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. 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 24-28, 2003

Previous weeks' news: Feb. 18-21 -- Feb. 10-14 -- Feb. 3-7

FRIDAY, Feb. 28 -- Locke tells labor he'll veto any bill to repeal ergonomics rule
— In today's Seattle Times -- Voters may be asked to void ergonomics rule
...plus -- High stakes of revamping public pension system (Dickie column)
...plus -- Boeing may sell its 500-job transport unit (IBT 174)
— In today's Olympian -- Home care workers plead for better wages, benefits
...plus -- Basic Health Plan being abused by employers like Wal-Mart, some say
— In today's Everett Herald -- Edmonds city job cuts hitting hard
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Training puts people back to work (Sen. Brown op-ed)
...plus -- Improved (also known as "de-") regulation is key to jobs (Sens Finkbeiner and Hale op-ed).
— In today's News Tribune -- "We don't want you," Democrats tell Sen. Roach
— In today's Washington Post -- AFL-CIO unions angry after Labor Secretary's visit
— In today's N.Y. Times -- Labor, breaking tradition, criticizes war preparations -- After backing administrations in the Korean, Vietnam and Persian Gulf wars, the labor movement has departed from tradition and criticized President Bush's approach to a conflict with Iraq.

THURSDAY, Feb. 27 -- Ensure your members have comprehensive contraception coverage
— In today's Olympian -- WestCoast Olympia Hotel is now a Red Lion -- More than 300 union members and leaders vow to find Friday's WSLC 2003 Legislative Conference despite deception.
...plus -- Miller Brewing Co., Teamsters reach tentative severance deal
— In today's Everett Herald -- Desperate for work; 10,000 jobless aerospace workers crowd job fair
— In today's News Tribune -- Boeing denies imminent sale of Auburn site
— In yesterday's Columbian -- Bill would give cities, counties right to seek more taxes
— In today's Seattle Times -- Lean State Library may get leaner still
— In today's Salem S-J -- Oregon jobless benefits might be extended
Today at AFLCIO.org -- Seven international unions agree to back Cintas laundry workers
— In today's Washington Post -- AFL-CIO plans $20 million turnout effort aimed at nonunion voters
— In today's N.Y. Times -- Labor Secretary's talk angers union leaders -- Chao ignites a furor among labor leaders, including the administration's strongest friend in labor, Teamsters President James P. Hoffa, when she cited repeated examples of union corruption while addressing the AFL-CIO's winter meeting. Hoffa criticized Chao and said labor should back a presidential candidate who understands working people, causing many union leaders to say he was distancing himself from the president.
...plus -- Flight attendants union offers plan to save United $1 billion over six years
— In today's So. Florida Sun-Sentinel -- Union leaders to push "Freedom Ride" for immigration reform
— In The Progressive -- Brazen Bosses -- The most basic labor right, the right to organize a union, does not exist in actual fact in many workplaces across the country. 

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 26 -- Agenda announced for Friday's WSLC Legislative Conference
At AFLCIO.org -- Economic downturn reverberates among unions as membership drops
— In today's Seattle Times -- Oregon's prescription drug lists interests Washington -- Oregon's list works and saves money. Gov. Locke's health-policy adviser predicts Washington will create a preferred-drug list regardless of what happens with the prescription-drug bills in the Legislature.
— In today's Tri-City Herald -- Judge says FFTF's days are numbered -- at 30
— In today's Oregonian -- Bill would close Fircrest School in Shoreline (WFSE, SEIU)
— In today's Yakima H-R -- Braceros pursue public support in struggle for missing money
— In today's News Tribune --- State fines stevedoring firms for workplace violations -- Companies cited for allowing ILWU members to work as many as 17 hours straight without adequate rest time.
...plus -- Ending sales-tax exemptions would fund needed services (Burbank column)
— In today's Seattle P-I -- WashTech posts Microsoft presentation on moving work to India
— In today's Olympian -- Progress reported in IUOE-Miller brewery severance talks
...plus -- Union (WPEA) puts pressure on Ecology over minority hiring
— In today's Spokesman-Review -- Skeptical Spokane hospitals say smallpox vaccine can wait
— In today's Bellingham Herald -- Canada: Interim U.S. tax kills softwood lumber talks
In yesterday's WSJ -- Leaked WTO documents: EU demanding sweeping U.S. deregulation
— In today's N.Y. Times -- Labor marshals resources to unseat President Bush in 2004
...plus -- Bush's plan for pensions now given low priority
— In today's Washington Post -- Santa Fe wrangles over broad "living wage" bill
— In today's Onion -- It takes a village to stitch 20,000 Dallas Cowboys sweatshirts (op-ed)

TUESDAY, Feb. 25 -- Citizens for Medical Isotopes petition urges FFTF restart
— In today's Olympian -- State worker benefits, pay continue to erode
...plus -- Teamsters, Miller Brewing Co. back to bargaining table over severance deal
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Some jobs don't pay squat, and life isn't fair (excellent Virgin column)
— In today's News Tribune -- Tacoma Council may reconsider raises for city's nonunion workers
— In today's Seattle Times -- Will Murray meet her match in Dunn? -- President Bush teasingly calls Rep. Jennifer Dunn "Senator" and prods her to challenge Sen. Patty Murray next year.
— In today's Oregonian -- Vancouver teachers get a revised contract giving teachers more money
— In today's Bellingham Herald -- GAO dropped ball when it dropped Cheney suit -- Editorial: How did we spend millions of dollars investigating whether Bill Clinton's zipper was up or down, but the Vice President can stonewall investigators looking into possible influence peddling and get away with it?
— In today's San Diego U-T -- California bill would index state minimum wage
— From AP -- AFL-CIO President Sweeney urges unions to hold off on presidential endorsements
...plus -- Blacklisted film "Salt of the Earth" recalled on 50th birthday
— In today's N.Y. Times -- Amid worries, AFL-CIO Executive Council gathers in Florida
...plus -- Four Democratic presidential contenders compete for union support at meeting
...plus -- Deborah Cook is a typical Bush judicial nominee — so watch out -- Thomas Davis, a forklift operator at an Ohio Wal-Mart, was crushed to death at work. When his widow sued, Wal-Mart fought hard, and its employees may have lied and destroyed evidence. When she learned of the possible deception, Mrs. Davis went to court to try to add an important legal claim. Too bad, Wal-Mart argued. She had missed her chance—even if it did trick her by lying. The predominantly Republican court properly ruled, 6-to-1, it would be fundamentally unjust "to reward a party for misrepresenting or destroying evidence." Only one justice took Wal-Mart's side. That justice was Deborah Cook.
— In In These Times -- The war at home -- The budget is the latest front in the Bush administration's global battle on behalf of corporations and the very rich.

MONDAY, Feb. 24 -- AFGE rally against Bush privatization plan Wednesday in Seattle
— In Sunday's Seattle Times -- Lawmakers ponder $97 million home-care bill
— In today's Spokesman-Review -- Bill would freeze minimum wage for tipped workers
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Anti-transit initiative won't fly either -- Editorial: Don't bother to sign Tim Eyman's latest attempt to stop light rail by initiative. It would be a waste of ink.
...plus -- Smallpox plan is stalled; hospitals, unions, health districts refuse to participate
...plus on Saturday -- Mass held for IBT 117 business rep who committed suicide outside church
— In Saturday's Everett Herald -- Keep state at helm of ferries (Sen. Haugen op-ed)
— In Sunday's Walla Walla U-B -- Basic health insurance is critical need (editorial)
— In Sunday's Columbian -- Vancouver teachers vote on contract
...plus -- Aluminum all but gone; an idled Vancouver plant is likely to stay that way
— In Sunday's Washington Post -- Uproar over Ullico stock deals divide labor leaders
— In today's News Tribune -- Plush resort where AFL-CIO bigwigs meet is target of federal lawsuit
— In today's L.A. Times -- Democrats focus on health care for all
— In today's Chicago Sun-Times -- UAL chief using Wal-Mart as model for restructuring
— In today's N.Y. Times -- Bush quietly proposes major changes in Medicaid, Medicare
...plus -- "Unbridled greed" -- Editorial: Auditors should be protecting shareholders, not peddling tax schemes to the companies they audit, or their officers. Banning such obvious conflicts of interest should be one of the first orders of business for the SEC's new chairman, William Donaldson.

Previous weeks' news:  Feb. 18-21 -- Feb. 10-14 -- Feb. 3-7

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28
Locke tells labor he'll veto any bill to repeal ergonomics rule

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27
Ensure your union's members have contraception coverage

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26
Agenda announced for Friday's WSLC Legislative Conference

THURSDAY, Feb. 27
6:30-8:30 p.m. -- WSLC LEGISLATIVE RECEPTION (also at the WestCoast Olympia Hotel) -- This is a great opportunity to meet and mingle with state lawmakers, as well as other union members and leaders, in an informal setting. Admission is free to those registered for Friday’s conference, but any guests will be charged $15 to help cover the costs of refreshments.  

FRIDAY, Feb. 28
8:30 a.m. -- CONFERENCE CONVENES
8:45 -- Overview of Session, WSLC President Rick Bender
9 -- Rep. Helen Sommers
9:15 -- House Speaker Frank Chopp
9:30 -- Rep. Steve Conway 
9:45 -- Senator Democratic Leader Lisa Brown
10 -- WSLC staff reports from Diane McDaniel and Robby Stern
10:30 -- Governor Gary Locke
11 -- L&I Director Paul Trause
11:20 -- CTED Director Martha Choe
11:30 -- Sen. Karen Keiser
11:45 -- Sen. Shirley Winsley award presentation
Noon -- WSLC staff reports from Jeff Johnson and Randy Loomans
12:15 p.m. -- Lunch
1:15 -- Adjourn to Hill

Times are tentative and subject to change (as nearly all the speakers are politicians). Legislative leaders from both parties were invited to speak, but only those listed above accepted the invitation.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24
Leaked WTO file: EU demanding sweeping U.S. deregulation

The following Wall Street Journal story published Tuesday is regarding World Trade Organization documents leaked to Public Citizen:

EU Asks U.S. to Revise Rules for Service Sector
Host of Regulations at Issue As Bush Seeks Freer Trade; 
Alarm Likely at Local Level

By Neil King Jr.

WASHINGTON -- As the Bush administration seeks freer global trade in services, the European Union is taking aim at the sector and requesting changes in how U.S. state and federal authorities regulate everything from liquor sales to accounting.

The EU requests, included in a confidential document put forward as part of continuing global trade talks, are likely to raise alarm among state and local authorities, who would be required to alter rules governing businesses ranging from land ownership to insurance. The 34-page paper was leaked to Ralph Nader's group Public Citizen.

The Bush administration is set to respond by the end of March with a list of changes it is willing to make to service-sector regulations.

Some of the EU positions have been known for months, but the final list includes new language regarding accounting standards, cross-border insurance and the retail sale of electricity, all highly controversial topics. Consumer groups, as well as a growing number of state officials, contend that the secretive talks within the World Trade Organization could undermine the ability of local authorities to oversee vital economic services.

"What we hear is going on in these WTO talks will run smack up against laws in states like mine, but for now it's behind closed doors," said Mark Pocan, a Democrat in the Wisconsin State Assembly. The big issues in his state, he said, are privatization of public water supplies and rules governing electricity distribution.

The EU push coincides with new scrutiny in Washington of the role that government, and particularly state and local governments, play in limiting competition. The Federal Trade Commission, under Bush appointee Timothy Muris, is seeking to open regulated markets across the economy, from prescription drugs to caskets makers, and has created a task force to examine anticompetitive restrictions on Internet commerce, such as state rules limiting auto sales or interstate shipment of wine. The agency also is preparing to charge that Unocal Corp. used state regulation and its patents on a clean-fuel formula to lock up a monopoly in the West Coast gasoline market.

And the wisdom of state regulation in telecommunications was a major issue last week at the Federal Communications Commission, where Chairman Michael Powell was outvoted in his effort to largely eliminate the role states play in overseeing wholesale rates that the four big regional Bell telephone companies charge competitors for using their lines.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick has made opening up global trade in services a central plank of his strategy in the Doha round of WTO trade talks, which are meant to wrap up at the end of next year. Persuading the rest of the world to accept U.S. banks, insurers and overnight-delivery companies would be a boon to U.S. business, but promises to reciprocate in the U.S. are already raising the ire of environmental and labor groups.

The EU demands mirror those that the U.S. regularly makes on its trading partners to lift government rules that tend to favor domestic companies over U.S. competitors.

An area of chief concern to labor is the push by the EU and other countries to open the U.S. market to contract workers offering services ranging from computer software to equipment maintenance and landscape architecture. Environmental groups, meanwhile, oppose efforts to open all water and sewage services to foreign competition. Such a move, they contend, would allow other countries to overturn local water regulations and break up public utilities if they posed a "barrier to trade" within the world trade system.

"What is startling is how much of the U.S. economy is up for grabs here and how broad the impact might be," said Lori Wallach, head of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. Ms. Wallach obtained the EU document last week. It wasn't clear when it was submitted to U.S. trade negotiators.

The EU document also indicates that European officials may be ready to further challenge the requirement that businesses operating in the U.S. abide by U.S. accounting standards, as opposed to international standards used in Europe. The Securities and Exchange Commission has rebuffed several recent requests to allow the domestic use of international accounting standards, which critics say are overly subjective and lack clear rules. The EU, in its request to the U.S., calls this practice "a regulatory trade barrier" that must be resolved.

The EU also is requesting that the U.S. expand the cross-border sale of "large-risk" insurance services, a proposal that some experts say could weaken controls over insurers offering services to businesses or even individuals. The EU's earlier requests sought to open the U.S. market to foreign sales of mutual funds; the new document seeks to expand that to the sale of financial derivatives, especially futures.

Some of the previously known EU objectives could have a bigger effect on individual states. For instance, the EU wants to eliminate rules in 16 states that give state authorities the sole right to sell packaged liquor. The document also seeks to lift restrictions in nine states on foreign ownership of land and to remove certain residency and citizenship requirements for practicing law.

Some of the requests aren't likely to go far. For instance, the EU wants the U.S. drop its centuries-old prohibition on foreign ships moving cargo between U.S. ports, an unlikely move in these times of heightened security. The document also includes a request that the U.S. allow foreign companies and governments to acquire 100% ownership of U.S. radio stations. The EU also wants the U.S. Postal Service to cede its monopoly over bulk, first-class letter delivery.

Both U.S. and EU trade officials declined to comment on the EU requests.

The service negotiations are part of a long effort to deepen provisions within the General Agreement of Trade in Services, which was part of the sweeping 1994 Uruguay Round of global trade talks. The U.S. made its formal request of the EU and other countries last summer in documents that remain undisclosed.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25
Citizens for Medical Isotopes petition urges FFTF restart

Citizens for Medical Isotopes (CMI), a non-profit organization of physicians, research scientists, cancer patients and their families, and other concerned citizens, believes that medical isotopes offer a promising alternative for diagnosing and treating not only a wide variety of cancers—including two of the most prevalent types, breast and prostate—but also other diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis.

The organization also supports restarting the Hanford Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF), which is uniquely capable of providing large quantities and a wide variety of high quality medical isotopes. The United States currently imports more than 90 percent of the reactor-produced medical isotopes, and market projections show our country will need a new production source to establish a domestic supply to meet the demand for diagnostic and therapeutic medical isotopes.

The U.S. Department of Energy, however, is proceeding with plans to permanently shut down the FFTF. In the latest attempt to fight the shutdown, Benton County is in federal court today urging the DOE to postpone its efforts.

Delegates representing the affiliated unions that comprise the Washington State Labor Council voted overwhelmingly in 2001 to support restarting the Hanford FFTF to meet the current and projected demand for medical isotopes. (See Resolution #1 from 2001.)

The CMI has launched a website at www.medicalisotopes.org, as well as an online petition to the Bush Administration urging against the destruction of the FFTF, and for its restart to produce needed medical isotopes for fighting cancer and other diseases. Please take a moment to visit the site and sign the petition.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24
Rally against Bush privatization plan Wednesday in Seattle

Hundreds of American Federation of Government Employees members in Seattle and their supporters in the community will be marching and rallying this Wednesday against President Bush's privatization plan, which will affect 1-in-3 non-postal federal workers in Washington state.

The march and rally has been called to educate Seattle residents about Bush's plan to privatize 15,958 non-postal federal jobs (approximately 35 percent) in the state and one million nationwide.  The following events will take place in Seattle on Feb. 26:

3 p.m. -- Participants gather at the Henry M. Jackson Federal Bldg. (2nd & Marion)
4 p.m. -- March from Federal Building to Westlake Center
5 p.m. -- Rally will begin at Westlake Center (4th & Pine)

Among the federal employees affected in Washington state are Environmental Protection Agency and National Park Service workers who protect the environment and Veterans Administration workers who care for veterans.

The privatization of federal jobs in every agency will effect democratic accountability of federal programs and will impact the quality of services taxpayers have come to rely upon. History has shown that privatization does not save money and does not make government more efficient.

The following organizations will be joining AFGE Locals 1502, 2723 and 3899 on Feb. 26: American Postal Workers' Union (Greater Seattle Area Local); SPEEA/IFPTE Local 2001; AFSCME Local 304; ATU Local 587; ILWU Local 52; IBEW Local 46; WashTech/CWA Local 37083; Jobs with Justice, Seattle; King County Labor Council; Pierce County Labor Council; Kitsap Central Labor Council; Alliance of Retired Americans, Seattle; IATSE Local 15 -Stage Technicians and Projectionists; Washington State Labor Council; PEPS/IFPTE Local 6; IFPTE Local 12; UFCW Local 381; Puget Sound Coalition of Labor Union Women; and IAM 751.

Learn more at www.afge.org/SeattleRally. AFGE is the largest federal workers union in the U.S.