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.   Disclaimer: WSLC Reports Today  links to all stories of interest to organized labor;  some positive and some negative.  The intention is to inform.  The creation of a link on this page does not constitute an endorsement of that story's content.

Reports for March 11-15, 2002

Previous weeks' news:  Mar. 4-8 -- Feb. 26-Mar. 1 -- Feb. 18-22

LATE FRIDAY -- Contact the Governor: No vetoes of health care or home care!

FRIDAY, March 15 -- Rally Tuesday to support Seattle's Laidlaw school bus drivers
...plus -- GSEAC welcomes new bargaining law, files for certification
...plus -- SEIU 925: UW trying to undermine card-check recognition
— In The Stranger -- Paul Allen resists HERE efforts for Seahawks Stadium concession workers
For more information, check out www.seattlefootballstadium.org
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE -- We will post our end-of-session edition on Monday. Until then...
— In today's Olympian -- Transportation taxes will go to voters
...plus -- State workers' health care assistance could face veto
...plus -- Collective bargaining authorized -- Editorial: One of the most significant accomplishments of the 2002 Legislature was the passage of collective bargaining rights for state employees... It's only right, and a matter of equity, that state employees have the same bargaining rights as police officers, firefighters, teachers, other municipal and county employees.
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Legislature adjourns after 11th hour deal plugs budget hole
— In today's Spokesman-Review -- Budget includes raises for teachers, school cuts -- Salary freeze for most state employees, layoffs of 946 state workers, 25-cent raise for home-care workers.
— In today's Seattle Times -- Locke signs bargaining rights for UW teachers' aides
In other state labor news:
— In today's Seattle P-I -- SPEEA Boeing engineers pick new leader, Thomas Day
— In today's Everett Herald -- Changes at top likely after key SPEEA vote
...plus -- Snohomish County Executive Drewel may cut about 30 county jobs
— In today's News-Tribune -- This year could see work start on second Narrows Bridge
— In today's Tri-City Herald -- Hanford budget in flux, advisory board warns
National labor news:
— In today's N.Y. Times -- Senate panel rejects Bush's Pickering nomination for judgeship
...plus -- A failure of energy -- Editorial: Americans should be outraged at the Senate's vote on Wednesday to compromise important national security and environmental concerns in order to please the auto industry and its unions.
— In this week's Business Week -- Global Crossing: Labor's questionable windfall
— Today from MSNBC.com -- Democrats seek unemployment benefits for part-timers
— In the new Labor Notes -- Delta flight attendants vote 98% for union -- and lose
— In today's L.A. Times -- Governor Davis to close California's privately run prisons

THURSDAY, March 14
At AFLCIO.org -- 23 states (but not WA) get an "F" on unemployment insurance report card
— In today's Olympian -- House approves budget compromise -- Under new plan, state employees pay freeze stays, but some raises will be targeted to select job categories; some improvement from earlier proposals on health benefits cuts; and home-care workers get 25-cent an hour raise.
...plus -- Unemployment bill sparks last-minute Senate drama
— In today's News-Tribune -- Narrows Bridge bill passes
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Park closures just the beginning of King County cuts
— In today's UW Daily -- Some UW departments seeking ways around state hiring freeze
— In today's Yakima Herald -- Put ergo enforcement delay to good use... Kill the rule (editorial)
— In today's Seattle Times -- Restrictive drug list would hurt minorities, poor (op-ed)
...plus -- Tech veterans squeezed out; Overseas hiring, ageism blamed
— In yesterday's Daily World -- Firefighters say cuts go too far; Aberdeen mayor stands by plan
— In today's Bellingham Herald -- St. Joseph's tackles nursing shortage by hiring from B.C.
— In today's Tri-City Herald -- Work release center's employees set up picket over privatization
— In today's L.A. Times -- "Living Wage" laws reducing poverty levels, new study shows
— In today's N.Y. Times -- Daschle sets stage for Friday vote on campaign finance reform
...plus -- U.S. Trade Representative says politics were behind steel tariff decision
— In today's Baltimore Sun -- AFL-CIO bars AFT from vying with AFSCME on campuses

WEDNESDAY, March 13 -- Apprenticeship Construction Academy accepting applications
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Democrats say they have a state budget deal -- The Olympian reports that Sen. Lisa Brown says the budget "splits the difference" on state employee raises between the House's 2% increase and the Senate's pay freeze.
...plus -- Deal reached to allow voters to raise taxes for regional highway fixes -- If House leaders prevail in the referendum dispute, Seattle voters could be asked to increase their taxes three times within one year. They would vote once this summer on the state gas-tax package, once in November on the proposed 14-mile monorail linking West Seattle, downtown and Ballard, and again sometime next year when the regional tax package is ready for the ballot.
— In today's Olympian -- Prescription drug bill in limbo -- Cody and Chopp "a few votes short." Call!
...plus -- Senate plan leaves State Library open for now
— In today's Everett Herald -- Money tight; home-care workers deserve pay hike -- Editorial: There will be plenty that is ugly about the budget. Even so, there is no reason to ignore the needs of people who, literally and figuratively, do heavy lifting for their clients and the state as a whole. Home care workers deserve a raise.
....plus -- Newspaper Guild conducts informational picketing outside The Herald
— In today's UW Daily -- Collective bargaining bill now proposes faculty pick senate or union
— In today's News-Tribune -- Narrows Bridge funding eludes Olympia
...plus -- Lawmakers must put rivalries aside, get deals done on bridge, gas tax (editorial)
...plus -- Bonney Lake braces for Wal-Mart
— In today's Seattle Times -- The school-bus choice -- After a brief respite from its far right editorial slant yesterday (Adopt cost controls on prescription drugs), the Times is back in form today saying switching King County school bus service to a non-union contractor is the "obvious" choice.
...plus -- Collective bargaining bill will create chaos for budget (Honeyford-Anderson op-ed)
— In today's Wenatchee World -- NCW governments brace for I-695 hit
— In today's Tri-City Herald -- Group targets Hanford contracting
— In today's Bellingham Herald -- Statewide, voters have supported buses
— In today's SCJ -- Green River college teachers to receive retroactive pay
— In today's L.A. Times -- Illegal immigrants aided in residency bid on House vote
— In today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution -- Lockheed acrimony festered for years
...plus -- Lockheed IAM oversteps on job-guarantee demand (editorial)
— In today's Washington Post -- GOP campaign finance foes concede passage is likely

TUESDAY, March 12 -- Call TODAY: Pass SB 6368, the prescription drug bill
— In today's News-Tribune -- State workers' collective bargaining rights OK'd
...plus -- Chopp: More Narrows Bridge money could pave way to regional transportation deal
— In today's Olympian -- House approves state employee collective bargaining (again)
...plus -- State passing financial pain to the counties
— In today's Seattle Times -- Adopt cost controls on prescription drugs (editorial)
...plus -- A weirdly puny way to criticize Locke's budget (Budget chief Marty Brown op-ed)
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Decide transportation funding this week (editorial)
— In today's Everett Herald -- Help is on the way for Boeing, unemployed (UI reform bill)
— In today's Bellingham Herald -- WWU faculty worry about salary freeze
— In last week's Vashon Beachcomber -- Nursing home staff petitions to union (SEIU)
— In yesterday's Columbian -- Rep. Val Ogden won't run again
— In today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution -- IAM, Lockheed Martin dig in
— Today from the AP -- Talks begin for AT&T and 30,000 CWA, IBEW employees
— In Saturday's Baltimore Sun -- Scumbag drug company lobbyists deceive in attempt to kill bill
— In today's Washington Post -- Sen. Murray targets Amtrak regional divide -- Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations transportation subcommittee, is well aware of the difference between rail funding for the East and West coasts, and she says the West Coast isn't going to take it any more.
— In today's N.Y. Times -- Prevention: Benefits of being ergonomically correct -- Equiping 356 New Jersey state employees with workstations designed to reduce repetitive stress injuries led to a 40 percent reduction in computer-related health complaints in less than a year, a new study has found.
— At GovExec.com -- At Labor Department, ergonomics stay on back burner

MONDAY, March 11 -- Legislative Update: NO TAX INCREASE FOR WHOM?
— In Saturday's Olympian -- State employee collective bargaining passes
...and on Sunday -- Senate OKs budget with no general tax increase
— In Saturday's Columbian -- Bill allows collective bargaining by state workers
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Legislature makes transportation progress
...plus -- State parks brace for budget ax
— In today's Seattle Times -- Democrats try to close deal on budget, transportation
...and on Sunday -- Gregoire's tobacco figures in budget debate disputed by other states
— In today's Yakima Herald -- Wipe out budget shortfall with across-the-board cuts (editorial)
— In Sunday's News-Tribune -- Critics blame state unemployment on minimum wage
— In today's SCJ -- Maple Valley considers pay adjustments for city employees
— In today's Washington Post -- Lockheed Martin workers reject contract offer in Ga.
— In Sunday's L.A. Times -- UPS talks to present Hoffa with key test
— In Sunday's N.Y. Times -- It's 5 p.m. Friday, do you know where your weekend is? -- At least one-fourth of the country's 130 million workers toil on Saturdays, Sundays or all weekend for their main jobs, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
...and today -- The sleeping bag strategy -- The campaign finance bill reached an important milestone last week when Sen. Tom Daschle sent word to senators to get out their cots and sleeping bags.

Previous weeks' news:  Mar. 4-8 -- Feb. 26-Mar. 1 -- Feb. 18-22

FRIDAY, MARCH 15
Contact the Governor: No vetoes of health care or home care!

FRIDAY, MARCH 15
GSEAC welcomes new bargaining law, files for certification

The following is a press release distributed by the Graduate Student Employee Action Coalition/UAW on Thursday:

SEATTLE, March 14 -- Governor Gary Locke (D) today signed into law legislation granting collective bargaining rights to Academic Student Employees at the University of Washington.  The legislation was passed out of the State House in February and out of the Senate last week.  The new law takes effect immediately.

 “We welcome the passage of this law that extends the many benefits represented by collective bargaining rights to UW’s academic student workers,” said Kristin Intemann, UW Teaching Assistant in Philosophy.  “It is a tribute to the vision and the democratic values of the Governor and of the majority who supported the new law in the legislature.”

Wasting no time, the Graduate Student Employee Action Coalition/UAW (GSEAC/UAW) announced that it has filed for certification with the Public Employment Relations Commission.  Reflecting on what collective bargaining means for Academic Student Employees, especially as the State of Washington drifts into a budget crisis, Gorkem Kuterdem, UW Research Assistant in Electrical Engineering, stated, “It’s really important for us to have a meaningful seat at the table when decisions affecting our employment are made, particularly during these difficult budget times.”

The legislation marks an important step for Academic Student Employees who have been pursuing collective bargaining for the past two years. Since the winter of 2000, between 75-80% of Academic Student Employees at UW have signed union cards, choosing GSEAC/UAW as their union.  The bill passed last week provides a framework for GSEAC/UAW and the University to bargain over wages, benefits, hours, and working conditions.

There are approximately 3,700 Academic Student Employees at UW who typically work between 5-10 years as Teaching, Research, or Staff Assistants.  Teaching Assistants, Readers, Graders, and Tutors at UW are responsible for approximately 50% of undergraduate instructional hours.  Research Assistants perform research projects, which brought in over $700 million dollars in federal and private grants and contracts to UW last year.  Staff Assistants are responsible for undergraduate advising, coordinating learning opportunities off campus, and performing administrative work.  “The teaching, research, and service we do helps make the University of Washington competitive with other excellent universities,” says Brenda Hedrick, Teaching Assistant in French and Italian.

The legislation was pursued jointly by the University Administration and GSEAC/UAW.  According to Elizabeth Bunn, Vice President and Director of the Technical, Office and Professional Department of the UAW, “the legislation fulfilled both our goal of securing collective bargaining rights and the University's desire for a legislative framework.  We hope to build on this positive outcome with the University as this process moves forward.”

Collective bargaining for Academic Student Employees is growing at universities nationwide.  Many universities across the country now have collective bargaining for academic student employees, including more than 15,000 who are represented by the UAW at NYU, the University of Massachusetts and all eight campuses of the University of California.

For more information, contact GSEAC/UAW's Brian Mello at (206) 633-6080.

FRIDAY, MARCH 15
SEIU 925: UW trying to undermine card-check recognition

In December 2001, nearly 500 University of Washington Research Technologists and Scientific Instructional Techs filed to join SEIU Local 925. Under the Washington Personnel Relations Board (WPRB), employers are required to recognize the union with a simple majority card check.

The union filed for recognition with 54% support, but the university is trying to force an election. The UW doesn't want these workers at the bargaining table at the same time as 4,500 current Local 925 members, who start contract bargaining with the UW this spring. The university is pleading with the WPRB director to hold an election, arguing that the union doesn't have a "large" majority.

We need your help to remind the director that the law calls for card-check recognition with a simple majority. Tell him to respect the Techs who made the decision to form a union, and to honor their majority.

E-mail messages should be sent to WPRB Director Gene Matt at ilenen@dop.wa.gov. Here is a sample message.

Dear Director Matt:

It has been brought to my attention that the University of Washington is unwilling to respect the decision of a majority of Research Technologists and Scientific Instructional Technicians who have signed union authorization cards with SEIU Local 925. I encourage you not to be swayed by the University's delay tactics. Card check recognition is a fair process that has worked for years.

The majority has spoken, and they should be allowed to proceed to collective bargaining without delay.

Your name
Your job title
Your organization

For more information, contact SEIU 925 at d925@seiu925.org.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13
Apprenticeship Construction Academy accepting applications

The Fifth Annual Apprenticeship Construction Academy, organized this year by the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, is a "construction career camp" for men and women age 18 to 26 interested in getting a high-skill, high-wage job in the construction trades, and for teachers/counselors who want to learn more about apprenticeship. Graduates of this one-week, hands-on overview of the trades qualify for the Pre-Construction Test to Apprenticeship, with jobs starting at more than $12 an hour.

Three one-week sessions, Sunday through Friday, will be held at the Northwest Laborers Training Facility in Kingston, WA: June 23-28, July 14-19 and July 21-26. Up to five teachers/counselors and 20 young men and women from across the state will be enrolled each week. And best of all, the training, room and board is ALL FREE for successful applicants!

To be eligible you must have/be:

• H.S. diploma or GED, or be on track to earn one in 2002; 
• Strong interest in construction and enjoy working outside; 
• Valid WA driver’s license; 
• Age 18 by August 1, 2002, and not older than age 26; 
• Drugfree and in good physical condition; 
• Responsible for own transportation to and from the Academy; 
• Work clothes (no baggy clothes), work boots and positive attitude; 
• Willing to return to your school to talk with other students about the Construction Apprenticeship Academy experience; 
• Academy application includes: HS transcript, attendance profile, letter of recommendation from teacher/counselor, Parent or guardian signature

The application deadline is May 31, 2002.  Applications are available online at:

http://www.lni.wa.gov/scs/apprenticeship/5appl.pdf (Adobe PDF version)
http://www.lni.wa.gov/scs/apprenticeship/5appl.doc (MS Word 200 version)

If you would like an application mailed to you, or if you have questions about the Academy, contact:

Department of Labor and Industries
Apprenticeship Section
P.O. Box 44530
Olympia, WA 98516
For more information contact:
360-902-5320/5324 or e-mail thum235@lni.wa.gov
Or visit:
http://www.lni.wa.gov/scs/apprenticeship/default.htm

TUESDAY, MARCH 12
Call TODAY: Pass SB 6368, the prescription drug bill

For more information about drug industry attempts to kill SB 6368, check out State employees: Don’t be misled by drug company ads.  To read what the drug companies are doing to kill bills in other states, see Saturday's Baltimore Sun story, Scumbag drug company lobbyists deceive in attempt to kill bill.

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.

Copyright © 2002  Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO