FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2006
Fair Share '07 campaign begins; UI reform fight continues

Still smarting from Tuesday's cutoff death of the Fair Share Health Care bill, many of the 300-plus union leaders and members who attended Thursday's Washington State Labor Council's 2006 Legislative Conference in Olympia began the morning in a somber mood. But just a few hours later, they appeared rejuvenated.

Those in attendance left with a renewed sense of commitment to come back and fight for the Fair Share bill again next year, especially after Gov. Chris Gregoire pledged to help "make it happen" in 2007. But in the meantime, the unionists headed from the conference straight to the Capitol to urge legislators to advance many important working family bills still alive in 2006 -- in particular, SB 6885, the Unemployment Insurance reform bill.

FAIR SHARE:  House Speaker Frank Chopp, who decided not to bring the Fair Share bill to a vote in the House, addressed the conference first. He got a tepid, though polite, response as he listed the many positive working family bills passed in recent years, but he didn't mention the Fair Share bill. He has previously told reporters he didn't think it was the right solution to our state's healthcare problems.

WSLC President Rick Bender then outlined the council's legislative agenda, and when he discussed the fate of the Fair Share bill, he promised, "This issue isn't dead. It will be a top priority next session."

Later in the morning, Gov. Gregoire shared Bender's assessment and pledged to work next year to pass a "perfected" Fair Share bill. Though it's not clear what changes a revised version would have, it was very encouraging to hear the governor, for the first time, publicly express support for the concept of setting a health care standard for large employers to discourage deliberate cost-shifting onto taxpayers.

After her conference speech, Gregoire told a reporter, "There are a lot of really good employers who want this done and have reached out to me and said, 'We need to make this happen. We need a level playing field in the state of Washington, and we're not going to reduce our health-care benefits in order to make that a level playing field'."

TAKE ACTION: Gov. Gregoire deserves our thanks for her commitment to seeking passage of a Fair Share bill in 2007. Call her office at (360) 902-4111, send her a personal message using her electronic mail form, and/or participate in a "Thank Gov. Gregoire" e-mail campaign at  www.healthsecurityaction.com/campaign/fairsharehealthcare_gov 

SB 6885, U.I. REFORM:  Earlier this week, the State Senate voted 25-22 to approve SB 6885, which permanently restores two-quarter averaging in the calculation of Unemployment Insurance benefits while still granting more than a billion dollars in tax savings to Washington businesses between 2006 and 2010, especially small businesses.

Delegates at the WSLC Legislative Conference learned that the apparent strategy of the business lobbyists in Olympia is to delay consideration of the bill and amend it in some way, any way, in the House so that another Senate vote will be required. Their hope is that lawmakers will either run out of time for such a reconsideration, or that they can put a full court lobbying press on the Senate to try to deny the amended SB 6885 that 25th vote necessary for passage.

Check out the latest edition of the WSLC Legislative Update newsletter, for much more detail on this situation. But in the meantime...

TAKE ACTION:  Please call the toll-free Legislative Hotline right now at 1-800-562-6000, and leave a message for both of your State Representatives urging them to pass SB 6885 WITHOUT AMENDMENT.  Also, there's no better way to spend your Presidents Day holiday than coming to Olympia to attend the public hearing on SB 6885 in the House Commerce and Labor Committee at 1:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 20 in House Hearing Room C of the John L. O'Brien Building.

FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE:  The conference also got an update on the status and importance of SB 6185 to codify the federal Family and Medical Leave Act into state statute, protecting it from the Bush administration's impending attack on the law. At the urging of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Bush's Department of Labor has indicated an intention to redefine "serious illness" and make other FMLA-weakening rule changes that don't require congressional approval. The goal is to make fewer people eligible for unpaid leave to care for sick or injured family members.

By passing SB 6185, Washington state can say, "Not in our state!"  The effect would be to establish the popular and necessary FMLA in state law, protecting it from the Bush administration's shenanigans.

OTHER ISSUES: There were many other bills of concern to working families that were discussed at Thursday's Legislative Conference, but we at WSLC Reports Today will defer their descriptions to the fine staff of WSLC Legislative Update newsletter.

In the meantime, check out the WSLC Legislative Tracker™ to see a list of working family bills and their current status in Olympia.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2006
Fair Share Health Care deserved a fair vote, Bender says

The following statement was released this morning by Washington State Labor Council President Rick S. Bender:

Statement by Rick S. Bender
On the Fair Share Health Care bill missing the Feb. 14 cutoff deadline
Wednesday, February 15, 2006

We are extremely disappointed that Speaker Chopp wouldn’t allow Fair Share to get a fair vote.  Given the strong momentum this bill had, and the growing frustration with large employers deliberately shifting their health costs onto taxpayers, we are confident that there was -- and still is -- enough support for it to pass in the House of Representatives.

Thousands of people from around this state contacted the Speaker and members of his caucus in recent weeks urging his support of the bill, or at least to allow a democratic vote.  But in the end, he chose to block that from happening.

This fight is far from over.  We will continue to build the coalition of labor, business, hospital and community organizations who support Fair Share Health Care legislation. Plus, we will continue to persuade lawmakers that Fair Share protects taxpayers’ interests, slows the “race to the bottom” on health benefits, and is good public policy.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2006
Senate approves SB 6885 restoring two-quarter UI averaging

Late last night, the State Senate voted 25-22 to pass SB 6885 to permanently restore two-quarter averaging in the calculation of Unemployment Insurance benefits, while granting more than a billion dollars in tax savings to Washington businesses between 2006 and 2010, especially small businesses.

Every Democratic Senator, except Sens. Mary Margaret Haugen (D-Camano Island) and Tim Sheldon ("D"-Potlatch), voted for SB 6885.  Every Republican Senator voted "no," except Sen. Pam Roach (R-Auburn).  SB 6885 sponsor Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-Seattle), Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown (D-Spokane), and Sens. Mark Doumit (D-Cathlamet) all spoke eloquently on behalf of the bill during floor debate.

All of the State Senators who voted on behalf of the bill, and those who spoke on its behalf, deserve our thanks.  Please contact them and thank them personally.

The bill now moves to the House Commerce and Labor Committee chaired by Rep. Steve Conway (D-Tacoma). Please call the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000 and leave a message for your State Representatives -- and House leaders Rep. Conway, Speaker Frank Chopp (D-Seattle) and House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler (D-Hoquiam) -- urging swift passage of SB 6885.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2006
WSLC's 2006 Legislative Conference is Thursday in Olympia

Find out what legislative issues are alive, what issues aren't, and what's next at the Washington State Labor Council's 2006 Legislative Conference beginning at 8:30 a.m. this Thursday, Feb. 16 at the Olympia Red Lion Hotel, with registration starting at 7:30 a.m.  All union leaders, staffers and rank-and-file members are invited to attend.

As always, Wednesday night before the conference, there will be a reception from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the hotel. There will be many legislators and other state officials in attendance. All conference attendees are urged to join us at this reception and engage in informal conversation with legislators and other officials. 

Here is the tentative agenda (times are subject to change because of lawmakers' schedules):

7:30 a.m. -- Registration Begins

8:30 a.m. -- Conference Convenes; Flag Salute and Introduction of Vice Presidents (by WSLC Secretary-Treasurer Al Link)

8:45 a.m. -- Speaker Frank Chopp

9 a.m. -- Overview of Session by WSLC President Rick Bender

9:15 a.m. -- Gary Weeks, Director, Labor & Industries

9:45 a.m. -- Representative Steve Conway

10 a.m. -- Senator Lisa Brown

10:15 a.m. -- Karen Lee, Commissioner, Employment Security

10:30 a.m. -- GOVERNOR CHRISTINE GREGOIRE

10:45 a.m. -- Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles

11:15 a.m. -- Representative Tami Green

11:30 a.m. -- WSLC lobbyist presentations (Jeff Johnson, Pam Crone & Robby Stern)

12:15 p.m. -- LUNCH

1:15 p.m. -- Adjourn to Hill

The conference registration fee, which includes materials, lunch and one admission to the reception, is $30. Click here to download a registration form (in Word format) or call 206-281-8901 to have one mailed or faxed to you. If you would like to bring a guest(s) to the reception on Wednesday night, there will be a nominal fee of $15 per guest.

To make the registration for the reception (and conference) go faster and smoother, we will be opening early registration in the hotel lobby at 2 p.m. on Wednesday.

If you aren't already pre-registered, please do so RIGHT NOW so we can more effectively plan to accommodate all who will join us. Thank you for registering, and urging your co-workers and other rank-and-file union members to attend.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2006
Get the facts on UnionFacts.com and lobbyist Richard Berman

A new anti-union group called the Center for Union Facts, being backed by U.S. businesses, has begun a multimillion-dollar campaign attacking the organized labor movement as corrupt and outdated. Here are some facts about the Center for Union Facts: 

• Unionfacts.com is a project of the Chamber of Commerce, according to an anonymous source which claims that, in a meeting of the State Chambers of Commerce National Conference held on Sanibel Island in Florida on January 26, the State Chambers announced they were spending $8 million a year ($2 million a quarter) to launch this anti-union campaign.

• It’s clear that corporations are pooling resources to fight back against workers’ efforts to roll back corporate power.  It’s no accident that the Chamber and its members are launching a major initiative as the AFL-CIO and its unions are launching Fair Share health care in 30 states, helping record numbers of workers win unions outside the flawed NLRB process (like at Cingular), and taking on giant corporations, like Wal-Mart.

• Unionfacts.com is a project of The Center for Union Facts which is run by Richard Berman of Berman and Company.  Here are examples of the types of campaigns they run:

• Attacking MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) on behalf of the alcohol industry. (consumerdeception.com)

• Representing the tobacco lobby against the CDC (Centers for Disease Control.) (consumerdeception.com)

• Berman has been accused of falsely attributing to the EPA a minimization of the risk of ALAR, a pesticide used on apples that is especially harmful to children and which has since been banned, when, in fact, the information he used was from the company he represented that made ALAR. (Sourcewatch.org)

• In the early 1990s, Berman made a $93,000 donation to Kennesaw State College for former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich’s class on the condition that Gingrich teach ideas supported by the right-wing Employment Policies Institute. House Ethics Committee reports revealed that Berman’s contribution was solicited by GOPAC, Gingrich’s PAC.   (Sourcewatch.org)

• Other organizations reportedly attacked by Berman and his organizations include:  Action on Smoking and Health; American Medical Association; Center for Food Safety; EarthSave International; Environmental Working Group; Friends of the Earth; Harvard School of Public Health; National Association of High School Principals; and the Surgeon General.  (consumerdeception.com)

• Berman has a long history with the Chamber of Commerce; in the 1970s, he was their labor law director.

Berman’s “Guest Choice Network” (according to the Center for Media and Democracy):

• Described Mothers Against Drunk Driving as a group of "professional fund-raisers" who try to "scare us away from even responsible drinking."

• Characterized former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s proposal to confiscate the vehicles of people convicted for drunk driving as a "car-theft ring."

• Criticized the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for its warnings about salmonella-related food poisoning "For nearly three decades, [CDC] has been whipping up fear over food while remaining virtually unchallenged by the press or the scientific community. By generating more heat than light, [CDC] helps create fear..  over... food products."

• “(There is a) lack of evidence that second-hand smoke causes cancer.” -- Rick Berman http://www.consumerfreedom.com/oped_detail.cfm?oped=123 

• The Washington Post did an expose on Berman and his organization:
  The Escalating Obesity Wars
  Nonprofit's Tactics, Funding Sources Spark Controversy

For more information about UnionFacts.com, call the AFL-CIO at 202-637-5018 .

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2006
UPDATE: WSLC response to scare tactics of SB 6885 opponents