WSLC Monthly Report -- April 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, MAY 15 -- All union members and supporters are encouraged to attend a Solidarity March in Shoreline to save the Fircrest School and its programs for developmentally disabled citizens, and to support state employees' efforts to maintain affordable health benefits. It begins at 10 a.m. at Ridgefield Elementary School, 16516 10th Ave. N.E. in Shoreline, and will proceed to the Fircrest School. Scheduled to attend are AFSCME President Gerald McEntee, Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire and other community leaders.

Learn more at www.wfse.org

SATURDAY, MAY 22 -- A March for Affordable Health Care for All will begin at 12:30 p.m. at Seattle’s Federal Building, 915 2nd Ave., to a 2 p.m. rally at Westlake Park, 401 Pine St. Speakers will include U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. at this event organized by a coalition of labor, senior, community and religious groups.

The Washington State Labor Council’s 2004 Convention of the Committee on Political Education (COPE) will be Saturday, May 8 at the SeaTac Hilton Hotel, 17620 Pacific Hwy. S. Hundreds of delegates representing WSLC-affiliated unions will attend and vote on endorsements for the 2004 elections. They will consider candidates for Congress, statewide offices, State Legislature, State Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, and ballot measures. A two-thirds majority of delegates present and voting is necessary for endorsement of a candidate or ballot measure.

“Our endorsement process demonstrates the commitment labor unions have to democracy,” said WSLC President Rick Bender. “Labor has a fair, open and democratic process for deciding which candidates and causes to support, unlike the corporate interests who often oppose us.”

COPE Convention registration begins at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday and the convention starts at 9 a.m. In the morning, candidates for statewide and congressional offices will address the delegates. After lunch, the hall will be closed to guests and reporters, and endorsement action will commence. Delegates must have registered by noon Saturday to participate in endorsement action. All endorsements will be posted at the WSLC website -- www.wslc.org -- shortly after adjournment.

On Friday night, the Statewide COPE committee will meet at the hotel at 7 p.m. (check-in at 6:30). This panel debates and votes on endorsement recommendations. If it recommends a candidate, convention debate in that race will begin with a motion to endorse that candidate. The Statewide COPE panel includes the WSLC executive officers and board, representatives from each regional central labor councils and from each international union that has more than 10,000 affiliated members, and the WSLC Political Director. Any member of an affiliated union may attend and observe the Statewide COPE meeting, but it is not open to the candidates or the press.

If your union organization has not preregistered for the COPE Convention, you may still register at the door. Credential forms signed by an officer of the union must be presented. These forms, along with notification of how many delegates each union is entitled to, were mailed in March. Call Karen White at (206) 281-8901 if you need credential forms or have questions about registration.

It has never been more apparent than today why unions must engage in political action. Corporate influence over our state and federal governments has reached scandalous levels, and business interests are using their influence to undermine and eliminate basic worker rights that many Americans take for granted.

In Washington D.C., the 40-hour work week, overtime pay and the right of government employees to form unions are under assault. In Washington state, safety nets for laid-off and injured workers are being shredded, prevailing and minimum wage laws attacked, and through pay freezes and benefit cuts, state workers are shouldering the burden for the weak Bush economy’s impact on our state budget.

But as always, the labor movement in Washington state will rise to these challenges by acknowledging that our strength is, and always has been, in our members. Unions will again be outspent by corporate interests 15-to-1 in the 2004 elections, but we have something better than money. The same energy and commitment that rank-and-file union members bring to union organizing campaigns and community volunteerism, they also bring to political activism.

You and other members of your union can be a part of that proud tradition and put the grassroots back in YOUR neighborhood’s politics. Volunteer for the WSLC’s Labor Neighbor program, joining in neighborhood walks to distribute election information to fellow union members.

“The response from Labor Neighbor volunteers and from the members they contact is overwhelmingly positive,” said WSLC Political Director Diane McDaniel. “It’s a fun way to spend a weekend afternoon with a friend, co-worker or family member, and more importantly, it’s a way to engage people to take back their own government.”

VOLUNTEER TODAY for Labor Neighbor walks set to begin in June. Fill out our online Labor Neighbor Volunteer Form; call 1-800-542-0904 to have a volunteer form mailed or faxed to you; or e-mail WSLC State Field Director Raechelle Turner at rturner@wslc.org.

The United Food and Commercial Workers and Puget Sound-area grocers have agreed to extend their contract until May 5 as talks continue for a new deal covering some 16,000 workers. The union is fighting to maintain affordable health insurance coverage, but the grocery stores have proposed big cuts in health care and wages. Talks are scheduled throughout May, but after May 5, if talks break down the union can issue a 3-day notice and go on strike. Safeway, Albertsons, Fred Meyer and QFC have advertised for scab replacement workers in the event of a strike. “Grocery workers in Puget Sound are reasonable,” said union spokesman Dan Kully. “We will work hard to (reach a settlement) as long as the agreement protects affordable health care.”

Locked-out Darigold workers will finally get their day in court on July 6. Eight months after Darigold’s owner, WestFarm Foods, locked out 200 members of Teamsters Local 66 from its dairy-processing plants in Issaquah and Seattle, a National Labor Relations Board hearing is scheduled on the union’s complaint that the lockout is illegal. If the NLRB administrative judge rules against WestFarm, the company could be on the hook for $8 million in back wages and benefits to the locked-out members.

All Nippon has ordered 50 Boeing 7E7 Dreamliners with a list price of $6 billion, the largest single launch order ever for a new Boeing jet. The order, along with others the company predicts will happen soon, stabilizes thousands of jobs for members of the Machinists and SPEEA unions in the Puget Sound region, home to the 7E7 design team and to the jet’s final-assembly production line in Everett. Boeing also announced April 28 that, for the first time in three years, it will ramp up overall commercial jet production from 285 it plans for 2004 to 300 in 2005. The company doesn’t anticipate any job gains though. Meanwhile, contract negotiations with Boeing are underway for Machinists members in St. Louis and SPEEA members in Wichita, a plant Boeing confirmed this month it may sell.

Eastern Washington veterans groups, the American Federation of Government Employees and community groups have teamed up to oppose a proposal by the Veterans Administration to close its hospital at the Wainwright Medical Center in Walla Walla. Last month, the WSLC joined the AFGE at a dramatic rally of support for the hospital. U.S. Sen. Patty Murray is leading the fight to keep this important facility open and to maintain our nation’s commitment to its veterans. In April, Murray convened a special field hearing in Walla Walla of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and made a strong case that closure would be illegal, breaking a legal commitment to the facility made by Congress in 1987.

The Bush administration this month revised its plan to impose new rules about who qualifies to receive time-and-a-half pay for overtime work. The deal grants overtime pay to some workers in “managerial” jobs who make less than $23,660, but excludes from overtime pay many more workers in high-income jobs and certain middle-income professional and technical positions. Bush officials say the 500-page rulebook will “simplify” overtime pay rules without harming workers, but refused to guarantee that American workers will not lose OT pay rights under the proposal.

Saying there will be “no greater priority” in his administration, Sen. John Kerry, the AFL-CIO-endorsed candidate for president, has outlined his plan to restore the millions of jobs lost during President Bush’s disastrous tenure. Kerry’s plans include sweeping corporate tax reform to remove incentives for companies to export jobs (Bush officials’ say outsourcing is “good”) and a new venture capital fund to promote domestic technology and energy production. “Under President Bush’s watch, this country has lost 3 million jobs and our manufacturing workforce is at a more than 50-year low,” said Kerry. “America deserves a brighter vision for tomorrow rather than four more years of yesterday’s failed policies.”