WSLC Reports Today -- January 29, 2009

January 29, 2009

Jan. 28: Health care report on Thursday

Jan. 27: WSLC Leg. Conference Feb. 26

Jan. 26: Support the Worker Privacy Act

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Thursday, January 29, 2009

Union membership up again in 2008
Union membership in the United States rose in 2008 by 428,000 workers to 12.3% of the work force, the biggest annual gain since the government began compiling such data in 1983, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the state-by-state breakdown, Washington state remains ranked No. 4 in the nation in terms of union density, with the state's 578,000 union members accounting for 19.8% of the overall workforce. Read more.

► At AFL-CIO Now -- When people can join unions, they do -- AFL-CIO President John Sweeney: "Workers in unions are much more likely to have health care benefits and a pension than those without a union; in today’s economy, that’s the difference between sinking and swimming."

► In today's NY Times -- Union membership up sharply in 2008, report says -- According to the BLS, 36.8% of government employees belong to unions, compared with just 7.6% of workers in the private sector. Typically, state and city officials do not fight unionization efforts, while private-sector employers, fearing higher labor costs, often vigorously resist organizing drives.

Federal stimulus news:

► In today's NY Times -- House passes stimulus bill despite Republican opposition -- Without a single Republican vote, President Obama won House approval on Wednesday for an $819 billion economic recovery plan. House Republicans argued that it tilted heavily toward new spending instead of tax cuts. Says Obama: “I hope that we can continue to strengthen this plan before it gets to my desk. But what we can’t do is drag our feet or allow the same partisan differences to get in our way. We must move swiftly and boldly to put Americans back to work, and that is exactly what this plan begins to do.”

► Today from AP -- Hill Republican: Stimulus bill could aid illegal immigrants -- WTF?!

► Today from AP -- Americans receiving unemployment benefits hits record -- The number of Americans continuing to claim unemployment insurance for the week ending Jan. 17 was a seasonally adjusted 4.78 million, the highest on records dating back to 1967.

► In today's -- "Buy American" rider sparks trade debate -- The stimulus bill would bar foreign steel and iron from the infrastructure projects laid out by the $819 billion package. Proponents, including unions, argue it is the only way to ensure that the stimulus creates jobs at home and not overseas. Opponents, including companies that stand to benefit, say it is a declaration of war against free trade and could spark retaliation from abroad against U.S. companies.

► In the Washington Post -- Second thoughts on trade (Harold Meyerson column) -- It was bad enough when our banks and corporations decided to take their funds out of American manufacturing to promote low-wage production in China. Now they want to direct the tax dollars behind the stimulus program to the same end. The only mystery here is why the Chamber of Chamber and the Business Roundtable aren't compelled to register as foreign lobbyists.

Boeing news:

► In today's Everett Herald -- Boeing layoffs swell to 10,000 -- Boeing won't say how many jobs will be lost in total in Washington state, where Boeing employs 76,400 people, mostly in the commercial division. Boeing plans to issue layoff notices for the 4,500 commercial jet workers by Feb. 20. Most of the remaining notices will go out in the first and second quarters.

► Today at IAM751.org -- Boeing execs should stop blaming Machinists for their failures -- IAM District 751 President Tom Wroblewski: "Boeing finds it easy to blame a two-year delay in getting the 787 off the ground on our 57-day strike. They will never admit it was poor management decisions or a business model that failed miserably which caused the first loss in revenue in recent years. Had they compromised a little on the contract, respected their workforce and negotiated fairly, they could have avoided a strike. Boeing could have continued on with their record-making profits for 2008, but they chose a take it or leave-it attitude rather than negotiating in good faith."

Local news:

► In today's Seattle P-I -- Port of Seattle warns of wage freezes, layoffs -- Chief Executive Tay Yoshitani met with port managers and union leaders on Wednesday afternoon to warn port employees about wage and salary freezes, furloughs and possible impending layoffs.

► In today's Daily World -- What's next for the Weyco workers in Aberdeen? -- On Friday, Grays Harbor College, union, WorkSource, state and company representatives will meet with workers to lay out what sort of unemployment benefits and retraining opportunities will be available.

► In today's Everett Herald -- 3 Marysville schools risk closure -- The school board is considering closing schools, shuttering a popular swimming pool, laying off staff and slashing programs.

► In today's Kitsap Sun -- Bainbridge Island plans to lay off 6 employees -- Most of the layoffs will impact the city's building and development services, which have seen a falloff in activity..

► In today's Seattle P-I -- Seattle Times seeks to freeze pension accruals -- The struggling paper will ask some of its unionized workers to allow freezing future accruals to their pension funds.

► In today's Seattle P-I -- Firefighters buy saws with cash won in labor case -- The Seattle IAFF buys power saws for all 33 fire engines, using $18,000 the city was ordered to pay the union.

Legislative news:

► In today's Spokesman-Review -- Fee on workers may pay for family leave -- Lawmakers in the House and Senate are now calling for a 2-cents-an-hour fee on all workers, with the money used to pay $250-a-week stipends to workers who take unpaid time off to bond with a new baby.

► In today's Olympian -- Senate forwards hiring freeze bill -- The State Senate votes unanimously to approve legislation to help close a $630 million budget gap by July, going against a plan offered by Gregoire. In addition to freezing most hiring, it would freeze pay for nonunion state workers, end employee travel for training, and halt service contracts and purchases worth over $1,000.

► At TheOlympian.com -- The state of play on state employees -- In what’s likely to be a long and complex path for state employees in the budget, there are still questions about how much state workers will pay for health care, whether they will take time off without pay, and whether union members will ever see the raises Gov. Chris Gregoire agreed to in September. Gregoire’s decision not to forward union contracts to the Legislature puts them in legal limbo.

Sign a statement
of support!

The Employee Free Choice Act is strongly backed by Washington's elected leaders. Community and religious leaders, and local officials, are urged to SIGN A STATEMENT of support for the EFCA. (Also, send a message to Congress.)

Employee Free Choice Act news:

► At AFL-CIO Now -- Bailed-out bank of America uses taxpayer money to fight EFCA -- Within three days of receiving $25 billion in taxpayers money, Bank of America officials hosted a conference call with key corporate leaders to strategize about how to fight the Employee Free Choice Act in next Congress. A leaked recording of the pre-election call includes Bernie Marcus, CEO of Home Depot, calling the Employee Free Choice Act “the demise of a civilization” and insisting that corporate honchos who didn’t donate big sums to anti-worker incumbent senators “should be shot, should be thrown out of their [expletive] jobs.” Also on the call, notorious corporate whore Richard Berman lays out the corporate lobbyists’ post-election strategy: try and scare members of the Senate up for election in 2010, hoping to create the appearance of unpopularity and weaken senators’ resolve. The disinformation campaign is already under way, with a bevy of anti-Employee Free Choice Act front groups dropping huge sums of money from undisclosed corporate donors into TV ads and lobbying.

► In today's Spokesman-Review -- Employee Fair (sic) Choice Act removes protections (editorial) -- Both management and unions are capable of workplace intimidation, so employees need a system that gives them the privacy to decide whether they want to support a union. A secret ballot protects everyone’s interests, and Congress should not take it away. (This editorial's inaccuracies start with the name of the bill, continue with the falsehood that the Employee Free Choice Act would take away secret ballot elections, and ignores the fact that the NLRB has handed down fewer than 50 decisions of documented union misconduct in the past 70 years, while it documents THOUSANDS of corporate acts of intimidation, harassment and even firing that happen EVERY YEAR. Write the Spokesman-Review and set the record straight.)

National news:

► In today's Washington Post -- Postal Service may cut deliveries -- Postmaster General John E. Potter says the USPS may be forced to cut back to five-day delivery for the first time in the agency's history. The potential move, which would have to be approved by Congress, could mean the elimination of mail on either Saturdays or Tuesdays, the system's slowest days. APWU officials did not respond to messages requesting a response to Potter's remarks.

► Today from AP -- Obama signs bill making equal-pay lawsuits easier -- President Obama, choosing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act as the first bill to sign as president, called it a "wonderful day" and declared that ending pay disparities between men and woman an issue not just for women, but for all workers. Obama signed it into law with Ledbetter standing by his side.

► In today's NY Times -- Lilly's big day (Gail Collins column) -- It’s a good day for the feisty working women who went to court to demand their rights and the frequently underpaid lawyers who championed them. Lilly Ledbetter, 70, is part of a long line of working women who went to court and changed a little bit of the world in fights that often brought them minimal personal benefit.

► In today's Washington Post -- Breakaway union exposes labor rift -- The leaders of one of the largest SEIU chapters break off from the parent organization to form a new union. Officers of the Northern California-based union with 150,000 members were barricaded inside their five buildings awaiting attempts by the SEIU to remove them. The move occurs a day after the SEIU replaced the local's leadership, accusing them of financial malfeasance. The chapter's president accuses SEIU President Andy Stern of centralizing authority at the expense of workers' democratic rights and of cutting weak deals with employers and politicians to increase his numbers.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2009
Union membership up again in 2008
At 19.8%, Washington state remains 4th highest in union density

Union membership in the United States rose in 2008 by 428,000 workers to 12.3% of the work force, the biggest annual gain since the government began compiling such data in 1983, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' report released Thursday. It's the second year in a row that unions have added to their ranks. In 2007, membership rose by 311,000 members to 12.1% of workers.

In the state-by-state breakdown, Washington state remains ranked No. 4 in terms of union density, with the state's 578,000 union members accounting for 19.8% of the overall workforce. The union-density percentage dropped slightly from 20.2% in 2007, as the number of jobs in Washington grew while the number of union members remained relatively unchanged, dropping 1,000 from 2007.

See the BLS news release on the new report and its state-by-state comparison.

Only New York (24.9%), Hawaii (24.3%) and Alaska (23.5%) have higher unionization rates than Washington. Neighboring Oregon rose notably in the 2008 rankings to 10th (16.6%), up from 14th place (14.3%) in 2007, after adding 32,000 members in 2008 for a total of 259,000.

Some 60 million workers say they would join a union today if they had the opportunity. But when workers try to form unions through the flawed National Labor Relations Board process, employers routinely respond with threats, intimidation, firings and harassment.

"While I'm very encouraged that Washington remains one of the most unionized states in the country, polls show that many more workers would like to gain a voice at work by forming a union but they can't," said Rick Bender, President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. "Outdated labor laws allow employers to coerce, threaten and fire workers who support unionization with relative impunity. That's why passage of the Employee Free Choice Act is so important."

The Employee Free Choice Act is federal legislation that would enable working people to bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions by restoring workers’ freedom to choose for themselves whether to join a union. The EFCA would:

Establish stronger penalties for violation of employee rights when workers seek to form a union and during first-contract negotiations;
Provide mediation and arbitration for first-contract disputes; and
Allow employees to decide whether to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation or through ballot elections.

In 2007, the Employee Free Choice Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives, 241-185. Although it also was supported by a majority in the U.S. Senate, it was procedurally blocked from a vote by Republicans in the minority.

In 2008, the Employee Free Choice Act enjoys even broader support from President Barack Obama and new stronger Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress. In Washington state, the EFCA's co-sponsors included U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, and U.S. Reps. Jay Inslee, Rick Larsen, Brian Baird, Norm Dicks, Jim McDermott, and Adam Smith. Support is also strong among Washington's state lawmakers. Gov. Chris Gregoire was among 16 governors who wrote U.S. Senate leaders in 2007 in support of the EFCA.

But corporate lobbying groups are spending millions on an advertising and lobbying disinformation campaign against the Employee Free Choice Act," which they are calling the legislative equivalent to "Armageddon." Home Depot CEO Bernie Marcus even called the Employee Free Choice Act “the demise of a civilization.”

Why are business groups so apoplectic? Because if more American workers have a real choice to form unions, they will. And when they do, the workers MAKE MORE MONEY AND GET BETTER BENEFITS.