Thanks to the efforts of concerned parents and union supporters, the Teamster school-bus drivers and the International Association of Machinists mechanics at Laidlaw and 3A-EDJ scored an important mini-victory in Seattle last week. The day following a rally of more than 400 featured on several television stations, the school board agreed to delay the vote on whether to switch to a non-union, lowball-bidding contractor.

The vote will almost certainly take place at either the April 3 or April 17 school board meeting.

So once again supporters are being mobilized, this time to attend the Wednesday, April 3 school board meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the A&S Seattle School District headquarters in lower Queen Anne, 815 4th Ave. N. (four blocks north of the Seattle Center's Mercer Arena). Volunteer phone bankers are being sought this weekend to help mobilize turnout (see below).

These efforts are centered primarily on children’s safety and fairness to workers:

-- The 200 most senior drivers at Laidlaw average more than 13 years’ experience providing safe, nurturing transport of Seattle school children. The non-union contractor guarantees that half its drivers will have six months’ experience or more.

-- The industry standard is one mechanic per 20 buses. Laidlaw employs one mechanic per 17 buses. The non-union contractor proposes one mechanic for every 42 buses.

-- Also check out "School-bus decision involves more than just money," the excellent column by Seattle parent Diana Rainwater that appeared in the March 19 Seattle Times. She points out that instead of looking at highly experienced drivers as a financial detriment, the school board should see them as an invaluable asset and view their salaries as a high-yield investment. This money buys experience that provides parents with peace of mind.

If you haven't already, Seattle residents (especially those with children attending public schools) should contact the school board. If you already have, please encourage your friends, neighbors and co-workers to do so. The school board's new phone number is (206) 252-0042 or you can send e-mail to one address for the entire school board, rtaylor@seattleschools.org. If you want to speak at the April 3 school board meeting, include that request in your message.

The district makes a list of each person who contacts them and their topic of concern. In the list of contacts for March 5-14, the overwhelming majority of the nearly 200 calls/letters/e-mails were about the school-bus contract and explicitly in favor of the union bus drivers' position. Not a single call or letter stated opposition to that position.

Volunteer phone bankers are needed during the next several days at the Teamsters Hall, 553 John Street (three blocks east of the Space Needle). Sign up for a one hour shift or more during the following times to call and encourage supporters to attend the April 3 meeting:

-- Saturday, March 30 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
-- Sunday, March 31 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
-- Monday, April 1 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
-- Tuesday, April 2 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

If you are interested in helping out with phone banking, please call Teamster 763 President Kirk Stephenson (or Ron Zier) at (206) 441-0763 x222. For more information, contact Sarah Luthens, IBT 763 organizer, at (206) 441-0763 x228.

Longtime labor and political activist Lou Stewart died in his Olympia home on March 26, 2002. Stewart was influential in the development of vocational, K-12, higher education, and worker safety-and-health legislation in Washington state for decades.

Louis Orian Stewart was born January 1, 1915, in Rainier, Oregon. He grew up in logging camps and attended 23 different grade schools. A journeyman carpenter, Stewart built homes in the Portland and Clackamas areas in the ‘30s and served in the Army Air Corps during World War II. He married the former Helen Margery Hudson on April 12, 1946. They moved to Seattle in 1951, where Stewart earned a degree in Industrial Sociology at the University of Washington. He continued graduate studies while working for the City of Seattle Personnel Department. After two extended visits to Guam in 1960 where he helped develop the territorial government and establish a civil service department, Stewart worked for the Washington State Department of Personnel (1961-1967). In 1962, the family moved to the Olympia home where Helen lives today.

In 1967, Stewart joined the staff of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. He spent 15 years as education director and lobbyist for the labor council, retiring in 1982. Stewart worked on a broad range of issues but was especially committed to development of vocational education and occupational safety-and-health programs.

Stewart served on a myriad of boards of directors, including the national Public Broadcasting Commission, KCPQ Channel 13, and Group Health Cooperative, helping to bring Group Health to the Olympia area in the early ‘70s.

"There was no major issue facing the State Legislature in the ‘70s and ‘80s that didn’t have Lou Stewart’s involvement, and he was known on both sides of the aisle for absolute honesty and integrity," said labor council president Rick Bender. "In establishing our Washington Industrial Safety and Health Act (WISHA) Monitoring Committee, he was instrumental in getting rank-and-file involvement in enforcement and implementation of one of the strongest occupational safety and health laws in the country."

Stewart also helped establish the Harborview Occupational Medicine Clinic, which cares for patients experiencing an occupational injury, illness, or an environmental exposure and provides industrial hygiene evaluations in the workplace.

After retirement, Stewart served six years on the Washington Centennial Commission, helping to commemorate 100 years of statehood and the maritime explorations of Captains Wilkes, Gray, and Vancouver. He also served three terms on the State Marine Employees Commission, adjudicating disputes between labor and management arising from ferry system operations.

"Dad liked to say that the only difference between work and retirement was the paycheck," said his daughter, Irene Stewart, of Seattle. "That’s because he was so personally committed to improving the lives of working men and women and also to lifelong learning."

Stewart’s personal interests included politics, labor history, Friendship Force travel, reading, classical music and jazz, art, gardening and family.

In addition to wife Helen and daughter Irene, Stewart is survived by daughter Cynthia Stewart (Norm Dahl) of Seattle; son Erik Stewart (Rosemary) of Olympia; son Craig Stewart of Anchorage; son Philip Stewart (Jackie) of Juneau; grandchildren David Foster (Risa), Michael Foster, Scott Foster, Tyler Smith, and Carolyn Smith of Seattle and Avery Stewart of Juneau; and twin great-granddaughters due in June.

Remembrances can be made to the American Lung Association of Washington (2625 Third Avenue, Seattle, WA, 98121; Group Health Community Foundation (1730 Minor Ave., Suite 1500, Seattle, WA, 98101), or Harborview Occupational Medicine Fund (Development Office, Harborview Medical Center, Box 359950, Seattle, WA, 98104).  Make sure to note that your contribution is in Lou Stewart's memory.

A celebration of Lou Stewart’s life is planned for Saturday, April 13 from 1 to 4 p.m. at Jean-Pierre's Garden Room, 316 Schmidt Place, Tumwater, WA.  

Directions from I-5 (going south):  Take the 2nd Ave. exit (number 103). Go straight onto 2nd Ave. SW.  Turn left onto Custer Way SE, cross freeway.  Drive approximately two-tenths of a mile.  Turn left onto Schmidt Pl. SW, which is adjacent to some of the brewery buildings.  Directions from I-5 (going north):  Take the Deschutes Way exit (number 103).  Go straight onto Deschutes Way SW.  Turn right onto Boston St. SE.  Turn right onto Custer Way SE.  Almost immediately, turn left onto Schmidt Pl. SW, which is adjacent to some of the brewery buildings.

Following is a statement from AFL-CIO President John Sweeney regarding yesterday's release of a report extending the projected "life" of the Social Security system. (Also see Social Security, Medicare Unscathed in today's Washington Post; Report on Social Security Adds 3 Years to Fund's Life in today's N.Y. Times; and the trustees' report itself.)

STATEMENT BY AFL-CIO PRESIDENT JOHN SWEENEY -- March 26, 2002

The report by the trustees of the Social Security system confirmed today that Social Security’s retirement, disability and survivors benefits for working families are guaranteed until 2041—three years longer than projected last year and 12 years later than predicted in 1997. This year’s report presents a very different picture than the gloom-and-doom scenarios privatization proponents have used to justify their calls for drastically restructuring the program.

In the wake of Enron’s collapse, huge losses in the stock market over the last two years, and a lingering employment crisis, workers need a guaranteed benefit they can count on in retirement more than ever before. Yet, the president continues to promote his plan to radically change Social Security by replacing its guaranteed monthly benefits with high-risk individual investment accounts. The options recommended by the President’s own Social Security privatization commission showed that taking money out of Social Security to pay for individual accounts comes at a high cost to working families—large cuts in retirement, survivors and disability benefits, and reduced retirement security for everyone.

To truly address the needs of workers, Congress and the President should take privatization off the table and get down to the real business of strengthening Social Security for future generations.

The Trustees report also reflects a substantially improved 15-year gain in the solvency of the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund over just the last three years. Despite this positive news, the trustees’ report confirms that Medicare must be strengthened in the near future if it is to meet the health care needs of the elderly. Instead of writing checks out of the Medicare trust fund to pay for tax cuts for the extremely wealthy, as the Presidents proposes, the trust fund must be dedicated to modernizing the program through improvements such as a comprehensive, universal and guaranteed prescription drug benefit.

Since 1996, the Women’s Committee of the Washington State Labor Council has presented the Elsie Schraeder Award for Outstanding Achievement in Labor at the WSLC's annual convention. The award is given for the advancement of women in leadership roles and for activism on behalf of women within the labor movement.

Nominations are now being accepted from WSLC-affiliated union organizations for this year's award to be presented at the WSLC's Constitutional Convention on Aug. 19-22 at the Ridpath Hotel in Spokane.  Please submit all nominations no later than May 31, 2002.

Nominees for this award must meet at least three (3) of the following criteria:

1. Served a minimum of two (2) years in a leadership/activism with their local union;
2. Performed an outstanding service, which commands recognition, within the labor community;
3. Served in a leadership role on the passage of legislation benefiting organized labor and/or the community;
4. Took a leadership role in advanced critical issues such as worker safety, minimum wage, comparable worth, human services/needs, environmental health, prevailing wage;
5. Participated in educational projects either through their local union or through some other labor organization; and
6. Served as a leader in organizing either through their local union or through some other labor organization.

Download the nomination form in MS Word format or Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format. If you have questions, require further information or would like a form faxed or mailed to you, please contact Lori Province, Women’s Committee Staff Liaison, at (206) 281-8901 or 1-800-542-0904, or via fax at (206) 285-5805.

In an interview published in today's edition of the Seattle P-I, when asked if he has decided what he intends to veto from the budget to cover the $32 million hole left behind by legislators, Governor Gary Locke answered: "We're still analyzing all that."  If you haven't already weighed in with the Governor's Office on this issue, please do so IMMEDIATELY.

According to some reports, the Governor may veto the $8 million provided to mitigate health care cost increases among state employees and/or the 25-cent-an-hour wage increase granted to state-funded home-care workers.  (For more information on this, see the March 18 edition of the WSLC Legislative Update.)

CALL TO ACTION:  Please contact Governor Gary Locke by calling his office at 360-902-4111, by leaving a message for him on the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000 and/or filling out the Governor's Electronic Mail Form online.

Tell him state employees already had their wages frozen, no more health benefit cuts; and remind him home-care workers make only $7.68 an hour with no benefits and it would be unconscionable to deny them this quarter-an-hour increase.

And ask your co-workers, family and friends to make the same call!