Adapted from Associated Press report

The Boeing Co.'s instructional pilots, who teach airline pilots how to fly Boeing planes, say they are at an impasse in negotiating a new contract.

A strike by the 56 pilots could delay deliveries of as many as half the airplanes currently being built, said Gil Schmidt, president of the Boeing Pilots Association.

``It would be very difficult for Boeing if we did walk off the job,'' Schmidt said.

The pilots want substantial pay increases and improved working conditions, including overtime pay and more regular hours. They also object to a proposed monthly fee for health insurance coverage.  The instructional pilots formed an independent union last year after Boeing and the pilot-training company FlightSafety International formed a joint venture. Talks began last fall on a first contract.

Boeing made an offer to the pilots last week, but they rejected it unanimously and authorized negotiators to call a strike if talks break down.  Schmidt said a salary survey of other instructional pilots qualified on large jetliners found the industry average was $180,000 a year, while the average at Boeing was $90,000.

Boeing spokesman Peter Conte said the company does not comment on union negotiations: ``We have been negotiating conscientiously and in good faith with the union,'' Conte said, ``but we don't intend to negotiate in the press.''

The No! 200 Campaign will challenge Initiative 200 head-on.  In a unanimous decision earlier this month, the campaign's Steering Committee determined that the best possible strategy to defeat I-200 in November will be to run a clear, clean and focused "No" campaign, as opposed to an alternative initiative.

Kelly Evans has been hired as the new No! 200 Campaign Manager for this last phase of our campaign.  Evans has extensive statewide campaign experience, having run the successful "NO on 173 & 177" campaign to defeat the school voucher initiatives in 1996, serving as Campaign Director for Hands Off Washington in 1995, as Signature Director for I-677 in 1997, and most recently, running the Seattle School Levies campaign in February 1998.

"Kelly's experience organizing grassroots field operations, working with coalitions and running initiative campaigns will be a great asset to our effort," said Karen Cooper, Chair of the No! 200 Search Committee.

The No! 200 campaign will now focus on delivering a clear, consistent message about the effects of I-200, which if passed by voters in November, would dismantle affirmative action programs in the State of Washington.  But to get this important job done, the campaign needs to raise money.

When the Executive Board of the Washington State Labor Council voted to oppose Initiative 200 last year, WSLC President Rick Bender said:  "Right-wing conservatives have brought their attack on affirmative action to our state.  These people ignore the continuing problem of racial discrimination and discrimination against women.  They want us to take a giant step backward."

Now that this struggle approaches a conclusive November vote, the WSLC is encouraging all union members and organizations to consider making a donation to this important effort to educate voters on the real impact of Initiative 200.

For more information, please contact the campaign at no200@nwlink.com, at the new campaign office in Seattle (as of this Sunday, April 18) at 2819 1st Ave. in the Belltown area at the corner of 1st & Broad, at the new phone number is (206) 441-9120 (operational some time on Tuesday, April 21), or the new fax number (206) 441-9569.

Although treaty negotiations have little hope of being completed by the late-April deadline, the forces behind the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) — which worker advocates have described as "NAFTA on steroids" — say it's not dead.   The impact of global economic developments, including proposals like the MAI, will be discussed at events in Seattle on May 1-2.  (For more info, see below.)

"Contrary to reports saying otherwise, the MAI treaty is not dead.  MAI remains very much alive at the OECD,'' said Joanna Shelton, Deputy Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group that represents 27 of the richest nations and two Third World nations — South Korea and Mexico, where the treaty is being negotiated behind closed doors.  "Yes, there is a time problem.   This is simply proving to be more complex than thought at the beginning.   Every agreement is toughest at the end."

The treaty, a preliminary draft of which was leaked, would protect the rights of international investors without setting standards for fair treatment of workers, environmental safeguards or protection against anti-competitive practices.  In addition, MAI would allow corporations to sue governments if they believe a national, state or local law violates MAI or poses a barrier to investment.  Corporations could even bypass regular U.S. courts and take complaints to "international tribunals" or arbitration according to the rules set by the International Chamber of Commerce.

OECD officials have cited recent proposals to generate a consensus on protection of the environment and labor standards, including legally obliging signatory states not to compete for inward investment by lowering such standards.  But there is no indication of a proposal to require signatories to raise labor and environmental standards to a minimum level considered acceptable.

The OECD is going to considerable lengths to keep the momentum going and saying the project will survive, even if it has taken a knock.  Rather than go for broad political agreement on the treaty at the annual ministerial meeting on April 27-28, the OECD's Paris-based secretariat is now limiting its ambitions to securing a renewed political mandate.

Reports indicate that another of the snags in the talks is the insistence by France and several other major players that the U.S. repeal trade sanctions legislation such as the Helms-Burton Act against Cuba on the grounds that the U.S. cannot have laws which also hit at other countries doing business with Havana.

The events are free and open to the public. For information about May 1, contact Cameron Chapman at 685-2131 or Webster Walker at webwalk@u.washington.edu; about May 2, contact Mary Anne Mercer at 543-8382 or William Aal at waal@seanet.com.

Sponsors for these events include Global Economy Working Group, Health Alliance International, Northwest International Health Action Coalition, Washington State Campaign for Democracy, Alliance for Democracy (Seattle) and University of Washington: Democracy and Globalization Working Group, International Health Program, Latin American Studies and the Student Action Network.