News for the week of January 5-9, 1998If you have news related to the labor movement in Washington state that you would like to share via WSLC Reports Today, we encourage you to submit it by e-mail, by fax (206-285-5805) or by phone (206-281-8901)
News for the week of January 5-9, 1998Friday, 1/9/98 — Teamsters
dispute election results for apple warehouse workers
Wednesday, 1/7/98 — Free
subscriptions available for WSLC Legislative Update
Tuesday, 1/6/98 — Sen. Murray wishes apple workers good luck with
election Thursday
Monday, 1/5/98 — Petitions filed, but fight against Initiative
200 continues
News from previous weeks:
December 15-19, 1997 — December 8-12, 1997 — December 1-5, 1997 — November 24-28, 1997
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Teamsters dispute election results for apple warehouse workers
The Teamsters campaign to organize Eastern Washington's produce warehouse workers suffered a setback Thursday in disputed elections at Stemilt Inc. in Wenatchee and Washington Fruit in Yakima. The results of the National Labor Relations Board supervised election were 161-121 with 12 disputed ballots in Yakima and 290-205 with 62 disputed ballots in Wenatchee.
"The results of today's illegal elections will not count!" the union said in a statement released late Thursday. "The union has already documented behavior by the employers that violates the most fundamental public policy in U.S. labor law: that al workers have a right to choose a union free of interference, restraint or coercion."
The Teamsters have filed several NLRB complaints against both employers that they violated the law by "firing known union supporters, threatening workers with deportation, interrogating, spying on, and suspending workers."
Of the election results, Teamsters spokesman Patrick Lacfield said, "We were unable to prevail. This is a bump in the road, but not the end by a long shot. We'll be carrying on the fight for the things workers want — respect, better wages and access to affordable health care."
The union thanked the workers who had the courage to stand up to the employers' aggressive anti-union campaign by voting in favor of Teamsters representation, and vowed to continue the industry-wide campaign to raise the working standards for the state's apple workers.
Free subscriptions available for WSLC Legislative Update
Electronic subscriptions to the Washington State Labor Council's weekly 1998 Legislative Update newsletter are available free of charge to anyone interested. It will also be posted on this web site with a button on the home page to take you there.
The WSLC Legislative Update is your single best source of information on the content and status of proposed legislation in Olympia that affects working families in Washington state. The 1998 legislative session begins next week and the first edition of the newsletter will be distributed and posted Friday, Jan. 16.
To receive an e-mail subscription every Friday, just click here and indicate you would like to subscribe. For our information, we would appreciate you including your full name, union affiliation (if you have one), and your legislative district or home address.
In addition, union activists are encouraged to call the Eye on Olympia hotline at 1-800-923-3393 during the session to find out specific issues the WSLC is encouraging members to contact their legislators about during each week.
For more information about the WSLC's 1998 legislative agenda, click here. To see the WSLC Legislative Report and Voting Records for 1997, click here.
Sen. Murray wishes apple workers good luck with election Thursday
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray met with Eastern Washington apple workers preparing for Thursday's historic vote on whether or not to join a union, voiced her support for their efforts and vowed to keep an eye out for company intimidation of the workers.
"We will be watching the election at Washington Fruit very closely," Murray said in a meeting with Ana Guzman, Janine Bliss and Ruth Anton, where the workers told the senator about numerous acts of illegal harassment and discrimination by the company aimed at union supporters during the campaign.
The warehouse workers are organizing for decent wages and benefits, better working conditions and safety on the job. They will vote Thursday for union representation at Washington Fruit in Yakima and at Stemilt Growers in Wenatchee.
"We want you to know what's going on. This company flagrantly violates the law," said Ana Guzman, who was fired Nov. 13 by the company she says because of her leadership in the union campaign.
"Thanks for letting me know what I need to know," Murray said. "I wish you luck in your election January 8."
Petitions filed, but fight against Initiative 200 continues
Initiative 200 sponsors filed their petitions with the Secretary of State's office last week, and although it appears likely they have enough signatures to "cushion" the expected drop in numbers due to invalid signatures and still have the requisite 180,000, the effort continues to reach misled I-200 signers who can still contact the Secretary of State's office to have their names removed. It may take as long as three to four weeks for the petitions to be validated.
If enough signatures are validated, the initiative will enable the Republican-controlled State Legislature to repeal Affirmative Action in Washington state, and Governor Locke would not have the ability to veto the change.
Misleadingly titled the "Washington State Civil Rights Initiative," there is an unprecedented level of concern over the deceptive tactics used by I-200's backers to gather signatures. After the Seattle Post-Intelligencer ran a story about petition signers who did not understand the true purpose of the initiative, the newspaper received dozens of calls from deceived signers inquiring about how to have their names removed. (For information on how to do so, call the Secretary of State's hotline at 1-800-448-4881.)
I-200 supporters recruited unemployed African-Americans signature gatherers from out of state to deceive voters about who supported the initiative (see story) and misled signers by telling them their signature merely "put the issue on the ballot."
"I-200 backers have shown time and time again that they are willing to lie to the public and go to any means necessary, in order to slam shut the doors of opportunity and access to women and minorities by repealing Affirmative Action," said Lorrie McKay, a No! 200 Steering Committee member.
No! 200 Campaign Manager Kathleen Russell said: "If it does end up qualifying, you'll see us refocus our grassroots campaign toward the '98 Legislature. We've made too much progress in leveling the playing field for women and minorities these past 30 years to let I-200 set back the clock on civil rights."
If you have a news item regarding unions in Washington state that you would like to have posted on WSLC OnLine, please e-mail or fax a news release to (206) 285-5805.
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