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March 3, 2010


Mar. 2: Trumka calls out Sen. Jim Bunning

Mar. 1: Union Plus benefits for members

Feb. 26: Maintain our state liquor stores

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Updated DAILY... Almost Every Day!™ by 9 a.m. Pacific
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Wednesday, March 3, 2010
 

Did legislators commit to killing bill for Boeing, Allen, McCaw money?

During Saturday's public hearing on HB 1329, the child care collective bargaining bill, Sen. Cheryl Pflug (R-Maple Valley) reminded her fellow senators that when she and other legislators negotiated the formation of a public-private partnership called Thrive By Five, they made an agreement "that we would not unionize child care centers."

"Not doing this bill was the bright-line promise that we made to the Paul Allen Foundation, The Boeing Company and the McCaw family that contributed the funding for this (Thrive By Five)," she said. "We might want to remember that when we make a commitment to somebody that gives us $70 million, we might want to keep it."

Read more.

 

Unemployment news:

►  Part 1 -- Washington: A business-friendly state
Our state is consistently ranked among the very best states for business. We have comparatively low business taxes, a lighter regulatory burden, a highly skilled and trained workforce, excellent higher education, and for those reasons and many others, our state outperforms other states.

►  Part 2 -- Washington's workers' comp advantage
One of the most persistent myths about our business climate is that our workers' compensation costs are higher than in other states. The gap between the truth and the negative rhetoric on this question is shocking. Not only do we have comparatively low premiums, the system's costs to employers in Washington state are the fifth lowest of any state in the nation.

►  Part 3 -- Unemployment insurance saving jobs, businesses in WA
Washington's unemployment insurance system pumped about $4 billion into our state economy in 2009. That money is keeping businesses afloat and saving jobs in this recession.

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Job numbers grow for first time since late '08 -- Washington's January jobs numbers were the most promising in a long time: 12,400 new jobs, the first increase since November 2008 and the biggest one-month gain in nearly three years. The report supported new projections by a respected research firm that Washington will lead all other states in job growth this year. Our state unemployment rate of 9.3% remains below that of the nation, which is 9.7%.

►  In today's Tri-City Herald -- Report: Tri-Cities tops nation in job growth -- Tri-City leaders boasted Tuesday that the community leads the nation for job growth during what has been described by some economists as a "jobless recovery" from a lengthy recession. A March 2010 report from an Atlanta-based consulting firm ranked the Tri-Cities first in the nation for job growth in the second half of 2009.

(As we've been saying, Washington is facing the same national recession as other states, but because of our business-friendly environment, we are poised to recover ahead of the curve. See Outside the Echo Chamber.)

►  More local unemployment coverage -- Clark (14.1%▲), Kitsap 8.3%▼), Pierce (10.7%▲), Seattle metro (8.9%) Snohomish (10.5%▲), Spokane (9.3%▲), Thurston (8.7%▲), Walla Walla (8%▲), (Whatcom 9.4%▲), Yakima (11.3%▲)

►  In today's NY Times -- Sen. Bunning relents; unemployment benefits extension passes -- The bipartisan 78-19 vote in favor of the extended compensation came after Senator Jim Bunning, Republican of Kentucky, dropped his objection to extending unemployment compensation in exchange for a largely symbolic vote on paying for the aid.

 

Legislative news:

Campus rallies for higher ed funding this Thursday

With the worst budget crisis since the Great Depression, Washington and many other states are proposing more cuts in higher education funding along with significant tuition increases. This Thursday is a National Day of Action to Defend Public Education and all union members and supporters of higher education funding are invited to join rallies planned at the University of Washington, Western Washington University, Evergreen State College and Seattle Central Community College. Read more.

►  In today's News Tribune -- State workers shouldn't bear most of the burden (guest column by Tracey A. Thompson of Teamsters 117, a WSLC affiliate) -- State workers, who are paid 25% less than the average and who have not had wage increases, despite an increase in the cost of living, and who are paying 12% of the health insurance premiums, are now paying $117 million more than last year for their health care. And the Legislature wants to take an additional 4.2% away in the form of wage reductions or unpaid furloughs? Balance is not achieved by taking away from those who already have given. It is unjust, indecent and immoral to require state employees to bear more of the burden of the budget deficit. 

►  In the Columbian -- Senate budget keeps Larch open -- Sen. Craig Pridemore (D-Vancouver) and Sen. Joe Zarelli  (R-Ridgefield) have convinced their colleagues on the Senate Ways and Means Committee to shift funding from the McNeil Island Corrections Center in Puget Sound to the Larch prison in rural Clark County. Larch would be restored to its full capacity of 480 beds under the amended Senate budget.

►  At SeattlePI.com -- House throws both sides a bone on 520 bridge -- Eastsiders will get money to improve 520 east of Lake Washington, while Seattle neighborhoods will get a chance to influence the design of the new bridge's west end under the House-approved measure.

►  At SeattlePI.com -- Steve Maxwell, husband of Rep. Marcie Maxwell, dies at 57 -- Steve Maxwell, a longtime deputy sheriff and community volunteer, died Sunday night at Overlake Hospital Medical Center. A non-smoker, he was diagnosed with lung cancer in September.

The economic harm of privatization

State legislators should focus not only on the quality and value of the services provided by hard-working state employees, but also the negative ripple effects experienced in local communities when good public-sector jobs are eliminated for no reason other than to achieve "smaller government" -- not cheaper, just smaller. These days, the lives and livelihoods of real people, in both the public and private sectors, deserve more consideration and care than they are getting from bottom-line-blinded international corporations. And they deserve better from the public's employer. Read our Feb. 26 Legislative Update. 

►  In today's Olympian -- Gregoire announces departure of OFM Director Victor Moore -- The man in charge of getting the state through the last two rounds of budget revisions will leave in April to become chief operating officer for the state investment board. Replacing Moore will be Marty Brown, Gregoire's legislative liaison who was budget director under Gov. Locke.

►  In today's (Everett) Herald -- Vote on special tax exemptions every two years (John Burbank column) -- This would create a whole new dynamic in Olympia. Instead of getting a tax loophole passed into law and then passively making sure nothing happens to it, lobbyists would have to actively defend these exemptions and try to prove their positive impact on public life. 

►  In today's News Tribune -- Bill for public pensions quickly coming due (editorial) -- The Washington state actuary’s office warned last fall that the state’s oldest pension plans could run out of money in 2015 unless the Legislature doubles its contribution in the budget cycle that begins next year. Finding the money won’t be easy, but lawmakers have little choice. If they don’t heed the advice, the state could end up paying benefits out of pocket -- an approach that would prove a huge drain on the general fund and the critical services it supports.

 

Boeing news:

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Challenges, opportunity mark Boeing CEO's remarks (editorial) -- Boeing has 75,000 employees here, and Boeing Commercial Airplanes' CEO Jim Albaugh says his intention is to make that number grow. That is the happy part. Mixed with that statement was another one: that the company cannot keep having strikes or raising wages at the rate it recently has. Albaugh acknowledges that the problem with labor relations has been the company's fault as well as the Machinist union's. The two have developed a culture that requires adjustment to the 21st century. 

Albaugh also spoke to the concerns of Boeing engineers, who have grumbled for years that bean counters in management were making a long-term mistake by outsourcing work that relied on proprietary knowledge, like the wings. The engineers were right, Albaugh said. The wings, the flight-control system and "some of the fuselage" should come back in-house on the next airplane. And that is very good news.

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Boeing, Lockheed fight for contracts -- Boeing and Lockheed Martin are fighting over billions of federal dollars to replace and retrofit the Air Force's heavy-airlift fleet.  So far it's a battle Lockheed appears to be winning.

 

Health care news:

►  From AP -- Top Democrats looking to Obama to provide health care momentum -- The president planned to describe his plan at the White House, a day after he said he was open to melding four Republican ideas into his proposal. His embrace of those GOP policies drew no plaudits from Republicans; instead, it appeared designed to coax votes from nervous Democratic moderates by demonstrating an attempt to cooperate with the other party.

►  In today's LA Times -- Lawmakers expand investigation into health insurance rate hikes -- The House Committee on Energy and Commerce has summoned the chiefs of WellPoint, UnitedHealth Group, Humana and Aetna to testify about denying claims for policyholders with preexisting conditions.

 

Local news:

►  In the Tri-City Herald -- Worker on BPA project killed at Hanford -- An equipment operator at a Bonneville Power Administration substation on the Hanford nuclear reservation died Monday after an accident at the site. Kelly Loyd of Castle Rock was using a Bobcat with a backhoe when the accident occurred around 9 a.m., said Doug Johnson, BPA spokesman. He was taken to Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland, where he died.

►  In today's Yakima H-R -- Freeze placed on ICE project -- Citing budget problems, federal officials have withdrawn plans for a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Yakima.

 

National news:

►  In today's NY Times -- Still with Obama, but worried -- Union leaders say that they were “appalled” at remarks made by President Obama condoning the mass firing of teachers at a Rhode Island high school. Because unions have been so crucial to the Democrats election after election, political experts say labor’s ambivalence, or worse, toward the Democrats could greatly deepen that party’s woes this fall.

►  In today's Washington Post -- Obama administration plans to close International Labor Comparisons office -- Like a scorekeeper for the world, a tiny unit within the Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks globalization's winners and losers, and the results are not always pretty for the United States. Manufacturing jobs here, for example, have fallen faster since 1979 than in Canada, Germany or Japan. Compensation for those jobs dropped here in 2008 but jumped in South Korea and Australia. Soon, however, Americans may be spared the demoralization in these numbers: The White House wants to shutter the unit that produces them.

►  In today's NY Times -- U.S. Postal Service revives cutback plans -- Faced with growing deficits, the USPS on Tuesday reintroduced proposals to cut costs, close post offices, raise rates and eliminate some services, most notably Saturday delivery. Two unions representing letter carriers and other postal workers objected strongly to the elimination of Saturday delivery, which would take an act of Congress -- something that would seem unlikely in an election year.

►  In today's Washington Post -- Obama says home-retrofitting plan would save energy, create jobs -- The president called on Congress to pass a proposal dubbed "Homestar," which would offer rebates of up to $3,000 for energy-saving home renovations to create jobs and save energy.

►  Today in The Onion -- My constituents care way more about political gamesmanship than jobs, health care, and the economy (guest column by House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-OH) -- Trust me: If you talk to an unemployed, uninsured mother of two in Greenville, she'll tell you that jobs and reliable medical coverage come a distant second to the crafting of meticulous talking points that deftly omit the facts and reduce what should be honest discourse about our country's future to a series of contrived, easy-to-digest sound bites designed to sway crucial independent voters. ... How could I stop being the greedy, myopic scumbag they elected me to be?

 

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, 2010
Did legislators commit to killing bill for Boeing, Allen, McCaw money?
Sen. Pflug: Legislators agreed they "would not unionize child care centers"

By DAVID GROVES
Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO

OLYMPIA --  Imagine if a union contributed millions of dollars to a public-private partnership with the stipulation that the State Legislature would kill a bill that the union opposed -- and that state legislators agreed to this. We can see the headline now: "Union bribes legislators; arrests imminent!"

That's why the Senate Ways and Means Committee hearing this past Saturday was so extraordinary. Not only did such an arrangement possibly exist -- not involving a union, but involving some of the state's biggest charitable foundations --  a state legislator openly admitted it and publicly reminded her colleagues of what she considered their "commitment" to kill a piece of legislation.

During Saturday's public hearing on HB 1329, which would allow child care center directors and workers to bargain collectively with the state over subsidy rates and professional development, Sen. Cheryl Pflug (R-Maple Valley) reminded her fellow senators that when she and other legislators negotiated the state Department of Early Learning's role in the formation of a public-private partnership called Thrive By Five, they made an agreement "that we would not unionize child care centers."

"Not doing this bill was the bright-line promise that we made to the Paul Allen Foundation, The Boeing Company and the McCaw family that contributed the funding for this (Thrive By Five)," Sen. Pflug said. "We might want to remember that when we make a commitment to somebody that gives us $70 million, we might want to keep it."

Sure enough, the Senate Ways and Means Committee didn't vote on HB 1329, which passed the House more than a month ago on a 62-35 vote, so the bill died at Monday's cutoff deadline. Last year, the bill met a similar fate, passing the House but dying in the Senate, which attempted to amend it into just a study.

Um. Is this legal?

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, 2010
Rallies for higher ed funding Thursday

With the strain of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression bearing down upon students and workers alike, state legislators are considering cutting another $90 million from the budget for higher education and increasing tuition by an additional 14%. This comes after $400 million was cut and tuition was increased 14% last year.

In addition, major additional cuts have been proposed to the state's Basic Health program that provides health coverage to elderly, children and the poor. These cuts to education and desperately needed social services likely mean layoffs for teachers and college workers, higher tuition and book prices, reduced student services and choice of classes, and more restrictive entry requirements for both community and four-year colleges.

Thursday, March 4 is a National Day of Action to Defend Public Education. The following rallies are planned locally:

BELLINGHAM -- At Western Washington University, a rally will be held from 11:45 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center Plaza next to Viking Union Building.

OLYMPIA -- At Evergreen State College, a rally will be held from noon to 1 p.m. at Red Square followed by a procession to the State Capitol Building from 1 to 2:30 p.m.

SEATTLE -- At the University of Washington, a rally will be held at 1 p.m. on Thursday in the University's Quad to speak out against recent cuts to higher education, and the ways those cuts have been distributed on campus. Called by the UW Student - Worker Coalition, an alliance of undergrad, worker, and grad student organizations, the action is also endorsed by the key unions on campus: WFSE local 1488, UAW 4121, and SEIU 925. 

SEATTLE -- At Seattle Central Community College, a rally will be held at 1 p.m. in the campus's South Plaza at 1701 Broadway at Pine Street.

 

Copyright © 2010 --  Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO