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Reports for October 4-8, 2004

Previous weeks' news: Sept. 27-Oct. 1 -- Sept. 20-24 -- Sept. 13-17

FRIDAY, October 8 -- Washington families paying the price for America's Jobs Crisis
Plus, check out OutsourceOutrage.com, where you can view "Outsource This!" a new Internet film with Seinfeld's Jason Alexander and learn more about how the tax policies of President Bush (whose economic advisers say, "outsourcing is good") actually PROMOTE the offshoring of U.S. jobs.
— New this morning from Reuters -- September job growth weaker than expected (again) -- Latest report shows anemic job growth, continued loss of manufacturing jobs and revises down last month's figure.
— In today's Seattle Times -- Layoffs precede jobs data; more than 16,000 announced just this week (AP)

Election news: — In the Bremerton Sun -- GOP giving up on Washington
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Dave Ross for Congress (endorsement)
— In today's Seattle Times -- Reichert running scared -- "Man of Action" backs out of joint appearances with opponent Dave Ross and blows off an editorial board meeting with the P-I.  Reichert previously walked out on a pre-primary debate, complaining about fellow Republicans' attack ads run against him. (His consultant is the same guy responsible for the infamous Chamber ads against Deborah Senn.)
— In yesterday's News Tribune -- Man helped by state bites its hand in Rossi ad -- Political campaign consultant and lobbyist Jamie Beletz gets special state grants and subsidies for his small business, so why is he complaining in Rossi's ads that the state is anti-business? And why is this guy a contract lobbyist for a union?
— In today's Seattle Times -- Sign-up efforts bring in 330,000 new voters -- New voters mostly in counties that traditionally vote Democratic. 
— In the Bremerton Sun -- Vote down Ref. 55, I-297, I-892 (editorial trifecta)
— In today's News Tribune -- Nethercutt fined $9,600 by FEC
Boeing news: — In today's Washington Post -- Deal would bar 767 lease
...plus -- Tax break Inc. -- Pearlstein column: Just as the U.S. trade representative was delivering his lecture on the need for a level playing field in the Boeing-Airbus WTO dispute, Congress was unveiling the final details of a corporate tax bill so laden with subsidies, and so infused with government industrial policy, that any Eurocrat would be proud to call it his own. The bill was to repeal $5 billion a year in export subsidies originally put into the tax code for the benefit of Boeing and other major U.S. exporters that were repeatedly ruled illegal by the WTO. But by the time the corporate lobby had worked its magic, the offending subsidies were replaced by a cornucopia of new tax breaks providing three times as much corporate tax relief.
— In today's Seattle Times -- Some Japan 7E7 work back to local plant
...plus -- The good fight (editorial re: WTO complaint against Airbus)
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Boeing military scandal grows
— In today's News Tribune -- Boeing in talks to sell planes to Libya
Local news: — In today's News Tribune -- Feds will fund Kaiser pensions
...plus -- Ex-workers in county tax office seek damages
— In today's Olympian -- Thurston sheriff's workers close to labor deal
— In yesterday's Daily News -- Rainier teachers agree to 3-year deal
— In today's Tri-City Herald --- Call center underwhelmed by turnout
At AFLCIO.org -- Congress sends bill to floor with no OT pay protections -- Republican leaders again defy the bipartisan will of Congress, strip language blocking Bush's overtime pay take-away.
— In today's NY Times -- Airline workers see their security quickly vanish
...plus -- Working for a pittance -- Reality keeps rearing its ugly head. Bush's case for the war in Iraq has completely fallen apart. And next week, a new study will show how tough a time American families are having in their struggle to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads. The White House, as deep in denial about the economy as it is about Iraq, insists things are fine despite the embarrassing fact that Bush is on track to become the first president since Herbert Hoover to preside over a net loss of jobs during his four years in office.
— In today's Washington Post -- Tom DeLay, ethical recidivist -- Editorial: DeLay's response to back-to-back rebukes from his peers shows he just doesn't get it. Now it's time for congressional Republicans to ask themselves, do they really want an ethical recidivist as their leader?
— In today's LA Times -- Booklet that upset Mrs. Cheney is history -- Department of Education destroys 300,000 parent guides to teaching history because Second Lady thought it wasn't "positive" enough.
Same report, same front page, different editorial boards:
— In today's Olympian -- Bush, Cheney concede Saddam had no WMDs
— In today's King County Journal -- Report: Saddam ignored arms ban

THURSDAY, Oct. 7 -- Rally and March for Affordable Health Care on Oct. 16 in Seattle
Also today -- Workers at Auburn hospital will picket, rally over health benefits
— In the King Co. Journal -- Auburn hospital workers picket over contract
— In today's Seattle Times -- Subsidies trigger trans-Atlantic trade fight -- The state's $3.2 billion package of tax incentives for Boeing's 7E7 has become a focal point of the quickly worsening trade dispute between the U.S. and Europe over government support for airplane makers. Meanwhile, a U.S. trade official hints Washington state perks could be amended if Europe stops loaning Airbus money.
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Are Airbus, Boeing too big to fail? (Virgin column)
— In today's Olympian -- Government bails out more Kaiser pensions (AP)
— In today's Everett Herald -- Public NASCAR cost could hit $200 million
— In the Seattle Times -- Garlie King had passion for union (obituary)
Election news: — In today's Seattle Times -- National GOP group cancels $1 million in ads for Nethercutt -- "It doesn't mean anything," says his campaign spokesman, presumably with a straight face.
— In the USAToday -- Give Bush his pink slip (John Sweeney op-ed)
— In today's King Co. Journal -- Heinz Kerry talks health care in Bellevue
— In today's N.Y. Times -- The poll tax, updated -- Editorial: The suppression of minority votes is alive and well in 2004, driven by the sharp partisan divide across the nation. Republicans view keeping them from registering and voting as a tactic for victory. It is rarely talked about publicly, but a Republican state legislator from Michigan, recently broke the taboo, "If we do not suppress the Detroit vote, we're going to have a tough time in this election cycle."
National news:
— In today's N.Y. Times -- Negotiators approve big tax cuts for business
...plus -- The verdict is in -- Editorial: Sanctions worked. Weapons inspectors worked. That is the bottom line of the long-awaited report on Iraq's weapons, written by Bush's handpicked investigator.
— In today's S.F. Chronicle -- Talks resume Friday in S.F. hotel dispute

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 6 -- Reichert supports extreme "right-to-work" effort to bust unions
— In today's King Co. Journal -- Ross, Reichert face off in debate -- Ross focuses on job creation, transportation and the Iraq war distracting from the real war on terror. Reichert wants to ban abortion, amend the Constitution to ban gay marriage and says U.S. soldiers must remain in Iraq until America is "safe."
— In today's Seattle Times -- TV station refuses to run McMorris attack ad -- Ad accuses Barbieri's deceased father of being part of a questionable business deal. Spokane station says there's no proof.
Boeing news: — In today's L.A. Times -- U.S. expands probe of Boeing tanker deal -- Investigators are said to be reviewing e-mails by high-ranking federal officials involved in the stalled tanker contract.
— In today's Seattle P-I -- U.S. to file WTO complaint against Airbus (AP)
— In today's Seattle Times -- Boeing's Auburn plant takes new flight path -- After three years of layoffs, low morale and fear for the future, a steady trickle of idled workers have been recalled and the mission there is being revamped by a slew of new aircraft programs.
— In the PSBJ -- 7E7 contractor to add jobs at Frederickson plant
— In today's News Tribune -- New 7E7 a composite of ideas
— In today's N.Y. Times -- United Airlines to cut 68 planes from its fleet
Other local news: — In the Daily News -- Workers picket St. John -- After voting Sunday to authorize a strike, Longview hospital workers took their complaints public Monday as dozens of employees represented by the SEIU put up informational pickets. The actual strike, if it comes, could be as soon as Oct. 14, given a required 10-day waiting period to give the hospital time to prepare.
At AFLCIO.org -- Edwards charts vision for stronger America
...plus -- Workers nationwide protest Bush's OT pay take-away
— In the S.F. Chronicle -- Striking S.F. hotel workers to be locked out
— In today's Washington Post -- Union, D.C. hotels still deadlocked
— In The Onion -- American robot's job outsourced to overseas robot -- "Query: What am I going to do now?" says QT2D-7.

TUESDAY, October 5 -- State environmental, labor leaders launch Blue-Green Alliance
— In the P.S. Business Journal -- Alcoa accord saves 400 Wenatchee jobs
— In yesterday's Longview Daily News: St. John Medical Center workers (SEIU 49) vote on 1-day walkout
— In today's Seattle Times -- County looks to fix gap in workers' comp
— In today's Seattle P-I -- $500 tax break in the works -- Restoring state sales tax deduction makes it into conference report. "(This) is a major victory for a lot of people," says Sen. Patty Murray.
...plus -- EU memo: Boeing, Airbus both lose if subsidies made public
...plus -- Snohomish to make pitch on state money for NASCAR track
Election news: — In today's Olympian -- State voters register in droves
— In the King Co. Journal -- Mary Kay Becker for Supreme Court (editorial)
— In today's Seattle P-I -- I-892 is a sucker's bet (editorial)
— In the P.S. Business Journal -- Women business owners favor Kerry
— In today's N.Y. Times -- Poll finds Kerry assured voters in initial debate
...plus -- The falling scales -- Krugman column: Last week Bush found himself defending his record on national security without his usual protective cocoon of loyalty-tested audiences and cowed reporters. And the sound you heard was the scales' falling from millions of eyes.
At AFLCIO.org -- New AFL-CIO website shows how consumers pay the price at Wal-Mart
— Today from Bloomberg -- Wal-Mart plans to add 295 U.S. stores in '05
— Today from Reuters -- U.S. job cuts at 8-month high in September
— In today's S.F. Chronicle -- S.F. hotel strike at stalemate
— In today's L.A. Times -- Limit reached on H1-B work visas (AP)
— In today's Washington Post -- Partisan politics at work criticized by AFGE
...plus -- OSHA withdraws more rules than it makes, reviews find

MONDAY, October 4 -- USWA announces tentative deal to restart Alcoa smelter
— In Sunday's Chicago Tribune -- Deal on health-care costs saves Alcoa workers' jobs -- Under the deal, workers will grant the health-care concession Alcoa demanded, but cost-sharing will be in effect only until the company and the union negotiate their next master labor agreement in 2006.
— In the P.S. Business Journal -- WashTech waiting in the wings -- Union campaigns for a bargaining agreement involving some 800 leftover AT&T Wireless employees if Cingular acquisition is approved.
— In the Seattle P-I -- Nurses take hospital to court over flu shot rule
— In today's Everett Herald -- Track might stay off ballot -- Funding options for Marysville's NASCAR track may go to state legislature instead.
...plus -- Mania for low prices drives outsourcing (Benbow column)
Election news: — In Sunday's Seattle P-I -- Political ads say so much -- Shapley: What Nethercutt's ad says is that he's sufficiently desperate to recruit Osama bin Laden for his campaign staff.
— Today from Reuters -- Bush, Kerry now in dead heat -- New poll shows Bush's 8-point lead from one week ago has evaporated following Kerry's strong performance in the first debate.
— In today's Washington Post -- VP debate assumes new importance -- To halt their ticket's slide in momentum, Republicans are depending on Vice President Dick Cheney a balding, gruff veteran of GOP administrations and the corporate boardroom.
— In today's N.Y. Times -- As deadlines hit, rolls of voters show big surge
...plus -- As invigorated Kerry hits Ohio, swing voters taking 2nd look
Other national news: — In Sunday's S.F. Chronicle -- Volume increases in hotel dispute -- Striking and locked-out hotel workers conduct pot-clanging protests outside several San Francisco hotels and call customers at home to urge them to cancel trips and events.
— In today's L.A. Times -- Union debate in wine country -- Some farm workers in northern California say they need outside representation, but others complain about the UFW's effectiveness.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8
Washington families paying the price for America's Jobs Crisis

Like all Americans, Washingtonians are looking for good jobs, affordable health care and wages that support their families. But what they are seeing are corporations and CEOs shipping good jobs overseas, drug companies and HMOs ratcheting up health costs and prices rising faster than wages. For Washingtonians, the chinks in the nation’s economic armor mean too few jobs, too many jobless workers, shrinking health coverage, greater poverty and more bankruptcies. Here are the facts:

Too Few Good Jobs

Since January 2001, Washington has experienced heavy job losses in industries that typically provide higher wages and good benefits -- 56,500 lost manufacturing jobs and 3,400 lost information jobs. Despite offsetting gains in other industries, Washington still experienced a net job loss of 5,800 jobs between January 2001 and August 2004.

Contrary to certain right-wing corporate lackeys in Washington state who play "Pin the Blame on the Donkey" and accuse the state's Democrats of being responsible for job losses, these layoffs are clearly not unique to Washington. They are happening all across the nation. President Bush's economic blinders and repeated assurances that "we have turned the corner" simply do not reflect the reality of anemic job growth that continues to plague the nation. (See this morning's new jobs report).

Washington is losing jobs, in part, because of unfair trade rules and because corporations here, as around the United States, are shipping good jobs overseas. In 2003, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that at least 37 Washington companies slashed jobs from their payrolls due to trade. These cuts affected an estimated 2,520 workers. Hexel, Mackie Designs, Inc. and Miller Brewing Co. alone cut 1,264 jobs. NAFTA has cost Washington 13,645 jobs. (Visit OutsourceOutrage.com for more information.)

Meanwhile, jobs in Washington’s growing industries aren’t as good as the jobs in Washington’s shrinking industries.*  Average wages in the state’s growing industries are 33.7 percent lower -- $18,400 per year less -- than those in Washington’s shrinking industries.

In Washington, growing industries have lower health coverage rates than industries that are shrinking; 69.7 percent of workers in Washington’s shrinking industries have employer-provided health coverage, while 60.4 percent of workers in Washington’s growing industries have employer-provided health insurance.

Too many workers unemployed

In August, 198,076 Washingtonians were unemployed, a significant 17.6 percent more than in January 2001. Workers unemployed the longest suffer most. From the end of December 2003 through September 2004, 58,373 Washingtonians reached the end of eligibility for unemployment benefits but still could not find jobs. Because President Bush and allies in Congress have refused to renew the emergency unemployment program, 53,627 of these jobless workers no longer have federal benefits to fall back on for basic support.

Declining health coverage

Job loss and exploding health costs have shrunk the rolls of Washingtonians with job-based health coverage and swelled the ranks of the uninsured.  Between 2000 and 2003, the number of Washingtonians with employer-provided health care fell by 26,000.  In 2003, 944,000 Washingtonians were uninsured, an increase of 152,000 -- 19.2 percent -- in just three years.

Greater poverty and more bankruptcies

More Washingtonians slipped into poverty between 2000 and 2003: 766,000 Washingtonians were poor in 2003 -- 132,000 more than in 2000. And personal bankruptcies rose 30.9 percent, from 30,414 in 2000 to 39,818 in 2003.

---

* Note: A growing industry is one that is expanding (between March 2001 and March 2004) as a share of overall employment, while a shrinking industry is one that is contracting as a share of overall employment.

Sources: American Bankruptcy Institute, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Economic Policy Institute, Public Citizen, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7
Rally and March for Affordable Health Care on Oct. 16 in Seattle

Andrew Stern, National President of the Service Employees International Union, and health care workers from around the State of Washington will call for a renewed commitment to addressing employer health benefit cuts, skyrocketing insurance premiums and prescription drug costs, and the growing ranks of uninsured workers.

The rally will conclude with a massive march to the Group Health Capitol Hill Medical Center. Group Health Cooperative is trying to cut family health care benefits for its nurses and other frontline staff.  

Other employers are watching to see if Group Health succeeds in cutting benefits. Access to affordable health care is at stake for all of us in this Group Health battle.

"I'm concerned that so many of will soon not be able to afford health care benefits. We have to look out for each other," said Stanalee Reisinger, an RN at Swedish Medical Center.

In August, SEIU Group Health workers went on strike for five days to send a message that they are committed to maintaining access to affordable family health care. While the SEIU bargaining committee has offered to restart the talks, no new bargaining sessions have been held since the strike.

For more information about the rally or the Group Health situation, visit www.seiu1199nw.org or contact Carter Wright, SEIU1199NW Communications Director, at (425) 917-1199.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7
Workers at Auburn hospital picket today to protect health care

RALLY AT 4:30 P.M. FOLLOWING INFORMATIONAL PICKET

AUBURN -- Nearly 250 nursing assistants, medical technicians and service staff at Auburn Regional Medical Center (ARMC) will conduct informational picketing in front of the hospital Thursday to protest ARMC’s refusal to offer employees affordable family health care in ongoing contract talks. Picketing will be conducted at ARMC, 202 N. Division St., from 8 to 10 a.m. and noon to 1 p.m., then workers will hold a rally there with community leaders at 4:30 p.m.

The ARMC workers are members of SEIU District 1199NW, the same union that represents the 2,200 nurses and caregivers at Group Health Cooperative who are fighting efforts to cut their family health benefits.

“When a financially sound health care provider -- especially a for-profit hospital like ARMC that’s part of a large, highly profitable chain -- denies affordable care to its own employees that makes Washington’s health care crisis that much worse,” said Diane Sosne, president of SEIU 1199NW.

ARMC is a subsidiary of Universal Health Services (UHS), a Pennsylvania-based health care management corporation with more than 100 facilities in the United States, Puerto Rico and France. UHS’s profits grew 14 percent in 2003 to $199 million.  Even though ARMC is one of the most profitable hospitals in Washington, many ARMC employees get family health care through the state’s Medicaid program.

“I’ve worked at Auburn for six years and I still can’t afford the hospital’s family health plan, so my daughter and I are forced to get assistance from the state,” said Gina Alejo, a medical records tech at ARMC.

Service Employees International Union District 1199NW is Washington’s largest health care union. More than 18,000Washington health care workers are united in SEIU 1199NW.

 

WHO: SEIU 1199NW nursing assistants and other health care workers at Auburn Regional Medical Center

WHERE: Auburn Regional Medical Center, Main Entrance, 202 N. Division St., Auburn

WHEN: PICKETING from 8 a.m.–10 a.m. and Noon–1 p.m.

RALLY from 4:30 p.m.–4:45 p.m.

For more information contact, SEIU 1199NW's Jim McNeill at 206-310-1231 .

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6
Reichert supports extreme "right-to-work" effort to bust unions

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5
State environmental, labor leaders launch Blue-Green Alliance

New coalition calls for protecting the environment
while promoting economic growth and family-wage jobs

SEATTLE — In response to continuing economic woes and deteriorating environmental conditions in Washington state, labor and environmental leaders met at the Seattle Labor Temple to announce the formation of the Washington Blue-Green Alliance.

The new coalition is a grassroots organizing effort designed to promote a positive future in which economic growth goes hand-in-hand with safeguarding our air, water and land.

"Our elected officials and leaders in the private sector need to think bigger and bolder," said Jim Woodward, Sub-District Director of the United Steelworkers of America. "We can create good jobs that protect the environment and reduce our dependence on foreign oil."

Both "blue" and "green" representatives said they were fed up with divide-and-conquer tactics and continual attempts to drive a wedge between groups that should consider themselves as natural allies. "For years, we've let politicians try to divide us," said Kathleen Casey of the Sierra Club. "The choice between good jobs and a clean environment is a false one. We must work together to get both.... or we'll likely get neither."

Over the last three years, Washington's average wage has fallen while mercury, lead, arsenic and PCB contamination in our waters has remained high. President Bush has defended tax breaks for corporations that ship American jobs overseas, and Washington has lost 64,000 manufacturing jobs, depriving more working families of the income and basic benefits they need. During the same period, more than 200,000 Washington workers have become unemployed. Mercury, lead, arsenic and PCB pollution has reached high levels that threaten our ability to eat fish we catch in places such as Lake Washington, the Spokane River, and bottom fish and shellfish in King County.

Blue-Green Alliance participants will address issues ranging from investment in renewable energy technologies to trade agreements such as NAFTA to the lax enforcement of laws meant to protect workers and the environment.

"Ask workers across this state if they have more job security today than they did four years ago," suggested Woodward. "Are their healthcare costs going down? Are their retirement savings and investments more secure? Do people in our rural areas have a brighter economic future? We need thousands of new jobs, and we need them now."

The Blue-Green Alliance builds on more than 10 years of cooperative efforts by labor unions and environmentalists to oppose unfair trade policies and encourage corporate accountability.

"Labor unions and environmental organizations have large memberships, strong grassroots organizing skills, and long-term activist traditions," added Casey. "Together, we are a force to be reckoned with."

The Blue-Green Alliance's forward-looking, practical action plan includes:

• Developing a policy agenda focused on areas in which we can champion both environmental values and the preservation and creation of good family-wage jobs.
• Challenging the "environment vs. jobs" myth that has been used to divide labor and environmental advocates.
• Promoting our shared goals of fair trade, corporate accountability, human health and safety, workers' safety and environmental protection and justice.
• Providing a forum for exploring areas of conflict and accord and for educating ourselves and our members about labor, environmental and economic concerns.

Following are Washington Blue-Green Alliance organizational partners:

— United Steelworkers of America, District 11 — Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO — King County Labor Council — Washington State Council of Building and Construction Trades — Ironworkers District Council — Electrical Workers Local 191 — Pierce County Labor Council — Spokane Regional Labor Council — Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 32 — Washington State Council of United Food and Commercial Workers — Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans — Ironworkers Local 86 — The Center for Environmental Law and Policy — Save Our Wild Salmon — Transportation Choices Coalition — American Rivers — Earth Ministry

— Sierra Club — Northwest Energy Coalition — Washington Environmental Council — Washington Conservation Voters — 1000 Friends of Washington — Washington Public Interest Research Group — The Lands Council — Washington Toxics Coalition — Northwest Ecosystem Alliance — Mountaineers — Friends of Grays Harbor — Silver Valley Community Resource Center — Center for Water and Ethics — Neighborhood Alliance of Spokane — Washington Citizen Action — Washington Citizens for Resource Conservation — Washington Water Trust

For more information about the Washington Blue-Green Alliance, contact Joel Hanson at 206-412-8765, or Kathleen Casey at 206-356-2925.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 4
USWA, Wenatchee Aluminum Trades announce deal to restart Alcoa smelter

Minneapolis, MN and Wenatchee, WA — The United Steelworkers of America (USWA) and the Wenatchee Aluminum Trades Council (WATC) announced today that the unions had reached a tentative agreement with Alcoa that would lead to the rapid restart of  the company’s Wenatchee, WA aluminum smelter.  The smelter had been scheduled for idling on October 1.

The tentative agreement guarantees that all current active employees of the smelter will remain at work during the restart process.  It also introduces changes to the current health insurance program that had been sought by Alcoa, but agrees that the Wenatchee employees’ health care benefits will be subject to whatever changes are negotiated in 2005 or 2006 as part of the Master Labor Agreement.

The dispute between Alcoa and the USWA and WATC over health care had been the subject of negotiations over the last several months.  A previous proposal on health care that removed the Wenatchee employees from the Master Labor Agreement had been rejected by the WATC.

Andrew Palm, USWA Vice President of Administration and Chairman of the USWA’s Alcoa Negotiating Committee, said, “We repeatedly told Alcoa that negotiations over health insurance benefits for the USWA’s 9,000 members who work under the Master Agreement could only happen at the Master negotiating table.  We have maintained that important principle.  While we recognize that health care continues to be an important issue for employers, our main concern is maintaining a high level of low-cost benefits for working families in America.” 

David Foster, Director of USWA District #11, said, “We are pleased with the tentative agreement.  It accomplishes our two main objectives.  First, it maintains the integrity of our Master Agreement.  Wenatchee aluminum workers will ultimately enjoy the same health care benefits as other aluminum workers at Alcoa when the new Master Agreement is negotiated.  Second, the tentative agreement guarantees the restart of Wenatchee and keeps our members employed.”

Jo Keyser, President of the WATC, said, “This tentative agreement is being unanimously recommended by the WATC bargaining committee and the WATC Executive Board.  Together with the USWA we have succeeded in negotiating an agreement that is fair for our members, reopens the smelter, and maintains equality with other Alcoa workers around the country.”

The tentative agreement will be explained to WATC members at a meeting on Tuesday, October 5 and direct mailings.  President Keyser said that she anticipated voting on the proposal should be completed by Friday, October 8.