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.
TUESDAY,
AUGUST 1 ▪
Make sure you get
credit for your work this election season -- At the request
of the international unions
that comprise the AFL-CIO, a reporting system for local unions' political
education activities has been created this year to track and improve
efforts. NLRB
news: "Where's
OUR Tax Break?" news: Local
news: National
news: 
URGENT!
▪ Attend
Wednesday event on Republicans' tip-penalty attack
-- Show solidarity with Washington workers who earn tips. U.S.
House-approved legislation -- supported by Reps. Reichert, McMorris and
Hastings -- would cut their pay by up to $5.50 an hour!
▪ In
The (Vancouver) Columbian -- Like
it or not, you may soon be a "supervisor" (Rick
Bender column) -- Many of us could wake up one morning
this summer with the same job and responsibilities we had the day before,
but we will have lost our freedom of association with our co-workers.
▪ In today's
News Tribune -- State
tax break caught in political tug of war -- Extension of the sales tax
break is being held hostage by Republicans who want an estate tax cut. If
allowed to expire, Washington state residents will pay $500 million extra in
taxes. GOP Reps. Dave Reichert, Cathy McMorris and Doc Hastings all voted
for this cynical legislative blackmail.
▪ In today's Washington
Post -- Bad
bargain (editorial) --
Senators shouldn't be cowed by the House Republicans' effort to hold a
minimum wage increase hostage to cutting estate taxes.
▪ At AFL-CIO Now -- Senate's
turn to undo House's cynical poison pill on minimum wage vote
▪ In today's Seattle
Times -- Council
backs $1.6 billion transportation plan -- Seattle
voters will likely be asked this fall to support a tax package to fix
streets, bridges and sidewalks -- a 20-year plan many consider an overdue
investment in a city that has neglected basic maintenance.
▪ In today's
Olympian -- Ranks
of state workers swell -- Employment of state government crept up by the
equivalent of 1,672 full-time positions to 108,254 in the budget year that
began in July.
▪ In
today's King Co. Journal -- Renton
Housing Authority says developer must pay prevailing wage
▪ In
today's Yakima H-R -- Global
Horizons labor suit granted class-action status -- Judge rules that the
three plaintiffs who filed the lawsuit may now proceed on behalf of an
estimated 600 farm workers allegedly denied work when Global Horizons
imported workers from Thailand.
▪ Today
from AP -- Northwest
flight attendants may strike -- The union says they've started a 15-day
countdown toward a strike on the night of Aug. 15.
TUESDAY,
AUGUST 1,
2006
Attend Wednesday event
on Republicans' tip-penalty attack
As we previously reported, House Republicans -- Reps. Dave Reichert (R-8th), Cathy McMorris (R-5th) and Doc Hastings (R-4th) -- voted last weekend to approve H.R. 5970, which pairs the first federal minimum wage increase in nearly a decade with a $300 billion estate tax cut for heirs of the richest families in America. That bill would also FORCE STATES TO IMPOSE A "TIP PENALTY," allowing employers to deduct tips from their minimum wage obligation and pay as little as $2.13 an hour.
That's right. Reichert, McMorris and Hastings all voted to cut the pay of workers in their state who earn tips, by as much as $5.50 an hour! And now their party leaders are trying to ram this bill through the Senate before Friday's scheduled adjournment.
URGENT CALL TO ACTION! If you are in or near the Seattle area, make plans to attend a press event at 2 p.m. Wednesday at 200 Taylor Ave. N., outside the Executive Inn near the Space Needle, to call attention to this outrageous and inexcusable attack on working families. Join U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-1st), 8th District congressional candidate Darcy Burner, WSLC President Rick Bender, and workers who rely on tips to make ends meet, including members of UNITE HERE Local 8. Bring your union colors and banners!
In addition to Washington, six other states -- Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada and Oregon -- do not allow have "tip penalties" and require employers to pay the full minimum wage. In all of those states, the recently approved minimum wage increase would actually amount to a wage cut for workers who earn tips.
More on this in tomorrow's WSLC Reports Today. In the meantime, check out the new Economic Opportunity Institute analysis of the effect of H.R. 5970 on tipped workers.
Make sure you get credit for your work this election season
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Labor
Neighbor launches in Spokane this weekend! Labor Neighbor 2006, the Washington State Labor Council's grassroots member-to-member political mobilization effort, held its first neighborhood walks of the election season last weekend in Seattle. This Saturday, the first neighborhood walk in Spokane's 6th District on behalf of State Senate candidate Chris Marr will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Meet
WSLC Secretary-Treasurer Al Link and Spokane Labor Council Secretary-Treasurer
Beth Thew at
the IUOE Local 370 Hall,
510
S. Elm St., at 10 a.m. and volunteer to help out!
Please RSVP by filling out the online
volunteer form or calling Beth Thew at 509-327-7637. |
At the request of the international unions that comprise the AFL-CIO, a reporting system for local unions' political education activities has been created this year. The idea is for union leaders at the national level to be able to assess the extent to which their local unions are participating in AFL-CIO and state federation efforts to educate rank-and-file members about which candidates labor has endorsed -- and more importantly, why they've been endorsed.
With the Washington State Labor Council's 2006 Labor Neighbor activities now in full swing, hundreds of volunteer hours, worksite leafleting events and membership mailings have already been logged on behalf of the participating organizations. For example, when dozens of volunteers participated in last weekend's Labor Neighbor walk in Seattle's 43rd Legislative District on behalf of WSLC-endorsed House candidate Lynne Dodson, those volunteers' local unions got credit for their hard work.
Make sure your local union gets credit where it's due, including for activities your local union has undertaken already but not yet reported. Download the Labor 2006 Activity Reporting Form -- in Word format or in Excel format -- fill it out and fax it in to the WSLC at 206-285-5805 every Tuesday between now and Election Day, Nov. 7th. You get credit for everything from mailings to newsletter stories, from phone banking members to voter registration drives, from meeting agenda items to website postings. (We're pretty sure WSLC Reports Today just got credit for this one.)
These reports are not just for the international unions, they inform the WSLC about what membership contact has been made around the state so we can determine what more needs to be done. The WSLC wants to spend resources wisely, making sure that all of our affiliated unions' members get information where they live and work about this important election.
Washington state is one of the most active -- and successful -- states in the nation when it comes to grassroots union political activity and education. Let's keep up the good work and log more volunteer hours and local union activities than any other state!
If you have questions about the reporting the Labor 2006 Activity Reporting Form, contact Jerri Wood at 425-221-1588, who is coordinating this reporting. For those of you who can't bear to fill out another form, Jerri has offered to take your report over the phone! (But we're guessing she'd prefer the written form.)
To learn more about the WSLC's Labor Neighbor program, visit our Political Education web page. To identify opportunities to volunteer for Labor Neighbor activities, check out the pre-Primary schedule and then volunteer online, or contact WSLC Field Mobilization Coordinator Benjamin Lawver at 206-281-8901.
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.
Copyright © 2006 Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO