WSLC Reports Today -- August 2, 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.

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 2 ▪ Republicans launch "inexcusable attack" on tipped workers -- Reps. Reichert, McMorris and Hastings vote to impose a minimum wage "tip penalty" that would cut the pay of tipped workers in our state by up to $5.50 an hour. (Rally in Seattle today!)
▪ At AFL-CIO Now -- Workers who earn tips could lose thousands of dollars each year in GOP bill
▪ Today from AP -- Tips on the table in Congressional minimum wage-estate tax bill
▪ In today's Seattle P-I -- Not Robin Hood (editorial) -- You have to give the Republicans some warped credit for a single piece of legislation that strips money from working people to pad prospects for inherited wealth. We hope the Senate isn't as eager to rob from those who work for a living.
▪ In today's Washington Post -- Minimum wage, maximum gall (Meyerson column) -- The whole point of this exercise was to come up with a bill that might force some Democrats to vote for an estate tax cut they would otherwise oppose, and enable Republicans to claim they weren't really the Dickensian grotesques that many of them in fact are... Their tone was best captured by Tennessee Republican Rep. Zach Wamp, who could not restrain himself from telling House Democrats, "You have seen us really outfox you on this issue tonight."

Local news: ▪ IUOE Local 302 strikes King County concrete, gravel suppliers
▪ In today's King County Journal -- Boeing adds more local jobs in area -- It added 609 jobs in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties and now employs 65,539 Puget Sound area workers, the most since May 2, 2002 -- seven months into what would eventually be a two-and-a-half year stretch of steady layoffs during which Boeing cut more than 27,000 jobs in Washington state.
▪ In today's Spokesman-Review -- Kaiser to invest millions in Valley -- A $30 million expansion to its Trentwood rolling mill in Spokane Valley is part of a 3-year plan to double its capacity there.
▪ In today's News Tribune -- Boeing CEO tells Senate panel: Sorry about those ethical scandals

$28M Parachute (M is for "Merit") news:
▪ Today from AP -- Shareholder sues over McGavick's $28M payout from Safeco -- The great- great-granddaughter of one of the company's founder says the Republican Senate candidate's golden parachute was fraudulent and wasteful. McGavick says the charges are "without merit." (It begs the question that Mike!™ will never answer: "Do you feel you earned all that money?")
▪ Learn more at -- www.McGavickLawsuit.com. Also see Seattle P-I and Seattle Times coverage.

Political news:
▪ In today's Olympian -- Judge bars state from enforcing new voter registration law -- Judge agrees that misspelled names or other minor errors could improperly prevent people from voting.
▪ In today's Spokesman-Review -- Judicial races more contentious -- Big money races, last-minute filings, an alleged decoy candidate. Ah, the politics of winning a state Supreme Court seat.
▪ In today's Washington Post -- Democrats scrambling to organize voter turnout -- Top Democrats are increasingly concerned that they lack an effective plan to turn out voters this fall, creating tension among party leaders and prompting House Democrats to launch a new fundraising effort.

National news:
▪ In BusinessWeek -- Wal-Mart foes hop a bandwagon -- A cross-country bus tour and a proposed Chicago ordinance are the latest challenges to the retailer's employee wages and health care.
▪ In today's NY Times -- Anxiety rises as paychecks trail inflation (Leonhardt column) -- Whether the culprit seems to be Wal-Mart’s drive for profits or an illegal immigrant who takes someone’s else job, many American families feel as if they’re falling behind, and they’re right.
▪ In today's Washington Post -- Northwest flight attendants threaten to strike as soon as Aug. 15
▪ In today's Washington Post -- Pensions endgame: The airlines win, again (editorial) -- The House bill is complex, and last-minute changes make it unclear whether it's likely to increase the underfunding of pensions or decrease it. A speedy outcome is less important than a good one.
▪ In today's NY Times -- Unions say EPA bends to political pressure -- Unions representing thousands of EPA staff scientists say the agency is bending to political pressure and ignoring sound science in allowing a group of toxic chemicals to be used in agricultural pesticides.
▪ In today's Washington Post -- Key Labor Dept. nominee is nearly unnoticed in Senate hearing
▪ In The Onion -- Bush grants self permission to grant self more power -- Says the president: "I promise the American people that I will not abuse this new power, unless it becomes necessary to grant myself the power to do so at a later time."

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2006
Republicans launch "inexcusable attack" on tipped workers
Reichert & Co. vote to slash workers' wages while cutting estate taxes for rich

Rally TODAY in Seattle

Make plans to attend a rally in Seattle TODAY at 2 p.m. 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. Reps. Jay Inslee (D-1st) and Jim McDermott (D-7th), 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!

House Republicans, including Reps. Dave Reichert (R-8th), Cathy McMorris (R-5th) and Doc Hastings (R-4th), voted last weekend to approve H.R. 5970, another attempt to grant a $750 billion estate tax cut for heirs of the richest families in America. This time, in an effort to achieve Senate passage, the bill also included the first federal minimum wage increase in nearly a decade.

But for thousands of Washington workers who earn tips, the bill's minimum wage increase was actually a major wage cut because it included a provision forcing states to impose a "tip penalty," which allows employers to deduct from their minimum wage obligations the tips that customers give their employees. The employers could then pay as little as $2.13 an hour, according to a new Economic Opportunity Institute analysis of the effect of H.R. 5970.

In Washington state, tipped workers earn at least the state minimum wage of $7.63 an hour, which increases every year thanks to a 1998 initiative overwhelmingly approved by voters. Washington is among several states, including Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada and Oregon, that do not allow tip penalties.

So, in addition to passing a major debt-financed tax break for the richest heirs in America, the effect of the House-approved H.R. 5970 -- which Reichert, McMorris and Hastings all supported -- is to cut those workers wages by as much as $5.50 an hour. The Senate is expected to take up the bill this week before it adjourns for recess, possibly as soon as today. Minority Democrats have vowed to block the bill through filibuster.

"This is an inexcusable attack on Washington working families," said Rick Bender, President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. "It's simply indefensible that Dave Reichert, Cathy McMorris and Doc Hastings would vote to pick the pockets of thousands of their constituents in an effort to line the pockets of the Waltons, Hiltons and other super-rich families."

With 195,000 workers statewide, restaurants and bars employ the bulk of the state’s tipped workers, reports the Seattle-based Economic Opportunity Institute. The restaurant industry has been booming under Washington’s progressive minimum wage law. Restaurants added 8,000 new jobs in 2005 and have grown by an additional 9,000 new jobs so far in 2006. Most of these workers are adults, supporting themselves and their families. About two-thirds of waiters and waitresses are over age 25 and nearly 20 percent are over age 45. These tipped workers are significantly less likely to receive health care and pension benefits than the rest of Washington's workforce.

So far, no Republican lawmakers have publicly defended the tip-penalty provision of their bill. Instead, the National Restaurant Association, a Washington D.C. lobbying group that is likely responsible for the provision's inclusion in the bill, has disputed the fact that it will cut workers' wages. They claim it would merely freeze the minimum wage for tipped workers from future minimum wage increases.

But the nonpartisan, independent Economic Opportunity Institute analysis of H.R. 5970 says otherwise.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2006
IUOE Local 302 strikes King County concrete, gravel suppliers

The following press release was distributed Tuesday by the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 302:

The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 302, whose members are employed in the concrete, rock, sand and gravel industries, went on strike at midnight on July 31.

Local 302 struck Cadman, Glacier Northwest, Salmon Bay, and Stoneway. These companies are the main suppliers of concrete, rock and gravel to the majority of construction projects in King County. The vote to strike was overwhelming supported by the 100 members who work in these plants. By an overwhelming majority, the members gave authorization to the union to strike. The issue is money and contract language that provides the ability to honor other crafts that are forced to go out on strike.

Seattle and the surrounding communities are experiencing unprecedented growth in commercial, residential and heavy highway construction. Market trends forecast more of the same.

"My members shared in the austerity, they now want to share in the prosperity," said Allan Darr, Business Manager of Local 302.

For more information, contact Allan Darr, IUOE 302 Business Manager, at 425-806-0302 x102; or Randy Loomans, IUOE 302 Director of Government Affairs, at 206-251-5399.

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.