News for the week of September 15 – 21 News for the week of September 15 – 21Friday, 9/19/97 — Important forum
to focus on electrical deregulation
Thursday, 9/18/97 — Union members
going door-to-door to register fellow members to vote
Wednesday, 9/17/97 — President
Bender responds to newspaper's "Fast Track" endorsement
Tuesday, 9/16/97 — Tale of two elections: Workers east and west of the
mountains say Union Yes!
Monday, 9/15/97 — UFW, Safeway reach historic agreement on strawberry
workers' rights
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The Washington State Labor Council's Economic Development and Job Retention Committee will be sponsoring a very important two-day forum on electrical deregulation October 21-22 at the Aerospace Machinists 751 Hall in Seattle starting at 9 a.m. each morning.
The history of deregulation in trucking, airlines and telecommunications tells the story of working men and women losing. We cannot let this happen with electrical deregulation. This is a very important issue for all of us who produce, distribute or use electrical energy... and that's ALL OF US.
The first day of the forum will be on electric energy policy from a variety of view points and opinions of producers, marketers, users groups, environmentalists and legislators who will also be available for questions. The second, and most important day, will be a time for the Washington state labor movement to set its electrical energy policies and legislative positions. It is important that the leadership of union locals attend this forum.
The cost of the conference is $25 per person, and covers lunch and materials for both days. If you have any questions, please e-mail the WSLC.
In part of the Washington State Labor Council's ongoing voter registration drive, rank-and-file union members are taking to the streets the next few weekends to get unregistered union members to sign up and vote. Volunteers will hand out voter registration forms, permanent absentee ballots and information about labor-endorsed candidates in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties.
This Saturday, Sept. 20, members will be working the 33rd Legislative District in south King County; the next Saturday, Sept. 27, they'll walk through Snohomish County's 4th County Council District; and Saturday, Oct. 4, they will work in Pierce County's 2nd and 25th Legislative Districts.
"The goal here is to increase labor's political power at the ballot box," said Diane McDaniel, WSLC Political Director. "That power will continue to grow as the number of registered union members increases."
The voter registration drive launched by the WSLC in 1993, and the hard work of all of its affiliated organizations, are paying off. From June 1996 to January 1997, a record 32,000 additional union members registered to vote in our state. In June 1992, only 47 percent of union members in Washington were registered to vote. In January 1997, that figure had climbed to 73.4 percent!
If you are interested in joining in this volunteer effort, please call J.R. Baker at 1-800-542-0904 or (206) 281-8901.
The following letter was written by Washington State Labor Council President Rick Bender in response to the (Tacoma) News Tribune's editorial endorsement of "Fast Track" trade negotiation authority for the Clinton Administration. (Similar letters were sent to Seattle newspapers that endorsed "fast track.")
September 17, 1997
David Seago
Editorial Page Editor
The Tacoma News Tribune
P.O. Box 11000
Tacoma, WA. 98411
Dear Mr. Seago:
Not so fast! Your paper's blanket endorsement of "Fast Track" for future trade agreements makes a claim of superior rationality but ignores the fact that we live in an irrational world, where an accurate sense of reality is critical.
In reality, one must acknowledge the very real harm already caused by NAFTA and the potential for future pain. In fact, due to NAFTA, 420,000 Americans suffered job loss by the end of 1996. More insidious is the impact of such trade agreements on wage and benefit levels, which tend to be depressed. Despite promises that NAFTA would lead to higher wages for Mexican workers, the opposite has occurred. For Mexican production workers, wages have fallen nearly 36%. American workers have also had to struggle with the heavy hand of NAFTA which has held down wages and benefits with not-so-subtle threats that agitating for better treatment might mean their jobs would move to Mexico.
In reality, the lack of environmental standards in NAFTA have led to increased air and water pollution along the U.S.-Mexican border, where the number of hepatitis cases has soared. The amount of hazardous waste crossing the border has increased 30%, and unsafe food is being brought in on unsafe trucks. Trade should benefit everyone, workers, communities and business. NAFTA and Fast Track deals only benefit business.
Policy makers face a clear choice, they can continue to praise Fast Track and NAFTA, insisting bravely in the face of all data to the contrary that it has been a marvelous success, that no matter how badly workers and communities suffer, that things would have been worse without NAFTA. Or they can face reality and learn a useful lesson, that NAFTA has harmed workers in all three North American nations. Millions have seen their wages bid down and their job security and communities jeopardized. Prior to NAFTA, the U.S. enjoyed a trade surplus with Mexico. Today, our trade deficit has skyrocketed to nearly $16.2 billion, and our deficit with Canada has more than quadrupled.
It is time to drastically re-think trade and investment rules as we approach the 21st century. We must protect core labor rights and environmental standards in the body of any new trade agreement, and it must be written into any fast-track legislation. This does not mean that the U.S. must impose its own wage rates and environmental practices, but it does mean that certain standards must apply to all nations. In a global economy, we must deal with reality rather than the rhetoric of so-called free trade.
In past trade agreements, the rights of business and employers have specifically been addressed and "protected." But when the rights of workers or the environment are advanced, it is deemed too "protectionist." One must ask, why does NAFTA specifically protect "intellectual property" but neglect to address any standards for labor or the environment? Labor is convinced that a double standard applies. That's why we urge "Not So Fast" with fast track.
Sincerely,
Rick S. Bender, President, Washington State Labor Council
For more information about "Fast Track"... click here.
What do 550 airline pilots in Seattle and 150 juicemakers in Prosser have in common? They both have the power and dignity of the labor movement behind them... now that they have elected to join a union.
The pilots at Seattle-based Horizon Air have voted to be represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the union announced yesterday. Horizon Air is a member of the Alaska Air Group Inc. and has flights primarily in the Pacific Northwest. A Teamsters spokesperson said contract negotiations will begin very soon.
Meanwhile in Benton County, the workers at Seneca Foods Inc. who make concentrated fruit juices voted to join the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 280. Their biggest issue was consistency in the treatment of employees, which included policies related to discipline, attendance, promotion and seniority. The bottom line was that these workers wanted the dignity and respect of having a voice in company policy. Negotiations on their first contract are already under way.
With the AFL-CIO's new focus on organizing, you can expect to hear more and more stories about workers electing to join a union right here at WSLC Reports OnLine. If you have news of an organizing victory, please let us know via e-mail or by calling our Seattle office at (206) 281-8901.
A major effort by West Coast strawberry workers to improve heir lives through union organizing picked up key support on Monday when the United Farm Workers and Safeway Inc. — the second largest retail food chain in the nation — .signed an agreement supporting basic human rights for 20,000 California berry pickers. It marks the first time in more than 30 years that Safeway and the union founded by Cesar Chavez are working together on issues of concern to agricultural workers.
Announcement of the Safeway-UFW agreement means 27 retail food companies — including four of the nation's top seven supermarket firms — covering 4,630 stores in 41 states and four Canadian provinces have signed pledges backing rights for strawberry workers.
Under the agreement, Safeway endorses the right of strawberry harvesters "to organize and bargain collectively under the provisions of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act" without fear of discrimination. It embraces "The right (of strawberry workers) to seek enforcement of laws and regulations for proper field sanitation, clean drinking water and hand-washing facilities." Safeway also calls on "all of its vendors to abide by the applicable laws and regulations governing such conditions and conduct."
UFW President Arturo Rodriguez says the agreement "is another sign that change is coming to California's strawberry fields. Safeway's support for what are basic human rights for some of the poorest workers in our country deserves the community's acclamation and gratitude. We look forward to a relationship of mutual respect and cooperation between the UFW and Safeway."
To date, 130 of 192 grocery stores (68 percent) in the Seattle metropolitan area have signed pledges supporting the right of strawberry workers to bargain collectively.
Safeway operates 1,368 food stores in the United States and Canada. Its U.S. retail operations are located primarily in Northern California, Southern California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Arizona and the Mid-Atlantic region. The company is estimated to have more than $22 billion in annual sales.
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