News for the week of October 6 – 10If 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 October 6 – 10Friday, 10/10/97 — Hundreds rally
at Seattle dock to support apple workers
Thursday, 10/9/97 — Gingrich has
backed off on promise to fight Workfare labor standards
Wednesday, 10/8/97 — Campaign
finance reform proposal stalls after anti-union amendment nixed
Tuesday, 10/7/97 — After three weeks, Summit Window strikers in Yakima
still await decent contract proposal
Monday, 10/6/97 — Momentum
against "Fast Track" is building
News from previous weeks:
September 29-October 3,
1997
September 22-26, 1997
September 15-19, 1997
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Nearly 300 union members, activists and their families braved cold, rainy, blustery weather Thursday night at a Port of Seattle's terminal near Magnolia to rally in support of Eastern Washington apple workers and their efforts to organize a union.
"(The dock is) the focal point for the many thousands of people who are concerned about working conditions of the apple workers and who want to help," said Tom Herriman, an organizer for the Teamsters apple campaign.
Placards and signs reading "Justice for Washington's apple workers" and "Workers want a bigger bite of the apple" in both English and Spanish were waved by rallygoers. Rally speakers included Teamsters International Vice President Diana Kilmury and Washington State Labor Council President Rick Bender.
The goal of the rally was to call attention to the fact that vicious union-busting tactics are being used by Washington's apple industry employers. Despite this, strong majorities of workers at the Stemilt warehouse in Wenatchee and Washington Fruit in Yakima are demanding the employers meet with them and start talks leading to a contract.
Even though the apple industry takes in $1 billion a year, much of it from exports, apple workers' real wages have actually declined over the past 10 years. During that same period both profits and productivity have doubled in the industry.
For more information about the apple workers' organizing campaign, call (206) 441-4654.
House Speaker Newt Gingrich recently promised to make exempting workfare participants from labor standards a centerpiece of the Republican Party's legislative agenda this fall, but now he has backed off because of a lack of support for such a proposal, according to a Washington Post report.
The AFL-CIO has argued that workfare participants deserve the same rights that all workers do, and exempting them from health-and-safety and civil rights protections would not only create a second-class of workers more susceptible to being mistreated and abused by employers, but also could cost other workers their jobs because it would be cheaper for employers to replace existing workers with these workfare participants.
So, for now, a Clinton Admionistration ruling stands which requires states to extend worker protections including the minimum wage, health-and-safety and workers' compensation coverage to workfarers.
But there are still some right-wing lawmakers who want to overturn the administration's ruling. Rep. E. Clay Shaw (R-Fla.) still promises to introduce legislation to do so, and has been trying to build support for such a measure among governors.
A bipartisan campaign finance reform proposal in Congress that appears to have the support of the majority, was effectively shelved Tuesday by the Republican leadership after their failed attempt to attach an amendment restricting political activity by unions.
The bill, sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), would prohibit "soft money" campaign contributions to political parties. These unlimited, unregulated donations from corporations, unions, organizations and individuals have become the primary focus of congressional hearings on campaign finance abuses and intense media scrutiny.
A majority of senators support this bill, but Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) is adamantly opposed to the bill, calling it "phony reform." So to avoid a vote on the bill, he organized a filibuster among Senate Republicans and then introduced what is known as a "poison pill," an amendment to the bill that he knows would create enough opposition to prevent the bill's passage. That poison pill was to make it harder for unions to spend money on political activity by requiring them to get special permission from each member before allowing a portion of their dues money to be spent on politics.
"Clearly this was an attempt to silence labor — a payback for our renewed political activism exposing the anti-working family policies of the Republican majority," said Diane McDaniel, political director of the Washington State Labor Council. "No attempt is being made to restrict corporate political activity, even though they might have shareholders who disagree with those efforts. Why? Because corporate dollars mostly go to Republicans. (Lott's proposal) is all about silencing your critics, and taking away their right to have a voice in government."
Senate Democrats responded by filibustering Lott's anti-union amendment and trying to force a vote on the original proposal. An attempt Tuesday to force a vote on Lott's amendment failed 52-48 (60 votes are required to stop debate), and then the Democrats' attempt to force a vote on the bill itself failed 53-47. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash) voted against the anti-union amendment and for voting on the original reform bill; Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Wash.) voted in favor of the anti-union amendment and against allowing a vote on the soft money ban.
Workers at Summit Window and Patio Door in Yakima have been on strike for nearly three weeks now, and the company is not only refusing to budge on its rejected offer of 21-cent raises, it is hiring replacement workers. Between 70 and 85 of the company's 180 employees are on strike, but one newspaper report says 50 replacements have been hired.
The strikers were scheduled to vote Tuesday on a new contract proposal, but even if it is accepted, many of the workers may no longer have jobs to return to.
Summit Window, owned by Jeld-Wen Corporation of Klammath Falls, Ore., pays its workers in other plants (like the one in Kent) between $1 and $4 an hour more than the Yakima workers get. Most of the striking workers, represented by the Western Council of Industrial Workers, make between $7 and $8 an hour and their average age is 28.
On the picket line, one sign reads: "Our Families Are Worth More Than 21 Cents."
"Being the parent of two sons, I am very concerned about about the employment opportunities for young people in the Yakima Valley," wrote the WCIW's Sherry Scott in a letter to the editor of the Yakima Herald-Republic. "It seems the only industries and corporations that come to our area are those seeking to pay low wages, like Jeld-Wen Corporation. I think it's time for the community to hear the voices of our young workforce, support them and let corporations like Jeld-Wen know that out youth deserve better."
You can let Jeld-Wen know what you think of their union-busting and refusal to offer a decent raise for these workers by calling the corporate headquarters at (541) 882-3451.
Momentum against "Fast Track" trade negotiation authority for the Clinton Administration is building around the country as labor's Stop Fast Track campaign keeps the pressure on Congress, but backers of the measure are expected to step up their efforts to sway wavering lawmakers.
Evidence of that increased pressure was evident in Washington's 7th Congressional District where a business lobby group began airing misleading radio ads supporting "lifting trade barriers" that call opponents of Fast Track "protectionists." Listeners are encouraged to call Rep. Jim McDermott and tell him to support Fast Track.
Those of us who can see through this smokescreen know labor's position is hardly "protectionist." On the contrary, unions have a vested interest in increasing trade because many good family-wage union jobs are created by responsible international trade. But we simply aren't willing to sacrifice the basic rights of workers in other countries in the name of "free trade." Instead, we support "fair trade" that ackowledges fundamental labor and environental rights as part of the core agreement in trade negotiations. In our so-called "global economy," we must show "global solidarity."
Meanwhile,the AFL-CIO's Stop Fast Track campaign has gone grassroots. Labor phone banks are operating in 64 congressional districts and 364,000 calls have been made to union members telling them how important it is that they contact their representatives on the issue. More than 700,000 "no fast track" postcards have been distributed by the AFL-CIO, and individual unions have their own letter-writing campaigns (the Steelworkers have more than 120,000 handwritten letters from their members condemning fast track.)
For more information on the Stop Fast Track campaign, click here.
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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