UPDATED DAILY -- M-F by 9 a.m. (Pacific)

Links to press stories are functional at the date of posting.  In some cases, free registration is required at newspapers' sites.  Links sometimes "expire" when the source would like to begin charging 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 March 15-19, 2004

Previous weeks' news: March 8-12 -- March 1-5 -- Feb. 23-27

FRIDAY, March 19 -- WSLC publishes 2004 Legislative Voting Records
...plus -- Univ. of Washington academic student employees vote for collective bargaining
— In today's BusinessWeek Online -- Behind Boeing's sweet 7E7 deal -- Deloitte & Touche, which has audited Boeing's books since 1932 and is also a longtime Boeing consultant, was hired by our state government (and paid $715,000) for its advice to do something "extraordinary" to win the 7E7.
— In today's Seattle Times -- Industry chief in West Coast dock lockout quits position -- Joe Miniace, whose showdown with dockworkers in 2002 brought international trade on the West Coast to a virtual standstill, is stepping down as president of the Pacific Maritime Association.
— In today's Seattle P-I -- State gives (what's left of the) aluminum industry a tax break
...plus -- Digging for facts on Medicare bill -- Editorial: This much is clear: The Medicare bill would not have passed the House if the Bush administration had not suppressed its real cost estimate.
RELATED STORIES -- Foster: White House had role in withholding Medicare data (Washington Post)
...plus -- Senate Dems say Medicare chief broke law by suppressing data (N.Y. Times)
— In today's KCJ -- Ex-SPEEA president Hartley recalled as well-connected, "engineer's engineer"
— In today's News Tribune -- Pierce Co. BCTC hosts orientation program on construction careers
— In yesterday's Daily News -- Learning as they grow -- In January, Weyerhaeuser advertised for 10 entry-level job openings at the timber industry giant's Longview wood products planer. The jobs, which pay $12 to $14 an hour and offer benefits, attracted hundreds of applicants. But three of the positions remained unfilled for three months because the company couldn't find enough people who qualified.
— In today's Tri-City Herald -- Sen. Pat Hale resigns from State Senate; Rep. Delvin eyes seat
— In the P.S. Business Journal -- Business, labor leaders to rally in support of viaduct replacement
— Today at BusinessWeek Online --  Labor's savvy charge on China free trade -- Say this for the AFL-CIO: It knows how to put George Bush on the spot. As the presidential campaign centered on jobs and foreign competition heats up, the labor federation fired what could be a potent election-year broadside: It asked the Bush Administration on Mar. 16 to decide whether worker repression lets China price its exports below their true market value, thus unfairly taking U.S. jobs.
— In today's L.A. Times -- U.S. accuses China of hampering trade -- Bush administration takes on China for U.S. chip manufacturers, will they show the same concern about human and worker rights?
— Today from Newsday -- Bush campaign gear made in Burma -- The official merchandise Web site for President George W. Bush's re-election campaign has sold clothing made in Burma, whose goods were banned by Bush from the U.S. last year to punish its military dictatorship.

THURSDAY, March 18 -- President Bush stands in way of unemployment benefit extension
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Jobs still scarce, so extend benefits -- Editorial: Why pretend? In opposing an extension of jobless benefits, Bush clings to the fiction that laid-off workers have job opportunities.
...plus -- Critics say Eyman flouts disclosure law -- IAFF's Kelly Fox co-signs complaint.
— In today's Bellingham Herald -- Registered nurses top survey of workers most in demand (brief)
— In yesterday's Columbian -- Sen. Patty Murray flexes her Senate muscle
— In today's N.Y. Times -- Questioning free trade mathematics -- Some economists have begun to rethink the costs of exporting jobs.
...plus -- Mysterious fax adds to intrigue over Medicare bill's costs -- Bush's Medicare czar allegedly said if actuary released cost estimate before Congress' vote, "I'll fire him so fast his head will spin." 
— In today's Washington Post -- Contempt for Congress -- Editorial: The Bush administration treats Congress with an arrogance bordering on contempt. The latest illustration involves the deliberate withholding of a cost estimate for the Medicare drug bill, a report that likely would have killed the it.
...plus -- Ethics panel to probe allegations -- The House ethics committee will investigate claims by a Michigan Republican Rep. Nick Smith that GOP colleagues tried to win his vote on the Medicare drug bill first by offering to boost -- and then threatening to hinder -- his son's congressional campaign.
— In the (Minneapolis) City Papers -- Wal-Mart wants your job -- As retailing behemoth prepares to open first store in Twin Cities, brace yourself for low wages, union busting and a big, friendly smile.

WEDNESDAY, March 17
At AFLCIO.org -- When China represses workers' rights, U.S. workers lose jobs
— In today's L.A. Times -- AFL-CIO seeks U.S. trade sanctions against China
— In today's Washington Post -- China's workers -- and ours -- Meyerson: Until 10 a.m. yesterday, U.S. trade law belonged to big business. Corporations routinely petitioned our government to threaten other countries with sanctions if their products were being knocked off or undersold by foreign manufacturers with state subsidies, and our government frequently complied. The solicitude the Bush White House and its predecessors showed for shareholders, however, was nowhere in evidence for workers. But yesterday, for the first time ever, the AFL-CIO filed the kind of unfair-trade petition that corporations commonly file, alleging China's repression of workers' rights has displaced U.S. jobs, and calling on Bush to threaten China with tariffs until it stops artificially lowering its workers' wages.
— In yesterday's Walla Walla U-B -- Boise Cascade employees (PACE 8-990) set to strike
— In today's Tri-City Herald -- Veterans, union (AFGE) protest closuree of Walla Walla VA hospital
— In today's Oregonian -- Sen. Patty Murray pushes bid for land steel work
— In today's Everett Herald -- Terms may change in Boeing 767 tanker deal
...plus -- Boeing is hiring again, but in defense not commercial jets
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Boeing pays female workers less than males, suit claims
...plus -- GOP attack dogs have hit the campaign trail early -- Connelly: It's not just Bush who's rushed to "go negative." The state GOP's latest allegation against Rep. Mike Cooper, a candidate for Lands Commissioner, is a brazen lie. It is suggestive of an incident in the mid-1990s in which the state GOP tried to link AFL-CIO President John Sweeney to the U.S. Communist Party.
— In today's News Tribune -- NW business exec lobby in DC for job training (AP)
At MotherJones.com -- Today's Growth Industries (Mark Fiore cartoon)
— In today's N.Y. Times -- Powell reassures India that Bush won't seek halt in outsourcing
— In today's Washington Post -- Sides prepare for grocery strike in Washington D.C.
...plus -- House Republicans consider cutting subsidies for student loans

TUESDAY, March 16 -- Smith-Inslee bill would expand TAA to high-tech workers
— In today's Tri-City Herald -- Packaging plant union employees authorize strike -- The 120 union (PACE 8-990) employees at the Boise Cascade plant in Wallula could strike as early as March 26.
— In today's Yakima H-R -- State's business climate remains Boeing concern -- Rhetorical question: Why don't execs from this ethically challenged Chicago-based company and their compatriots in "competitiveness" say what they mean?  Lower business taxes plus "increased investment" in higher education and transportation equals HIGHER TAXES FOR THE REST OF US. (Now that "sucks.")
— In today's King County Journal -- Boeing 767 tanker deal survives initial Pentagon review
— In today's Bellingham Herald -- Teamsters leader Marven Eggert was trusted on all sides
— In today's Spokesman-Review -- Veterans, labor (AFGE) groups unite to protest VA hospital cuts
— In today's News Tribune -- Western Washington grocery talks will start soon (AP brief)
...plus -- Northwest Airlines pilots' union (ALPA) backs deal to cut labor costs $200 million (AP)
— In today's Bremerton Sun -- Sen. Tim Sheldon ("D") to head Democrats for Bush group
— In today's N.Y. Times -- AFL-CIO to press Bush for penalties against China -- An unusual trade complaint will be filed today to press President Bush to punish China, which the AFL-CIO asserts has gained a commercial advantage through violating workers' rights by suppressing strikes, banning independent trade unions and not enforcing minimum wage laws.
...plus -- Nation's direction prompts voter concern, poll finds -- Bush faces heat over his management of the economy, while the public has doubts about Kerry's political convictions. 

MONDAY, March 15 -- Home-care workers show how to force change -- Must-read op-ed: Home-care workers have learned -- like generations of oppressed people before them -- that Frederick Douglass was right: "Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has and it never will."
— In Sunday's Bremerton Sun -- Home care contract: From battle to union victory (AP)
— In today's King County Journal -- Labor showdown looms at area grocery chains
— In today's Everett Herald -- Laid-off Boeing workers get more federal help
...plus -- Fixing our sick health care system shouldn't mean job losses -- Column: Canada's health care system may be saving higher-paying manufacturing jobs that are disappearing rapidly in the U.S.
— In Saturday's Olympian -- Locke ponder primary bill veto
— In Sunday's News Tribune -- One Mexican immigrant dies every day at U.S. workplace (AP) -- Mexican death rates are rising even as the U.S. workplace grows safer overall. In the mid-1990s, Mexicans were about 30% more likely to die than native-born workers; now they are 80% more likely.
...plus -- Jobless recovery signals economic shift -- Broder column: Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) is bold in diagnosing the cause of the problem -- a private economy geared to producing wealth, not jobs -- and equally daring in his remedies: "Our problem today is too little government."
— In the new P.S. Business Journal -- Correct jobs strategy is a high-wire act
— In today's Washington Post -- Link between taxation, unemployment is absent
...plus on Saturday -- White House warms up to worker aid -- For months, the Bush administration has fought a lawsuit brought by outsourced computer programmers, arguing they don't qualify for government benefits aimed at people coping with layoffs caused by imports. But now, in the furor over outsourcing, the administration is showing support for the Trade Adjustment Assistance program.
— In today's N.Y. Times -- Bush videos, for TV news, come under scrutiny -- Bush administration paid people to pose as journalists praising the new Medicare law. These "video news releases" were sent to local TV stations -- and widely broadcast -- without indicating the source. Federal law prohibits the use of federal money for "publicity or propaganda purposes" not authorized by Congress.

Previous weeks' news: March 8-12 -- March 1-5 -- Feb. 23-27

FRIDAY,  MARCH 19
WSLC publishes 2004 Legislative Voting Records

The Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO published today its official 2004 Legislative Voting Record for 2004, listing how state legislators voted on key labor issues during the session that just ended March 11. The voting record are available online at this website and also in printer-friendly PDF format (a 238 KB 3-page file).

The complete WSLC 2004 Legislative Report and Voting Record summarizing events of the session and offering more detailed explanation of the votes counted in the WSLC 2004 Voting Record will be published in mid-April. Make sure you get yours!

GET A PRINTED COPY MAILED TO YOU:  If you would like to have a free printed copy of the full report mailed to you, fill out the online form indicating so, along with your name and address. (All affiliated unions and traditional-mail subscribers to our weekly Legislative Update newsletters and monthly printed newsletters will already receive a copy and need not fill out the form.)

GET COPIES TO DISTRIBUTE TO YOUR UNION'S MEMBERS:  As always, the WSLC will print as many copies as requested -- free of charge -- for affiliated union organizations.  All we ask is that the recipient unions make sure the reports are distributed by mail or some other way that ensures they get into the hands of union shop stewards, political action committee members and/or rank-and-file members. To place orders for your union, send an e-mail to David Groves at dgroves@wslc.org, indicate how many you need and whether you can pick them up (at our Seattle or Olympia office), or need them shipped to you.

WSLC will host its biannual Committee On Political Education (COPE) Convention on Saturday, May 8. It is at the convention that the delegates representing WSLC-affiliated unions will vote on which candidates and ballot measures to endorse for the 2004 election. The WSLC has already mailed the convention call to affiliated unions indicating their voting strength and the number of convention delegates to which they are entitled.

Regional central labor councils around Washington state are now interviewing candidates for state legislature, the first step in pursuing an endorsement from the WSLC. The CLCs will make recommendations to the Statewide COPE Committee -- which includes the WSLC Executive Board, WSLC officers and representatives of each CLC -- at a meeting the night before the convention (the meeting is open to convention delegates, but only Committee members may vote).

The Statewide COPE Committee may then decide to "recommend" the endorsement of a candidate during the following day's convention action. That recommendation does not ensure endorsement, but it does begin debate with a motion to endorse. It requires a two-thirds majority of the delegates present to attain an endorsement.

At Saturday's COPE Convention, endorsements will also be considered for congressional races, other statewide offices, judicial candidates and ballot measures. (The AFL-CIO has already endorsed Sen. John Kerry for President of the United States.) Contact your local union for information about serving at the WSLC COPE Convention as a delegate representing your union.

For more information about the COPE Convention or the WSLC endorsement process, contact WSLC Political Director Diane McDaniel at (206) 281-8901.

FRIDAY,  MARCH 19
Univ. of Washington TAs, RAs vote for collective bargaining

The following press release was distributed Thursday by Graduate Student Employee Action Coalition/United Auto Workers announcing the culmination of a four-year campaign by University of Washington academic student employees to win the right to collective bargaining, vote on union representation and get the university to recognize the union. Congratulations to all!

RAs AND TAs AT UW VOTE FOR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

Teaching Assistants, Research Assistants, Staff Assistants, Readers, Tutors, Graders, and other academic student employees at the University of Washington voted to be represented by GSEAC/UAW (Graduate Student Employee Action Coalition / United Auto Workers) in collective bargaining.  The Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) has tallied the ballots in the mail ballot election that began on February 25th.  Out of 2370 votes cast, 1391 were in favor of representation. GSEAC/UAW will now represent more than 4,500 academic student employees at UW.

“This is a great day for us” said Amanda Rychel, a Teaching Assistant and Research Assistant in the Biology department. “We have been working for this for a long time, and are happy to have a seat at the bargaining table like other employees on campus.”

The vote marks the end of the four year campaign by GSEAC/UAW to gain certification as the exclusive bargaining representative of academic student employees at UW. The Union expects to start bargaining with the University on matters of employment, such as wages, health insurance and working conditions, at the beginning of this spring quarter.

The Union is also pleased with the University’s recent decision not to appeal the PERC decision that Research Assistants are employees with collective bargaining rights under the law.

“We are pleased that our votes have been counted and that the University is respecting our choice to have collective bargaining” said Kay Greeson, a Research Assistant in Pathobiology at UW. “Research Assistants provide a crucial service in advancing the research mission of the University.”

Steve Williamson, Executive Secretary of King County Labor Council, said: “The University’s decision not to appeal the PERC ruling is consistent with what we see are very hopeful signs of improving labor relations at the University of Washington.  We’re very happy with the University’s decision and we applaud their respect for worker democracy.”

THURSDAY,  MARCH 18
Bush stands in way of unemployment benefit extension

It is now clear that President Bush has the power to extend federal unemployment benefits, but simply doesn't care to do so.

Washington's State House of Representatives and State Senate unanimously passed a resolution this session urging Bush and Congress to extend and make retroactive the federal temporary unemployment compensation program they have allowed to lapse. The votes are noteworthy rebukes from state Republican legislators of their president and congressional leaders who let the program lapse Dec. 21, saying it is unnecessary at a time when they insist the economy is improving.

In addition, the U.S. House has passed a nonbinding resolution urging extension of the benefits, so it is certain that there are enough votes to pass the measure in Congress. But Republican congressional leaders will not allow a vote to extend the program until they get the go-ahead from their president. And that hasn't happened, so they continue to spout Bush's talking points on the issue: "It is clear to the majority that the best employment program is to keep growing jobs and paychecks instead of extending and expanding federal programs," says House Republican Leader Tom DeLay (D-Texas). 

The president's stubborn refusal to allow the benefit extension program has so far cost some 760,000 workers their unemployment benefits as of the end of February. Tens of thousands more lose their benefits each week, all because Bush insists the economy has recovered and the extension isn't necessary.

Our state lawmakers unanimously disagree.

"Federal temporary extended unemployment compensation benefits helped these hard-working people and their families put food on the table and pay their bills while they looked for work... (and) injected cash into troubled economies throughout the nation and in Washington," reads HJM 4031, the unanimously approved resolution from Washington's state legislature. "If (benefits) are not extended, workers and their families will suffer severe economic hardships and states such as Washington will be deprived of this crucial economic boost."

Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell have helped lead the fight in the U.S. Senate to extend the benefits. And in the U.S. House, every Democratic member of Washington's congressional delegation has signed a "discharge petition" requiring a simple up or down vote on both the Democratic and Republican-sponsored versions of bills to extend benefits (218 signatures are required to mandate a House vote).

But so far Washington's congressional Republicans have proven unwilling to force the issue with their leaders. None of the Republicans from this state -- including Senate candidate Rep. George Nethercutt (R-5th) -- have signed the discharge petition.

TUESDAY,  MARCH 16
Smith-Inslee bill would expand TAA to high-tech workers
In election-year conversion, Bush may end opposition, support issue

U.S. Reps. Adam Smith (D-9th) and Jay Inslee (D-1st) introduced legislation March 3 that would extend Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) benefits to displaced service workers, such as software programmers and other high-tech workers. And now, after spending months claiming programmers and other tech workers should not get TAA benefits, President Bush has flip-flopped on the issue and appears to support extending the benefits.

TAA provides income support, job training, job searching, relocation assistance and health care tax credits to workers who have lost their jobs due to foreign trade. For more than three decades, TAA has been utilized primarily by industrial workers whose jobs went overseas, especially in the manufacturing and agricultural sectors. For example, thousands of local ex-Boeing employees recently were awarded TAA assistance.

The Smith-Inslee bill would extend TAA eligibility to service sector workers and also make several changes to improve the existing TAA program, such as simplifying the eligibility requirements for participation, clarifying the types of training programs covered, and improving the health care tax credit. While many trade-displaced workers are eligible for the health care tax credit, few are able to take advantage of this program. The changes included in this bill will help workers maintain comprehensive, affordable coverage for themselves and their families.

"This legislation is critical to those in the service sector who are losing jobs due to offshore outsourcing," Smith said. "There is a fundamental need to enact legislation that recognizes the reality of our changing economy."

The Bush administration for months has aggressively fought a lawsuit brought by outsourced computer programmers, arguing they don't qualify for government benefits aimed at people coping with layoffs caused by imports. But now, in the furor over offshore outsourcing and the rare, unscripted admission by Bush officials that outsourcing U.S. jobs is "good," Bush has pulled a 180, and is showing support for TAA for displaced service sector workers. (See Saturday's Washington Post article on the subject.)

President Bush has been talking up the TAA program in recent speeches, and Cabinet officers have been touting the big expansion the program got in 2002 -- even though it was congressional Democrats who insisted on the expansion, over Republican objections. But rather than blast the president for his obvious political conversion on the issue, Rep. Smith appears eager to accept Bush's support in order to accomplish the TAA reform and help outsourced workers.

"I'm encouraged that the Bush Administration is recognizing the fact that jobs are not being created in this country and that we need to find new ways to ensure that U.S. employees are competitive and attractive to employers," Smith said.

Department of Labor reports indicate that outsourcing is increasingly taking a toll in major sectors of the service economy, including higher-wage jobs.  According to DOL data, 543,000 jobs were lost from January 2001 through January 2004 in the information-technology sector alone.

The court case the Bush administration has been fighting involves more than a dozen software workers from IBM Corp. in New Jersey and Computer Horizons Corp. in Irving, Tex., whose jobs were moved to Canada and other countries over the past couple of years. The DOL rejected the workers' efforts to get TAA benefits on the grounds that they were not in the manufacturing sector.

At press time, it was unclear whether the Bush administration would grant TAA benefits to outsourced fast-food restaurant employees, who Bush officials recently suggested should be classified as "manufacturing workers."

MONDAY,  MARCH 15
Home-care workers show how to force change