WSLC Monthly Report -- January 2004

WSLC Reports is a pretty-much 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) stories online. If you want to receive this via fax or mail, Get on the List!
(See previous editions of this newsletter.)

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7 -- The Washington State Labor Council is urging all union members and activists to get involved in the Democratic Party precinct caucuses that day, and the Republican caucuses on TUESDAY, MARCH 9. While the WSLC is a non-partisan organization and does not officially endorse either party, union members as individuals can and must involve themselves in the candidate selection process and promote platform discussions that shape the direction of the major political parties. Learn more.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20 -- Washington State Labor Council's 2004 Legislative Conference will begin at 8:30 a.m. at the Red Lion Olympia Hotel. See details in story below.

SATURDAY, MAY 8 -- The Washington State Labor Council’s 2004 Convention of the Committee on Political Education (COPE) will be at the SeaTac Hilton Hotel. It is at this convention that delegates representing the affiliated unions of the WSLC will consider endorsements for statewide and legislative office and ballot initiatives. A two-thirds majority of the delegates present is necessary for a candidate or ballot measure to achieve endorsement. Affiliated unions will receive a convention call 90 days prior to the convention notifying them of their voting strength and the number of delegates to which they are entitled. If you have questions about the endorsement process, contact WSLC Political Director Diane McDaniel at (206) 281-8901.

AUGUST 23-26 -- The Washington State Labor Council's 2004 Constitutional Convention will be Monday through Thursday at the Tacoma Sheraton Hotel. Affiliated unions will receive a convention call 90 days prior to the convention with delegate registration and credential forms.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics released its annual report on union membership in January and although overall unionization rates continue to drop at an alarming rate nationally, Washington state is bucking that trend. Washington now ranks 5th in the nation with a 19.7% union membership rate in 2003, up from 18.5% in 2002. Some 502,000 Washington workers were union members in 2003, representing a 30,000 increase from 2002. Washington was one of only 15 states that posted membership gains in 2003. The nationwide unionization rate in 2003 was 12.9%, down from 13.3% in 2002.

"Although we’re disappointed with the national trend, we think Washington state’s numbers demonstrate the commitment organized labor has made here to recruiting new members," said Washington State Labor Council President Rick Bender. "In these troubled economic times more and more workers are being asked to sacrifice wage increases, and losing health and retirement benefits. Now more than ever, workers need to join together and fight to protect their standards of living. And that means organizing a union."

The national trend is another sign that the laws ensuring Americans’ right to organize unions free from intimidation, harassment and coercion by their employers aren’t being enforced. Recent surveys have indicated that about half of all American workers say they would join a union today if they could. But unscrupulous employers and a multi-billion dollar union-avoidance consulting industry routinely fire, harass and intimidate workers who express interest in joining unions — even though that’s illegal.

That’s why the national AFL-CIO has undertaken the Voice@Work, a multi-year campaign to restore the freedom of U.S. workers to join unions. The AFL-CIO, its affiliated international unions, and its state and local federations — including the Washington State Labor Council — have made growing unions their No. 1 priority and are committed to the success of Voice@Work.

The Washington State Labor Council’s annual Legislative Conference will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 20 at the Red Lion Olympia Hotel. All union members are invited and encouraged to attend and get updates on the status of legislation affecting working families.

Thursday night from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. there will be a reception that offers an excellent opportunity for informal conversation with legislators and other officials.

Friday’s conference concludes with lunch, at which time attendees are urged to meet with their legislators to discuss the issues most important to them.

The registration fee is $30 and includes materials, lunch Friday and admission to the reception Thursday night. You can download a registration form or call (206) 281-8901 for more information.

Whether or not you can make it to the Legislative Conference, make sure you are on the WSLC E-List to receive our weekly WSLC Legislative Update newsletters. You can receive them via e-mail, fax or traditional mail. Sign up online or by calling (206) 281-8901.

This past summer, thanks to community support and the inspiring dedication of the workers, significant gains were made for the employees at SeaTac hotels. Unfortunately, the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union says there is still one bad actor out there, and need that community support once again.

The SeaTac Radisson Hotel and its partner, the Port of Seattle, have taken what HERE calls "the most anti-worker action of any local hotel employer in the past three years" with a contract proposal that includes nothing but takeaways for the workers. Radisson workers deserve the same gains as their union brothers and sisters working at other SeaTac-area hotels, not threats and pay cuts. The union is urging all supporters to contact Radisson General Manager Richard Boustead and demand that he sign a contract that includes livable wages, industry standards and respect for the workers. You can send this fax with the click of a button at the website below:

The AFL-CIO Office of Investment presented a report Jan. 15 to the Washington State Investment Board (WSIB) outlining the consequences to shareholders of Safeway’s confrontational labor strategy and poor management. The grocery chain has lost roughly $20 billion in shareholder value over the last three years, and management’s hardball attempts to slash employee health care benefits are leading the company deeper into turmoil.

"As a significant Safeway shareholder through its public equity investments, the WSIB has suffered significant losses as a result of Safeway’s poor performance and confrontational labor strategy," reads the AFL-CIO report.

Safeway workers in Southern California are in the fourth month of a strike/lockout, and the contracts for some 30,000 Puget Sound-area grocery workers at Safeway and other chains expire in May. Local negotiations with the United Food and Commercial Workers are imminent.

"The State of Washington has a strong interest in the restoration of productive labor relations at Safeway, and in exerting its considerable influence to help restore shareholder value at the company," said Geralyn Lutty, Regional Director of UFCW Northwest Region 7.

Since Aug. 30, some 200 workers in Issaquah and Seattle represented by Teamsters Local 66 have been locked out of their jobs by WestFarm Foods, a dairy farmers’ cooperative that produces dairy products under the brand name Darigold. The company has fired drivers, subcontracted union jobs and hired scab replacement workers to keep the plants open. The AFL-CIO has added Darigold to the national boycott list and urges all union members and supporters to avoid all Darigold dairy products.

Meanwhile, the Seattle school board may get involved. A draft letter from the board to the two sides implies the district might stop buying Darigold-brand milk if Teamsters workers aren’t returned to their jobs.

The State House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution Jan. 26 urging President Bush and Congress to extend and make retroactive the federal temporary unemployment compensation program they have allowed to lapse. The vote was a noteworthy rebuke from Republican state legislators of their president and congressional leaders who let the program lapse Dec. 21, saying it is unnecessary at a time when they insist the economy is improving. "If (benefits) are not extended, workers and their families will suffer severe economic hardships and states such as Washington will be deprived of this crucial economic boost," reads HJM 4031.

Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell have urged the program be extended. All Democratic members of Washington’s congressional delegation are among the 200 who have signed a "discharge petition" calling for a vote on the extension. None of the state’s Republicans—including Senate candidate George Nethercutt—have signed the petition, which requires 218 signatures to force a vote.

On Jan. 22, President Bush and Senate Republican leaders killed a filibuster against a massive spending bill. Backers of the filibuster had fought to include an amendment to block Bush’s impending attack on overtime pay. Both houses of Congress separately voted to block the overtime pay cut that could deny the right to time-and-a-half pay to an estimated 8 million workers, but Republican leaders succeeded in keeping the language out of the spending bill, effectively greenlighting Bush’s overtime changes.

All Democrats in Congress from Washington state voted to block the overtime changes, while every Washington Republican -- including Senate candidate George Nethercutt -- voted to support the overtime pay cut.

Labor Secretary Elaine Chao says the U.S. Department of Labor plans to implement in March the sweeping new rules, but AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says the fight against the Bush overtime plan is far from over. Several senators have vowed to keep up the legislative fight against the Bush proposal by seeking to add amendments to upcoming bills that would block the rules.

In the meantime, please visit www.saveovertimepay.org to sign an electronic petition to the president urging him to abandon this misguided attack on working families.