|
May 1, 2007 |
|
|
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,
MAY 1 ▪
Edwards'
union member town hall TODAY at noon in Seattle
-- 
IMPORTANT: Bridge
closure/traffic alert near the IAM Hall.
▪ At
AFL-CIO Now -- New
interactive website engages union members in presidential process --
▪ At AFL-CIO Now -- Union families meet with presidential candidate Sen. Chris Dodd
▪ In today's Seattle P-I -- Offshore outsourcing fades as an election issue (Virgin column) -- It's way too early to say there's been a widespread renunciation of offshore outsourcing... (but) there's some rethinking going on. Some companies have decided the promised cost savings aren't materializing or aren't worth the problems generated by sending work to vendors outside the U.S.
Freedom
to Choose Unionization:
▪ In
today's NY Times -- Report
assails Wal-Mart over unions -- In its first study of how an American
company treats its workers, Human Rights Watch -- which typically focuses on
rights violations in Burundi, North Korea or other foreign countries --
asserts that Wal-Mart's aggressive efforts to keep out labor unions often
violate federal law and infringe on its workers’ rights. The report finds
that when Wal-Mart faces unionization drives, the company breaks the law by
eavesdropping on workers, training surveillance cameras on them and firing
those who favored unions.
▪ At
AFL-CIO Now -- Oregon
bus driver's firing shows need for Employee Free Choice Act -- A
Bend Area Transit bus driver is fired by
the out-of-state contractor that runs the system, just a month after
testifying in support of bills that would restore workers’ freedom to
choose a union.
|
LAST THROES UPDATE |
|
U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq before President Bush declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq on May 1, 2003: 139 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq in the four years since: 3,212 Between 62,760 and 68,786 Iraqi civilians have been killed since America invaded their country -- although some estimates are 10 times higher. A total of 3,351 American military personnel have been killed in Iraq. Five and a half years after 9/11, Osama bin Laden is still at large. Mission
Accomplished news: |
Immigration
marches: ▪
Rally at 3 p.m. in Seattle
▪ In
the Bellingham Herald -- Immigration
march
today -- Participants will gather
at noon in Cornwall Park in Bellingham for a march to the Whatcom County
Courthouse, then return to the park at about 3 p.m.
▪ In today's
Yakima H-R -- Immigration
march today -- Yakima Valley
residents will pound the pavement at 3:30 p.m. at Miller Park, North Third
and E streets.
▪ Today from AP
-- Immigration
protests planned nationwide -- Demonstrators demanding a path to
citizenship for an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants hope that
nationwide marches will spur Congress to act before the looming presidential
primaries take over the political landscape.
▪ In
today's NY Times -- As
deportation pace rises, immigrants dig in -- Last year on May 1, hoping
to influence Congress to adopt immigration reform, hundreds of thousands
held marches and work stoppages across the country. This May 1 there will be
another round of marches, but this time immigrants will also be protesting a
surge in deportations.
Local
news:
▪ In
today's News Tribune -- Tribe
makes huge Port deal -- The Puyallup Tribe and SSA Marine plan to
develop a 180-acre shipping container terminal along the eastern shore of
the Blair Waterway in Tacoma’s Tideflats. It would be the only container
terminal in the city not owned by the Port of Tacoma.
▪ In
The Columbian -- Vancouver
mayor blasts Cowlitz casino proposal -- Reports say it would create
3,150 jobs paying an average annual wage of $28,000, including tips.
“It’s not the kind of high-wage jobs that we want in this county, in
this city,” says mayor.
▪ Today
from AP -- Boeing
poised to return to No. 1 -- CEO: they're on pace
to overtake Airbus within a year as the world's largest commercial airplane
maker.
▪ In
today's Olympian -- Carpenters
union pickets Cabala's site -- The union says nonunion workers are being
paid half of what union workers would make.
▪ In
today's Seattle P-I -- Foot
ferries nearing rebirth -- A new-style Mosquito Fleet could ferry
passengers across Puget Sound, and maybe even Lake Washington, under a
county council-approved plan.
▪ In
today's NY Times -- A
governor truly tightens his belt -- The decision by Gov. Kulongoski of
Oregon to live on $3 a day in grocery money for a week could confound the
surest cynic.
Legislative
news:
▪
In
yesterday's Olympian -- Lawmakers
hit some high notes on health care -- ("High notes" include)
paid family leave: It was scaled back significantly, but under the final
version workers would get $250 a week for up to five weeks to care for a
newborn or a newly adopted child, starting in 2009. The downside is
lawmakers haven’t yet figured out how to pay for it.
▪ In
today's Oregonian -- Oregon
PERS may drop "break-in-service" rule -- Legislation stops
public employees who leave and later return to public service from
forfeiting their pension seniority.
National
news:
▪
In
today's LA Times -- U.S.-China
trade gap widening -- Concerned by the growing trade deficit, lawmakers
are pushing for sanctions and penalties to slow down the Chinese export
juggernaut.
▪
In
today's LA Times -- A
Bush appointee goes after the White House -- Prosecutor Scott Bloch, a
committed conservative, probes the administration's political operation
headed by Karl Rove.
TUESDAY,
MAY 1, 2007
Edwards union member town hall TODAY at noon in Seattle
|
TRAFFIC ALERT The South Park Bridge will likely be closed for repairs on Tuesday May 1st. Anyone going to the Machinists Hall from Seattle should follow the following will need to follow these alternate directions. Those traveling to the hall from the south will not be affected by the bridge closure (directions also provided herein). Please allow extra time for detour and parking. FROM SEATTLE (southbound on I-5): Take the Corson Ave./Michigan St. exit. Turn right onto Michigan St. (westbound) to the 1st Ave S. Bridge (bear right after crossing 1st Ave. S. to get on the onramp). On the bridge, stay in the right-hand lane and take the first exit to 99S, “W. Marginal Way/South Park.” Bear right at the bottom of the exit and turn right at the second light, following the signs to 99S. Take the second exit off 99S, “14th Ave S/Des Moines Dr.” You may bear left to 14th Ave S., across the overpass, right on S. Director St. into the Machinists parking lot. Or, you may bear right onto Des Moines Dr and turn right into Rascal’s Casino parking lot. There will be shuttle service available to take you to the Machinists Hall and back. FROM TACOMA (northbound on I-5): Take the Tukwila (Hwy 599) Exit. Take the 14th Ave S. Exit. Turn left at the stop sign. Take first right turn onto S. 93rd. Take first left into parking lot. If you are directed to the overflow parking, bear left to stop sign and turn left onto 14th Ave S. Cross freeway overpass to Des Moines Memorial Drive and park in the Rascal’s parking lot. |
The M.L. King County Labor Council, AFL-CIO is hosting a Union Member Town Hall meeting featuring Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards TODAY at Noon at the Aerospace Machinists 751 Hall, 9135 15th Pl. South in Seattle. The event will begin promptly at noon so please arrive early (and note the traffic information at right).
The event is one of several candidate forums organized for an intensive six-month effort to engage union members and their families in the AFL-CIO’s presidential endorsement decision-making process. The AFL-CIO Executive Council voted to ask each of its 54 national unions to make no endorsement until the AFL-CIO General Board decides, following the six-month period of member consultation, whether or not to endorse a candidate prior to the primaries.
The AFL-CIO "Working Families Vote 2008" campaign is the broadest effort yet to involve working people in the selection of a president, aiming for record turnout in 2008. The town meetings will help ensure that the candidates understand working people’s priorities on issues like health care reform, retirement security, jobs and the freedom to form or join a union.
In addition, the AFL-CIO will provide union members with opportunities to engage the candidates through online idea exchanges and other means. Later this month the AFL-CIO will launch an interactive website dedicated to the presidential campaign and endorsement process.
The M.L. King County Labor Council has already distributed tickets to union locals. Attendance is limited to members of AFL-CIO unions and unions that have signed AFL-CIO Solidarity Charters. Space is limited so check with your union to see whether all of its tickets are spoken for.
TUESDAY,
MAY 1, 2007
March for immigration reform TODAY
in Seattle
A May Day March and Rally for Immigration Reform will be held Tuesday, May 1 at 3 p.m. at the Seattle Center's Fisher Pavilion. Those who plan to attend Democratic presidential candidate John Edward's forum with AFL-CIO union members that day at noon at the IAM Hall are urged to also participate in this important demonstration.
The immigration reform march and rally aims to defend the rights of immigrant workers who are facing terrorizing raids in their homes and workplaces, indefinite detentions with little or no opportunity to challenge their detention in court, and mass deportation.
Last year on April 10 in Seattle, more than 30,000 people took to the streets, and again on May 1 more than 65,000 people hit the pavement to stand against federal legislation that would have criminalized millions of people in the country, and hurt wages and working conditions for millions more. As a response to this brave action by immigrant communities and their allies, the federal government responded with swift and terrorizing raids in workplaces and in people's homes.
Thousands of workers around the country have fallen victim to the present onslaught of viciousness, separating children from their mothers and wives from their husbands. Make plans to attend the May Day march and rally and help us deliver the message, stop breaking families apart!
An injury to one is an injury to all!
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 © 200
7 Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO