WSLC Monthly Report -- July 2002

WSLC Reports is a monthly summary of labor news and a preview of coming events. It is not intended to be comprehensive. More detail is available on these (and other) items online. If you would like to receive this via fax or mail, Get on the List!

AUGUST 19-22—The WSLC 2002 Constitutional Convention at the Ridpath Hotel in Spokane. (See story at below.)

AUGUST 24—The Rolling Thunder Down Home Democracy Tour, a festival of music, arts and grassroots organizing, a county fair with guts, a revival with a reason, a concert with consciousness will be held Saturday, Aug. 24 at Renton’s Petrovitsky Park. Among many others, the event will feature Jesse Jackson Jr., Jim Hightower, Tom Hayden and music by Holly Near and Medusa. Tickets for the daylong event will be $5 in advance and $10 at the gate. Learn more or for more information, visit www.rollingthundertour.org

The first Labor-Neighbor event of the 2002 campaign season is set, and the Washington State Labor Council challenges all unions to have representatives join in the action Sunday, Aug. 18 from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Spokane’s 6th Legislative District. Delegates for the WSLC convention in town Aug. 19-22 should try to come early and experience firsthand the power—and fun—of walking neighborhoods to bring labor’s message home to fellow union members.

Volunteers will distribute literature on candidates like incumbent State Rep. John Ahern, who voted against collective bargaining for public employees, co-sponsored a tip credit bill and advocates laying off 18,000 more state employees to balance the budget. Sheila Collins, his labor-endorsed challenger, supports labor’s positions on all of those issues. Likewise, labor-endorsed Senate challenger Laurie Dolan will be compared to Sen. Jim West, who also voted against collective bargaining rights, opposes ergonomic safety rules and has a dismal 10% labor voting record.

Participants should meet at the Operating Engineers 370 Hall at 510 S. Elm (off I-90, exit at Maple Street, Exit 280). Check-in begins at 11:30 a.m.; training at 12:30 p.m.

The Labor-Neighbor program will be up and running in several legislative districts throughout the state this summer and fall. To get involved or for more information, contact Jennifer Grace at jgrace@wslc.org or 1-800-542-0904.

In addition to keynote speaker AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, the WSLC has confirmed the following speakers for the Aug. 19-22 convention at Spokane’s Ridpath Hotel: Populist commentator Jim Hightower, UNITE President Clayola Brown, CLUW President Gloria Johnson and SEIU Vice President Eliseo Medina as well as a number of public officials, including Governor Gary Locke, U.S. Reps. Brian Baird and Jay Inslee, King County Executive Ron Sims and WSDOT chief Doug MacDonald.

The convention will feature panel discussions on the health care crisis, state transportation needs, union organizing, pension security, and strategic initiative campaigns. In addition, delegates can choose between afternoon workshops on everything from workplace substance abuse prevention to websites and effective union communication.

The Spokane community will be invited to join convention participants in a special Monday night (Aug. 19) public forum: “Our State’s Economic Crisis, Its Impact on Our Families and How We Fight Back!” from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Ridpath Hotel.

In addition to educational events, there will be plenty of opportunities for plain old fun as well, including the annual COPE Barbecue and the convention banquet, plus a screening of the critically acclaimed film, 10,000 Black Men Named George, about A. Philip Randolph’s struggle to organize train porters.

The Olympian recently broke a front-page story about the Republican Party’s failure to properly report millions of dollars of political campaign money funneled from the national to the state party organization. If that sounds familiar, it’s because the State Democrats face similar charges.

But there’s a big difference. A $4.8 million difference. That’s how much money the State Republican Party should have to forfeit to the state General Fund if the Public Disclosure Commission enforces the law as written.

The C-3 form the Democrats filed late (or in some cases not at all) subjects them to a PDC penalty of a maximum of $2,500, unless the case is referred to the Attorney General’s office, which could impose a stiffer fine. The C-5 form the Republicans filed late subjects them to forfeiture of the campaign money involved—all $4.8 million.

The C-5 form clearly states: “CAUTION: Failure to report transactions within ten days will cause the funds to forfeit to Washington State.” And that law has been strictly enforced in the past… at least against unions.

Last fall, 54 state legislators and elected officials, including Gov. Gary Locke, were forced to turn over some $37,000 to the state after the PDC found that two unions had made contributions in that amount using funds from their national union, which failed to fill out the C-5 form.

Although an investigation has not yet been conducted, the PDC has already conceded that the GOP filed their C-5 forms one or two YEARS late and the reason they filed them at all is because a PDC auditor made a “courtesy call” reminding them to do so. But, stunningly, PDC spokesperson Doug Ellis initially said the agency is unlikely to force the Republicans to forfeit the $4.8 million! The agency has since changed its tack and promises to enforce the law. What that means remains to be seen, but we’ll be watching.

On July 12, a Thurston County Superior Court judge rejected every single argument in a business group’s lawsuit against the state over its development and implementation of an ergonomics rule designed to prevent musculoskeletal injuries at Washington workplaces.

“This ruling is great news for working families in our state,” said WSLC President Rick Bender. “The state has an interest, and in fact a constitutional obligation, to ensure workplaces are safe and healthy, and the ergonomics rule is a critically important step toward meeting that obligation.”

Some 50,000 workers suffer ergonomic-related injuries every year in Washington, costing the workers’ compensation system around $400 million annually. The state rule promulgated by the Department of Labor and Industries requires businesses to develop a plan to identify and address ergonomic hazards. It has already been implemented, but enforcement is not scheduled to begin until 2004.

Among the arguments presented by the so-called WE CARE (Washington Employers Concerned About Regulating Ergonomics) Coalition was that L&I exceeded its authority in adopting the rule, it failed to follow proper procedures, its cost-benefit analysis is flawed, there isn’t enough scientific evidence to support the need for ergonomics prevention, and the implementation plan is inadequate.

Thurston County Superior Court Judge Paula Casey ruled no, no, no, no and... no.

Contract talks affecting thousands of area workers at the Boeing Co. and at the ports continue with no clear sign whether the unions will have to strike to get a fair contract.

In a massive display of solidarity, thousands of Boeing workers represented by International Association of Machinists District 751 walked off the job July 9 and filled the Seattle Center Memorial Stadium to grant strike sanction— by a 98% vote. The IAM is making its case at the bargaining table—and to Wall Street analysts alongside the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace/IFPTE 2001 —that Boeing is cutting jobs not just because orders are off, but to move them overseas hoping to boost short-term profits. The IAM, whose contract expires Sept. 1, says it wants to stop the bleeding and ensure some of the 30,000 workers already laid off will get their jobs back—or else there may be an attendance problem in September. Learn more.

At the ports, talks between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the major ocean carriers and stevedoring companies continue with some signs of progress. The nation’s manufacturers and retailers have a close eye on this one because 40 percent of all U.S. trade passes through the West Coast ports between Bellingham and San Diego; a strike would have a devastating impact on them. These third-party interests may also be lobbying for some sort of federal intervention. The contract expired July 1 but both sides have agreed to remain at the table for now. Should talks reach a stalemate, it is believed that the president would invoke an 80-day “cooling off” period before a work stoppage occurs. Learn more.

Having survived yet another one-vote margin of victory in the U.S. House on June 26, the effort to grant Fast Track trade negotiating authority to President Bush still survives. It has passed both houses of Congress, but in different forms, so a conference committee must work out a compromise that can be put to a final vote in the House and Senate.

Bush and corporate lobbyists have pushed hard for the conference to complete its work and vote before Congress’ August recess. But political infighting has delayed work enough that the committee chairman now concedes a vote is unlikely before the recess. That’s good news for unions, environmental groups and consumer advocates—and the general public, two-thirds of whom oppose Fast Track—because many believe the final bill will not pass Congress if the vote is held too close to an election. Congress reconvenes after Labor Day.

The AFL-CIO has sponsored television and radio ads to generate phone calls to key lawmakers. Thousands of calls to Congress opposing Fast Track were made during the national Call to Stop Fast Track Week, July 15-19. If you haven’t made the call yet, dial toll-free at 1-877-611-0063.

Even as Washington and most other states face dire budget crises caused by recession and the events of Sept. 11, Microsoft and other corporations are seeking new federal restrictions on state and local governments’ ability to impose taxes on “national” corporations. This despite evidence that corporations’ share of the overall tax burden has dropped significantly in recent years.

The bill before Congress would cost the states $9 billion in annual revenue in the first few years, a figure that could quickly grow as companies adjust operations to make full use of the proposed loophole. Corporate lobbyists, including Microsoft’s, successfully pushed the measure through a congressional subcommittee following a hearing that was scheduled on such short notice state officials said they couldn’t attend, the New York Times reported July 17.

Meanwhile, even as the federal budget surplus has been erased and the government begins borrowing from Social Security again to cover the deficit (caused by huge tax breaks for the rich and the cost of the war on terrorism), Congress has not shown any inclination to close the corporate tax loophole which has U.S. companies moving their headquarters to Bermuda to avoid taxes.