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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 20, 2013)
$15 SeaTac, Wash. minimum wage challenged in court In a local campaign that’s being closely watched nationally, voters in tiny SeaTac, Washington, narrowly passed an initiative giving workers in large transportation and hospitality businesses in and around SeaTac Inter- national Airport the nation’s highest minimum wage — $15 an hour — and a host of other rights. The campaign was the fruit of a multi-year campaign by local unions and community groups, dating back as far as the 2005 decision by Alaska Air- lines to contract out baggage handling and other services at its biggest hub, slashing wages in half. Efforts to re- unionize those workers were stymied by a federal labor law which was inter- preted to say that groups of contracted workers in far-flung airports had to be in the same unit, even though they had no contact with one another. This year, inspired by the $15-an-hour demands of a growing strike movement by fast food workers, a coalition got to work in SeaTac, population 27,000, and gathered 1,541 signatures to take an audacious question to voters. The ordinance would mandate a $15-an-hour minimum wage for air- port workers, and workers at hotels, shuttle services, car rental agencies, and institutional food service opera- tions. If $15 an hour seems shockingly high, it’s only because expectations have been lowered by decades of off- shoring, outsourcing, downsizing, and union-busting. If the federal minimum wage had kept pace with inflation and productivity increases since its 1968 peak, it would today be $18.67 an hour. SeaTac’s ordinance guarantees other rights as well: 6.5 days a year of paid sick leave for full-time employ- ees; a ban on managers or owners tak- ing workers’ tips; a requirement to of- fer additional hours to part-time employees before hiring from the out- side; and the opportunity for employ- ees of contractors to keep their jobs when the contract changes hands. Alaska Airlines and other big cor- porations employed legal maneuvers to keep the initiative off the ballot, but lost in a state appeals court. Then Alaska Airlines, the National Restaurant As- sociation, the American Car Rental As- sociation spent heavily to convince voters to oppose it. But supporters also got out the vote. The coalition included Working Wash- ington, a community organizing proj- ect of the Service Employees Interna- tional Union; SEIU Healthcare 775NW; United Food and Commercial Workers Local 21; UNITE HERE; Teamsters; the community group Puget Sound SAGE; and faith coali- tions including the Church Council of Greater Seattle, the Faith Action Net- work, and Abu Bakr Islamic Center of Washington. The campaign also had public endorsements from U.S. Con- gressman Adam Smith, King County Executive Dow Constantine, and King County Council member Julia Patter- son. The end result, certified Nov. 26 by King County elections officials, was 3,040 to 2,963 in favor: The measure won by 77 votes. Opponents paid to have a hand recount conducted, but the tally, announced Dec. 9, was exactly the same. The measure is supposed to take ef- fect Jan. 1, giving sizable raises to an estimated 6,500 workers, including jet fuelers, baggage handlers, hotel house- keepers, and rental car employees. But opponents are again in court to challenge it, on multiple grounds. King County Superior Court Judge Andrea Darvas heard both sides Dec. 13 and said she’ll rule on it by Jan. 1. Meanwhile, supporters of the ordi- nance are ready for it to spread. Both candidates in the Seattle mayor’s race said they backed a city-wide $15-an- hour minimum wage, and the winning candidate, Ed Murray, pledged to bring it about in his first term. On Dec. 5, the coalition that ran the SeaTac campaign staged a day-long march from SeaTac to Seattle City Hall to demand a $15 an hour minimum wage, with no delay. UA #290 contractor comes to aid of injured war veteran Tualatin-based Plumbers and Fitters Local 290 and signatory contractor D&F Plumbing helped out a disabled veteran with a clogged kitchen sink just before the crunch of the holiday season. Derek Bitte, 32, was at wit’s end af- ter trying everything possible to unclog the kitchen sink at his Milwaukie home. The father of five poured vine- gar down the drain, then “snaked it” with a piece of wire, but to no avail. “Financially, I couldn’t afford to call a plumber,” said Bitte, an 8-year Army veteran injured during a tour in Iraq and currently unemployed. So Bitte reached out to a veteran’s representative in Clackamas County. The rep in turn contacted the Oregon Military Support Network. One of the volunteers at the Support Network is Glenn Shuck, a retired executive direc- tor of Labor’s Community Service Agency. Shuck put out a call for assis- tance to construction trades unions in the area. Shuck told the Labor Press that the very next day after he sent an email re- questing assistance, Plumbers and Fit- ters Local 290 Business Manager Al Shropshire notified him that it would be taken care of. Shropshire told the Labor Press that he notified his staff of the situation and that organizer Todd Templeton contacted D&F Plumbing, a minority-owned shop in North Port- land. “D&F said they would be happy to help out,” Templeton told the Labor Press. Within the week, they did. “They came out and in 45 minutes everything was working fine,” Bitte said. “And everything was comped. I was very appreciative.” Season’s Greetings from the THE KORPI LAW FIRM PLLC Michael H. Korpi Attorney at Law Representing employee benefit plans in Oregon and Washington for more than 20 years 135 Second Avenue North, Suite 202, Edmonds, WA 98020 (425) 582-8935 Email: mikek@korpilaw.com DECEMBER 20, 2013 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS PAGE 7
