WSLC Reports Today -- September 18, 2006

Sept. 18, 2006

THE PAST WEEK:
Friday, Sept. 15
Thursday, Sept. 14
Tuesday, Sept. 12
Monday, Sept. 11

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.

MONDAY, SEPT. 18 ▪ Primary Election get-out-the-vote phone banks tonight -- Thank you to all who volunteered and helped us have a terrific turnout for WSLC Labor Neighbor activities over the weekend! Check out the updated schedule of activities, including tonight's phone banks in Seattle, for more opportunities to volunteer... and then sign up!

Local news: ▪ IUOE Local 302 thanks WSLC for strike support
▪ In Saturday's Olympian -- Prison workers against contract -- Teamsters 117 asks 5,000 members at state prison workers to reject Gov. Gregoire's final offer.
▪ In the Daily World -- Nearing the end of an era? -- The closure of Weyerhaeuser’s Cosmopolis mill, which has provided some of the area’s best-paying jobs for almost 50 years, has begun.
▪ In the Daily World -- More than 200 Weyerhaeuser workers, more than 200 stories
▪ In today's Bellingham Herald -- Council acted wrongly against Wal-Mart (editorial) -- The Bellingham City Council stepped over the line last week when it passed an "emergency ordinance" aimed squarely at stopping Wal-Mart from adding a grocery department to its Bellingham store.
▪ A related story in today's Everett Herald -- Uninsured patients taxing Snohomish health system
▪ In today's Everett Herald -- Boeing pier's higher costs, delays aren't a scoop (Benbow column)

Immigration news:
▪ In Sunday's Seattle Times -- Area home-building boom relies on illegal workers -- The pay disparity between union and nonunion labor has since grown enormous. Wage complaints filed by immigrants show them working as drywall tapers in nonunion jobs for as little as minimum wage. Meanwhile, the supply of cheap labor has helped keep homebuilders' profits stable or growing.
▪ In today's Seattle Times -- State struggles to catch work-site abuses -- Labor unions say cases of illegal immigrants getting stiffed out of pay are especially common. In some cases, unions are stepping in to help these workers, most of them nonunion, take legal action.
▪ In today's Seattle Times -- Get-tough policy on employers has had limited effect -- Despite some big fines and a few jail terms for employers, the government's get-tough effort appears limited. In Washington state, agents have announced only two convictions of employers -- both Chinese restaurants -- and have missed other obvious sectors such as farms and construction sites.
▪ From AP -- Immigration raids leave Georgia town bereft, stunned -- Stillmore has become little more than a ghost town since feds began rounding up undocumented workers. The sweep has had the unintended effect of illustrating how vital the workers were to the local economy.

Political news:
▪ A related story in the Seattle Times -- Karl Rove hits Eastside to raise money for Reichert -- Rep. "I'm a moderate!" Reichert hits the GOP Rogue's Gallery Trifecta: DeLay, Gingrich and Rove.
▪ At the Times' Postman on Politics blog -- Republicans unleash barrage of anti-Burner mail
▪ In today's Seattle P-I -- Republicans stick to game of Rip the Opponent (Connelly column) -- These people are running our government. Don't they have a few positive accomplishments -- stuff done that benefits the American people -- to which they can point?
▪ In Sunday's Columbian -- Judicial campaigns get ugly (editorial) -- As of Friday, campaign contributions to (BIAW's Boy) Groen and organizations supporting him totaled $1,669,498.
▪ In Sunday's Seattle Times -- High-court seat shouldn't go to the highest bidder (Westneat column)

National news:
▪ In today's News Tribune -- Congress' inaction could kill Washington's sales tax break -- The IRS needs to submit this year’s tax forms to its printers by Oct. 15. Congress is set to adjourn in two weeks and there is not even a bill moving forward to again allow the residents of the eight states to deduct what they pay in state and local sales taxes on their federal returns.
▪ From AP -- Judge won't let Northwest flight attendants strike -- Citing the "vital role" that airlines play in the U.S. economy, a federal judge overrules the bankruptcy court judge's decision.
▪ Today from AP -- U.S. trade deficit is second highest ever
▪ Today from Bloomberg -- White House screening Detroit's calls -- until after the election

Last throes update:
▪ Today from AP -- U.S. war prisons are legal vacuum for 14,000 -- The U.S. military has created a global network of overseas prisons keeping 14,000 detainees beyond the reach of established law. Disclosures of torture and long-term arbitrary detentions have won rebuke worldwide.
▪ In Sunday's NY Times -- Bush untethered (editorial) -- With his latest threat to quit interrogating terrorists if Congress did not approve his detainee bill, we have lost count of the number of times Bush has said Americans have to choose between protecting the nation precisely the way he wants, and not protecting it at all. The president seems to maintain a deeply seated conviction that under his leadership, America is right and does not need the discipline of rules.
▪ In the Wash. Post -- GOP loyalty determined who would rebuild Iraq -- Applicants didn't need to be experts in the Middle East. They did need, however, to be a member of the Republican Party.
▪ The WSLC's affiliated unions have called for an end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Between 43,258 and 48,035 Iraqi civilians -- roughly the populations of the cities of Olympia or Pasco -- have been killed since the invasion. Of the 2,683 U.S. troops that have been killed there so far, 2,546 have died since President Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" and an end to major combat operations in Iraq on May 1, 2003. (2,216 have died since Saddam's capture.) More than five years after 9/11, Osama bin Laden is still at large.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2006
IUOE 302 thanks WSLC affiliates for support in concrete strike

Following is a memorandum from Allan Darr, Business Manager of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 302, regarding that union's recent strike of concrete and gravel suppliers in King County:

To:          All the Washington State Labor Council and Affiliates
From:      The International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 302
Subject:   Appreciation

Brothers and Sisters all, please accept our appreciation for your contributions to those members who were forced to the picket line in defense of their union right -- the right to honor a picket line.

A collection was taken at the recent Washington State Labor Council convention and you gave from your hearts. IUOE Local 302 was overwhelmed by your generosity. Please know that should any affiliate of the great Federation of Labor need our help, we will stand with you.

This is a great labor movement, go forth and make it better.

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.