WSLC Reports Today -- February 15, 2007

February 15, 2007

THE PAST WEEK:
Wednesday, Feb. 14
Tuesday, Feb. 13
Friday, Feb. 9
Thursday, Feb. 8

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.

THURSDAY, FEB. 15 ▪ Aerospace Incentive Accountability Act hearing is Tuesday -- All supporters of the freedom to choose unionization without employer harassment and coercion are invited and encouraged to attend this important Feb. 20 hearing and sign in supporting the bill.

Local news:
▪ In today's Seattle P-I -- Union workers hail Westin Seattle pact -- Workers at the city's largest hotel negotiate significant pay and benefit increases -- a move they hope will thrust them into the middle class and have a profound impact on the regional service industry. Celebrate Thursday.
▪ In today's Seattle Times -- Immigration crackdown at UPS plants nets 51 workers
▪ In today's Tri-City Herald -- U.S. Senate sets Hanford's fiscal budget -- DOE has 30 days from enactment of the bill to submit a report to Congress on how it plans to spend the money.
▪ At ShiftBreak.com -- Folk music with a union label (MP3 audio file) -- An interview with Charlie King about the traveling musicians union, Local 1000 of the American Federation of Musicians.

Legislative news: ▪ Olympia leaders on agenda for Feb. 22 WSLC Legislative Conference
▪ In today's Olympian -- Children's health bill passed by Senate -- It passes a bill providing coverage to 38,000 more children in the next two years. The vote was 38 yes, 9 no and 2 excused.
▪ In today's Seatle P-I -- Viaduct "warfare" threatens futures of all roads -- It could mean lawsuits or other action that many predict would spin the project into a prolonged political quagmire and exacerbate an increasingly dysfunctional system for regional transit and highway planning.
▪ In today's Seattle Times -- Bennett expects voter rebuff of Sonics plan -- "Given the climate and given the opponents and their vigilance ... I think a public vote would be very difficult to survive."
▪ In The Columbian -- A new "loan" line (editorial) -- Rep. Kirby's HB 1817 leaves the rates unchanged and seeks to address the payday loan problem in more oblique ways that appear unlikely to get to the heart of the problem. This should be negotiable.
▪ In today's Seattle Times -- Undermining initiatives (editorial) -- Legislators have introduced several bills to regulate the right of initiative and referendum. Each appears public-spirited, and some may be. Each, however, makes it more difficult to qualify a measure for the ballot.

National news:
▪ Today from Reuters -- Employee Free Choice Act advances; Cheney threatens veto
▪ At PBS Online Newshour -- Free trade hurts American workers, AFL-CIO director says -- Says Thea Lee: "The set of rules that we've put in place... has been very lopsided. It's been very good for protecting the interests and concerns of the multinational corporations, so that they can move their production, their jobs, around from country to country with very few obstacles. And it's not so good for the people left behind.
▪ At TomPaine.com -- Open the labor umbrella (op-ed by Dmitri Iglitzin) -- Independent contractors not only have no right to unionize, it can be crime for them to even work together collectively to improve their pay and working conditions.. Something can be done about this problem. States can lawfully regulate the labor relations of those employers not covered by the NLRA.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2007
Aerospace Incentive Accountability Act hearings are Tuesday

Labor leaders and rank-and-file union members who work at The Boeing Co. will come to Olympia on Tuesday, Feb. 20 to testify in support of the Aerospace Incentive Accountability Act (HB 1828). The legislation would require aerospace companies that are recipients of the $3.2 billion in tax incentives approved in 2003 to remain neutral and allow their employees to choose for themselves whether they want to organize a union.

All supporters of the freedom to choose unionization without employer harassment and coercion are invited and encouraged to attend this important hearing and sign in supporting the bill.

The Aerospace Incentive Accountability Act addresses concerns that good Boeing jobs are being contracted out to aerospace firms that pay lower wages and offer fewer benefits, while these companies receive a major public subsidy intended to preserve Boeing jobs. There have been cases where these aerospace contractors have aggressively fought their employees' attempts to form unions.

"This unprecedented taxpayer subsidy of the aerospace industry is worthwhile only if it creates good family-wage jobs where workers rights are respected," said Rick Bender, President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. "If this investment is succeeding and producing good jobs as intended, then employers -- with their happy workers -- have nothing to fear from union neutrality."

WHAT: Public Hearing on the Aerospace Incentive Accountability Act

WHEN: Tuesday, Feb. 20 at 1:30 p.m.

WHERE: House Commerce and Labor Committee, Hearing Room B

WHO: Rick Bender, President of the Washington State Labor Council; Mark Blondin, President of Machinists District Lodge 751; Charles Bofferding, Executive Director of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace/IFPTE Local 2001; Don Hursey, Business Representative for Machinists District Lodge 160; and rank-and-file aerospace workers.

For more information about the Aerospace Incentive Accountability Act, see our Feb. 2 edition of WSLC Legislative Update, or contact WSLC Communications Director David Groves at (206) 281-8901.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2007
Olympia leaders on agenda for Feb. 22 Legislative Conference

Governor Chris Gregoire, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, House Speaker Frank Chopp and U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee are among the special guest speakers on the agenda for the Washington State Labor Council's 2007 Legislative Conference, beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 22 at the Olympia Red Lion Hotel. (See the tentative agenda below.)

All leaders, staffers and rank-and-file members of WSLC-affiliated unions are invited to attend this conference to find out what is happening in Olympia. The conference registration fee, which includes materials, lunch and one admission to the reception the preceding night, is $30. Click here to download a registration form (in Word format) or call 206-281-8901 to have one mailed or faxed to you. Pre-registration ends Friday, Feb. 16. It is possible to register at the door; Thursday morning registration begins at 7:30 a.m.

The night before the conference on Wednesday, Feb. 21, there will be a reception from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the hotel. Many legislators and other state officials will attend, making the reception a great opportunity to engage in informal conversation with legislators and other officials. If you would like to bring a guest(s) to the reception on Wednesday night, there is a fee of $15 per guest.

To make the registration for the reception and conference go faster and smoother, early registration will be available in the hotel lobby at 2 p.m. on Wednesday. Register early and avoid the lines!

Following is the tentative agenda for the WSLC Legislative Conference (due to legislative developments, this agenda is subject to change):

7:30 a.m. -- Registration Begins
8:30 a.m. -- Conference Convenes
8:45 a.m. -- Overview of Session -- WSLC President Rick Bender
9:00 a.m. -- Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles
9:15 a.m. -- Jerry Acosta, AFL-CIO Western Regional Director
9:30 a.m. -- Karen Lee, Commissioner, Employment Security
9:45 a.m. -- U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee
10:00 a.m. -- House Speaker Frank Chopp
10:15 a.m. -- Gov. Chris Gregoire
10:45 a.m. -- Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown
11:00 a.m. -- Rep. Steve Conway
11:15 a.m. -- Judy Schurke, Acting Director, Labor and Industries
11:30 a.m. -- WSLC Lobbyist Presentations -- Jeff Johnson, Diane McDaniel, Pam Crone and Robby Stern
12:15 p.m. -- Lunch
1:15 p.m. -- Adjourn to Hill

^{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.}
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