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January 14, 2011 |
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Friday,
January 14, 2011
Honor King's legacy by defending public workers
The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Nobel Peace Prize-winning campaigner for economic and social justice whose legacy we celebrate on Monday, Jan. 17 this year, died while supporting the right of public employees to organize labor unions and to fight for the preservation of public services. No one should miss the fact that AFSCME, the union that Memphis sanitation workers had joined and the union with which King worked so closely, is now under attack by right-wingers who would have us believe that public workers are to blame for the problems that occur when policymakers blow the budget on tax cuts for the rich, bailouts for big banks and military adventures abroad.
King was proud to rally with public workers, and proud to make the connection between their struggle and the broader struggle for a fair and equitable economy that served all workers -- public and private. The defense of public employees -- so essential to a functional society, and yet so frequently abused by the powerful players who would diminish the role of government in order to enhance their own wealth and authority -- is as vital a struggle today as it was in 1968. Read more.
► Check your local newspaper to find MLK Day events or click here for Day of Service projects.
Local news:
Red Lion Airport contract talks
drag on
Workers at the Red Lion Hotel Seattle Airport, members of UNITE HERE Local 8, continue to fight for a fair contract at their hotel after more than nine months of negotiation. The workers, many of whom have worked at the Red Lion for more than a decade, are fighting for contract language that would protect their jobs and their union if the hotel or restaurant (Gregory's) were to be sold or if a subcontractor took over the work. The company has maintained its strong opposition to such language. Read more.
Vigil for decency, respect TODAY at Harborview
A candlelight vigil to shed light on the unfair treatment of call center and other employees at Harborview Medical Center by the UW administration will be held at 5 p.m. today (Friday, Jan. 14) at 9th Avenue and James Street on Seattle's First Hill. The Washington Federation of State Employees reports that the UW administration has trampled workers' rights and has unfairly fired and disciplined employees. All WFSE members, families and community supporters are invited to participate.
► In today's Yakima H-R -- Business groups drop minimum wage challenge -- A group of farm and business interests is withdrawing a court challenge to the Jan. 1 increase in the state minimum wage, the highest in the nation. The challengers say they will instead try to change the law in the current legislative session. Their decision follows a ruling by a Kittitas County Superior Court judge who rejected the group's request to halt the 12-cent hourly increase from taking effect.
► In today's Daily News -- Brookfield Asset Management looking to sell Longview Fibre -- Toronto-based Brookfield said when it purchased Fibre in 2007 that it would sell off pulp and paper assets once it returned them to profitability. Reuters reports Fibre is up for sale, but the company won't confirm.
State Legislature news:
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From AP -- Labor
leader urges suspension of tax breaks --
Washington voters should have a chance to preserve endangered state programs
by suspending $3 billion or more in tax breaks, the state's largest labor
organization says. The Washington State Labor Council's proposal provides a
strong counterpoint to the budget-cutting message resonating from Democratic
Gov. Chris Gregoire as state lawmakers plow into a legislative session
dominated by a $4.6 billion two-year budget deficit. President Jeff
Johnson said the state's budget deficit also makes it clear that Washington
can’t afford to continue offering the buffet of tax breaks that have built
up over the years. "Whether they're good, bad or indifferent, we simply
can't afford them right now," Johnson said.
► In today's Spokesman-Review -- Labor Council to push to close tax loopholes -- Eliminating a tax exemption by the Legislature is the same as raising a tax, which requires a two-thirds majority in both houses under the provisions of an initiative voters approved in November. Unions will ask instead for the Legislature to put the 3-year moratorium on this November's ballot and let the voters decide. That would only require a simple majority in each house, and a simple majority from voters.
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► At Publicola -- State Labor Council wants a more balanced approach on Unemployment Insurance fix -- The WSLC agrees with Sells and Gregoire that rates shouldn’t rise so sharply, especially during a recession, but the coalition would prefer a more holistic approach that targets relief not only at businesses, but at struggling families as well. The group’s campaign includes a weekly $15 per child benefit (maximum $50 per week) in addition to lower UI tax rates on business over the next three years. Marshaling a coalition of labor and social groups, the WSLC hopes that the new tax package would target benefits at those who need them most.
► In today's Seattle Times -- Amid budget crisis, hard health-care decisions: Where to cut? -- People who are poor, mentally ill or disabled, and the community clinics that serve them all face serious hits as lawmakers looking to trim the state budget home in on a huge area of spending: health care.
► At WashingtonPolicy.org -- Another liquor privatization referendum introduced -- Despite state voters' rejection of two well-financed privatization initiatives last fall, Sens. Tim Sheldon ("D"-Potlatch), Phil Rockefeller (D-Bainbridge Island) and Curtis King (R-Yakima) want to put it on this fall's ballot again.
► At SeattlePI.com -- Gregoire "open" to idea of privatized liquor sales -- Gov. Gregoire says she she'd consider getting the state out of the liquor retail business, but first she wants a better sense of how people feel about it. "I'm not clear what the voters said in November about this," she said. "So I told the liquor board, I wanted them to do a poll for me and bring me the results." (Here's a poll -- one that we already paid for -- I-1100: 46.57% yes, 53.43% NO -- I-1105: 34.96% yes, 65.04% NO!)
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In today's Tri-City Herald --
Connell
prison worker fights back after assault -- Corrections Officer John
Poynor has
been off active duty since Oct. 31, when an inmate hit him so hard it
dislocated his shoulder. He and other prison and
county jail employees are suing inmates who assault them and are seeking
financial damages. Sen. Mike Hewitt (R-Walla Walla) is sponsoring a bill
that would open the way for garnishment of inmate accounts when such damages
are awarded.
► In today's Olympian -- Campaign-financing committee's under fire -- WSLC President Jeff Johnson said the council likely would support Sen. Craig Pridemore's disclosure reform bill and said secretly attacking a candidate over positions the council shares was a mistake and "will never happen again."
► In today's Kitsap Sun -- Gregoire's proposal for regional ferry authority dead -- It has apparently died with a fizzle. After a briefing by the governor's staff, House Transportation Committee Chairwoman Rep. Judy Clibborn did not see much -- if any -- support of it among the committee members.
► In today's (Everett) Herald -- Legislators tackle stricter campaign rules -- They take a first swing at clamping down on the kind of chicanery used to oust an Everett Democratic state senator last year.
► In today's Olympian -- Freshman legislators to bring changes -- There are 26 new lawmakers learning their way around this week. It's doubtful any of them think voters sent them to uphold the status quo.
► In today's (Everett) Herald -- Port of Everett tries to protect funding at Legislature -- It isn't asking for any money this year, but is asking lawmakers not to tap into earmarked funds that already exist.
► In today's Spokesman-Review -- Call for "flash mob" thwarts meeting on Senate seat -- As the number of contenders to replace longtime Sen. Bob McCaslin (R-Spokane Valley) grows, efforts to get the seat filled quickly were derailed. Saturday's meeting to nominate possible replacements was postponed after a group backing Rep. Matt Shea called for a demonstration outside the gathering.
National news:
►
In The Hill -- Labor
coalition worries Obama will cut deal on Social Security --
A broad coalition of labor unions and liberal groups has launched an intense
lobbying campaign directed at the White House in advance of President Obama's
State of the Union address. These groups are concerned about Obama’s
taciturn response to the proposal by his fiscal commission to gradually
increase the retirement age and use a different calculation for
cost-of-living adjustments.
► Also see the Jan 11 WSLC Reports Today posting -- Urge White House against needless cuts in Social Security
► In today's Washington Post -- House GOP to launch health-care repeal effort -- House Republican leaders said Thursday that they will begin their effort to repeal the new health-care law next week, a return to normal legislative business after the shootings in Arizona suspended activity on Capitol Hill.
► Also see the Jan 4 WSLC Reports Today posting -- GOP vows repeal just as health benefits kick in
► In The Hill -- White House pushing South Korea free trade deal by July -- U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk says the administration's goal is to have the agreement voted on by Congress before July 1 -- the date a trade deal between South Korea and the European Union goes into effect.
► At AFL-CIO Now -- Banks foreclosed on 1 million homes last year -- Rather than helping working people to save their homes, banks foreclosed on more than 1 million properties last year, which will slow the economic recovery and obstruct job growth, especially in construction.
► At AFL-CIO Now -- Vote now to press China on currency manipulation -- Ahead of Obama's meeting next week with China's President Hu Jintao, the Washington Post is asking readers whether the White House should press Hu on China's currency manipulation. The answer is “Yes!” VOTE HERE.
The following editorial was published in the Madison (Wis.) Capital Times:
The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was not assassinated at a rally organized by a right-wing talk radio host, or at the inauguration of a conservative Republican governor.
King, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning campaigner for economic and social justice whose legacy we celebrate with a holiday that falls on Monday, Jan. 17 this year, died while supporting the right of public employees to organize labor unions and to fight for the preservation of public services.
That inconvenient truth is sometimes obscured by pop historians, who would have us believe that King was merely a "civil rights leader." King's was a comprehensive activism that extended far beyond the boundaries of the movement to end segregation. His most famous address, the "I Have a Dream" speech, was delivered at the 1963 "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom" -- a historic event that explicitly linked the social and economic demands of campaigners for civil rights and economic justice.
And King always saw that linkage as being well-expressed -- arguably best expressed -- in the struggles of public employees and their unions for dignity, fair pay, fair benefits and a recognition of the contributions made by those who collect our garbage, clean our streets, police our communities, protect our environment, care for our aged and infirm family members, teach our children and deliver our mail.
It was to that end that King made his last journey, at the age of 39, to march with and campaign on behalf of members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union in Memphis, Tenn., in April of 1968.
The sanitation workers of Memphis had experienced not just racial discrimination but the disregard and disrespect that is so often directed at those who perform essential public services.
No one should miss the fact that AFSCME, the union that they joined and the union with which King worked so closely, is now under attack by right-wingers who would have us believe that public workers are to blame for the problems that occur when policymakers blow the budget on tax cuts for the rich, bailouts for big banks and military adventures abroad.
King did not fall for the fantasy. He stood at the side of public employees, telling a Memphis congregation on the night before he died: "Let us keep the issues where they are. The issue is injustice. The issue is the refusal of Memphis to be fair and honest in its dealings with its public servants, who happen to be sanitation workers. Now, we've got to keep attention on … the fact that one thousand, three hundred sanitation workers are on strike, and that Memphis is not being fair to them."
King was proud to rally with public workers, and proud to make the connection between their struggle and the broader struggle for a fair and equitable economy that served all workers -- public and private.
The defense of public employees -- so essential to a functional society, and yet so frequently abused by the powerful players who would diminish the role of government in order to enhance their own wealth and authority -- is as vital a struggle today as it was in 1968.
As Gov. Scott Walker and his legislative allies target public employees for abuse, it is as necessary for the right-minded and right-hearted people of Wisconsin to defend those workers as it was for the right-minded and right-hearted people of Memphis.
King's call echoes now. "Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness," he declared on the night before he was slain. "Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation."
FRIDAY,
JANUARY 14, 2011
Red Lion Seattle Airport contract talks drag
on
Management
continues to opposes language on job security
Workers at the Red Lion Hotel Seattle Airport, members of UNITE HERE Local 8, continue to fight for a fair contract at their hotel after more than nine months of negotiations.
The
workers, many of whom have worked at the Red Lion for more than a decade,
are fighting for contract language that would protect their jobs and their
union if the hotel or restaurant (Gregory's) were to be sold or if a
subcontractor took over the work. The company has maintained its strong
opposition to language that would protect these long-term employees from
having the quality of their jobs eroded if the hotel were to contract out
the restaurant to a separate company. In fact, the company is planning to do
just that -- get rid of the restaurant without protecting their workers.
On December 16, 2010, community and labor allies joined the Red Lion workers on the sidewalk in front of the hotel to show that we are united in our fight for a fair contract that protects all of our members' jobs. We know that we got management's attention; however, the company continues to oppose these efforts to win strong job security language. The workers remain strong, united, and committed to win what they deserve.
Please utilize force majeure language in all contracts with the Red Lion Hotel Seattle Airport to protect your organization in the event of a labor dispute, including a possible boycott, and check with UNITE HERE Local 8 before booking new business.
Call Sarah Warren at (206) 470-2978 with questions or visit www.unitehere8.org for more information.
Copyright ©
2011
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Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO