WSLC Reports Today -- July 21, 2006

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WSLC Reports Today
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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.

FRIDAY, JULY 21 ▪ Another bad trade deal (OFTA) passes House, 221-205 -- Reps. Baird, Dicks, Larsen and Smith are among the 22 Democrats who side with the Republican majority -- and Reps. Reichert, McMorris and Hastings -- in supporting the Oman Free Trade Agreement.
▪ Today at AFLCIO.org -- Sweeney: Closeness of OFTA vote indicates trade policies need reform

Also today: ▪ UNITE HERE urges boycott of 13 Coins Restaurants -- New owners demand open shop, dramatically higher health premiums and elimination of pensions, among other things.

Local news:
▪ From AP -- Tribes seek exemption from U.S. labor laws -- At a House hearing, tribes speak out for legislation to overturn an NLRB order that said -- for the first time -- that sovereign Indian tribes are under the board's jurisdiction. The order is also being fought by the country's leading tribes in the U.S. Court of Appeals in what both sides say could be a precedent-setting case.
▪ In today's Seattle P-I -- Odds against Eyman's car-tabs initiative -- His signature failure rate must be under 15.4% for it to qualify, but none of his previous 14 measures has had a rate under 16%.
▪ In the (Aberdeen) Daily World -- Weyerhaeuser's Cosmopolis mill may close Sept. 18 -- Company gives 60-day warn notices (and a thank-you note) to 180 hourly employees (AWPPW 211).
▪ In today's Seattle Times -- Calculations complete: Boeing workers will get $5,321 bonuses (brief)
▪ In today's Olympian -- Thurston County workers to get 4.6% raise -- Nearly 1,200 can expect the annual cost-of-living raises next year, one of the highest salary increases in recent history.
▪ In today's Olympian -- New hurdle for Medicaid creates job opportunities with state -- Enforcing a new law requiring clients to prove they're U.S. citizens will require 50 new workers, says DSHS.

State budget news:
▪ In today's News Tribune -- Business tax bill could cost state $700M -- Microsoft and others push an effort to declare that only companies with employees or property in a state could be taxed. Washington would take a big hit in B&O tax receipts. The U.S. House will vote on it next week.
▪ In today's Kitsap Sun -- Cuts in school budgets could stir state -- The time is now to look anew at how Washington funds K-12 education, state leaders say.
▪ In today's Seattle Times -- Let us raise tuition, UW tells legislature -- It asks for a 20% increase in state funding, or a 6-year pilot program in which it would set in-state, undergraduate tuition.

Veteran's Health Care news:
▪ In today's Olympian -- VA secretary agrees to meet with Murray -- The senator wants details on a so-far cryptic plan to preserve medical services for military veterans in the Walla Walla area.
▪ In today's Bellingham Herald -- Murray seeks Bellingham VA clinic -- But the senator says she's worried that the Bush administration is injecting politics into the process.
▪ In today's News Tribune -- $38 million earmarked for VA home in Lakewood

Paris Hilton Estate Tax Repeal update:
▪ Today from AP -- Army fiscal woes force deeper cuts -- Bearing most of the cost for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army's money crunch has gotten so bad it it's clamping down on spending for travel, civilian hiring and other expenses not essential to the war mission.
▪ In today's Seattle P-I -- Paris Hilton: "There's nobody in the world like me"

Solidarity Forever update:
▪ In today's USAToday... today -- Unions rake in record campaign cash -- AFL-CIO and CTW unions are raising record amounts of political money and seeking ways to do joint campaign work.
▪ In the USAToday -- After "rocky" start, revamped unions rev up political activity -- The Minnesota AFL-CIO and its Change to Win counterpart are working together, but "it's a bit clumsier."

National news: ▪ Court ruling against Md. Fair Share law "an affront" (Sweeney statement) -- It is unconscionable that while Congress refuses to reform our country's fatally-flawed health care system, federal law is being used as a barrier to prevent states from taking action... (This) will in no way deter working families and the AFL-CIO from demanding that large corporations like Wal-Mart live up to their responsibility and do their part to address our health care crisis.
▪ In today's Wash. Post -- Civil service, military raises moved along separate tracks -- A Senate committee signs off on a 2.7% pay raise for next year, but a key senator cautions that it might be adjusted to 2.2% if Congress decides that is the appropriate increase for the military.
▪ At TTD.org -- Senate panel votes to prevent foreign control of U.S. airlines (pdf) -- Sen. Murray votes with 19-6 majority in Appropriations Committee to block the Bush-proposed rule change.
▪ Today from AP -- United Airlines exec wants to allow foreign control of U.S. airlines
▪ In today's NY Times -- The disastrous lessons of Sago (editorial) -- The Sago mine disaster inquiry shows that political powers must show courage and make the miners' lives the highest priority.
▪ In today's Wash. Post -- The injustice Bill Cosby won't see (op-ed) -- His bitter gospel holds that black poverty is the solely the fault of the poor themselves. It ignores the need for social justice.
▪ In today's LA Times -- "Next Top Model" writers threaten strike -- Producers of the reality show refuse to recognize card-check majority and instead are trying to forcing an NLRB election.
▪ In The Onion -- Trendsetters go on strike -- The strike may inadvertently generate a new trend as some followers launch their own hip work stoppages. "The romance of the worker's struggle, the charisma of heroes like Cesar Chavez -- I love it!" says one. "I think we're going to be seeing a lot of drab shirts, coarse wool coats, and fierce Maoist pigtails on the runway this fall."

Earlier this week: MONDAY, 7/17 -- TUESDAY, 7/18 -- WEDNESDAY, 7/19 -- THURSDAY, 7/20

FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2006
Another bad trade deal (OFTA) passes House, 221-205

The U.S. House of Representatives passed another bad trade deal Thursday, approving the Oman Free Trade Agreement on a 221–205 vote. Washington Reps. Brian Baird, Norm Dicks, Rick Larsen and Adam Smith were among the 22 Democrats who sided with the Republican majority and all of our state's GOP delegation in voting "yes" on the OFTA. Reps. Jay Inslee and Jim McDermott were among the 176 Democrats who voted "No," as did 28 Republicans.

The Senate passed the OFTA last month 60–34. Eleven Democrats voted for the agreement, including Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell. The others were Sens. Max Baucus (Mont.), Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), John Kerry (Mass.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Joseph Lieberman (Conn.), Ben Nelson (Neb.), Bill Nelson (Fla.), Barack Obama (Ill.), Mark Pryor (Ark.) and Ken Salazar (Colo.). Five Republicans joined the majority of Democrats in voting "no." Sen. Patty Murray did not vote.

The pact now goes to President George W. Bush for his signature.

Rep. Smith sent a personal statement to local labor leaders Thursday explaining his "very difficult decision" to support the OFCA. The two principle factors he cited were that "Oman is an Arab Muslim country that has totally rejected the jihadist worldview shared by Hamas, Hezbollah, and Al Qaeda (and) has cooperated with us in the war on terrorism," and that "the process of negotiation and Congressional consideration of the deal led to substantial improvements in worker's rights protections in Oman."

But according to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney: "Oman’s labor laws are the weakest of any country with which we have ever negotiated a free trade agreement... The State Department has identified Oman as a destination country for men and women who become victims of trafficking and forced labor, yet the Republican leadership and the Administration refused to include an amendment passed by the Senate Finance Committee that would have ensured that no goods made with forced labor benefited from this agreement."

A coalition that includes the AFL-CIO and more than 350 labor, religious, consumer, farm and environmental groups opposed the OFTA because, like all other trade agreements negotiated by the Bush administration, it lacks strong and enforceable labor and environmental standards and likely will cost jobs in the United States and lower living standards for workers in Oman. In a letter to Congress urging rejection of the trade deal, last month, the coalition wrote:

OFTA would expand the failed model of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). This model has accelerated job loss and lowered living standards in the United States while exacerbating poverty and social disparities in the developing nations with which we trade.

Speaking on the House floor, Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), said: “Republicans are dead-set on turning our port security over to foreign corporations.”

This Republican Congress is once again ignoring the overwhelming majority of Americans who are concerned about our border and port security. Instead, Republicans are listening only to well-connected business lobbyists who hope to turn this bill into profits for their shareholders.

House Democratic leaders echoed her concerns at a press conference Tuesday, warning that the Oman deal permits foreign ownership of U.S. security assets.

FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2006
UNITE HERE Local 8 urges boycott of 13 Coins Restaurants

The following statement has been distributed by UNITE HERE Local 8: (Note: The Washington State Labor Council has not endorsed this boycott. By constitution, affiliates must petition the WSLC Executive Board to have a business added to the WSLC Do Not Patronize list.)

DO NOT PATRONIZE THE 13 COINS RESTAURANTS

Last winter, the 13 Coins was sold and the new owner group terminated the existing Union contract. They have begun to negotiate a new contract that will leave almost all workers without medical coverage or basic worker protections.

The new owners want workers to pay between $500-1,120 a month for an inferior full family “platinum” medical plan thus increasing medical cost to workers by 900% to 2,200%. Under this new plan workers will no longer have time loss to protect them when they are sick or injured. Many workers will be forced to go on state medical or just go without for themselves and their families.

The company wants “open shop” so they can challenge and fight the Union every day. They also want to rip away the basic right of “just cause.” The company now becomes judge, jury and executioner.

The new owners continue to add insult to injury by proposing to take away the pension plan and diluting the vacation and holiday schedule.

Please tell the new 13 Coins management that it’s the workers that make the 13 Coins great and that you won’t dine there until the workers have a fair contract that includes protections and affordable family medical.

Fax the corporate office at 206-382-2004 or email by visiting their webpage at www.13coins.com

Please send a copy of your fax or e-mail to UNITE HERE Local 8 Lead Organizer Cindy Richardson by fax 206-728 9772 or email. For more information, call her at 206-728-2326 ext. 26.

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.