State of the Unions news:  ■  Today at Working Life blog -- Laborers, Letter Carriers: Next to leave? -- The Laborers executive board has authorized disaffiliation from the AFL-CIO -- with the final decision yet to come on whether to pull out. Now, there are rumblings that the NALC may leave.
■  Today at AFLCIO.org -- AFL-CIO calls for "new direction" -- America not only must rebuild the devastated Gulf Coast region but also must redefine national priorities to focus on better jobs.
■  In today's Seattle Times -- Making our economy work better for everyone (op-ed by SEIU 1199NW President Diane Sosne re: Change to Win) -- Working Washingtonians want a state where work is rewarded and everyone has access to affordable health care, secure retirement, education, housing and transportation. It's up to today's unions to change to achieve that dream.

Also today:  ■  State settles with firm accused of exploiting Thai farm laborers
■  In today's Yakima H-R -- Global Horizons settles with state -- "Rather than dragging this out in the courts, we've reached an agreement that puts the company on a very short leash and creates a better situation for potential workers," says Employment Security Commissioner Karen Lee.

Boeing news:  ■  In today's Seattle Times -- Gephardt gives Boeing advice -- The former House Minority Leader is working as a consultant for Boeing in its labor troubles with the Machinists union -- a group that loyally backed the Democrat in his political career. The union welcomes his involvement.
■  In today's Seattle Times -- Strike hits air-cargo firm hard -- The effects are rippling out to Boeing customers around the world.
■  In today's Everett Herald -- Builders break ground on 787 training center -- The goal is to have the building ready by February and to start the first class of 40 students next summer.
■  In today's Everett Herald -- More 777 freighters ordered  

Local news:  ■  In today's Everett Herald -- Mill union rejects offer -- The AWPPW is still trying to resolve its dispute with Kimberly-Clark Corp. at the firm's Everett mill, and has yet to set a strike date.
■  In yesterday's Daily News -- DHL drivers (IBT) strike to "stay union;" picket West Kelso station
■  In today's Tri-City Herald -- Six workers contaminated at Hanford tank farm
■  In today's Tri-City Herald -- Work stopped at Hanford vitrification plant after safety incidents
■  In today's Seattle P-I -- We have to be smarter about buying health care services (op-ed)
■  In today's Seattle Times -- Jolley, Berkowitz get KCLC's nod for Port of Seattle positions
■  In yesterday's Columbian -- C-Tran to hire more drivers after big vote of confidence
■  In today's Spokesman-Review -- West fights to retain his computer files -- They contain "highly offensive" material, the mayor says in a sworn affidavit. (Somehow, we don't doubt that.)

National news:  ■  From BusinessWeek -- Wal-Mart CEO: "We're not anti-union" -- Says H. Lee Scott, Jr.: "I think historically unions exist because they believe they represent the employee. In our case, I believe I exist because I represent the associate and the customer."
■  Today from AP -- Union leaders to fight tax cuts -- Says Sweeney: "Our country would be in better financial shape if we had worked with the surplus we had and not given tax breaks to those who don't need it."
■  From MSNBC -- Once again, the rich get richer -- They need a tax break.

THURSDAY, SEPT. 22  ■  Help exploited Thai farm workers -- Urge Gov. Gregoire to bar Global Horizons accountable, and bar this contractor from doing business in Washington state.
■  In today's Yakima H-R -- United Farm Workers union seeks ban on contractor

Local news: ■  In today's Seattle Times -- Strike concerns Japanese suppliers -- While wooing aerospace suppliers to set up shop in Washington, Gov. Gregoire is getting questions about the strike.
■  In today's News Tribune -- Alaska Airlines remains at odds with unions -- With more competitors like Northwest, Delta, United and US Airways using bankruptcy to eliminate pensions, chop wages and abrogate contracts, “market wages” are steeply declining. In most cases, “market wages” are less than Alaska is paying its workers now.
■  In today's Tri-City Herald -- "Billions on billions" at stake in BPA talks
■  In today's Yakima H-R -- Will WEA play hardball with its own staff? (editorial)
■  In today's News Tribune -- Carpenters union offers apprenticeship orientation
■  In today's Seattle P-I -- Monorail board to pressure mayor today on project's fate
■  In today's Seattle Times -- $28 million overrun on fuel hurts ferries
■  In today's News Tribune -- Organized labor helps raise nonunion wages, too (letter)

Political news: ■  In today's Spokesman-Review -- 17,121 urge West recall vote -- A ballot measure to oust Spokane Mayor Jim West appears headed for a special election in late November, and the driving force behind the recall petition drive says she is stepping away from the campaign.
■  Today at HorsesAss.org -- I-912, I-900 show weakness in latest poll -- A SurveyUSA poll commissioned by KING-TV finds I-912 at 52% yes, 41% no, and 7% undecided.

National news: ■  At AFLCIO.org -- Worker centers open in hard-hit Gulf states
■  At CNN.com -- Service workers in Gulf may lose wage protections
■  Today at BusinessWeek online -- The Right's New Deal for the Gulf Coast -- The Bush administration's plan for hurricane relief mixes big spending with goals held dear by conservatives. Will it work?
■  In today's News Tribune -- Northwest to lay off 1,400 flight attendants
■  Today at BusinessWeek online -- Can Wal-Mart wear a white hat? -- After years of ignoring its critics, the retailer is embarking on a charm offensive, showing compassion and thinking green.
■  In today's Seattle P-I -- Schwarzenegger fights government union (Will column) -- Government employees unions -- government organized as an interest group -- are a national problem.

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 21 ■  WSLC "heartened" that Solidarity Charter talks continue
■  Today at the Working Life blog -- Olive branches fly between AFL-CIO, Change to Win coalition

Katrina news:  ■  Today from AP -- Rita plows through Gulf -- Hospital and nursing home patients were evacuated as Hurricane Rita intensified into a Category 4 storm with 140 mph winds and threatened to devastate the Texas coast or already-battered Louisiana by week's end.
■  Today from AP -- Bush urged to pay prevailing wages for Katrina work 
■  In today's Wash. Post -- Katrina's cost tests GOP harmony -- Congressional Republicans from across the ideological spectrum yesterday rejected the White House's open-wallet approach to rebuilding the Gulf Coast, a sign that the lockstep GOP discipline that George W. Bush has enjoyed for most of his presidency is eroding on Capitol Hill.
■  In today's NY Times -- Sleight of budgeting (editorial) -- What is needed to pay for Katrina is more revenue, and that requires Congress to stop cutting taxes.
■  In today's SF Chronicle -- Katrina victims replace hospital strikers -- About a dozen hurricane evacuees have been hired as agency temps to fill in for striking S.F. medical center workers.

TUESDAY, SEPT. 20  ■  Get labor endorsement info, and then VOTE in today's primary!

State of the Unions news:  ■  In today’s News Tribune -- Coalition could be the key to helping workers -- An op-ed by SEIU 925's Kim Cook, in response to SEIU 775's David Rolf's earlier Wake-up call op-ed: "I don’t see, as Brother Rolf does, a lot of labor leaders in denial about the state of working people in this country or a labor movement that has 'utterly and completely failed Washington workers.'  Instead, I see many hard-working, committed trade unionists who work on behalf of their members the best they know how. Union members who share common values and goals... must keep challenging each other not to give up, give in or to blame each other."
■  At the Working Life blog -- SEIU, AFSCME reach anti-raiding deal -- "Breakthrough agreements"  aim to protect and preserve existing collective bargaining relationships and allow them to devote their energies to strategically uniting workers in key industries like childcare and homecare.
■  In today’s Wash. Post -- Unions forge "no-raid" pact -- AFSCME's McEntee: "I look forward to working with SEIU to help unorganized workers get good jobs, health care and a voice at work." 

National news:  ■  At AFLCIO.org -- Working families mourn loss of former AFT President Feldman
■  In today's Wash. Post -- Former AFT chief Sandra Feldman dies -- She went from an impoverished childhood in a Coney Island tenement to the head of the nation's second-largest teachers union.
■  Today from AP -- Wal-Mart employees' suit over lunch breaks begins today
■  Today from Reuters -- Union dues measure raises the stakes in California election
■  At the House of Labor blog -- Arnie officially declares war on unions -- If the attack on public unions is seen for what it is, a GOP political tactic, some of the support for the initiative from moderates will recognize that it's really a way to tilt the political balance towards completely unaccountable corporations and the GOP.

MONDAY, SEPT. 19 ■  Must-read at BusinessWeek online -- Boeing strike: Go figure -- Boeing could meet the IAM's key pension demands for just $90 million more. That's less than 1% of what it will spend on the IAM's total wage-and-benefit expense over that period. So it's difficult to see what Boeing hopes to gain by a lengthy showdown. That's particularly true given estimates that Boeing is racking up more than $90 million in costs each month the walkout drags on.
■  In Saturday's Everett Herald -- It's up to Boeing, union says
■  In Saturday's Seattle Times -- CTW gives $125,000 to strikers -- "Working people know that if a company as profitable as Boeing can skimp on retirement and health care, everyone's future is at risk," said CTW Chairwoman Anna Burger.
■  In today's LA Times -- Strike is about more than pay, benefits -- Boeing's increasing reliance on foreign suppliers for parts is resulting in the loss of skilled manufacturing jobs at home.
■  In Saturday's Seattle Times -- Boeing gets initial contract proposal from SPEEA -- Many requests from the engineers and technical workers' union closely mirror those made by the IAM.

Local news:  ■  In today's Olympian -- State workers risk jobs taking stand on unions -- State employee master contracts were ratified by wide margins in 2004, and most workers have not bucked their unions. But Stephen Sergi is holding out. The 17-year L&I employee has yet to turn in his union card, which he was supposed to do by Aug. 29. If he doesn't turn it in, he could be fired.
■  At SEIU925.org -- Picket Tuesday to urge Everett Schools to negotiate with all SEIU members
■  In Saturday's Tri-City Herald -- Fluor Hanford hands layoff notices to 300
■  In today's Everett Herald -- Snohomish County staffers seek what cuts took
■  Sunday from AP -- State teachers' union (WEA) picketed by striking staffers over contracts
■  Today from AP -- Alaska Airlines, technicians (AMFA) near deal again
■  In Sunday's Seattle Times -- State will let other builders pursue ferry job -- JM Martinac Shipbuilding of Tacoma expected to submit a proposal to compete with Todd Shipyards of Seattle.
■  In today's Seattle P-I -- State budget: No bonanza (editorial) -- The swelling treasury seems to confirm the wisdom of the decision to resist a general tax increase this year. The key next session will be to resist the urge to hand out sweeping tax cuts or instigate bold new programs.
■  In yesterday's Daily News -- Hold state revenue surplus for emergency (editorial)
■  In the Oregonian -- Oregon minimum wage will increase from $7.25 to $7.50-an-hour on Jan. 1 -- Washington will announce the annual increase in its $7.35-an-hour minimum wage on Sept. 30.

Political news:  ■  In today's Spokesman-Review -- Poll workers will request identification -- Tuesday's primary election voters will be the first to cast ballots under new state election law.
■  In today's Seattle Times -- Gas tax backers face tough odds -- I-912 opponents say the best shot for their "underdog" campaign is an unconventional approach. They've hired experts to develop a strategy that combines targeted mailings with a smaller number of savvy commercials.
■  In today's Seattle Times -- Who'll be to blame if 520 bridge, viaduct collapse? -- Asked if I-912 sponsors might be blamed, campaign spokesman says, "The thought hasn't crossed my mind."
■  In today's Spokesman-Review -- Initiative debate about to get louder -- From gas tax to medical mistakes, brace yourself for a wave of of political spin on five issues on the November ballot.
■  In the PS Business Journal -- The next big initiative? Requiring 65% of funds to go to classroom
■  In the PS Business Journal -- 65% school funding initiative isn't as simple as it first seems (editorial)
■  In Sunday's Seattle Times -- Monorail board considers shorter line -- Fall ballot measure to shorten the 14-mile line is a swift reaction to Mayor Greg Nickels' withdrawal of support for the project.

Katrina Kronyism news:  ■  At AFLCIO.org -- Bush recovery plan: Say one thing, do the other -- Bush said “we have a duty to confront poverty with bold action,” but his first act after the storm was to take wage protections away from construction workers who will rebuild the Gulf Coast.
■  In today's Washington Post -- "Whatever it costs" (Mallaby column) -- It's hard to say what's worse: The incompetence of the administration's initial hurricane response or the cowardice of its follow-up. Faced with a small hit to his ratings, the president who once boasted of ignoring polls is rushing to spend billions of other people's dollars on saving his political skin. 
■  In today's NY Times -- Taking full responsibility (editorial) -- Every dollar that is saved by letting the tax cuts expire as scheduled is one less dollar the nation will need to borrow for Katrina.

National news:  ■  In the PS Business Journal -- Family and Medical Leave Act changes sought -- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says relaxing its requirements is its No. 1 priority labor issue.
■  In today's NY Times -- Whoops! There goes another pension plan -- The PBGC has become an increasingly popular option for investors who are seeking to spin investments in near-bankrupt industrial companies into gold. The key is to shift the responsibility for pensions, which weigh as heavily as bank loans on a company's balance sheet, to the pension corporation.
■  From The American Prospect -- One more secession (op-ed) -- UNITE-HERE has left the AFL-CIO, and what I want to know is whether the name of the union is being changed to UNITE-THERE.
■  In today's NY Times -- Lawmakers in many states look to suspend gas taxes
■  In today's SF Chronicle -- Schwarzenegger has to sell his initiatives -- The actor-turned-politician plans to put millions of dollars of his own money into his ballot measures, including one restricting the use of union dues for political purposes.
■  In today's LA Times -- Actors Guild to elect new leader -- Morgan Fairchild, Alan Rosenberg and Robert Conrad vie to head the fractious union.

Previous weeks' news: Sept. 12-16 -- Sept. 5-9 -- Aug. 29-Sep. 2

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2005
Cantwell, Murray back restoring fair wages in Gulf recovery

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2005
State settles with firm accused of exploiting Thai farm laborers

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2005
Help exploited Thai farm workers
Urge Gregoire to hold contractor accountable for violating law

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2005
WSLC "heartened" that talks continue on Solidarity Charters
Bender, other state labor leaders meet with Sweeney on impact of disaffiliations

Rick Bender, President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, is part of a delegation of state federation and central labor council leaders meeting with AFL-CIO President John Sweeney in Washington D.C. today and tomorrow about the effects of four international unions' disaffiliations and how to mitigate the harm done to state and local AFL-CIO organizations. That discussion will include ongoing negotiations regarding Solidarity Charters, which would allow the disaffiliates' local unions to continue to participate in the AFL-CIO at the state and local levels.

"We are heartened that the AFL-CIO and the unions that have disaffiliated on a national level continue to talk about how to retain union solidarity at the state and local levels, which is where the rubber meets the road in the fight for working families," Bender said. "Nothing's been decided or resolved yet, but the fact that these negotiations continue is a hopeful sign. I personally will be pushing hard to make sure we find a solution that works for everyone."

State and central labor bodies of the AFL-CIO, including the WSLC, have been hit hard by the disaffiliations of the Service Employees International Union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, and now, UNITE HERE. Despite these unions' expressed desire -- from leaders at both the national and state levels -- to remain affiliated with state and local AFL-CIO bodies, AFL-CIO and WSLC Constitutions restrict them from doing so.

The four unions' disaffiliation has resulted in an estimated 26 percent loss of revenue and per capita members at the WSLC, which has led to layoffs and reorganization of the council. Other state federations and CLCs, including the California Labor Federation and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, have taken an even harder hit. Some reports indicate the Nevada AFL-CIO has lost nearly 80 percent of its membership and revenue.

In August, the AFL-CIO responded by proposing the creation of Solidarity Charters that would allow disaffiliated local unions to rejoin state and local AFL-CIO councils. "Solidarity Charters will allow unions to work together and let working people still benefit from a united grassroots movement that works for good jobs, health care, and a voice in issues that matter to them,” Sweeney said.

CTW Chairwoman Anna Burger rejected that initial proposal because of what she called "fine-print poison pill provisions."  But talks continue at a national level on how to resolve those differences and create Solidarity Charters that enable all parties to accomplish their shared goal: a restoration of the state and local partnerships between all of organized labor.

In a Sept. 6 letter to Sweeney, Burger restates CTW's "willingness to resume discussions to determine how to overcome the barriers to our participation in the Solidarity Charter program," and outlines her concerns. Sweeney responded with a Sept. 14 letter agreeing to pursue Charter talks, adding: "It is important that we move quickly... in order to resolve any outstanding questions and begin implementing the program, so that our state and local labor movements can rebuild strength and continue their work on behalf of working families."  

In his letter, Sweeney indicated that the AFL-CIO will not strictly enforce until Oct. 15 the Constitutional restrictions forcing elected leaders of state feds and CLCs who are from disaffiliated unions to give up their offices. The restrictions barring state and local councils from accepting disaffiliates' per capita fees remain in place.