WSLC Reports Today -- April 26, 2006

EARLIER THIS WEEK:
TUESDAY
MONDAY

PREVIOUS WEEKS:
April 17-21
April 10-14
March 27-31

WSLC Reports Today
Updated DAILY... Almost Every Day™ by 9 a.m.

Links are functional at date of posting, but sometimes expire. Some links require free registration. WSLC Reports Today links to stories of interest to organized labor; some positive, some negative. The intention is to inform.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26 ■ U.S. deaths on the job increase for first time in a decade
■ In today’s News Tribune -- L&I ceremony today will honor workers who died from job injuries --
Click here for a list of Worker Memorial Day ceremonies planned in Washington this week.

Also today: ■ Don't forget Rally & March for Health Care TODAY in Renton at 4 p.m.

Local news:
■ Today from AP -- $718 million budget gap predicted for next budget cycle -- The projection by the governor's budget office presumes legislators will empty out the $947 million in reserves from this biennium, pay the voter-mandated raises for teachers and a 2% COLA for state employees.
■ In today’s Tri-City Herald -- Labor shortage worries farmers -- About 30 Mid-Columbia farmers meet with top state officials in Yakima to discuss an expected repeat of last year's labor shortage that caused some fruit to rot. And they said this year there will be even more fruit to pick.
■ In today’s Yakima H-R -- Big crop forecast could mean labor shortage

Boeing news:
■ Today from Bloomberg -- Boeing's first-quarter profit jumps 29% -- The company delivered 40% more commercial planes last quarter, the biggest jump in airliner deliveries in five years.
■ In today’s Everett Herald -- Boeing renews tanker pursuit -- The Air Force reopens the process of replacing its refueling tanker fleet. Boeing will once again offer KC-767 tankers, the Everett-built jets it almost succeeded in selling to the Air Force before the deal was scuttled by scandal.
■ In today’s Seattle Times -- Subsidy rule added to tanker bill -- Boeing got a sweet surprise in the fine print of the Air Force announcement: bidders must disclose government subsidies. (Can I see a show of hands from those who believe this was a "surprise" to Boeing? Anyone? Bueller?)

Political news:
■ In today’s Seattle P-I -- "Illegal" McGavick funds alleged -- Democrats say the $17 million golden parachute Safeco paid CEO Mike violated federal law. McGavick's defense: I coulda got more.
■ In today’s Everett Herald -- Senate hopeful keys on business issues -- McGavick vows to improve the business climate by cutting capital gains and estate taxes(?!). Of course, the immediate crisis facing businesses is skyrocketing gas prices. But fear not: CEO Mike is on the case.)
■ In today’s Seattle P-I -- Big money threatens court (op-ed by former Supreme Court justices) -- We are gravely concerned about the creation of a state PAC backed by powerful corporate and other special interests to elect its handpicked candidates for state Supreme Court... We call upon the voters of the state of Washington to reject out of hand any attempt to politicize our courts.

Priorities of Government news:
■ Today from AP -- Percentage of uninsured Americans rising -- New report: More than 40% of Americans making between $20,000 and $40,000 a year went without insurance for at least part of last year, a "dramatic and rapid increase from 2001," when 28% were uninsured.
■ In today’s NY Times -- Democrats want all container ships inspected -- They ridicule the Bush administration's port security plans. Homeland Security responds by announcing it will perform background checks by the end of the summer on 400,000 longshoremen and other port workers to see whether they are on terrorist watch lists or are in the United States illegally.
■ In today’s LA Times -- Bush plan viewed as drop in oil bucket -- Even White House officials acknowledge that Bush's efforts, including the suspension of clean-air laws, will do little rein in skyrocketing fuel costs for outraged motorists before the summer driving season.
■ In today’s Washington Post -- GOP blocks measures boosting taxes on oil company profits
■ Today from Bloomberg -- GOP shifts congressional agenda to malpractice, cutting estate taxes
■ In today’s NY Times -- The Lobbyist Empowerment Act (editorial) -- House Republican leaders managed a new feat of cravenness during the recent recess, hollowing out their long promised "lobbying reform" bill to meet the dictates of -- who else? -- Washington's power lobbyists.

Other national news:
■ Today from AP -- Report: Delphi, union talks collapse -- Analysts say a strike by Delphi's second largest union (CWA's industrial branch) still is a long shot, but if it happens, it would devastate the U.S. auto industry, and particularly GM Corp., Delphi's largest customer.
■ Today from AP -- Faith leaders' letter condemns Andrew Young for Wal-Mart role -- They say it contradicts the philosophy of his close friend and comrade, Martin Luther King, Jr. But Young says Wal-Mart "has addressed poverty more effectively than any other American institution."
■ In today’s Walla Walla U-B -- Congress should work to improve benefits for all (editorial) -- The benchmark for benefits is the pension and health-care plan the members of Congress receive. As the pay-and-benefit gap between them and their constituents grows -- along with fears it could cost them their office -- perhaps Congress will take action that will result in better benefits for all.
■ In today’s Spokesman-Review -- Exxon CEO struck pay gold (column) -- With gasoline selling at retail for around $3 a gallon, how do you give a guy who helped put it there $686 million?
■ Today from AP -- New rules to protect Iraq contract workers -- Halliburton, et corporate al, will no longer be allowed to confiscate the passports of the ~~workers~~ slaves it imports from Asia.

Earlier this week: TUESDAY -- MONDAY
Previous weeks' news: April 17-21 -- April 10-14 -- March 27-31

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 2006
Deaths on the job increase for the first time in a decade

The following press release was distributed this morning by the AFL-CIO:

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The rate of fatal workplace injuries increased for the first time in a decade, according to a new AFL-CIO job safety report, “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect -- A National and State-by-State Profile of Worker Safety and Health in the United States.”

“Our nation is still grieving the Sago mineworkers’ deaths and we find it outrageous that in this era more than 150 workers die on the job each and every day,” said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. “It doesn’t have to be this way. America’s corporations must invest more in health and safety protections for working men and women, and our nation’s leaders must start holding them tightly accountable.”

The study shows the reported rates of workplace fatalities rose overall and the reported rates of illnesses and injury declined slightly. On an average day in 2004,152 workers lost their lives as a result of workplace injuries and diseases and another 11,780 were injured, according to the study. Protections across the states vary widely. Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, West Virginia and Kentucky had the highest fatality rates, while Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Delaware and Massachusetts had the lowest.

The study also shows workplace deaths for Latino and immigrant workers sharply increased. In 2004, the fatality rate among Latino workers was 19 percent higher than the fatal injury rate for all U.S. workers. At the national level, fatal injuries to immigrant Latino workers increased 11 percent from 2003 to 2004. Of the foreign born workers who were fatally injured at work in 2004, 60 percent were Latino. The states with the highest number of workplace fatalities among Latino workers were California with 169 deaths, Texas with 150 deaths and Florida with 119 fatalities.

Over the last five years, the Bush Administration cut the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) budgets and put much greater emphasis on voluntary efforts and partnership programs with industries. This does not allow OSHA and MSHA to adequately deal with the new and emerging hazards, including risks to workers from bioterrorist threats and pandemic flu. Additionally, under the Bush Administration, rule making at OSHA and MSHA has ground to a halt. At MSHA, 17 safety and health rules were withdrawn, including rules on mine rescue teams, emergency escape ways and self-contained self-rescuers -- all of which could have helped save the 12 miners who died at the Sago mine earlier this year and the miners who lost their lives in the subsequent mine disasters.

Penalties for safety and health violations continue to be low. For federal OSHA the average penalty for a serious violation was just $873. And as the workforce has grown, OSHA’s resources have stagnated. It would now take federal OSHA 117 years to inspect the workplaces under its jurisdiction just once, with inspection workplace oversight in Florida the worst with an inspection frequency of once every 210 years.

Since the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970, over 324,000 workers’ lives have been saved. The state-by-state safety report shows that given the size and cost of the job safety problem, the level of federal resources being devoted to job safety and health protections continues to be inadequate, according to the AFL-CIO.

The AFL-CIO study release is part of Workers Memorial Day, April 28, a worldwide annual event going into its 18th year. Tens of thousands of union members and concerned community members will hold events this week to honor those hurt and killed on the job.

For a copy of the report, “Death on the Job,” go to www.aflcio.org/deathonthejob

If you have news items regarding unions or workplace issues in Washington state that you would like to see posted here, please submit them via e-mail to David Groves or via fax to 206-285-5805.