Senate coalition wastes no time pursuing partisan,
anti-worker agenda in Washington Legislature
By DAVID GROVES
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Much has
been written about state senators Rod-
ney Tom and Tim Sheldon, the erst-
while Democrats who decided the pub-
lic (and their personal résumés) would
be better served by having Republicans
control the Senate. [In December, the
two announced they would vote with
Republicans to elect state Senate lead-
ership, winning top posts for them-
selves and handing control of the Sen-
ate to minority Republicans.]
The new GOP+2 majority began the
2013 session wrapping itself in rhetoric
about bipartisanship and cooperation,
but most agree they will be judged by
their actions, not their words.
“Whether it’s ‘bipartisan’ or not de-
pends on how we go forward from
here,” said Sen. Jim Hargrove (D-Ho-
quiam) as the 25-of-49-votes takeover
was formalized on the Senate’s opening
day. “The proof will be in the pudding.”
Well, one week in, the pudding has
been served. And it looks pretty rancid.
On Jan. 23, the following bills were
heard in the Senate Commerce and La-
bor Committee chaired by Sen. Janéa
Holmquist Newbry (R-Moses Lake):
• SB 5112 gives employers in the
Retrospective Rating program more
authority over workers’ compensation
claims, such as choosing injured work-
ers’ doctors and scheduling their med-
ical exams and vocational rehabilita-
tion.
• SB 5124 changes the way injured
workers’ benefits are calculated by,
among other things, removing the
PIRG fundraisers strike
The Fund for the Public
Interest wants to remain
a ‘right-to-work’ and at-
will employer, and walks
out of bargaining when
a reporter shows up
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
Portland call center workers who
raise money for state PIRGs and affili-
ated environmental groups went on
strike again Jan. 16, this time to protest
late paychecks. The shift-long strike
was the fourth time the call center’s
workers have walked out to protest
conditions at the non-profit Fund for
the Public Interest since workers voted
to join Communications Workers of
America (CWA) Local 7901 in Octo-
ber 2011. Boston-headquartered Fund
for the Public Interest is the fundrais-
ing wing of the U.S. Public Interest Re-
search Group, statewide affiliates like
OSPIRG, CALPIRG, and spinoff envi-
ronmental groups like Environment
Oregon and Environment Colorado.
Draconian pay and discipline prac-
tices were the reason workers union-
ized. When workers fail to meet
fundraising targets, their pay can drop
up to several dollars an hour in one pay
period. And workers are fired if they
fail to meet a separate benchmark two
weeks in a row, regardless of how
many years they’ve worked there.
Those practices have continued. The
Fund has fired at least nine pro-union
workers since the union campaign be-
gan 15 months ago, including all six
workers who volunteered on the union
bargaining team when contract negoti-
ations started. That’s in a workplace
with about 25 workers.
Two pro-union workers have been
fired since the Labor Press last reported
on the situation. Union supporter
PAGE 8
Rachel Starr was terminated Dec. 6 af-
ter working nine years at the call center.
And union steward Alixandre Long
was fired Jan. 3 after one year on the
job. Starr and Long, like three of the
other union activists, were terminated
for failing to reach a fundraising quota
two weeks in a row. But they have no
say in setting the quota or choosing the
lists they call from, and they and other
workers believe that managers are de-
liberately giving pro-union workers
heavily-called-over and underperform-
ing lists.
Meanwhile, bargaining sessions
have produced no first-time agreement
in 14 months.
On Jan. 17, national Fund for the
Public Interest managers Pat Wood and
Christine Walsh walked out and can-
celled the day’s negotiations after a re-
porter from the Labor Press showed up
to observe the bargaining session. [The
Labor Press wanted to see a bargaining
session to get a sense of why it’s tak-
ing the two sides so long to get a con-
tract.] CWA Local 7901 President
Madelyn Elder says when bargaining
began 14 months ago, CWA proposed
that the negotiations be open to other
workers and to members of the public,
and the Fund agreed. In September,
now-Oregon House Speaker Tina
Kotek sat in on a bargaining session.
Elder says the Fund has agreed to
some changes to the pay and discipline
policies which drove workers to union-
ize, but the changes won’t be imple-
mented until a complete agreement is
reached.
Meanwhile, the Fund has refused
several basic features of union con-
tracts, including “just cause” discipline.
“Just cause” means an employer has to
show a reason before disciplining and
terminating an employee. Under the al-
ternative, known as “at-will” employ-
ment, an employer may terminate a
value of health benefits, and capping
them at the state’s average wage. Bot-
tom line: it cuts workers’ compensation
benefits.
• SB 5126 circumvents a Supreme
Court ruling and allows the state to take
legal damages, both economic (lost
wages) and non-economic (pain and
suffering), that are awarded to an in-
jured worker when a third party is re-
sponsible for the injury. Current law
only allows economic damages to be
“recovered,” which makes sense be-
cause workers’ compensation claims
and benefits don’t consider non-eco-
nomic factors.
• SB 5127 removes the age restric-
tion on “compromise-and-release”
lump-sum buyouts of injured workers’
claims. These buyouts, currently only
allowed for injured workers 55 and
older, would be expanded to cover all
workers.
• SB 5128 would make it easier for
employers to have these lump-sum
buyouts approved by the state, and also
allows employers to buy out medical
claims.
What these bills all have in common
is that they save businesses money by
cutting the benefits workers receive
when they are injured on the job. That,
and they are all sponsored and co-spon-
sored exclusively by members of the
GOP+2 coalition holding a 25-24 ma-
jority in the Senate.
Major changes to the workers’ com-
pensation system — many of which
were supported by both business and
labor — were just approved in 2011.
They are not yet fully implemented but
are already beating expectations on
cost savings, with the state now pro-
jecting to save $1.5 billion over four
years, $300 million more than origi-
nally estimated. Injured workers are re-
turning to work faster and as a result,
employers’ premiums have not gone up
for two straight years. Plus, the state
will be able to put an estimated $82
million into reserves to start rebuilding
the State Fund.
Yet rather than allow these 2011
changes to be fully implemented, the
very week that the GOP+2 coalition
takes control, it rolls out a wish-list of
controversial new benefit cuts long
sought by business lobbying groups.
These proposals are opposed by la-
bor because they do nothing to improve
workplace safety, they just weaken this
critical safety net for injured workers.
And that’s just the workers’ com-
pensation bills. On Jan. 25 the same
committee held hearings on, among
other things, repealing the Family and
Medical Leave Insurance Act.
Indeed, when it comes to “biparti-
sanship and cooperation,” actions
speak louder than words.
(Editor’s Note: This article ap-
peared in the Washington State Labor
Council’s weekly Legislative Update
newsletter.)
DCTU bargaining kick-off
rally Feb. 5 in Portland
The District Council of Trade
Unions (DCTU), a coalition of unions
representing some 1,600 workers at the
City of Portland, will kick off its 2013
contract campaign with a noontime
rally Tuesday, Feb. 5, at the Portland
Building, 1120 SW 5th Ave.
(Turn to Page 7)
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
FEBRUARY 1, 2013