Casa Latina, WSLC announce affiliation (WSLC Reports

January 5, 2010

Jan. 4: Legislative Updates start Friday

Dec. 23: 2010 WSLC Legislative Agenda

Dec. 22: 2010 Union Plus Scholarships

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Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Casa Latina, WSLC announce affiliation

The immigrant worker rights organization Casa Latina and the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO will announce a unique new partnership at a news conference today in Seattle. The landmark affiliation between Casa Latina, which represents day laborers and other low-wage immigrant workers, and the state’s largest labor organization, representing some 400,000 AFL-CIO union members in Washington, will encourage closer cooperation in advancing immigration reform and immigrant worker rights. Read more.

Legislative news and opinion:

► In today's Olympian -- Governor works on jobs proposal -- Gov. Chris Gregoire plans to unveil a job-creation proposal next week that could include four or five tax incentives for businesses to help hard-hit areas of the state. Details on the plan are tentatively expected by Jan. 14, and include “11 different ideas” for improving the business climate. Meanwhile, Gregoire and her aides are still debating whether to ask for temporary or permanent tax increases to stave off cuts to health and education programs, and her decision might hinge on what kind of taxes she ultimately picks.

► In the Dec. 31 Everett Herald -- Opposed by Boeing, worker rights bill shelved for 2010 -- The Worker Privacy Act, which was buried in a storm of controversy in 2009, won’t be unearthed in 2010 as state legislators wait to see if a similar law in Oregon survives a legal challenge. “We believe the Oregon law should withstand the legal challenge,” said WSLC Communications Director Kathy Cummings. “We’ll do everything we can to support it.”

► In today's Olympian -- Report reinforces need for performance audits (editorial) -- With the budget in a crisis, it is more important than ever to identify cost savings, streamline operations, pool resources and identify public programs and services better provided by the private sector.

► From KUOW -- State college enrollment up after new H-1B visa law -- Many Microsoft employees are benefiting from a law passed last year that makes foreigners who are here on H-1B visas, and their families, eligible for in-state tuition at public universities.

► In today's Columbian -- DeBolt opts not to run for Baird's seat -- Instead, the House Republican Leader has endorsed Republican David Castillo of Olympia -- and not fellow Republicsan state legislator, Rep. Jaime Herrera of Camas, who is also running.

► In today's Columbian -- Vancouver legislators to hold town halls on Saturday -- Several will hold town hall meetings Saturday in advance of the 2010 legislative session, which begins Monday.

► In today's Everett Herald -- Rep. Hans Dunshee to hold town hall meeting by phone -- The 44th District Democrat plans to conduct a live town hall by telephone from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. tonight.

Local news:

► In today's News Tribune -- Ceremony today to honor fallen Pierce County deputy -- For the second time in four weeks, law enforcement officers will gather at the Tacoma Dome today to pay tribute to a fallen comrade: Pierce County sheriff’s deputy Kent Mundell. The 44-year-old husband and father was mortally wounded Dec. 21 during a domestic violence call near Tanwax Lake.

► At SeattlePI.com -- New Seattle mayor McGinn takes aim at highly paid city staffers -- Sworn in on Monday, he issues a series of orders on his first day aimed at cutting the city's payroll and expenses. He aims to reduce the number of "management and executive level" city employees by 200 positions (there are now 951), and has frozen salaries for all senior-level employees, but the number of furlough days they'll take this year has been cut from 10 to 7.

► In today's Everett Herald -- County court clerks reject furloughs in 2010 -- Snohomish County court clerks have rejected taking five unpaid furlough days to help balance the county budget. The vote fell in line with other county employee unions, which have signaled similar reluctance.

► In today's Everett Herald -- Report: Long slow economic recovery to state's economic malaise -- Our recovery could be easier than other states due to a more modest fall from prosperity.

► In today's Yakima H-R -- Yakima County budget deficit doubles -- The county has learned it won't get $600,000 it had been counting on from a state fund for economically distressed counties. So, what had been a $500,000 budget gap is now $1.1 million.

► In today's Seattle Times -- Provost Phyllis Wise's Nike ties draw fire at UW -- A faculty group says her decision to join Nike's board threatens the UW's integrity and academic freedom.

► In the Tri-City Herald -- Football-player-turned-alfalfa-farmer to challenge Sen. Murray -- Former Washington Redskins tight end Clint Didier of Eltopia to run for U.S. Senate as a Republican.

Health care reform news:

► At AFL-CIO Now -- Tax on health care will erode middle class -- As New York Times columnist Bob Herbert aptly describes it, there is a ”middle-class tax time bomb ticking in the Senate’s version” of the health care reform legislation. "The bill that passed the Senate with such fanfare on Christmas Eve would impose a confiscatory 40 percent excise tax on so-called Cadillac health plans, which are popularly viewed as over-the-top plans held only by the very wealthy. In fact, it’s a tax that in a few years will hammer millions of middle-class policyholders, forcing them to scale back their access to medical care."

► In the Dec. 29 NY Times -- The case for reform (editorial) -- For decades, presidents from both parties have tried in vain to reform the health care system and cover the uninsured. Still many Americans wonder, given the deep recession, whether it makes sense to do it now. The first thing to keep in mind is that the C.B.O. says that the reform bills are paid for over the next 10 years and would actually reduce future deficits. The need is clear and the political timing is right with the Democrats controlling the White House, the Senate and the House. If this chance is squandered and Republicans gain seats in the midterm elections, it could be a decade or more before reformers have another opportunity. Americans shouldn’t have to wait any longer.

Shameful, insulting political news:

► At AFL-CIO Now -- Sen. Jim DeMint: If airport screeners join union, they'll let terrorists in -- The South Carolina Republican, who has single-handedly bottled up the nomination of Erroll Southers to head the Transportation Security Agency, believes that if TSA workers were allowed to unionize, terrorists would begin blasting airplanes out of the sky on a regular basis.

► Also today -- Playing politics and the illogical Jim DeMint (Mark Shields column) -- Ignore that the TSA, most especially obvious after the Christmas Day terrorism attack near Detroit on a Northwest Airlines flight, needs a full-time chief. DeMint is committed to keeping America safe from union members! Mr. DeMint, let’s can the hogwash and the horse feathers about public employees and their alleged “labor bosses,” and let us instead honor the words of John F. Kennedy to “let the public service be a proud and lively career.”

National news:

► From AP -- Cities, counties take back corporate tax breaks -- As the recession drags on, municipalities struggling to fix roads, fund schools and pay bills increasingly are rescinding tax abatements to companies that don't hire enough workers, lay them off or close up shop. At the same time, they're sharpening new incentive deals, leaving no doubt what is expected of companies and what will happen if they don't deliver. The willingness to write -- and enforce -- so-called "clawback" provisions comes even as companies across the country struggle and against a broader backdrop of governments getting tough on business practices. What's more, the recession has communities thinking about how the tax breaks they dole out will play with residents who have grown increasingly angry at the thought of anything that hints of corporate welfare.

► In the SF Bay Guardian -- Labor widens, radicalizes its San Francisco hotel fight -- After a three-week break in their ever-escalating labor battle with the owners of San Francisco’s biggest hotels, Unite-Here Local 2 workers and their supporters plan to hit hard today with a rally featuring national labor leaders, an expansion of the union’s hotel boycott, and civil disobedience.

► In today's Wash. Post -- Defense titan Northrop Grumman to leave Los Angeles for D.C. area -- Boeing rival Northrop Grumman plans to move its corporate HQ to the D.C. area by 2011. The company, whose biggest customer is the Pentagon, is looking for the best tax incentives from either D.C. or the Maryland or Virginia suburbs. About 300 employees would move with the HQ.

► Today from AP -- Americans increasingly dissatisfied with their jobs, poll finds -- Only 45% of Americans are satisfied with their work, the lowest level ever recorded in more than 22 years of studying the issue. In 2008, 49% of those surveyed reported satisfaction with their jobs.

► At Huffington Post -- Bankruptcies surge 32% in 2009 -- U.S. consumers and businesses are filing for bankruptcy at a pace that made 2009 the seventh-worst year on record.

► At Huffington Post -- GOP to oppose independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency -- Senate Republicans are determined to prevent the creation of an independent CFPA because they consider it as threatening as their current arch-nemesis regulator: the EPA.

► From AP -- Staff quits after Alabama congressman switches to GOP -- All but one of the Capitol Hill staffers for Alabama Rep. Parker Griffith in protest of his decision to switch parties.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2010
Casa Latina, WSLC announce affiliation

"Low-wage and immigrant workers in the United States face enormous challenges in enforcing their labor and employment rights, rendering them ripe for exploitation at the hands of unscrupulous employers," said WSLC President Rick Bender. "This exploitation hurts us all because when standards are dragged down for some workers, they are dragged down for everyone. Our first joint project will be to create a pilot project identifying, documenting and remedying wage theft in King County."

"Low-wage immigrant workers are under tremendous stress at this time in our country. We look forward to joining forces with the Washington State Labor Council to raise the floor for all workers in our community," said Hilary Stern, founding Executive Director of CASA Latina.

Casa Latina’s affiliation to the Washington State Labor Council is a result of ongoing collaboration that has been focused on defending and advancing the rights of all Washington state residents. It also sends a signal to employers that the state’s workers, both union and non-union, immigrant and U.S. born, have every intention on working together to advance all workers’ rights.

"We welcome Casa Latina into the AFL-CIO family," said Ana Avendaño, director of the national AFL-CIO’s Immigrant Worker Program. "They are the first worker center in Washington State to join and we look forward to supporting the creative and significant work to come from this partnership."

Since 2006, when the national AFL-CIO’s Executive Council approved a groundbreaking deal allowing for state and local bodies of the AFL-CIO and neighboring worker centers to establish formal ties and work together to meet the needs of America’s workers, 11 worker centers from across the country have affiliated with state and local labor councils and many more have established collaborative relationships.

For more information, including details about today's news conference, e-mail WSLC Communications Director Kathy Cummings or call her at 206-281-8901.

For more information on the prevalence and perils of wage theft across the nation, visit: http://www.unprotectedworkers.org/index.php/broken_laws/index.