WSLC Reports Today -- August 17, 2006

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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.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 17 ▪ WSLC's 2006 Convention begins Monday in Wenatchee --
If you aren't attending, you can follow convention news at this site all week. If you are, read on...

Concrete strike news: ▪ Management tries to break solidarity in IUOE strike (yesterday's post) -- Help show the employers that workers will not be divided and conquered. Join the picket line!
▪ In today's King County Journal -- Concrete strike talks break down -- "We want to settle this. This is not good for anybody," says IUOE 302 Business Manager Allan Darr. "They need to come to the table with an offer with both the language and the economics that can settle this."
▪ In today's Everett Herald -- No deal in concrete strike -- Talks break down between operating engineers and four companies over the workers' right to honor other unions' picket lines.

Local news: ▪ State employees urged to call governor: "2.5% and 2% won't do!" (WFSE.org)
▪ In today's Olympian -- Union hits high gear for negotiations -- The WFSE cranks up pressure on the state's negotiation team with phone calls to the governor, through e-mail, leaflets and rallies.
▪ In today's Olympian -- 2004 disputed union vote case dismissed -- The PERC has dismissed the final state worker case regarding a much-disputed vote on union contracts that mandated dues.
▪ In the (Longview) Daily News -- Shopping at Wal-Mart isn't so cheap (op-ed) -- One study cites 244 Wal-Mart stores and distribution centers in 35 states that have received state and local development subsidies of just over $1 billion. More of your tax money going for corporate welfare.
▪ In today's News Tribune -- Alaska, pilots ready for rematch -- When the airline and its pilots met to talk about wages 15 months ago, its 1,500 pilots got the short end of the bargain: wages cut by an average of 26% by an arbitrator’s decision. Now, contract talks are set to begin again.
▪ In today's Seattle Times -- Hearst (P-I) seeks firms' records of dealings with Times Co. -- The move provides the first, sparse hints of what's going on behind closed doors in the binding arbitration proceedings that may decide the fate of one -- or both -- of Seattle's daily newspapers.
▪ In today's Seattle P-I -- Supersized tax (editorial) -- Seattle voters are said to welcome any new tax. The tax boost for road maintenance and other traffic projects may test the conventional wisdom.
▪ In today's Salem S-J -- Employee Relations Board weighs options in Oregon DOT-union case

Political news: ▪ AFL-CIO unions mobilizing for the 2006 elections (AFL-CIO Now)
▪ In today's Seattle Times -- Cantwell's no Lieberman (Balter column) -- (Unlike Lieberman) Cantwell has opposed Bush numerous times, pointedly on his alliance with Big Oil and by voting against both of his rightist Supreme Court nominees, Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito.
▪ In The Stranger -- Tipped workers protest Frist-McGavick event over minimum wage attack (brief)
▪ In today's NY Times -- With eye on election, Democrats run as Wal-Mart foe -- Their alliance with the anti-Wal-Mart campaign dovetails with their emphasis in Washington on raising the minimum wage and doing more to make health insurance affordable. It also suggests they will go into the midterm Congressional elections this fall and the 2008 presidential race striking a populist tone.

National news:
▪ Today from AP -- Families troubled by health care costs -- About half of adults in middle-income families reported serious problems in paying for their health care while even those in more affluent circumstances said they had troubles with medical bills, a new survey found.
▪ In today's NY Times -- Rules delayed on foreign control of airlines -- The Bush administration says the U.S. remained firmly committed to the new rules, but more time is needed to consult with opponents of the changes in Congress and elsewhere. (Labor opposes the rules.)
▪ From Bloomberg -- Northwest Airlines apologizes for offending workers -- A booklet of money- saving ideas for laid-off employees suggests buying jewelry at pawnshops, getting auto parts at junkyards, shorter showers, and "don't be shy about pulling something you like out of the trash."

THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 2006
WSLC 2006 Convention begins Monday, Aug. 21 in Wenatchee

The 2006 Constitutional Convention of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO begins at 9 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 21 and runs through Thursday at the Coast Wenatchee Hotel and Convention Center in downtown Wenatchee. If you aren't attending, you can follow convention news at this site all week. Download a tentative agenda, as well as the convention's Partial Proceedings, which includes the reports of officers, staff and standing committees, the WSLC Constitution and C.O.P.E. By-Laws, and the Proposed Rules of Order for convention.

The annual WSLC Convention is an opportunity for union officers, staff and rank-and-file delegates to hear from distinguished union and government leaders, attend informative workshops, develop relationships with other unions -- and have some fun. "The Tournament in ‘06," the annual golf fund raiser to benefit community service agencies, will be Sunday, Aug. 20 with a 7:30 a.m. shotgun start at Wenatchee's Highlander Golf Club. For registration information, contact Nancy or Julie at the Puget Sound Labor Agency at 206-448-9277, or download the tournament flier/registration form.

Under the theme, "Opportunity Knocks," the convention will open Monday with a report from WSLC President Rick Bender regarding the state and mission of the Council one year after several international unions left the AFL-CIO to form the Change to Win Coalition, and the opportunities that organized labor has in the coming election. He will be followed by Monday's special keynote speaker, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson.

In addition to Chavez-Thompson, other distinguished convention speakers scheduled to appear include AFGE President John Gage, AFL-CIO Organizing Director Stewart Acuff, Apollo Alliance President Jerome Ringo, and several prominent lawmakers including convention banquet speaker U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, State Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, House Speaker Frank Chopp, and several U.S. Representatives and congressional candidates. Addressing the convention banquet following Sen. Cantwell will be comedian Will Durst, who brought the house down at last year's convention.

Issues to be addressed by panels and speakers include immigrant workers and immigration reform, UNITE HERE's Hotel Workers Rising campaign, Labor Neighbor 2006 political organizing efforts, health care reform, UFCW's Wal-Mart campaign, ballot initiatives, workers' compensation, and other issues. Workshops are planned on union organizing, offshore outsourcing, election mobilization, workers' compensation, immigration reform, community and technical colleges, economic development, the Department of Occupational Safety and Health, and much more.

In addition to Sunday's golf tournament (described above), other entertainment includes some short labor films to be screened Monday night, the COPE Barbecue followed by karaoke in the plaza outside the convention center on Tuesday night, and the convention reception and banquet on Wednesday night followed by more karaoke in the plaza. In addition, there are lots of great recreational activities available nearby.

The Coast Wenatchee Center Hotel is a unionized facility located at 201 N. Wenatchee Ave. The phone number for reservations is 509-662-1234, but we are told the hotel is fully booked, although a waiting list has been established. A block of rooms has also been reserved at the nearby Red Lion; phone 509-663-0711. Tell them you are with the Washington State Labor Council to get the $85 room rate.

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.