupt, leaving injured workers twisting in the wind without benefits.  It's a bad idea.

• SB 6391 tries to apply the well-marketed Priorities of Government budgeting approach to L&I operations, requiring annual assessments of agency priorities and internal efficiency reports.  Some lawmakers have no problem mandating more annual reports from underfunded, understaffed state agencies, but when it comes to asking private businesses to report what jobs they create with public subsidies, it's called "burdensome paperwork."

• SB 6394 is a "compromise-and-release" bill allowing the negotiation of final settlements to injured workers rather than ongoing benefits.  The obvious goal is to reduce costs (read: injured workers' benefits) by dangling a big check in front of an injured worker desperate to pay bills because he or she can't work.  That creates obvious concerns about whether these settlements are in their best long-term interest. Plus, if a worker suffers a re-injury to the same part of the body of their original injury, they would not be eligible for workers' compensation coverage.

• SB 6395 requires the claims process to begin with the reporting of injuries to employers.  Currently, the process begins when the injury is reported to the worker's medical provider. The WSLC opposes this bill because it requires reporting to employer instead of encouraging employer reporting, but still allowing safety valve of present system. The measure also would remove "change in circumstances" language, thus preventing people who currently receive benefits from having them adjusted. In light of the recent Cockle court decision ruling that health benefits were improperly being excluded when calculating benefits, the "change in circumstances" language is especially important to retain.

• SB 6414 calls for an independent audit of the workers' compensation system, but sets up a very cumbersome process creating much more work than necessary, only making L&I's work more difficult. The WSLC believes the Workers' Compensation Advisory Committee should have the authority to hire and work with an independent actuary to review reserves and rate settings.

• SB 6427 limits the fees that attorneys can charge injured workers they represent in workers' compensation claims. Reducing the maximum fee from 30% to 20% may sound like a good idea, but the effect will be that attorneys will leave this area of practice and injured workers will have fewer good attorneys to represent them in these cases. Under current law, if a client feels he or she has been improperly charged by an attorney, the client can get Department of L&I, the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals or the court to set a "reasonable fee." Therefore, this law is unnecessary and harmful, as it is designed to discourage attorneys from representing injured workers.

• SB 6428 seeks to make it easier to suspend health service providers who assist injured workers in workers' comp cases. The first section of this bill is not opposed by labor, but the bill includes vague language, like allowing L&I to go after providers "engaging in overutilization," that give L&I to much authority of injured workers' choice of medical care providers. Parts of this bill also allow L&I and self-insurers to second-guess decisions doctors make with regard to the health of their patients.

• SB 6461 requires L&I to prepare a report on basing premiums on total employer payroll, instead of hours worked as is currently done. Hours has a relationship to risk, payroll has no relation and will disproportionately affect employers that pay family wages. The governor has convened a business-labor task force to take a critical look at the workers' compensation system, and recommend ways to improve the system that make sense for employers and injured workers. Changing how premiums are based is one of the issues that the task force will deal with, so the bill is not necessary.

WSLC President Rick Bender agreed to serve on this workers' compensation task force because Governor Locke made a commitment that he won't sign any workers' comp legislation this year unless it's agreed to by both business and labor. That way the task force can do this important work and negotiate in good faith without having the legislative agenda of one side or the other undermining that whole process.

That's one reason why all of the above-mentioned labor-opposed bills should be rejected.

MONDAY,  FEBRUARY 9
Fundraiser Feb. 14 in Tacoma for locked-out Darigold workers

If you can't attend the event, the PCLC will gladly accept your donation and add your name to a heart to be displayed at the event. Make your check payable to Teamsters Local 66 and note that it is for the members' relief fund, and mail it to the PCLC at 3049 So. 36th St. #201, Tacoma, WA, 98409.

MONDAY,  FEBRUARY 9
Rally Wednesday for a PUBLIC monorail in Seattle
But you should contact its board now to oppose contracting out

The following announcement and report comes from Washington State Jobs with Justice:

Seattle Monorail Project wants to contract out the publicly funded Green Line monorail system to giant corporations like Fluor Corporation, Washington Group International, and Bombardier. When private companies operate public transit systems, they take our tax dollars out of the community. They squeeze workers and they neglect safety and service for the sake of profits. And, when all is said and done, we all pay more taxes because that’s the only way these companies can make a profit running a transit system. There is a better way…

Public Transit Puts Our Community First
RALLY FOR A PUBLIC MONORAIL
Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 6:00 PM
1913 - 4th Avenue (north of Stewart)

This rally, sponsored by Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587 and Washington State Jobs With Justice, comes as the Seattle Monorail Project Board of Directors prepares to vote on contracting out operation of the Green Line monorail to transnational corporations.

TAKE ACTION: Please attend the rally, but don’t wait for the rally to express your opinion. Monorail Executive Director Joel Horn can be reached at Joel@elevated.org; Monorail Board Chair Tom Weeks is at tweeks@elevated.org. Seattle Monorail Project phone: (206) 382-1220.  Demand that money does not leave our community as profits to greedy corporations. Demand that living wages and affordable benefits be a binding written requirement for all Monorail workers and don’t let Board members confuse the issue with verbal promises.

Some background on Bombardier

Bombardier is one of Canada’s biggest corporations and manufactures rail, trains, and airplanes.  It operates in consortium with other large corporations that supposedly “compete” but more often partner with each other.  Together, these firms make up an oligopoly and often dictate the terms of performance even when a government contract covers most scenarios.  For example, it is a partner with Bechtel on the Southern New Jersey Light Rail project.  This is a Design-Build-Operate-Maintain (DBOM) project similar to the one proposed for the Seattle Green Line. The line is more than a year late to open, $200 million overbudget, and under investigation by the New Jersey Attorney General. Bombardier and Bechtel have sued New Jersey Transit for $140 million in cost overruns on this supposedly fixed price contract.

In September 2002 a worker was killed in a crash during testing of a new automated light rail system serving JFK Airport in New York. The system was under the management of Bombardier, working under a DBOM contract similar to the one proposed for the Green Line. A subsequent investigation found gross lapses on the part of management that led to the worker's death: poor training, poor communications, and total carelessness.

Bombardier is a part of the Metronet consortium that is participating in privatization of infrastructure maintenance on the London Tube, against the will of the London Government. (The national government required this set up as part of a transfer of the Tube to local control).  The consortium (with Fluor) threatened to sue for up to £30 million if changes were made to the controversial London P3 financing model.

Until July, Bombardier had been on Standard and Poor’s credit watch list for a poor credit rating.  In an April 2003 short form prospectus the company acknowledges:

“The occurrence of errors and failures in the Corporation’s products could result in warranty claims or the loss of customers. Correcting such defects could require significant capital investments. Any claims, errors or failures could have an adverse effect on the Corporation’s operating results and business. In addition, due to the nature of the Corporation’s business, the Corporation may be subject to liability claims arising out of accidents or disasters involving the Corporation’s products or products for which the Corporation provided services, including claims for serious personal injuries or death. The Corporation cannot be certain that its insurance coverage will be sufficient to cover one or more substantial claims. Furthermore, there can be no assurance that the Corporation will be able to obtain insurance coverage at acceptable levels and cost in the future.”

For more information, contact Washington State Jobs with Justice at (206) 441-4969 or (360) 647-7695.