JULY 17, 2009:NWLP
7/14/09
10:27 AM
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Top Democrats left off WSLC convention guest list
SEATTLE — About 300 delegates
will gather at the Coast Wenatchee Cen-
ter Hotel in Wenatchee Aug. 6-8 for the
2009 convention of the Washington
State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. WSLC
has over 500 local union affiliates, rep-
resenting about 400,000 rank-and-file
union members.
The convention’s keynote speaker
will be Arlene Holt Baker, the number
three official of the national AFL-CIO.
Holt Baker is running for re-election as
executive vice president on the slate of
Richard Trumka at the AFL-CIO con-
vention Sept. 13-17 in Pittsburgh.
Conspicuously absent from the guest
speaker list at WSLC’s convention are
any top Democratic state politicians. At
last year’s convention, Democratic Gov.
Christine Gregoire and House Speaker
Frank Chopp were honored guests. But
in March, those two plus Senate Major-
ity Leader Lisa Brown bowed to pres-
sure from Boeing Co. and refused to al-
low a vote on WSLC’s top-priority bill,
which they had promised to support.
Adding insult to injury, the three called
for a police investigation of an internal
e-mail in which a WSLC staffperson re-
ported a comment at a meeting — that
Democrats wouldn’t get another dime
from labor if they didn’t pass the bill.
The Washington State Patrol found no
laws had been broken.
Because of the rift with state Demo-
cratic leaders, convention delegates are
expected to discuss significant changes
to WSLC’s political program — to bet-
ter target union support to legislators
who stick by labor, regardless of their
party affiliation.
Besides Holt Baker, guest speakers
include Sal Roselli, Bob Baugh and
John deGraaf.
• Roselli is a former president of
United Healthcare Workers West, a di-
vision of Service Employees Interna-
tional Union. Roselli was removed from
OPEIU Local 11 members
at NW Natural ratify pact
Workers at NW Natural ratified a
new five-year contract July 2. The vote,
by members of Office and Professional
Employees Local 11, was 394-161.
Workers rejected the gas company’s
first offer 206-230. Those ballots were
counted May 28.
Stakes were a bit higher on the sec-
ond ballot, as a “no” vote also repre-
sented authorization for the bargaining
unit to call a strike if needed.
“I’m happy for the membership and
for five years of labor peace and har-
mony at the gas company,” said Local
11 Executive Secretary-Treasurer Mike
Richards.
The contract — retroactive to May
31 — includes wage increases the first
year that bring job classifications to
“market value.” The average increase is
2.3 percent, though some classifications
will receive more than that while others
receive less, Richards said.
Annual wage increases the follow-
ing four years will be based on a cost-
of-living-adjustment formula ranging
from 1 to 3 percent.
Workers will not see any increases in
their health insurance co-payments over
the next two years, and no more than a 3
percent out-of-pocket increase annually
between 2011 and 2014. Any increases
will be based on cost of living.
The pact also guarantees no layoffs
for workers hired before April 1, 2004
(approximately 75 percent of the work-
force). Union members did, however,
agree to up to 20 furlough days per 12
month period. Every worker will be
subject to furloughs, but not until nego-
tiations are held between the company
and the union, Richards said.
Furlough days were a key sticking
point in the rejected proposal. NWN
initially sought 45 days per 12 month
period for every employee.
JULY 17, 2009
Richards said each bargaining unit
member also received $400 to cover a
change in pay periods.
Local 11 represents approximately
700 workers, including office staff and
outside gas and construction workers.
office last year in a widely-publicized
fight with SEIU President Andy Stern.
Stern led a group of unions to break
away from the AFL-CIO and form the
Change to Win labor federation. Now
Roselli is leading a breakaway from
SEIU with the formation of a new inde-
pendent labor organization, the Na-
tional Union of Healthcare Workers.
• Baugh, a former Oregon AFL-CIO
secretary-treasurer, is the head of the
national AFL-CIO’s Industrial Union
Council, the group of unions that repre-
sent workers in manufacturing indus-
tries. Together with Andrea Buffa of the
University of California Berkeley La-
bor Center, Baugh will talk about “cap
and trade” legislation in Congress,
which will limit emissions of green-
house gases but also fuel the growth of
new industries. The issue is important
enough that WSLC is also holding a
day-long pre-convention “Cap-and-
Trade and Green Jobs Conference”
Aug. 5.
• DeGraaf is national coordinator of
Take Back Your Time Day, an annual
event on Oct. 24 that draws attention to
the problem of overwork in America.
His group backs a bill in Congress that
would guarantee workers get three
weeks paid vacation after a year with an
employer.
AFT trustees Kaiser nurses Local 5017
Oregon Federation of Nurses and
Health Professionals Local 5017 was
placed in trusteeship July 7 by its parent
organization, American Federation of
Teachers (AFT). The 17-member local
union Executive Board plus three senior
officers, including President Kathy Ger-
oux, were removed from office. Florida
labor lawyer Mark Richard was brought
in as trustee.
Local 5017 represents more than
2,500 registered nurses and health care
professionals at Kaiser Permanente and
Providence Milwaukie Hospital.
The local was organized as an AFT
affiliate in 1979.
Local union leaders were moving to
disaffiliate from AFT, and announced a
July 7 membership meeting to discuss
it. But Oregon Federation of Nurses and
Health Professionals’ bylaws specify
five membership meetings a year, and
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
specifically state that no meetings can
be held in July. That, and alleged unau-
thorized use of dues money to promote
disaffiliation, gave the national union
grounds to trustee the local, said AFT
spokesperson Jamie Horwitz.
AFT International President Randi
Weingarten said, “AFT members have
the right to disaffiliate, drop out of a
bargaining coalition or make other
changes their local union leaders may
want, but the leaders must follow the
steps outlined in the union constitution.”
In a press statement, the ousted lead-
ership said that while membership
meetings are not ordinarily scheduled
in July, as specified in the local bylaws,
the Constitution also says that special
meetings can be called.
“We believe that everyone on the
Executive Board will be vindicated of
all the charges made,” Geroux said.
“We are looking forward to leading our
local again after this misunderstanding
is cleared up.”
Geroux said she has a meeting
scheduled with Weingarten in Portland
on July 20.
Contract negotiations are scheduled
to begin at Kaiser Permanente in 2010.
Horwitz said if Local 5017 were to dis-
affiliate, it would no longer be a part of
a 15-union coalition that bargains to-
gether with Kaiser. That could jeopard-
ize what may be tough negotiations in
any case: Kaiser has lost revenue in the
recession because many laid-off work-
ers are losing health coverage.
Horwitz said AFT doesn’t have a
timeline, but hopes to return Local 5017
to local control as soon as possible.
He said it is only the fourth time in
AFT’s 93-year history that it has
trusteed a local union.
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