WSLC Monthly Report -- January 2003

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!

2002 editions: December -- November -- October -- Aug/Sept -- July -- June -- May -- April -- March

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29 — What happens to a democratic society when too much wealth and power is concentrated in too few hands? That question will be explored by special guests Bill Gates, Sr. and Responsible Wealth co-founder Chuck Collins at "America's Wealth Gap: Tax Fairness, the Estate Tax and the Quest for Adequate Income," a community forum from 7 to 9 p.m. at the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Seattle. Learn more.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29 — An Apprenticeship Fair in Chehalis at Yard Birds Mall, 2100 N. National Ave. A free event open to residents of Thurston, Lewis, Mason, Grays Harbor, Pacific, Cowlitz, Wahkiakum and Clark counties -- sponsored by Northwest Laborers’ Employers Training Trust, Thurston-Lewis Labor Council, Laborers Local 252, Grays Harbor Central Labor Council, Olympia and Vicinity Building Trades, and WorkSource Lewis County.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 31
and SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8 — Anne Feeney and Chris Chandler, along with Tacoma “Longshore Troubadour” (and new WSLC Vice President) Vance Lelli, will perform at two benefits concerts for Washington State Jobs with Justice on Jan. 31 at the Seattle Labor Temple at 6 p.m., and Feb. 8 at the ILWU 23 Hall in Fife. Learn more.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25 — Tacoma longshoremen Willie Adams and Mike Chambers present, “A Celebration of Black History and Labor” from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Pantages Theater in Tacoma. Speakers include Paul Robeson Jr., Yolanda King, Ms. Shabazz, Avery Brooks, Paddy Crumlin, Nikki Giovanni, and the Rev. Al Sharpton. There will also be tap dancing and other musical entertainment. Tickets are $11 for adults and $6 for students/seniors, and are available by calling the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts at 253-591-5894 or TicketMaster. Tickets online: www.broadwaycenter.org

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28 —WSLC’s 2003 Legislative Conference. See details in story at left.

Most agree that the 2003 Legislative Session is all about the $2.4 billion revenue shortfall lawmakers must address in its budget agreement. While that may be true, it isn’t stopping some legislators from launching major attacks on workplace rights and standards.

Bills have been introduced to freeze the minimum wage, exempt certain highway projects from prevailing wage standards, reduce or make it harder to qualify for workers’ compensation and unemployment benefits, and repeal the state ergonomics rule. By the time you read this, other anti-worker attacks on labor standards—all in the name of making Washington more “business-friendly”—will have been filed.

Because Republicans have gained control of the State Senate by a single vote, many of these attacks that were quashed by Democrat-controlled committees in previous years will be heard, voted upon and possibly approved. Although the ideology of government deregulation hasn’t changed, its supporters sense new momentum using their corporate competitiveness talking points and blaming recessionary job losses on everything from the minimum wage to the yet-to-be-enforced ergonomics rule.

Union members and other supporters of laws protecting workers from exploitation and abuse must be vigilant to protect these rights many take for granted. We must also continue to support efforts to approve a responsible budget, a long-overdue transportation package and the prescription drug consolidation bill—just to name a few.

That means staying informed and in touch with your State Senators and Representatives. The Washington State Labor Council can help you accomplish that:

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR LEGISLATIVE UPDATE NEWSLETTER which offers weekly updates throughout the session on the status of legislation that affects working families. It is available free of charge via email, fax or traditional mail. Sign up by visiting www.wslc.org or by calling our Seattle office at (206) 281-8901.

ATTEND THE WSLC 2003 LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE at the WestCoast Olympia Hotel on Friday, Feb. 28. You’ll get updates not only from WSLC lobbyists, but from the legislative leaders themselves. Registration is open to all union members, costs $30 per person (which includes lunch and materials). The conference will begin at 8:30 a.m. sharp and conclude with lunch so that participants can schedule afternoon meetings with their elected representatives to discuss their priority issues.

The night before the conference—Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the hotel—will be the WSLC Legislative Reception, a great opportunity to meet and mingle with state lawmakers as well as other union members and leaders. Admission is free to those registered for Friday’s conference, but any guests will be charged $15 to help cover the cost of refreshments.

To sign up for the WSLC Legislative Conference, visit www.wslc.org and download a registration form, or call (206) 281-8901 to have one mailed or faxed to you. The deadline for pre-registration is Feb. 14. A block of rooms has been reserved at the WestCoast Olympia Hotel, but will only be held until Jan. 27 so call now at 1-800-325-4000 or (360) 943-4000 for reservations.

This month Secretary of Transportation Doug MacDonald publicly responded to the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, an anonymously funded right-wing “think tank” that backs privatization of most government services (and actively opposes trade unionism), debunking EFF claims about the efficiency of our state transportation system and the impact of state prevailing wage laws.

“We do wish that greater care could be taken by your organization in assuring the most basic level of factual accuracy in areas rightfully of concern,” MacDonald wrote in a letter to the EFF that he also distributed to the press. “We fail to understand why a modicum of fact checking has not been done by the foundation in preparing its materials.”

MacDonald and all other state department chiefs usually refrain from taking on critics so directly, but he said public cynicism about his department’s fiscal accountability, which played a role in the defeat of last year’s gas-tax Referendum 51, has led to a change in his philosophy.

One of several points he set straight was in response to an EFF claim that our state is forced to pay Walla Walla County flaggers $23.11 per hour or $48,068 annually. The truth, MacDonald explained, is that employers pay $23 in salary, benefits and taxes. The flaggers actually only take home about $16.90 an hour. And because flagging is seasonal work, the workers actually take home only about $20,000 a year.

Hundreds of members of the International Association of Machinists District 751 and the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace/IFPTE 2001 who work at the Boeing Co.’s Spokane parts plant have had a stressful year since the company announced plans to sell or close the facility. But earlier this month members voted to accept pay cuts as part of a deal with buyer Triumph Group Inc., saving the plant from impending closure.

“I want to thank our members for their patience and support,” said IAM District 751 President Mark Blondin. “They lived with the uncertainty of whether this plant would remain open for over a year. (Now) our members in Spokane made the decision to keep this plant open by overwhelmingly ratifying this first agreement by 75 percent.”

Engineers and technical workers also ratified a first contract with Triumph earlier this month, but were upset about the number of jobs that were lost. SPEEA President Jennifer MacKay said: “The contract is a win at the cost of somebody else’s job. There’s relief this is finally over, but I think a lot of people are disappointed. There were so many takeaways that we feel Triumph breached our trust. They’ll have to work to earn it back.”

As a panel of experts created by the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine (IOM) voiced concern about President Bush’s smallpox vaccination plan this month, the Service Employees International Union called on the President and Congress to put better protections for workers and patients in place before vaccinations begin.

“Health care workers want to be prepared if a smallpox outbreak occurs,” said Diane Sosne, RN and president of SEIU District 1199NW. “That’s why President Bush should address the concerns raised by medical experts, public health officials, and health care workers. No one should be put at unnecessary risk.” The IOM report echoes concerns health care workers have been raising since Bush announced his plan last month to begin vaccinating 500,000 health workers against smallpox. Hospitals in Washington, Colorado, Minnesota, Alabama, Georgia, and Virginia have declined to participate in the vaccination campaign, citing safety and liability concerns.

The United Food and Commercial Workers say Wal-Mart’s claim that its “associates” don’t want union representation again rings hollow as the National Labor Relations Board issues three new complaints against the retail giant. Following a NLRB investigation of worker charges in Denver, Colo.; Paris, Texas; and Orlando, Fla., the feds have charged Wal-Mart with illegal surveillance, threats and intimidation of its associates. Workers and the NLRB charge that Wal-Mart managers told associates their union activities were being monitored, asked associates to spy on co-workers on behalf of the company, verbally harassed union supporters and interrogated associates about their union activities. The UFCW has organized a new campaign called The People’s Campaign—Justice@Wal-Mart, “a movement to change the course, and chart a new path for Wal-Mart from a low wage, low benefits, high turnover employer to a company that provides good jobs with living wages and affordable health care.”

Decrying the “brutal demands to force workers to work as many as seven days per week and 16 hours per day” at the Graphic Packaging Corporation plant in Kalamazoo, Mich., and the “anti-worker, union-busting” practices of the Coors Family, PACE International Union has been joined by the AFL-CIO in announcing a nationwide boycott against GPC and consumer products for whom GPC provides packaging. Manufacturers whose products are contained in GPC packaging include Coors Brewing Co., General Mills, Quaker Products and Kraft Foods. GPC, the largest folding carton manufacturer in the United States, is owned and controlled by the Coors family through family trusts. On July 27, 2002, after a dispute primarily over mandatory overtime, holiday work requirements and pensions, GPC imposed a lockout on 429 members of PACE (Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers).