WSLC Monthly Report -- June 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.)

JUNE 2003
'LABOR MUST STAND TOGETHER'
WSLC urges solidarity after contentious legislative session

TUESDAY, JULY 1—Within the next two years more than one million federal jobs may be contracted out to private entities. More than 15,000 federal jobs in Washington state could be converted to private contractor work. A Congressional Inquiry entitled "Should Government Go Private? How Will It Affect You?" moderated by U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott (D-7th) will be Tuesday from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Seattle Labor Temple, 2800 1st Ave. U.S. Reps. Jay Inslee (D-1st), Rick Larsen (D-2nd) and Adam Smith (D-9th) will also participate. Learn more.

AUGUST 21-23 -- The Washington State Labor Council’s 2003 Convention at the WestCoast Wenatchee Hotel. (See story below.)

OCTOBER 8-9 -- "Meeting of the Minds," the 2003 Workers’ Compensation conference, will be at the Shoreline Conference Center. This event provides a diverse and broadbased forum in which participants can learn more about workers’ compensation. For more information, including how to register, contact Project Help’s Kairie Pierce at 1-800-255-9752.

The long and frustrating 2003 legislative session was characterized by extreme budget cuts and disrespect for state employees and home-care workers, but it culminated in an 11th-hour Unemployment Insurance reform bill that divided the house of labor. The unions that represent Boeing workers supported the UI reform as a necessary part of Washington’s bid for Boeing’s 7E7 assembly work. The Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO and many other unions opposed the bill as an unacceptable benefit cut when families are struggling through a national economic downturn. The measure was passed and signed into law. (Click here to download the WSLC's one-page summary of the UI reform.)

"Labor cannot afford to unravel right now," WSLC President Rick Bender wrote in a June 24 letter sent to dozens of union leaders. Bender has since met with Charles Bofferding, Executive Director of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, IFPTE 2001, to assess what occurred this session and what can be done to achieve a better outcome in the future. He hopes to have a similar meeting soon with Mark Blondin, President of the International Association of Machinists District 751. There is a sense of urgency for this healing process to proceed as business groups, emboldened by a banner legislative year, intend to further exploit their momentum in 2004.

"My focus is on making sure this doesn’t happen again," Bender wrote. "(The business community) has already made plans to pursue the same strategy next year, this time targeting our workers’ compensation system. The labor movement must stand together to prevent them from harming our injured members, and all workers, who rely on that system. The stakes are exceedingly high."

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney will be keynote speaker Aug. 21 at the Washington State Labor Council 2003 Convention at the WestCoast Wenatchee Hotel. The convention runs Thursday through Saturday, Aug. 21-23. Sweeney was scheduled to appear at the 2002 Convention in Spokane but had to cancel to attend a funeral.

The convention theme will be "Justice for All." Among the special guest speakers will be the Rev. James Lawson, one of the principal architects of America’s Civil Rights Movement and an associate of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The convention banquet speaker will be state Attorney General Christine Gregoire. Other national labor and government leaders will also appear at the convention.

The convention call has been mailed to WSLC-affiliated unions notifying them of the number of delegates/alternates to which they are entitled. As always, local unions are encouraged to promote attendance by rank-and-file members who have not attended before.

Proposed 2003 resolutions may now be submitted to Secretary-Treasurer Al Link’s attention at the WSLC office, 314 First Ave. West, Seattle, WA, 98119. For convention-related information, contact Karen White at (206) 281-8901.

Thousands of civilian defense workers at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton rallied twice in June as part of the fight to maintain the fundamental right to have a union. The workers are protesting a proposal by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that would create a new Department of Defense personnel system. The plan, which would eliminate many basic bargaining rights and certain pay raises already guaranteed to defense workers, was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last month as part of the $400 billion defense authorization bill. The act, not in the Senate’s version of the bill, will be discussed in committee negotiations between the House and Senate.

"If this bill passes in the federal sector, it will become a blueprint for the destruction of our unions and workers’ rights in the private sector and also our civil rights as Americans," Rick Williams, president of the Bremerton Metal Trades Council.

The Pacific Northwest Council of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America on June 25 began a strike of dozens of Western Washington contractors over a contract dispute with the Associated General Contractors. The principal issue is maintenance of health benefits. The AGC contract expired May 31, but the union agreed to two extensions until negotiations broke off June 24. UBC members voted by an 84% margin to authorize the strike. A number of other unions have pledged to honor their picket lines and major projects have been disrupted across the state. The UBC withdrew its affiliation with the AFL-CIO in 2001.

Contract negotiations between The Bon Marche and United Food and Commercial Workers local unions representing Bon workers ended June 24. Management was to issue it’s "final offer" June 27, and the unions agreed to put the proposal, along with strike authorization, to a vote June 29-30. The issues of wages, health care costs and holiday pay have divided the two sides throughout negotiations for the 1,600 Bon employees. On June 16, UFCW Locals 1001 and 367 filed Unfair Labor Practice charges against The Bon with the National Labor Relations Board due to unilateral changes the company made to policies evaluating employees on the number of credit card applications they must get customers to open.

Hundreds of SeaTac-area hotel workers and their supporters gathered near the airport June 24 for a solidarity rally in support of living wages and immigrant rights. John Wilhelm, International President of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union, attended and urged community support for hotel workers now engaged in important contract talks. Meanwhile, negotiations between HERE 8 and the SeaTac Red Lion Hotel stalled this month. The Red Lion workers’ contract expired May 31 and in mid-June under union protest, the company halted negotiations. Talks have since resumed.

Janitors in King County represented by Service Employees International Union Local 6 have mounted a Justice for Janitors 2003 campaign fighting for access to affordable health care. The contract for some 2,500 office building janitors who have health benefits expires June 30 and the union is fighting to maintain them. In addition, some 650 janitors work in buildings where owners have hired nonunion cleaning contractors that pay significantly less and offer no health benefits at all. The union is urging owners to switch to a responsible union contractor that provides better wages and benefits. The Justice for Janitors campaign so far has included informational leafleting outside office buildings, plus political, faith and community leaders urging commercial landlords to ensure fair union contracts that include affordable health plans.

Thanks to opposition rallied by organized labor, a congressional attack on overtime laws and the 40-hour workweek was turned back in early June. But as the month ended, President Bush was prepared to implement an administrative reinterpretaion of OT rules through the Department of Labor that a new report says would deny overtime pay to as many as 8 million U.S. white-collar workers.

H.R. 1119, co-sponsored by Washington’s own GOP Reps. Jennifer Dunn and "Doc" Hastings, would have allowed employers to give workers compensatory time off, rather than time-and-a-half pay, for every overtime hour worked. But after a massive education campaign on the bill led by the AFL-CIO, it became clear House Republicans lacked the votes to pass it, so the bill was pulled. Labor will stand watch to ensure it stays pulled.

But now the Bush administration has proposed new changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act that would reclassify millions of workers as professional, administrative or executive employees exempt from federal overtime rules. Workers such as emergency medical technicians, cooks, social workers and police officers -- even those making as little as $22,100 annually -- could lose overtime pay rights under the change. The AFL-CIO has again mobilized opposition during the "public comment" period which expires June 30.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) and the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE) announced June 25 a partnership to organize workers at Cintas, the largest uniform rental provider and industrial launderer in North America.

"This is a historic day for our two unions," said IBT General President Jim Hoffa. "This is a powerful partnership -- one that will bring a high level of intensity and visibility to the Cintas campaign and the plight of these workers. We will take on corporate bullies like Cintas. The days of this company abusing its workers are over."

Under the landmark partnership, drivers who deliver Cintas products will organize with Teamsters, and production workers in the Cintas laundries will organize with UNITE. This joint effort is expected to create greater strength in the campaign for "Uniform Justice," and signals a bold new union initiative to help more workers achieve a living wage, decent health care and a safer workplace.