NEXT UPDATE:  Monday, July 30 by 9 a.m.
Why so long?
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.

Reports for July 16-20, 2001

News from previous weeks:  July 9-13 -- July 2-3 -- June 25-29

FRIDAY, July 20 -- Bush issues "sky is falling" Social Security report
At AFLCIO.org -- Calls flood Congress to vote "No" on Fast Track
Transportation news:
— In today's Seattle Times -- Deal to fix gridlock unravels
— In today's Olympian -- Lawmakers modify transportation tax plan
...and also -- Farmers vs. freeways in battle for better roads
— In today's News-Tribune -- A tough, critical vote on transportation (editorial)
— In today's Bellingham Herald -- Traffic fix needs united front (editorial)
Other news:
— In today's Everett Herald -- Boeing white-collar workers reject IAM
— In today's News-Tribune -- $7 million in disaster aid urged for farms
...and also -- Tacoma police union seeks extra pay for officers
— In today's Tri-City Herald -- Senate OKs Hanford clean-up money
— In today's WSJ -- Boeing to sell military cargo planes to private firms
— In today's Vancouver (B.C.) Sun -- Union leader order health care workers to stage illegal strike
— In today's S.F. Chronicle -- Kaiser Permanente backs SEIU nurse plan
— Today from the AP -- Democrats, unions work side by side (Leaked documents detail "extensive discussions between labor and party leaders on how to contact, register and influence voters to support Democrats and show where unions in some instances drew their money to accomplish the mission.")

THURSDAY, July 19 -- Prospects grim for survival of safety grants
— In today's Seattle Times -- Transportation deal struck, but will it fly?
— In today's Olympian -- Plan to increase gas tax divides lawmakers
...plus -- Where South Sound lawmakers stand on transportation plan
...and finally -- Insurance, business groups oppose birth control plan
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Albertson's to eliminate stores, jobs to cut costs
— In today's News-Tribune -- Despite profits, Albertson's CEO plans closures
— In today's Seattle Times -- Alaska Airlines may merge big-maintenance sites
— In the Seattle Weekly -- Hung out and hanging in (re: Seattle Times strike fallout)
— In today's SCJ -- Count today offers verdict on IAM drive at Boeing
— In today's Roll Call -- Boeing sparks GOP ire by hiring Democrat lobbyist
— In today's Washington Post -- USPS proposes management bonuses despite deficits
— In today's N.Y. Times -- In U.S. unions, Mexico finds unlikely ally on immigration
— In today's S.F. Chronicle -- Mexico's president ignores old-style labor repression
...plus -- Host of 2008 Olympics sends union organizers' sister to labor camp

WEDNESDAY, July 18 -- Performances will celebrate Harry Bridges' 100th
...and a reminder -- Charleston 5 leader to appear locally tomorrow
— In today's Olympian -- Transportation shares road with other issues
— In today's Everett Herald -- Jobs are moving -- too bad traffic isn't (editorial)
— In today's News-Tribune -- Globe Ticket closing Tacoma site (GCIU 747-M)
— In today's UW Daily -- English Dept. switches grading method (re: TA strike)
— In today's Spokesman-Review -- Cantwell chides Bush for absence (re: energy)
— In today's Seattle P-I -- County budget cuts could hit home for working mothers
— In yesterday's Columbian -- Hispanics like amnesty option
— In today's MSNBC.com -- Boeing profits rise 27 percent
— In today's Seattle Times -- Contraceptive-coverage regulation filed
...plus -- Llamas make IBEW 77 member's dispute a hairy tale
— In today's Oregonian -- Safeway joins union's boycott of Pictsweet Mushrooms
— In today's L.A. Times -- HERE president seeks better coordination with 5-year plan
— In today's N.Y. Times -- House panel OKs Bush's Alaskan refuge drilling plan

TUESDAY, July 17 -- TODAY is National Call Congress Day on Fast Track
...plus -- Blue Ribbon ergonomics panel meets Thursday, Friday
— In the PSBJ -- Spending limit may be revisited (Business groups talk of "Son of 601" initiative.)
— In today's Olympian -- Gas tax remains the sticking point
...plus -- Thurston County unscathed by Boeing job shift
— In the Seattle Times -- Mediator tries to pave way to legislative peace
...plus -- Should you be trusted with your own money? (column re: Social Security privatization)
...plus -- Ambitious preschool plan (from AFT) seeks answers, not villians (column)
— In today's L.A. Times -- White House retreats from amnesty idea
— In today's Washington Post -- Amnesty proposal is huge gamble for Bush
...plus -- Debate heats up over relaxing safety standards for Mexican trucks
...plus -- Unions vs. industry over RSI  ("Sometimes I feel like this is 'Groundhog Day,' " said AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka. "Every time I wake up they ask me the same... questions.")

MONDAY, July 16 -- Sweeney, McCarron: "Unity is our shared goal"
...plus -- Bush Medicare reform: "A bait-and-switch con game"
New at AFLCIO.org -- Workers' advocates call ergonomic hearings "a sham"
— In today's Olympian -- Lawmakers: Get to work! (editorial)
...plus -- Lawmakers hope to break transportation gridlock
— In today's Seattle Times -- Legacy time: Congestion is No. 1 issue (editorial)
— In today's Spokesman-Review -- It's time to fix transportation mess (editorial)
— In today's Tri-City Herald -- Tri-City road projects remain on hold
— In yesterday's News-Tribune -- Time to come through for state's highways (editorial)
...plus -- Safety conscious bosses say: Train 'em while they're young  (A unique program to do just that is among those in jeopardy unless legislators restore Safety Impact Grant funding. More info.)
— In Saturday's Seattle P-I -- Boeing moving 700 to Everett
— In today's L.A. Times -- New amnesty for migrants possible
— In today's N.Y. Times -- Hispanic workers die at a higher rate
...plus -- A special report, How Bush took Florida: Mining the overseas absentee vote, explains how panicked GOP strategists succeeded with an aggressive strategy of pressuring officials to count illegal ballots in counties Bush won and discard them in counties Gore won. (See also Democrats seek inquiry on Florida vote count and today's editorial, Florida's flawed ballots.)

News from previous weeks:  July 9-13 -- July 2-3 -- June 25-29

FRIDAY, JULY 20
Bush issues "sky is falling" Social Security report

Also below is an AARP statement calling Bush's report "fundamentally flawed and biased."

MAY 2
He calls it bipartisan, but the Social Security commission assembled by President George W. Bush is stacked with folks who share his views that the government should begin privatizing our nation's retirement program.  The 16-member commission -- eight Republicans and eight "Democrats" -- is being asked to draft a plan to overhaul Social Security to "save it" from an imaginary crisis in long-term funding.

Bush said Tuesday (May 1) the commission will make "an objective analysis of Social Security:  How do we save it?  What do we do to make sure it is viable in the future?"  But once again, Bush's actions speak louder than his words as his appointees' views reveal there will be nothing objective about the commission's work whatsoever.

The Baltimore Sun reports today: "One Democrat, who spoke on the condition he not be identified, said he had been asked whether he would be willing to serve against the wishes of his party leaders and whether he would agree in advance to recommend that Social Security taxes be redirected into private accounts.  He declined."

Social Security is arguably the most successful government program in U.S. history.  It has lifted millions of seniors out of poverty and helped guarantee that, after a lifetime of work, Americans can retire with dignity.

The problem is that President Bush and others have an aversion to government programs, however successful, and the word "Social."  So they've come up with a plan that would shift $1 trillion from the Social Security system to Wall Street, generating literally billions in commissions and fees for investment brokers.

But to generate support to fix something that isn't broken, Bush and Co. have taken the good news about Social Security solvency in recent years, and tried to twist it into an emergency that requires "overhaul" of the program:  "We have only so many years to get the systems back on track," Bush says.

Well, in fact, the longer we wait to put Bush's "fix" in, the more years we have.

The latest revised estimate for when the Social Security Trust Fund will not be able to pay full benefits is 2038.  Every year, the solvency of the program is extended because of the extremely conservative economic assumptions used for the projections.  Every year our economy performs at even an average level, the "lives" of Social Security and Medicare are extended.  In the last four years, revised estimates have added NINE years to the life of the Social Security trust fund.

If President Bush was serious about wanting to extend the long-term solvency of Social Security, he would consider investing a small percentage of the federal budget surplus in the program now.  But he refuses to do this.  Instead, he proposes diverting $1 trillion out of Social Security into "private investment accounts."

By focusing on the promise of higher returns on private investments, Bush is ignoring not only that working people are getting some pretty disturbing 401(k) and IRA statements this quarter that will postpone the retirement plans of many, but also that there is no plan to make up for the revenue shortfall incurred by diverting the money from Social Security.

Studies predict Bush's $1 trillion diversion in private accounts will double Social Security's shortfall, and deplete the trust fund by 2023, 15 years earlier than currently projected.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney released the following statement Tuesday (May 1) regarding President Bush's announcement of the commission to overhaul Social Security:

With the announcement of a commission charged with developing a plan to replace Social Security's guaranteed benefits with individual investment accounts, President Bush is putting the retirement security of America's working families on a backward course.

Nearly two-thirds of retirees already count on Social Security for half or more of their income today, and as companies continue to cut back on real pensions, family retirement income is put even more at risk. Working families cannot afford the kind of cuts in benefits and family protections that President Bush's plan will require.

But the President has made it very clear that he will pursue the dismantling of Social Security regardless of the cost to working families.

Replacing Social Security benefits with privatized individual accounts, as President Bush has proposed, involves huge changeover costs. An individual account plan funded with just two percentage points of the payroll contribution tax would take more than $1 trillion away from the Social Security trust funds in just the first decade. All of the money that goes into the Social Security system-even the surpluses accruing today-is already committed to paying benefits for today's and tomorrow's retirees, disabled workers and surviving family members.

Taking money away from Social Security only worsens the system's financing and without additional resources will require deep cuts in benefits. Even under the best circumstances, the Bush plan could require Social Security's guaranteed benefits to be cut by 41 percent, on average. The President has also indicated that he is open to raising the retirement age even further-perhaps to age 70 or higher-as a way of paying for his costly plan.

This plan poses an enormous threat to the retirement security of working families, at a cost that America cannot afford.

THURSDAY, JULY 19
Prospects grim for survival of safety grants
Business groups misrepresent facts, brag of defunding own members' grants

THE LATEST FROM OLYMPIA

The Governor received numerous emails and calls in support of the Safety and Health Impact Grants Program.  We learned, however, that he is not likely to introduce legislation this special session to fund the Grants Program.  The Governor’s senior staff is advising him to keep this special session focused on transportation and not bring in other issues.  In addition, only leadership is meeting and the full legislature will not be assembled unless there is a deal on transportation.  So, holding hearings and moving this legislation is problematic.

It will take legislative action to undue the last minute budget amendment that defunded the Grants Program.  If it is not taken care of this special session (and this seems pretty unlikely), the next opportunity to restore the $10 million appropriation will be when the Legislature meets for the regular session in January of 2002.

It is our feeling is important to maintain the Program in some form in order to successfully advocate for its full funding.  The Governor and L&I can fund the grants that were continuing from the first year of funding to the second as a way of maintaining the Program.  (Full disclosure: Youth at Work, the project we operated, is a continuing grant.)

Rationale:

• Because action was taken at the end of the last special session there was virtually no notice to grantees whose grants were expected to be continued on July 1.  As a result significant work that has been started will not be wrapped up.
• Several grantees have remarked that if they knew that funding was going to be cut off they would have been able to pursue alternative funding.  The sudden cut of funding allows no time to pursue alternative funding.
• The continuing grants have staff on board that will be difficult to reassemble if there is a funding hiatus forcing these programs to go through another start-up phase.
• WISHA’s joint business-labor Safety and Health Grants Committee spent hundreds of volunteer hours in developing the Grants Program.  There was no consultation with this Committee prior to the abrupt end of the Program. Continuation funding honors their work and provides them with an opportunity to develop enacting legislation for next session.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• Continue to contact the Governor’s office in support of the Grants Program. Ask the Governor to direct Labor and Industries to fund the continuing grants.

Phone: 360-902-4111
Electronic: Go to www.governor.wa.gov/contact/govemail.htm

• Also copy any messages to the Governor to Marty Brown, Director Office of Financial Manager. Phone 360-902-0530; email marty.brown@ofm.wa.gov.

• Chuck Bailey, Executive Director of Build it Smart and a tireless advocate for workplace safety, suggests that in your contacts you ask that "they not let the 7 workers who died last week go unforgotten. [They should] remember the 4 Fire Fighters, the Ironworker and the 2 Operators by naming legislation to fund the Safety & Health Grants in their names. It could easily be called the Worker Memorial Safety & Health Grants Bill. Rather than getting together on April 28th to say how tragic it is that we have lost all these workers, let's work everyday to make sure the list of workplace deaths is as small as possible."

WHAT BUSINESS GROUPS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE DEFUNDING OF THE GRANTS PROGRAM:

From the Washington State Farm Bureau’s Legisletter Online (Dan Fazio at the Farm Bureau (800) 331-3276, dfazio@wsfb.com):

LABOR

…The other labor issue of importance was the Department of Labor and Industries’ attempt to raid a workers’ compensation trust fund for a grant program. The department believed it does not need legislative approval to take money from the workers’ compensation system, and attempted to fund a $10 million dollar grant program by a budget line item.

The Legislature disagreed, and removed the program from L&I’s budget. Farm Bureau applauds the successful bipartisan effort of Sens. Mike Hewitt (R-Walla Walla) and Tim Sheldon (D-Potlatch) to assert control over the agency. In the House, Farm Bureau’s outspoken champion on labor issues is Jim Clements (R-Selah). This issue is important to Farm Bureau members because their premiums fund the workers’ compensation trust fund that L&I sought to raid.

Comments: This account is factually incorrect on several counts. First, the $10 million Health and Safety Impact Grants Program was created by the joint business-labor Workers Compensation Advisory Committee two years ago. The program was developed in conjunction with the $400 million dividend given to business from the Accident Fund of the Industrial Insurance system. The dividend was made possible by the extraordinary gains from investments of this fund.

Second, the other large workers' compensation fund, the Medical Aid Fund, which receives 50 percent of its contributions from workers, also experienced extraordinary gains. (Washington State is the only state in the nation whose workers pay into the Medical Aid Fund.) It currently has a healthy reserve of approximately $250 million above actuarial needs. Because allocation of the extra gains from this fund to those individual workers who contributed to it was not possible, the decision was made to use some of those gains for safety-and-health grants to make the lives of Washington's workers a little safer.

From the Association of Washington Business' July edition of "Washington Business" (Clif Finch at the AWB (360) 943-1600, ClifF@awb.org):

…While there are many detracting qualities to this new biennial budget, your AWB staff worked diligently to help ensure a number of positive outcomes for business in this budget. They include the following:

…Cut $10 million from the Department of Labor and Industries' current grant program and required enacting legislation to be adopted before any funds can be appropriated. No enacting legislation was adopted; consequently, no money was appropriated.

Comments: Eliminating a program that helps reduce workplace injury and death and does not cost the taxpayer anything is a positive outcome?  No enacting legislation was adopted because AWB and other business lobbyists refused to allow it to be enacted unless ergonomics legislation was passed to their liking.  Linking the two makes as much sense as having the Mariners winning streak dependent on the amount of rain Washington receives this summer.

This was also a case of cutting your nose off to spite your face.  Close to half the grants recommended for second year funding by the Grants Committee were sponsored by employers.

The results of this strategy were that AWB did not achieve its ergonomics aims and it defunded a program that enables employers and others to pursue creative non-regulatory solutions to workplace safety issues.  In addition, the Governor vetoed the language in the budget that required enacting legislation.  The Governor’s veto gives L&I full authority to operate the program if funding is available.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 18
Performances will celebrate Harry Bridges' 100th birthday

The University of Washington's Harry Bridges Chair of Labor Studies invites the public to attend performances this week celebrating the 100th birthday of Harry Bridges, founder of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.  Australian-born Harry Bridges came to prominence in the U.S. in 1934 when he led a general strike of longshoremen that led to the creation of the ILWU.  He served as the union's president for 40 years.

"The Harry Bridges Project," a solo performance by Ian Ruskin celebrating the legacy of this extraordinary leader and visionary, will be presented at the Seattle UW campus in Hutchinson Hall's Caberet Theater (see map).  Performances are scheduled for this Thursday evening at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 4 p.m., Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 4 p.m.

Thursday evening's performance will be followed by a reception with birthday cake and beverages at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery in the UW School of Art.

Events This solo performance, created and performed by Ian Ruskin, serves as a centennial celebration of Bridges' birth.

All supporters of the Harry Bridges Chair and Center for Labor Studies are invited to attend a reception, with hors d'ouvres, birthday cake, and beverages, in the Jacob Lawrence Gallery in the UW School of Art (across the street from the playhouse) following the opening performance on Thursday, July 19th.

TUESDAY, JULY 17
TODAY is National Call-In Day on Fast Track

TUESDAY, JULY 17
Blue Ribbon ergonomics panel meets Thursday, Friday

MONDAY, JULY 16
Sweeney, McCarron: "Unity is our shared goal"

MONDAY, JULY 16
Bush Medicare reform: "A bait-and-switch con game"

Last week, President Bush outlined his proposal and principles for "Medicare reform" which were immediately denounced by the Alliance for Retired Americans as a "bait and switch con game."

"The drug discount card proposed by President George W. Bush really amounts to little more than a bait-and-switch con game and is intended to divert attention from the need for a real prescription drug benefit under Medicare," said Edward F. Coyle, Executive Director of the 2,500,000-member Alliance for Retired Americans.  "A drug discount card is not a substitute for a Medicare prescription drug benefit and does not even come close to solving the problem of millions of retired and disabled people unable to afford the medications they need."

Coyle added that "the high prices older and disabled Americans must pay for their medications is the result of price gouging by the pharmaceutical industry—not the neighborhood pharmacy.  But, under the President's proposal, the burden would be placed on seniors and pharmacies to lower prices.  The main beneficiary of a drug discount card would be the drug industry—already the nation's most profitable industry."

The following statement by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney was released late last week in response to President Bush's plan to "reform" Medicare:

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 © 2001  Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO