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August 26, 2009 |
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Wednesday
I-1033 threatens jobs, safety, essential services
The WSLC joins the state's business, labor, environmental and social service communities in opposing initiative profiteer Tim Eyman's latest misleading ballot measure, Initiative 1033. If approved by voters this fall, I-1033 would cost Washington jobs, jeopardize our families' safety, and undermine our schools, transportation, health care and basic public services. Read more.
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Health care event schedule Tell your member of Congress to support health care reform with universal coverage and a public plan option.
► TONIGHT
-- State
Sen. Karen Keiser and state Rep. Eileen Cody
host
a
Kent Town Hall from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at the City Council Chambers, 220
4th Ave. S. |
Health care news:
► In today's News Tribune -- Health reform debate hits home -- A Lakewood town hall meeting held by Rep. Adam Smith attracts some 2,500 people, with both supporters and opponents of government run-health care turning out in large numbers.
► In today's Everett Herald -- Republicans' scary strategy (editorial) -- A bad situation just keeps getting worse. Repeated double-digit hikes in health care costs mean fewer employers can afford to offer coverage, fewer individuals can afford to buy it themselves, and budgets at all levels of government fall further behind. Republicans should be working with Democrats on health care reform. Instead, they’re focused on the next election, determined to derail anything majority Democrats can claim as a victory. That’s a strategy that should scare everyone, including seniors.
► In today's Las Vegas Sun -- Countering the hysteria (editorial) -- Insofar as health care reform is concerned, this summer has belonged to the people attending tea parties and shouting inanities in town-hall meetings. Their Republican-led misinformation campaign, typified by their hysterical charge that the government will require senior citizens to appear before “death panels,” has actually worked -- some polls that once showed overwhelming support for health care reform currently show a majority of people opposing it.
It is nice to hear that there will be a counterbalance to the inaccurate talk about health care reform. The voice of the AFL-CIO, which has 11 million members, will be welcome. Also, Health Care for America Now has plans for 500 rallies in large cities before Labor Day. It wants to let the president and Congress know there is still widespread support for health care reform. It is about time that people whose views have not yet been heard stand up and join the debate.
► In today's NY Times -- Congress's health care numbers don't add up (op-ed) -- The Congressional Budget Office’s integrity is beyond questioning. But the record shows that it has substantially overestimated the cost of health care reform three times out of three and substantially underestimated the savings the changes would bring. As Congress now works on its greatest push for reform in generations, the budget office needs to revise the methods it uses to make predictions about costs.
► In today's NY Times -- World's best health care (editorial) -- Analysts have found no support for the claim routinely made by politicians that American health care is the best in the world. In fact, our system puts patients at greater risk of harm from medical or surgical errors than patients elsewhere and ranks behind the top countries in extending the lives of the elderly. Reform should be seen as a way to improve a system whose bright spots are undercut by its flaws.
Boeing news:
► At SeattlePI.com -- Boeing to file for permits to expand S.C. plant -- The move to seek permits to build a 787 final assembly facility there does not mean the company has decided to choose South Carolina for its second line, a spokesman says. "We haven't made a decision at this point. This is just a procedural step that allows us to keep options open. The permitting process is comprehensive and requires extensive lead time," he says. "Charleston, Everett and other locations remain in consideration. We anticipate making a decision before the end of 2009." Everett has existing space, he notes. "There's potential to add a line (there) without adding on to the existing facility." Boeing aims to have the second line up and running in 2012.
Prison news:
► In the Walla Walla U-B -- Prison not on previous cutback list -- Washington State Penitentiary was not on a list of proposed cutbacks put forward by the Department of Corrections during the recent legislative session, but that plan was dropped in favor of a study now under way to find how to cut 1,580 beds from the state's entire prison system.
► In today's Walla Walla U-B -- Monroe prison officials, employees worried about cuts as well -- Walla Walla isn't the only community worried about a study to cut beds in the state prison system. Employees and officials at the Monroe Correctional Complex are also wondering about their future after a visit by a consulting team last week. Proposed cutbacks in Monroe could result in 100 to 125 jobs being cut. The loss would be 10% of the work force at the prison, one of the city's largest employers.
► In today's NY Times -- Hawaii to remove inmates over abuse charges -- Hawaiii prison officials say that all of the state’s 168 female inmates at a privately run Kentucky prison will be removed because of charges of sexual abuse by guards. The facility is run by the Corrections Corporation of America and is one of a spate of private, for-profit prisons, mainly in the South, that have been the focus of investigations over issues like abusive conditions and wrongful deaths. Because Eastern Kentucky is one of the poorest rural regions in the country, the prison was welcomed by local residents desperate for jobs. Hawaii sent inmates to Kentucky to save money.
Local news:
► In today's Seattle Times -- Stop scapegoating King County employees over budget woes (op-ed by IBT 117's Tracey Thompson) -- Some candidates for King County Executive have been demeaning the work of county employees with campaign rhetoric about "bloated" salaries and "too-generous" benefits. The truth is, the budget crisis is a result of a structural problem. Revenue flow has been eroding for the past decade thanks to an uncooperative Legislature and voter-approved initiatives that have reduced revenues, while the demand for services has increased.
► In today's Bellingham Herald -- Ferndale asks union employees to take 2010 wage freeze, faces $209,000 deficit -- Three unions have also been asked to consider a freeze. If all 61 city employees end up receiving a wage freeze at 2009 levels, the city would save about $120,000 next year.
► At SeattleTimes.com -- Murray gives himself 25% chance of running as write-in for mayor -- If nothing else, the public dissatisfaction being expressed by union leaders with the mayoral field is certain to grab the attention of McGinn and Mallahan and make them more sensitive to union concerns. And maybe that's the whole point.
National news:
►
Today from AP -- Sen.
Edward Kennedy dies -- Sen. Edward "Ted"
Kennedy, a son of one of the most storied families in U.S. politics who will
be remembered as one of the most effective lawmakers in the history of the
Senate, died late Tuesday after battling a brain tumor. He was 77. For
nearly a half-century in Congress, Sen. Kennedy was a steadfast champion of
the working class and the poor, a powerful voice on health care, civil
rights, and war and peace.
► At AFL-CIO Now -- Working families mourn loss of Sen. Edward Kennedy -- His death leaves a void in the lives of working families that will be hard to replace, if ever it can be. Kennedy fought throughout his life with one goal in mind: to improve the lives of working people. He championed civil rights for people of color and LGBT people; better education for literally millions of kids; immigration reform; women; workers’ rights; the freedom of workers to choose a union; and, of course, health care reform.
► From AP -- Postal Service offers $15,000 buyouts to cut costs -- The USPS says it reached an agreement on the buyout offer with the APWU and NPMHU. The majority of those eligible work in the mail processing facilities. Mail carriers are excluded. The offer is open to those eligible for retirement and early retirement. It also includes employees in select positions, such as retail clerks, distributors and mail handlers who are willing to resign.
► From AP -- Unpaid leave exacts heavy price from jobs -- “Furlough Fridays” may as well be called “Food Bank Fridays.” Some 210,000 California government workers are helping balance the budget by taking an unpaid day off from work three Fridays each month. But they aren't going to food kitchens to volunteer. “I go to save money and get food for my table,” says one.
WEDNESDAY,
AUGUST 26, 2009
I-1033 threatens jobs, safety,
essential services
The Washington State Labor Council joins the state's business, labor, environmental and social service communities in adamantly opposing initiative profiteer Tim Eyman's latest misleading ballot measure, Initiative 1033. If approved by voters this fall, I-1033 would cost Washington jobs, jeopardize our families' safety, and undermine our schools, transportation, health care and basic public services.
I-1033
aims to limit revenue for state, county and city governments by imposing
an arbitrary, complicated cap based on population growth and
inflation. It would make it illegal to spend more than what was
spent in the previous year on schools, police, fire protection, roads,
libraries, parks, hospitals and other essential services. I-1033 is
deliberately timed to lock in all the state and local budget cuts due to
recession.
What would passage of I-1033 mean to Washington?
I-1033 would cost Washington jobs and block Washington's economy from fully recovering from this recession. It would lock in thousands of layoffs among teachers, nurses, fire fighters, police, road maintenance and other public service workers, plus the "ripple effect" job losses in the private sector. For those who have managed to keep their jobs, it would lock in the pay freezes and cuts, unpaid furloughs, higher health care costs and other sacrifices made during this national economic downturn.
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Colorado's
lesson: In 1992, Colorado became the only state in the nation (before or since) to impose a revenue limit like the one in I-1033. By 2005, the state's economy and public services had deteriorated so badly that Colorado voters suspended the law to stop the deterioration of their state. Here are the kind of things that happened in Colorado under 1033-like spending restrictions:
In the past four years, 1033-like revenue restrictions have been considered and rejected in 28 states (AL, AZ, CA, FL, GA, ID, KS, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NH, NM, NV, OH, OK, OR, PH, SC, TN, TX, VA, WI). Colorado remains the only state to have adopted this terrible idea. |
I-1033 would jeopardize our families' safety. It would prevent our police and fire departments from recovering to their normal staffing levels. Fewer police officers, fire fighters and emergency services personnel mean higher response times in life-and-death situations. Meanwhile, recession-forced prison cutbacks are resulting not only in job cuts and facility closures, but in the release of some criminals and the discontinuation of their supervision upon release. I-1033 would lock in those cutbacks.
I-1033 would threaten education, transportation, health care and other basic public services. Due to the recession, thousands of Washington families have lost their health care coverage, teachers and other school employees across the state have been laid off, nursing homes and hospital have been forced to cut their services, and public transportation and road maintenance has suffered. Normally, when the economy recovers, we would restore funding for all these public services. I-1033 would make that illegal, making the current dire situation for our public services permanent.
As required by law, the State of Washington has prepared a fiscal impact statement for Initiative 1033. It finds that I-1033 "reduces general fund revenues that support education; social, health and environmental services; and general fund activities by an estimated $5.9 billion by 2015. The initiative also reduces general fund revenues that support public safety, infrastructure and general government activities by an estimated $694 million for counties and $2.1 billion for cities by 2015."
In the coming weeks, the WSLC will be distributing fliers and other information as part of a campaign to educate union members about the devastating effect I-1033 would have on Washington's economy and its quality of life. The WSLC will urge all its affiliated organizations and member activists to help spread the would about I-1033 and urge their members, co-workers, friends and family to vote No on I-1033.
Copyright © 2009 -- Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO