WSLC Reports Today
Updated DAILY... Almost Every Day™ 

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,  APRIL 23

Workers Memorial Day Materials Include McCain’s Voting Record on Job Safety -- From the AFL-CIO -- New and updated materials are now online and ready to download to help you prepare for Workers Memorial Day on April 28 and to help you get the message out to the media and your community. Every year, thousands of workers are killed on the job and millions more are hurt or become sick because of their work. Next Monday, on Workers Memorial Day, workers, union activists, religious and community leaders and elected officials are expected to take part in more than 10,000 memorial services, rallies and marches to honor workers killed and injured on the job. They also will call on lawmakers to improve workplace safety standards.

Local News:

• Labor Group Calls for Flood Cleanup Help-- Bellingham Herald  -- A group called Labor Helping Neighbor is in search of volunteers for flood relief work on Saturday in the Boistfort Valley. Volunteers are being asked to bring boots and gloves, and meet at 9 a.m. at the Baw Faw Grange in Boistfort. A press release from the group said labor union members and Democrats will assemble to help farmers with extra work getting ready for the spring planting season. 
• Boeing's first quarter income up 38 percent -- Everett Herald -- The Boeing Co. reported on Wednesday a 38 percent jump in its first quarter income over the previous year based on growth in its commercial jet business. “We’re off to a good start in what we expect to be another strong year of financial performance at Boeing,” said Jim McNerney, Boeing’s chief executive.
• Need a job? Green-collar opportunities await -- Everett Herald -- Gov. Chris Gregoire plans to create 25,000 new green-collar jobs in Washington by 2020. What defines a green-collar job? Any occupation that promotes our shift to a more energy-conscious and energy-efficient culture. It's a phrase that covers a lot of ground, which is outstanding news for job seekers. The focus on eco-friendly living generates jobs across the board. At all levels, in all industries. The possibilities are endless.
• Gifford Pinchot Task Force proposes 20-year forest restoration -- Columbian -- A Portland-based conservation group released a 20-year plan for the Gifford Pinchot National Forest Wednesday that calls for strategic forest thinning, road removal and policy changes to reduce the impact of grazing, mining and off-road vehicle use on the 1.3-million-acre forest in Southwest Washington. The plan, called "Restoring Volcano Country," was written by the Gifford Pinchot Task Force.  It outlines a vision for increasing protection for fish and wildlife, including the gray wolf and the northern spotted owl, while putting people to work in  family-wage jobs in the woods.
• District must explain object in the ceiling -- Everett Herald Opinion --What was the cone-shaped object that several teachers report seeing in the ceiling of Powers' classroom last spring? In the absence of a straight answer, the district invites speculation that a video camera was secretly watching Powers and her students. The legality of such surveillance is dubious; the public trust implications unsettling.
• New faces for Boeing unions -- Seattle PI -- Not only must The Boeing Co. finally get its much delayed 787 Dreamliner off the ground later this year, but it also needs labor peace with its two biggest unions around the same time. None of it will be easy. With Boeing flush with the success of selling a record haul of commercial jets over the last three years, and production rates and factory hiring on the rise to meet the demand, the slogan for the Machinists union in 2008 is: "It's our time this time."
• Serious crop damage reported after mid-April freeze -- Yakima Herald -- Damage from the Yakima Valley's worst freeze in more than two decades is still being assessed, but some growers are reporting they've lost their entire apple or cherry crop. A five-day cold snap ending Monday saw overnight temperatures dip as low as 19 degrees and may have reduced a projected record apple crop to about 20 percent below average.

Political and Legislative:

AFL-CIO Congressional Records Available click here for more

• Strong Union Turnout in Pennsylvania Primary -- AFL-CIO Blog -- Last night’s Democratic primary in Pennsylvania drew more than 2.3 million voters, continuing an election season of unprecedented turnout in the primary process. Union members came out strong. According to exit polls, 31 percent of voters in the Democratic primary were members of union households. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) defeated Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) 54.7 percent to 45.3 percent in a hotly contested race. Clinton won 59 percent of union households, and Obama won 41 percent of these voters, according to exit polls.

• Electrical engineer seeks Orcutt's House seat -- Columbian -- Jonathan Fant, an electrical engineer who lives north of Battle Ground,  has launched a campaign for the 18th District House seat presently held by Rep. Ed Orcutt, a Kalama Republican. Fant, 57, a Democrat, said he will strive to wage an environmentally friendly campaign by using only recycled-content paper, campaigning by bicycle and getting his message out via newspaper coverage and his Web site rather than by printing and distributing flyers. He said he had hoped to forgo the use of lawn signs but gave up on that idea after Orcutt declined to do the same.

McCain Myth Busters: 

• Check out the latest on the AFL-CIO's website:

  McCain Revealed. There you will find the real story about Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the Republican nominee for president. McCain has built a media-friendly reputation as a “maverick” and moderate. But there’s nothing moderate about McCain, a loyal ally of Bush who has consistently and perniciously voted against the interests of working families in his decades-long career in Washington.

   

  Click here to go to a page full of previously posted articles on John McCain. 

• Truth Vs. 'Trash Journalism': McCain's Weak Rebuttal to Damaging Allegations -- Alternet -- I just don't get where all the "outlandishness" and "hate" comes from on the McCain side. I am only a humble author trying to do my job, sharing facts that are 100% sourced. It's not like I included in my book the account of a former AP reporter who recounted to me seeing John McCain wander off into the Red Light District of Hanoi in 1996 when he was there to normalize relations with the Vietnamese. Or that it was known among reporters that he used to disappear into that part of town alone at night. I never said that in my book. And why would I? That would supposedly be "trash journalism."

National News:

• The Health Care Union War -- AlterNet --  As more than 1,000 labor union activists gathered in Dearborn, Mich., last weekend for the biennial conference organized by the magazine, Labor Notes, a passionate argument between competing health care unions coursed through the meeting. But by evening, the dispute turned ugly and physical. And the stakes in the dispute cranked up another notch. On one side were nurses and leaders from the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CAN/NNOC); on the other, staff and nurses with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU ).
• Women Don’t Ask? No, Employers Don’t Pay -- AFL-CIO Blog -- According to the media, the problem is that women just don’t ask. If we learned to speak up in salary negotiations, pay equity would be a hard fact. An ABC News segment called the negotiation process “something that each of us has the ability to control….No employer has an obligation to whisper in the woman’s ear, ‘Hey, you know, you just lost out on more money because you didn’t speak up.’”
• Ky. whistleblower gets $500,000 to settle hiring lawsuit --  AP -- A government worker in Kentucky will receive $500,000 to settle a whistleblower lawsuit claiming she was punished for helping authorities who investigated state hiring practices.
• EPA scientists complain about political pressure --AP -- Hundreds of Environmental Protection Agency scientists say they have been pressured by superiors to skew their findings, according to a survey released Wednesday by an advocacy group. The Union of Concerned Scientists said more than half of the nearly 1,600 EPA staff scientists who responded online to a detailed questionnaire reported they had experienced incidents of political interference in their work.
• Worked Over and Overworked -- NY Times -- In the last couple of decades, corporate profits and executive salaries have soared. But for many workers, the only thing that has increased is insecurity. In “The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker,” Steven Greenhouse, a labor and workplace reporter for The New York Times, examines the difficulties faced by workers at companies like FedEx and Wal-Mart, and points to Patagonia and Costco as models for corporate America. The book was publish from about workers....  
• Global food crisis poses unpalatable option -- NY Times -- A "silent tsunami" of hunger is sweeping the world's most desperate nations, said Josette Sheeran, the WFP's executive director, speaking Tuesday at a London summit on the crisis. The skyrocketing cost of food staples, stoked by rising fuel prices, unpredictable weather and demand from India and China, has already sparked sometimes violent protests across the Caribbean, Africa & Asia.
• Women at Greater Risk in Today’s Bad Economy -- AFL-CIO -- Female workers have suffered more job loss and reductions in wages during the past few months than has the general population and have fewer financial firewalls than male workers to protect them when they lose their jobs, according to the report from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. 
• Huge bump in salary, bonus for chief exec at profit-happy Wal-Mart  -- NY Times -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, boosted Chief Executive Officer H. Lee Scott’s salary and bonus 75 percent in 2007 after profit rose the most in three years. Scott, 59, received compensation valued by the company at $31.6 million for the year ended Jan. 31

Health Care:

• A new report by Families USA --  Dying For Coverage gives great stats on state of WA health care.

• Just How Secure Is Your Employer-Based Health Insurance? -- AlterNet -- Last week, the Economic Policy Institute released a disturbing report revealing just how many white-collar workers have lost their employer-based health insurance in recent years -- even though they didn't change jobs. Many workers believe that if they hold onto their job, their insurance is safe. Professionals with jobs near the top of the occupational ladder are especially likely to assume that their employer is not going to cut their coverage. That may well have been true in the 1990s, when the job market was tight -- but not today.

• Businesses to get health care advice -- Columbian -- The Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce is bringing in two speakers who will look at a universal system compared to single-payer options for Tuesday’s Health Care Reform and Business Forum at the Hilton Vancouver Washington. The event will feature Paul Guppy, vice president for research at the Washington Policy Center, and Rep. Eileen Cody, D-West Seattle, providing their insight into health care issues facing local businesses and what can be done about them.

War News:

• Murray says VA official should resign -- Spokesman Review -- Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., on Tuesday called for the chief mental health official of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to resign, saying he tried to cover up the rising number of veteran suicides. Murray, the senior member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said Dr. Ira Katz, the VA's mental health director, deliberately withheld crucial information on the suicide risk among veterans. "Dr. Katz's irresponsible actions have been a disservice to our veterans and it is time for him to go," Murray said. "The number one priority of the VA should be caring for our veterans, not covering up the truth."
• Behind Analysts, the Pentagon’s Hidden Hand --NY Times --  The Pentagon information apparatus has used analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found. The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air.

Democracy: The Cornerstone of Community

By Paul Lee

(Paul is a shop steward at OPEIU Local 8)

           Saturday April 5^th was the date that I discovered the power of democracy and why it is so integral to the formation of community. This year the 37^th Legislative District held their caucus at Cleveland High school , home of the fighting Eagles. The energy was high and people seemed enthusiastic. We heard from party notables and elected officials. Both Clinton and Obama supporters were out in force! But something happened that night that was truly transcendent.  

            It was about 4:30PM and all the festivities had ended, people had already given their speeches, and voted on their ballots. The janitors had arrived and cleared the chairs of the floor. We were instructed to make our way into the lunchroom and wait there for the final votes to be tallied. As time pressed on, we all became tired and anxious. Then suddenly, the caucus chair announces over the microphone that Pat Wright of the Total Experience Gospel Choir was going to share a couple of songs with us. I began to feel the spirit in the room begin to lift as everyone shared in singing some old time hymns. Following Pat were others that shared jokes with us, which also included Dawn Mason former State Representative from our district. Soon people were reciting poems and sharing stories, the kind that are usually reserved for the kitchen table. I don’t think it was just me that noticed what was beginning to happen. Others began talking about what a special experience this caucus process was becoming. By the time the votes were tallied, which was about 11PM I don’t think there was a person in that room that wanted to leave. We all wanted to share what had happened in the room and spread it out to our other neighbors and community.

             As I reflect on what I experienced that day, I realized that democracy is all about giving voice to each and every common man. Perhaps what draws me to the process is this notion that each person’s voice is regarded equally and that this empowers people to stand up and be heard.

Do you want to know how Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) voted on a move to repeal the federal minimum wage?

Are you interested in Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-N.Y.) vote on a measure to rein in the soaring cost of prescription drugs for seniors and working families?

How about finding out where Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) stood on a bill that would restore the freedom of airport screeners to join a union?

Or maybe you just want to know if your U.S. House member voted with working families last year?

All that information and more about your U.S. senators and representatives is just a click or two away in the AFL-CIO's final 2007 House and Senate Voting Records. The congressional scorecards track 19 Senate votes and 24 House votes from the first session of the 110th Congress.

Workers Memorial Materials Available Online Now -- AFL-CIO Blog -- 

Each year, thousands of workers are killed on the job and millions more are injured or become ill because of their jobs.

This April 28, workers in the United States and around the world will honor those killed and injured on the job and call for improved workplace safety on Workers Memorial Day.

You can start planning and organizing a Workers Memorial Day event in your workplace or community with materials now available online from the AFL-CIO.