The Washington State Labor Council has finalized the official 1998 State Legislative Voting Record, which is available at this web site (by clicking here).  The voting records are for individuals and organizations that advocate for working families to use as guidelines when considering which candidates to support in the upcoming elections.

We acknowledge that there are other votes and positions that state legislators have taken that are not reflected in these tallies. Many of the anti-labor, anti-worker proposals considered in Olympia (i.e. "Paycheck Protection" union dues restrictions) never came up for an official vote.  The WSLC is making every effort to determine what candidates’ positions are on issues of importance to working families, and to publicize those positions.

Our annual Legislative Report and Voting Record, a much more comprehensive look at the 1998 Legislative Session than the enclosed voting record alone, will be published and distributed in early May.

Organizations affiliated with the WSLC:  Don't forget to mark your calendars to attend our 1998 COPE Endorsement Convention on Saturday, May 30 at the IAM 751 Hall in South Seattle.  Representatives of all WSLC-affiliated organizations will be voting to determine which candidates for Congress and State Legislature deserve support from the largest labor organization in the state.  The two preceding days, May 28-29, we will conduct a Political Action Conference at the SeaTac Radisson Hotel featuring workshops on how to inform and activate your union’s members on political issues and races.

Locals are encouraged to invite their rank-and-file members to attend as delegates and alternates so they can see the democratic endorsement process for themselves and give their fellow members a firsthand report on the results.  Affiliates should have already received the convention call and credential forms.

If you haven’t or have misplaced them, please call (206) 281-8901 or 1-800-542-0904.

As worker-owners and other shareholders begin to vote on directors and pay plans at America's largest corporations, the AFL-CIO has redoubled its efforts to publicize skyrocketing CEO salaries — and the conflicts that lie behind runaway executive pay.

The AFL-CIO's newly-updates Executive PayWatch web site shows working families just how much the big bosses reaped last year, how their pay compares, and what they can do about it.

And on Thursday, the AFL-CIO will release a new study entitled "Too Close for Comfort: How Corporate Boardrooms are Rigged to Overpay CEOs" (which will also be available at the web site.)  The report profiles 20 companies with highly questionable CEO compensation packages.

An excerpt from Caroline Lund’s "Barking Dog" newsletter

A friend passed on to me an article from the magazine "Working USA" (the November/December 1997 issue) dealing with employers that limit their employees' right to use the bathroom.

I thought we had it bad!  But you should read about the women at a Nabisco factory in Oxnard, Calif., who were prohibited from leaving the production line to relieve themselves, on threat of suspension or termination.  Many began wearing diapers to work, or Kotex and extra toilet paper, so they could relieve themselves while working.   Uggh!

In 1995 the women workers sued Nabisco, after developing bladder and uninary tract infections from being denied the right to take a leak.

At a poultry plant in Arkansas, management imposed rules whereby each absence, lateness, or bathroom visit outside of break time got you a point, and six points meant termination.

A student who worked at Fotomat on weekends had to endure six-hour shifts, with no bathroom break permitted.

The authors of this article are a lawyer and a doctor.  They point out that it is humiliating and undignified when your supervisor controls when you can perform basic bodily functions.  This humiliation creates psychological pressures on you, which then can create medical problems.  The article notes how office workers generally have a lot of freedom in their workplace — to make personal phone calls, leave the office briefly to run errands, chat with coworkers, and certainly to go to the bathroom.

But in a factory, management often considers the time you spend peeing (outside of break time) as "stolen" from the company. The authors of this article say that really, when you are denied the right to go to the bathroom, it is the company who steals from the worker, because they are stealing your health.

Women have more need to go to the bathroom than men, given their menstrual cycles.   But all men and women suffer medical problems when they are denied the right to go when nature calls.  What can happen when you just "hold it" is that your bladder fills, and stretches, and then urine can flow back into your kidneys, producing kidney infections.

Union leaders and activists should set aside all or part of the day on Thursday, April 16 to collect signatures for Initiative 688 to raise the state's minimum wage.  That will be a National Day of Action on the issue and happens to coincide with Washington state's campaign to collect the 225,000 signatures needed to put the issue on November's ballot.  There will be coordinated signature gathering efforts in Seattle, Spokane, Yakima and other cities around Washington.