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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 does not constitute an endorsement of that story's content.

Reports for September 23-27, 2002

Previous weeks' news: Sept. 16-20 -- Sept. 9-13 -- Sept. 3-6

FRIDAY, Sept. 27 -- ILWU 9 to rally Saturday in support of laid-off Port warehouse workers
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Dockworkers raise the stakes -- and risk of West Coast port shutdown
...plus -- State budget menu has no sacred cows, say legislative leaders
...plus -- City budget ax may fall on libraries, Seattle Center
— In today's News-Tribune -- Garbage haulers (IBT 313) strike looms in Pierce County
— In today's Seattle Times -- Solution to GOP's PDC violations: Change the rules
— In today's Olympian -- State, GOP compromise on campaign money violations
...plus -- Zarelli admits not reporting legislative pay while collecting unemployment benefits
— In today's Spokesman-Review -- Kaiser Aluminum kills contract with BPA
— In yesterday's Columbian -- Sen. Carlson wants to change state's retire-rehire law
— In today's Washington Post -- Immigrant U.S. workers share labor pains of globalization

THURSDAY, Sept. 26 -- Sweeney: Workers need more safety protection, not less
— In today's Olympian -- L&I Director Gary Moore resigns to become state's chief contract negotiator
— In the new Seattle Weekly -- Fire sale: Police officers, fire fighters say I-790 about fairness
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Zarelli plans to keep his job as candidate despite flap over jobless benefits
— In today's Everett Herald -- With strike settled, state education funding is next (editorial)
— In today's Washington Post -- Senate standoff on Homeland Security continues
— In today's N.Y. Times -- Unions lobby to safeguard Homeland Security workers
— In today's L.A. Times -- Shippers, ILWU differ on status of port contract talks
...plus -- United Airlines unions offer pay-cut plan
— Today from CNSNews.com -- Florida Carpenters unions endorse Jeb Bush 
— In the new Mother Jones -- Ghostwriting the law -- A little-known corporate lobby is taking a chain-restaurant approach to public policy, supplying precooked McBills to state lawmakers that would repeal minimum-wage laws, deregulate electric utilities, minimize government's role in health care, limit class-action lawsuits against companies and privatize public pensions, just to name a few.

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 25 -- Closure of warrant unit would put Seattle, state's citizens at risk
...and this reminder -- Victory at Payless: TODAY'S port protest is moved to The Gap
— Breaking news from the Seattle P-I -- Issaquah teachers accept offer, will report to school after all
— In today's Everett Herald -- Snohomish back in class; teachers vote to end 15-day strike
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Iraq war would delay order recovery, Boeing says -- plus Boeing hurting for orders -- plus Boeing following McDonald Douglas' self-destructive pattern (IAM member's letter)
— In today's News-Tribune -- Judge rules Lacey City Council can deny Wal-Mart project
...plus -- Gas-tax foes' floater: R-51 alternative triples Seattle spending, screws Spokane and Tacoma
— In today's Olympian -- Zarelli drew unemployment pay while in legislature -- State senator seeking election to Congress asks if that would be considered a job, too. (Just kidding.)
— In Tuesday's Aberdeen Daily World -- Angry Grays Harbor PUD workers (IBEW) demand answers
...plus -- Hoquiam council mulls "deep" budget cuts, considers switching to volunteer fire department
— In today's Yakima H-R -- Rep. Clements assures retired state workers that he won't raid pensions (Memo to the Man-Who-Wants-to-be-Speaker: Gee, thanks.)
— In today's Spokesman-Review -- SEIU asks Idaho governor for role in resolving state budget crisis
— In today's Salem (Ore.) S-J -- Salem to invest tax funds in job training -- City reaps tax windfall because corporate tax break revoked because companies didn't meet hiring targets. The WSLC has sought similar corporate accountability with Washington state tax breaks for years, without success.
— In today's N.Y. Times -- Bush is thwarted on Homeland Security workers' rights measure
...plus -- Poverty levels in U.S. rise significantly; middle-class incomes drop for 1st time in decade
— In today's L.A. Times -- Port talks stall again over issue of new technology
...plus -- Union says alternative weekly fighting employee organizing won't practice what it preaches
— In today's Wall Street Journal -- Are Enron directors escaping SEC discipline?
— In the P.S. Business Journal -- Restroom cleanliness a workplace issue -- The current spate of high-profile corporate scandals... is working to remind many executives of their wide-ranging responsibilities that extend beyond the boardroom. This renewed awareness does not stop at the restroom door. (But fear not, accounting-and-ethically-challenged executives! One consultant offers this reassurance: "A good leader doesn't have to spend his or her time cleaning the restroom.")

TUESDAY, Sept. 24 -- Walk the walk: Labor Neighbor volunteers needed this weekend
Teacher labor unrest:
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Judge orders Issaquah teachers back to work, says strike illegal
— In today's Eastside Journal -- Court ruling called "slap in the face" to Issaquah teachers
— In today's Everett Herald -- Tentative agreement reached for Snohomish teachers
— In yesterday's Vancouver Columbian -- Risk of teacher strike grows in Evergreen
— In today's News-Tribune -- WEA's one-day work stoppage a tough sell (Callaghan column)
In other news:
— In today's News-Tribune -- Shippers, dockworkers trade blame for loading delays
— In today's Seattle Times -- Longshore slowdown disputed
...plus -- Backers, foes split on whether Ref. 51 is too asphalt friendly
— In today's Olympian -- State Supreme Court OKs jobless tax Ref. 53 for ballot
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Grim numbers in Nickels budget and Firefighters, police worried by cuts
— In today's Spokesman-Review -- Kaiser free to terminate BPA contract, dashing hopes at Mead
...plus -- Ask candidates where they stand on fixing budget -- Editorial: Business tax hikes should be off the table, so ask candidates if they support liberalizing gambling to raise money, and modifying I-728 and I-732 by asking voters to either repeal them or fund them with an earmarked tax increase.
— In today's Bellingham Herald -- Whatcom County to battle Locke on SE2 power plant
— In today's Bremerton Sun -- With unemployment up, so is enrollment at Retraining U.
— In today's Salem (Ore.) S-J -- Sizemore has few answers about initiatives' campaign finances
At AFLCIO.org -- Sweeney: California's paid family leave law "a tremendous victory"
— In today's N.Y. Times -- Family leave in California now includes paid benefit
...plus -- Judge concludes energy company drove up prices in California
— In today's L.A. Times -- Disney, others urged not to "cut and run," but to reform sweatshops

MONDAY, Sept. 23 -- Centralia mural about Wesley Everest featured in new book
— In today's Olympian -- Studies: Pension plan (I-790) could cost taxpayers
— In Sunday's News-Tribune -- Red ink, hard choices for 2003 Legislature -- Editorial quoting Rep. Sehlin: "If you were to eliminate every function of state government except education and human services... All the resource agencies -- natural resources, parks, fish and wildlife, ecology... No Legislature. No courts or executive branch, and you're only halfway there. That's how big this is."
— In today's Seattle Times -- Many back transportation fixes even if they won't enjoy benefits
...plus -- Court may play historic role in Issaquah teachers' strike
...and on Saturday -- EFF slapped over "bad faith" action, ordered to pay NEA attorney's fees
— In today's Everett Herald -- GOP hopes U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen is vulnerable
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Nickels plans to spread Seattle budget cuts around
...plus -- FERC: California Here we come! (editorial opposing Bush's energy privatization)
— In today's P.S. Business Journal -- Locke joins governors in urging FERC restraint on deregulation
...plus -- DOL chief Chao: Resources available to track "association health plans"
— In Sunday's Aberdeen Daily World -- Knutson, union (IBU) sparring over Monday tugboat vote
— In Sunday's Spokesman-Review -- Don't punish the wealthy, tax them (column)
— In today's L.A. Times -- Union (ILWU), shipping lines to resume talks
...plus -- Gov. Davis to sign first-ever state bill allowing paid family leave
...plus -- Deal ends Boeing workers' walkout in Philadelphia
— In today's Washington Post -- Obscure labor issues block Homeland Security agency
— Today from MSNBC -- Majority of workers won't stop at 65
— In today's Wall Street Journal -- Airlines lobby for more public aid as traffic slides, losses mount
— In today's Roll Call -- Court ruling jeopardizes labor rights of congressional staffers

Previous weeks' news: Sept. 16-20 -- Sept. 9-13 -- Sept. 3-6

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27
ILWU 9 to rally Saturday in support of laid-off Port workers

The following Emergency Call to Action was distributed Thursday by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 9:

The Port of Seattle, in its unseemly rush to get out of the business of operating a public warehouse, has decided to lay off more than 140 ILWU Local 9-represented Port of Seattle warehouse and clerical employees, along with dozens of other union-represented employees.

What's more, the Port plans to give all of the union-represented employees it is laying off only one week's severance pay for each year those employees have worked -- even though the Port is giving all of its laid-off non-union employees two weeks' severance for each year worked.

Please join Local 9 and its supporters and allies in PROTESTING this contemptible and discriminatory behavior at a rally beginning at noon Saturday at Pier 66 (the Cruise Terminal facility in downtown Seattle). Bring signs, noisemakers, friends and fellow trade unionists.

And remember: An Injury to One Is an Injury to All!

For more information, contact Tony Hutter, Secretary/Treasurer/Business Agent of ILWU Local 9, at (206) 448-3489.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26
Sweeney: Workers need more safety protection, not less

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney issued the following statement Wednesday regarding the federal government's latest report on workplace fatality statistics:

The Bureau of Labor Statistics 2001 workplace fatality report contains sad news for American workers and little reassurance that the workplace is less dangerous now than in 2000, and for workers in some industries things are getting more dangerous. This report only confirms what too many grieving families already knew, that workplace hazards cost lives.

The report provides painful reminders of the massive impact of the September 11 tragedy on working men and women. The vast majority—2,886—of those killed on that terrible day were workers at their jobs or who responded to the attack. Hundreds of those killed on September 11 were rescue workers, government workers and union members, who along with so many others were heroes who tried to save lives.

Overall incidents and the rate of fatal workplace injuries was essentially the same, while workplace fatalities from falls and electrocutions increased. For over a decade, fatalities among Hispanic workers have continued to rise, and in the last year it rose significantly. Since 1992 workplace fatalities among Hispanic workers have increased by an alarming 75 percent, from 508 fatalities in 1992 to 891 in 2001. Clearly, efforts to address this serious problem have not been sufficient and stepped up action is urgently needed.

Fatalities were also up sharply in construction, agriculture, mining and government, in some cases reversing years of improvement. And while the leading causes of fatal injury—transportation incidents and assaults and violent acts—resulted in fewer deaths, workplace fatalities from falls and electrocutions increased significantly.

Today's report demonstrates that workers need more protection, not less. The Bush Administration and the Congress should be fighting for increased worker protections, not cutting federal funding for safeguards and job safety budgets.

America's working heroes spend their days building our cities and making our families safer on roads, in our homes, at our own jobs, and all throughout the community. These working heroes deserve increased protection against injuries, diseases and fatalities caused by their jobs.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25
Closure of warrant unit would put Seattle, state's citizens at risk

The following press release -- and a Call to Action -- was distributed Tuesday by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 763. For more information, contact Local 763 Secretary-Treasurer Dave Reynolds at (206) 441-0763 or Seattle Police Warrant Unit Shop Steward Herb Krohn at (206) 989-3492.

MAYOR PROPOSES ELIMINATION OF WARRANT UNIT
OPENING CITY UP FOR LIABILITY! 

Yesterday (Monday) the Mayor of Seattle proposed the elimination of the Seattle Police Warrant Unit, which is the only department in the City of Seattle which actively attempts to locate and serve outstanding criminal arrest warrants. The Seattle Police Warrant Unit is represented by Teamsters Local 763. Not only does this unit ensure criminal defendants are held accountable for their actions, the Warrant Officers also insure that crime victims receive their restitution as well as collecting millions in fines and bails for the city government. Consider the following:

What do the following crimes and victims have in common?
Following is a partial edited list of incidents in the past month describing 5 deaths (including 4 murders), 12 injuries (including 3 police officers), untold property destruction, stolen property, and numerous terrorized victims and citizens.

KENT, Saturday night, August 24— A Kent couple, ages 53 and 49, were shot to death in separate rooms in their home in the Cambridge neighborhood. Their 21-year-old son has been charged. 

SEATTLE, Wednesday morning, August 29— A 21-year-old man with an extensive criminal history, while high on drugs, commandeered a Metro bus. The suspect then proceeded on a 6-minute-long race through the Rainer Valley. The suspect crashed the bus into a retaining wall after injuring 6 victims, leaving a three-mile path of damaged vehicles, destroyed property, and dazed citizens.  

SPOKANE, Wednesday night, August 28— A 64-year-old retired schoolteacher from Billings, Montana, was shot and killed after a minor traffic accident by the 21-year-old driver of the other vehicle in an incident described as road rage. 

BONNEY LAKE, Late Monday night Sept. 2—Police stopped a vehicle and arrested the driver on a Felony Warrant. While taking him into custody the passenger jumped into the drivers seat and fled, leading police on a chase exceeding 80 miles an hour without headlights. Police abandoned the chase when the fleeing suspect drove into oncoming traffic lanes. The episode ended when the suspect was killed in a collision with another occupied car.

OLATHE, Kansas, Thursday Sept. 12 – A Seattle man was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison for shooting a Kansas police sergeant in the face on Dec. 4, 2001. The suspect has also been charged with second-degree murder for a King County death committed on Oct. 12, 2001 in Skyway. 

SEATTLE, Thursday morning, Sept. 19 – Three suspects in a stolen car were being chased by police.  They tore through a group of people waiting at a bus stop. They hit a 67-year-old woman at Denny Way and Fairview Ave and dragged her 50 feet, causing serious injuries. Other citizens were also nicked before the suspects stopped after plowing into a parked car.  One of the suspects jumped out of the car, armed with a knife in his hand, and fled before being tackled by police nearby.

Now the answer:

ALL OF THE CRIMINALS WERE WANTED IN WASHINGTON STATE FOR OUTSTANDING ARREST WARRANTS FOR PREVIOUS OFFENSES AT THE TIME THEY COMMITTED THESE NEW CRIMES.

Each one of these cases opens the jurisdiction that held the outstanding warrant for liability for failing to make a due diligent effort to apprehend the wanted defendant.

Yet, the City of Seattle's answer to the mayhem of the past month is to eliminate proactive warrant service altogether and let criminals slide. The city’s proposal is to just enter warrants in computers so only criminals who commit new crimes will ever be brought to justice. Then in a few years the city will dump all the unserved outstanding warrants in the trash can -- as they did with over 27,000 criminal warrant cases last year! What an outrage to crime victims and honest citizens!

The elimination of this unit will not only affect public safety but also reduce revenue, significantly increasing costs and liability to the detriment of Seattle’s taxpayers.   Teamsters Local 763, which represents the Seattle Police Warrant Officers, has hired former Seattle City Treasurer Lloyd Hara to prepare an independent investigative analysis of the City of Seattle’s warrant handling operation. This report is expected to be completed in early October for consideration by the Seattle City Council in their budget deliberations.

CALL TO ACTION: It is important that Seattle residents concerned about the city's legal liability and all others across the state concerned about their personal safety contact the Mayor’s office and the Seattle City Council and tell them that you do not want your safety jeopardized by allowing criminals to run free.

OFFICE OF THE MAYOR

600 4th Avenue, 12th Floor
Seattle, WA 98104
Phone: (206) 684-4000
Fax: (206) 684-5360
Mayors.Office@Seattle.gov

SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL

By mail:

1100 Municipal Building
600 4th Avenue
Seattle, WA 98104

By e-mail or phone:

Jim Compton, Jim.Compton@Seattle.gov,  (206) 684-8802
Richard Conlin, Richard.Conlin@Seattle.gov, (206) 684-8805
Jan Drago, Jan.Drago@Seattle.gov, (206) 684-8801
Nick Licata, Nick.Licata@Seattle.gov, (206) 684-8803
Richard McIver, Richard.McIver@Seattle.gov, (206) 684-8800
Judy Nicastro, Judy.Nicastro@Seattle.gov, (206) 684-8806
Margaret Pageler, Margaret.Pageler@Seattle.gov, (206) 684-8807
Peter Steinbrueck, Peter.Steinbrueck@Seattle.gov, (206) 684-8804
Heidi Wills, Heidi.Wills@Seattle.gov, (206) 684-8808
Council Message Center, council@Seattle.gov, (206) 684-8888

LATE TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24
Victory at Payless: Wednesday's port protest now at The Gap

The public pressure is working!

Because of protests around the country, the AFL-CIO and the ILWU have secured a meeting with Payless ShoeSource CEO Steven Douglass to discuss the company's role in the West Coast Waterfront Coalition (WCWC), a coalition of retailers pressuring for military intervention in the event of a work stoppage at ports from Bellingham to San Diego. More than 500 e-mails went to the Payless CEO and many of us organized and participated in local actions at Payless Stores and at other retailers nationwide. Therefore, for the time being, actions at Payless are being suspended. So...

Wednesday's protests in Seattle organized by Washington State Jobs With Justice and the King County Labor Council will now be at The Gap from noon to 1 p.m. and 4:30 to 6 p.m. downtown at 1530 5th Ave. (5th & Pine) and in Capitol Hill at Broadway Market (411 E. Broadway). Protesters will urge The Gap to stop calling for military intervention in dockworker negotiations.

Protest coordinators will be at the nearby Payless Shoes locations—where the actions were originally planned—to direct participants to The Gap.

The Gap is participating in the WCWC, which attempts to undermine the rights of dock workers represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union by urging the Bush Administration to use troops to take over the longshore jobs if there is a work stoppage. Last week, shippers came very close to locking out port workers after accusing the union of conducting a work "slowdown" in Long Beach, Calif.

West coast longshore workers are working without a contract because their employers, supported by have not bargained to reach a deal. Their inflexibility has been supported by Bush administration, which has responded to WCWC requests by threatening to use troops to run the docks, effectively removing the shippers' principal motivation to negotiate a fair contract. Troops are already being trained in the San Diego area to take over longshore jobs.

We must tell retailers like The Gap that they must end their calls to use our military against working Americans. Instead, they must join the call for fair and just bargaining.

In the past months, solidarity actions by supporters of ILWU members have been held outside Target, Home Depot and The Gap in cities across the country, but this week the AFL-CIO has called for union activists to step up the pressure on retailers. These events are being organized to support the ILWU, but are organized by community groups, not the union. For legal reasons, the ILWU can not be involved.

For more information about Wednesday's protests, contact Washington State Jobs with Justice at wsjwj@igc.org or (206) 441-4969.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24
Walk the walk: Labor Neighbor volunteers needed this weekend

Union members are urged to volunteer a couple of hours this weekend to participate in important Labor Neighbor household walks in Bellingham, Spokane, Bellevue and Everett. (What's Labor Neighbor?)

In addition to the neighborhood walks listed below, a Labor Neighbor phone bank to contact and register fellow union members to vote is up and running tonight through Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Machinists 751 Hall, 9125 15th Pl. So. in South Seattle. Please RSVP to either Volunteer Coordinator Susan Russell or Phone Bank Coordinator Ahn Nguyen. (This phone bank will be up and running Monday through Thursday evenings every week until Election Day, Nov. 5. So if you can't volunteer this week, make plans to do so in coming weeks.)

Unions' ability to inform their members and turn them out to vote in November will determine whether Referendum 51 passes and whether our state retains its worker-friendly majority as the State Legislature grapples with a $2 billion budget deficit. Volunteers will walk in neighborhoods, meet other union members and distribute literature about Ref. 51 and comparing legislative candidates' positions on labor issues.

Here is the schedule for this weekend's Labor Neighbor walks (please RSVP to the LN Coordinator): 

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23
Centralia mural about Wesley Everest featured in new book

In 1997, the Labor Center at Evergreen State College helped to coordinate a project in Centralia that resulted in the creation of a mural entitled "The Resurrection of Wesley Everest." The mural commemorates the defense of their union hall by Industrial Workers of the World on Armistice Day, 1919, and the murder of Wobbly activist Wesley Everest which followed.

Overlooking the town square in Centralia, the mural has helped trade unionists and other community members unearth and discuss the details and meaning of those long-repressed events. Its creation was the result of a year-long effort by a committee made up of representatives from a number of Centralia unions, some members of the Centralia business community, as well as other organizations like the Labor Party and the Labor Center. 

A new book, Insurgent Images: The Agitprop Murals of Mike Alewitz by Paul Buhle and Mike Alewitz, features not only the Centralia mural but also numerous other paintings including a mural for the P-9 Hormel strike in Austin, Minnesota, murals in Nicaragua and Mexico, a mural for the Pittston coal strike in Virginia and West Virginia, one commemorating the Teamsters strike against UPS, and more.

The book is $27.95 and is available from Powell’s Books in Portland via the ILWU Local 5 website: www.powellsunion.com, or directly from Monthly Review Press (www.monthlyreview.org).

For more information, contact Peter Kardas, Director of the Labor Education and Research Center at The Evergreen State College, at (360) 867-6526.