WSLC Monthly Report -- February 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!
(See previous editions of this newsletter.)

MONDAY, MARCH 10—Union members and the general public are encouraged to attend a "Cover the Uninsured" Town Hall Meeting from 5 to 7 p.m. at Harborview Auditorium, 325 9th Ave. in Seattle. The event kicks off a week of activities when elected officials and health care industry experts discuss the problems, and possible solutions, of the growing ranks of citizens who lack health insurance. Learn more or visit www.covertheuninsured.org.

MAY 27-30—"Planting Seeds for the Future," the Washington State Labor Council’s Labor Candidate School will be that Tuesday through Friday at the Laborers’ Training Facility in Kingston. All union members interested in running for local, state or federal office are encouraged to apply. The registration fee (which includes a dorm room, meals and training materials) will be $150 per person. Space is limited, so if you are interested in attending or would like more information, contact WSLC Political Director Diane McDaniel at dmcdaniel@wslc.org or (206) 281-8901.

AUGUST 21-23—The Washington State Labor Council’s 2003 Convention is scheduled for that Thursday through Saturday at the WestCoast Wenatchee Hotel. The convention call will be mailed to affiliated union organizations at least 90 days prior to the convention.

The attacks on workplace safety standards usually confined to the legislative halls of Olympia, have recently spread to state courts, and potentially, to this fall’s ballot.

The Washington State Labor Council, in our weekly Legislative Update newsletter (subscribe!), has described the progress of various attacks on workplace safety standards including SB 5161, the bill to repeal the state ergonomics rule. But at least one business group is hedging its bet on that bill by filing Initiative 841 which also would repeal the rule.

The Building Industry Association of Washington, which last year successfully supported a ballot measure killing a business-labor unemployment insurance reform effort, filed this initiative Jan. 29. The BIAW’s initiative would not only repeal the rule but prevent the state from promulgating a new one in the future. The BIAW has until July 3 to collect roughly 200,000 valid signatures, which they have previously accomplished by hiring paid signature gatherers.

Meanwhile, the Washington State Farm Bureau last month filed a lawsuit claiming the state Department of Labor and Industries lacks the authority to conduct warrantless worksite inspections, nor do they have the authority to get a warrant. There is already a State Superior Court decision saying no specific legislative authority exists giving L&I the right to get a warrant. So if the Farm Bureau’s suit succeeds, no wage-and-hour or safety inspections would be allowed unless the employer consents.

Not coincidentally, the business groups leading these attacks have two of the biggest "Retro Programs" in the state—cash cows generating millions of dollars in organizational revenue to help fund their campaigns against workers. Retrospective Reform Programs are an effort by L&I to promote workplace safety by refunding a portion of workers’ compensation premiums to employers with exemplary safety records. The BIAW and Farm Bureau help member businesses successfully apply for the rebates and for their trouble they take a healthy cut from the rebate checks before forwarding them to employers. As documented in a 1998 Public Disclosure Commission ruling, the BIAW collects millions annually from its Retro program and funnels hundreds of thousands of it directly into political efforts.

"We will continue to fight efforts to kill the state ergonomics rule and other important work safety standards whether that fight is in the legislature, in court or at the ballot box," said WSLC President Rick Bender. "Washington’s working families must be protected from the corporate interests who consider their bottom lines more important than the health and safety of their employees."

Amidst the annual legislative attack on the ergonomics rule, Governor Gary Locke offered a strong vote of confidence in the rule designed to protect Washington’s workers from musculoskeletal injuries.

"(The ergonomics rule) reduces the cost of business," Locke said at a press conference Feb. 5. "Work injuries drive the cost of business so we should always strive to reduce injuries. It’s a win-win for employees and employers." His comments came in response to a reporter questioning whether the ergonomics rule hurt state efforts to create a "competitive" business environment. Locke pointed out that in the past 12 months, five national retail chains—Target, Safeway, Wal-Mart, Ferguson Enterprises and most recently, Home Depot—have chosen Washington over neighboring states to build major regional distribution facilities.

Locke said all these companies were aware of our ergonomics rule and were eager to learn more about it before making their decisions, but "based on what they are doing (at similar facilities) in other states, they found they easily comply," he said.

Hundreds of American Federation of Government Employees members in Seattle and their community supporters marched through downtown Seattle and rallied Feb. 26 in opposition to President Bush’s privatization plan, which will affect 1-in-3 non-postal federal workers in our state.

Among the federal employees affected in Washington state are Environmental Protection Agency, National Park Service and Veterans Administration workers. The privatization of federal jobs in every agency will effect democratic accountability of federal programs and will impact the quality of services taxpayers have come to rely upon. History has shown that privatization neither saves money nor makes government more efficient.

Hundreds of janitors and their community allies rallied Feb. 21 in downtown Seattle to protest the anti-union activities of janitorial contractor Allied Building Services. They met at 1000 Second Avenue, the headquarters of local real estate owner Martin Selig, who uses Allied Building Services in many of his Seattle buildings.

The janitors were protesting retaliation by Allied Building Services in response to union organizing. On Feb. 14, seven Allied janitors were fired after walking off the job to protest Allied’s unfair labor practices, which include illegally monitoring union meetings, threatening workers engaged in union activities, and discriminating against workers who support the union. The National Labor Relations Board is currently investigating six charges of unfair labor practices against Allied. Allied janitors are organizing with Service Employees International Union Local 6, which represents approximately 2,500 janitors and other building services workers in the Puget Sound area.

A judge on Feb. 10 declared initiative profiteer Tim Eyman’s latest car-tax-cutting effort unconstitutional and unenforceable. Passed by voters in November to lower vehicle license-tab fees to $30, Initiative 776 was the third tax-limiting initiative sponsored by Eyman to be rejected for embracing more than one subject, a violation of the state constitution. The decision by King County Superior Court Judge Mary Yu is likely to be appealed to the state Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Eyman has filed a new intiative (yet to be assigned a number) that specifically targets Sound Transit’s light rail with elimination. Its effect would be to allow a statewide majority of voters to reject the will of a regional majority who voted to tax themselves for the project. Although I-776 passed statewide, it was rejected by voters within the boundaries of Sound Transit.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) ignited a firestorm of controversy when he signed a Jan. 8 fundraising letter for the National Right-to-Work Foundation. His six-page letter accused "Big Labor Bosses" of using the nation’s security worries "to grab more power," a move that "presents a clear and present danger to the security of the United States at home and the safety of our Armed Forces overseas." Examples are "as numerous as they are sickening," he wrote, criticizing the president of the International Association of Fire Fighters union by name.

"How dare you question the patriotism of the nation’s firefighters and their elected union leaders—all of whom have... risked their lives countless of times for the citizens of our great nation," said IAFF President Harold Schaitberger in a letter to DeLay. "Have you forgotten so soon? On Sept. 11, 2001, my proud union lost 343 firefighters at Ground Zero."

Wrote AFL-CIO President John Sweeney: "Never in my long career have I seen anything as despicable as this slanderous letter."

Rep. DeLay later attempted to disavow the letter by blaming one of his staffers, but a Right-to-Work Foundation spokesman said he was surprised by the disavowal: "Presumably, it’s his view because he signed the letter."

Members of Local 6-1010 of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical, and Energy Workers (PACE) International Union ratified a new five-year contract agreement Jan. 26 at the Kalamazoo, Mich. plant of Graphic Packaging Corporation that effectively ends the lockout of 429 workers that began July 27, 2002.

"No one is pleased with the contract, but six months is a long time to have your livelihood taken away from you, and we clearly understand why our members voted for it," said PACE Region 9 Vice President Bill Gibbons. "Unfortunately, the length and bitterness of the labor dispute again shows how corporations are routinely trying to starve workers and their families into submission while labor laws do little to protect them."

In a Feb. 19 memo, PACE states: "In view of this unprovoked and uncalled for attack on Unionists, PACE is continuing its other activities against Coors. We will be evaluating the continuation of the boycott and other activities based on GPC’s treatment of these workers."