MONDAY, MAY 8  ■  State's injured workers under attack by business proposals

Local news:
■  In today's Seattle P-I -- Garbage collectors avert strike -- Bucking the nationwide trend of employers shifting more health care costs to employees, the Teamsters were able to negotiate a contract in which the employers accepted more of the cost of employee health benefits.
■  In today's Seattle P-I -- Newspaper Guild dumps two-newspaper group in JOA dispute -- Most Seattle Times workers voted to dump it; virtually all Seattle P-I employees opposed the move.
■  In Sunday's Seattle Times -- Union votes to end its support of two-newspaper committee
■  From AP -- State starts to address pension deficit -- Attorney General Rob McKenna says gain-sharing isn't a permanent contract right and the Legislature can repeal it. But that hasn't happened. Sen. Margarita Prentice said it's very hard for legislators, particularly Democrats, to cross the labor unions... It's clear that the pension liability will be in direct conflict with salary and benefits and appropriations for state services that unions strongly support, she says.
■  In today's Yakima H-R -- Federal cuts could hurt job-training programs -- Dislocated worker programs could be on the chopping bloc. Under the proposed White House budget, national funding would be cut by $680 million over the next two years.
■  In Sunday's Daily News -- Governor's attempt to fix health-care woes deserves praise (editorial)

Political news:
■  In the Deseret Morning News -- Utah's union PAC payroll deduction ban found unconstitutional -- Judge says there's no "compelling state interest" in limiting government workers' ability to make voluntary contributions, and that the law violated government employees' freedom of speech.
■  In Sunday's Seattle Times -- Cantwell speaks to party faithful, then meets with critics in private
■  Sunday from AP -- New PACs change shape of judicial races -- Dueling PACs could make three state Supreme Court justices' campaigns more ideologically charged than in years past.
■  In Sunday's Columbian -- Immigration initiative campaign mirrors national trend -- I-946 would require both state and local government employees to verify the identity and immigration status of every person who applies for a public benefit that is not federally required.

National news:
■  At the TPM Cafe blog -- Homeland Security should be more than a slogan -- House GOP blocks scanning 100% of port containers after Wal-Mart and other retailers complain. Learn more.
■  From AP -- Government gears up for Medicare drug deadline -- Many want to extend the May 15 deadline and waive the penalty for later enrollees, but the Bush administration opposes both.
■  At AFL-CIO Now -- More bad news for Medicare recipients: Part B costs increasing
■  In today's Washington Post -- Don't feed the beast (column) -- Bush should end this tax-cut myth
■  In today's NY Times -- Social Security endures (editorial) -- Bush still wants people to believe their only options are getting nothing from the government in old age or relying on financial markets.
■  In today's NY Times -- America's "near poor" are increasingly at risk, experts say -- Americans on the lower rungs of the economic ladder have always been exposed to sudden ruin. But in recent years, with the soaring costs of housing and medical care and a decline in low-end wages and benefits, tens of millions are living on even shakier ground than before.
■  In the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel -- Puerto Rico's unions warn of general strike -- Unions demand an end to a government shutdown that has put 100,000 people out of work.

A large employer coalition in Washington state has submitted a list of proposals to the state Department of Labor and Industries that this coalition wants considered during the 2007 legislative session. The proposals are a rehash of 2003 legislation, much of which passed the Republican-controlled Senate when Sen. Jim Honeyford (R-Sunnyside) was Chair of the Senate Commerce and Trade (but not Labor) Committee.

Organized labor and other advocates for injured workers would like not to have to take these proposals seriously. Unfortunately, our experience with the terrible Unemployment Insurance legislation that passed in 2003 teaches us that we have to take these proposals at face value so that we are not caught off guard.

The topics addressed by the employer coalition include:

• Lower time-loss benefits by indexing to the Implicit Price Deflator instead of the state’s average wage to, in their words, "halt unreasonable increases" in cost-of-living adjustments;
   

• Lower the wage calculation (overturn Cockle and Avundez decisions, set a 65% rate of
  compensation, and eliminate adjustments for dependents); 
  

• Restrict choice of medical provider for injured workers.
  

• Restrict occupational disease claims by changing the definition of occupational disease;
  

• Implement less oversight over self-insured claims administration and grant the self-insured employers more authority and current oversight should be transformed "from an adjudicatory role to an audit function;"
  

• Reduce statutory time frame for allowing reopenings from 7 years to 2 years, in most cases;
  

• Lower the amount of permanent disability pensions;
  

• Vocational rehabilitation (institute compromise-and-release and allow "one bite of the apple");
  

• Expand the ability of Retro associations to manage claims and allow compromise-and-release;
  

• Allow compromise-and-release to settle workers compensation claims; and
  

• Penalize workers who test positive for illegal drugs after an accident.

If you would like to stay informed about these proposals, plus labor-supported efforts to improve the workers’ compensation system, please email Robby Stern at rstern@wslc.org and he will add you to the Workers’ Compensation Labor Caucus email list. 

If you prefer not to receive regular emails but want to follow these and other issues affecting Washington's working families, bookmark this site and become a regular visitor. Also make sure you are on the WSLC e-mail list to get regular updates.