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September 1, 2017 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
WASHINGTON
Washington AFL-CIO rates state lawmakers for key 2017 votes
Paid family leave was a landmark
win, but legislators tested anti-
union bills in the GOP-held Senate.
Washington State Labor Council
(WSLC), AFL-CIO, has released
its 2017 ratings for Washington
legislators, and as usual, lawmak-
ers from Southwest Washington are
some of the best and the worst in
the state on issues identified by the
state’s labor federation.
What lawmakers accomplished
This year it took the Washington
Legislature one regular session and
two-and-a-half special sessions
called by the governor before they
were able to agree on a package
providing school funding as well
as funding to make good on the
collective bargaining agreements
the Gov. Jay Inslee negotiated last
fall with state workers. [After years
of wage freezes, the new contract
gives workers 6 percent raises over
the next two years.]
The gridlock resulted once again
from the fact that Democrats con-
trol the state house while Republi-
cans control the state senate.
But thanks to support of one Re-
publican — Sen. Joe Fain (R-
Auburn) — Democrats in the legis-
lature were able to pass a paid
family and medical leave law. The
law sets up a public insurance pro-
gram funded by employers and em-
ployees. Beginning in 2020, it will
guarantee workers up to 12 weeks
paid time off for the birth or adop-
tion of a child, to take care of an ill
family member, when a family
member is deployed or wounded in
the military, or for the worker’s own
serious health condition. The pro-
gram will replace up to 90 percent
of wages.
Building trades unions also cel-
ebrated the passage of a “respon-
sible bidder” law that bars busi-
nesses from competing for state
and local public works contracts if
they have willfully violated wage
statutes in the past three years.
But lawmakers failed to pass
other bills that organized labor
pushed hard for, including a bill to
add a jobs requirement to a massive
tax break lawmakers gave Boeing.
Remarkably, every single De-
mocrat in the House got a 100 per-
cent rating this year, including
Sharon Wylie and Monica Stonier
of Vancouver and Brian Blake of
Longview.
WSLC’s ratings tell how legis-
lators voted, but in some cases,
other actions were more revealing
than votes to show whose side they
were on.
Vancouver House Democrat
Monica Stonier co-sponsored bills
to tie the state’s multi-billion aero-
space tax incentives to job creation
and maintenance, to protect work-
ers from retaliation for reporting
wage violations, and to allow
workers to file liens against em-
ployers for unpaid wages. None of
them became law.
On other side, Chehalis-Cen-
tralia Senate Republican John
Braun was once again unrelent-
ingly hostile to unions and working
people. He co-sponsored a bill to
make Washington a so-called
“right-to-work” state (unions mo-
bilized to defeat it, with more than
1,100 people signing in to testify in
opposition.) He also co-sponsored
bills to tax union dues; to allow
state and local governments to
charge a 5 percent “administration
fee” for union dues deduction; to
authorize state agencies and col-
leges to contract out for services;
and to exempt Uber drivers from
unemployment insurance. And he
voted for bills to allow employers
to pay an 85 percent sub-minimum
wage to minors; and to allow indi-
viduals to sue unions for “unfair or
deceptive acts.” None of those bills
became law.
MORE DETAIL ON HOW THEY VOTED
See the Washington State Labor Council’s
complete legislative report — and a de-
tailed breakdown of how each lawmaker
voted — at bit.ly/2wX8Wy7
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
At City of Portland, Laborers and COPPEA ratify new
contracts, but DCTU still waiting
Bargaining appears to have cur-
dled into a standoff for the
biggest group of City of Port-
land employees, those in the
multi-union District Council of
Trade Unions (DCTU), but sev-
eral other large City bargaining
units have ratified new union
contracts.
Members of Laborers Local
483 ratified two new contracts
by strong majorities in votes
counted Aug. 7. One covers
about 600 laborers at City bu-
reaus that maintain roads and
sewers. It provides annual cost-
of-living increases based on the
consumer price index, plus ex-
tra longevity pay and selective
raises of 1.5 to 10 percent for
some classifications. However,
members also gave up a re-
quirement that the City hire first
from among existing employ-
ees when hiring for new posi-
tions, and agreed to a penalty
for employees who fail to
schedule one medical checkup
every two years. Under the sec-
ond Local 483 contract, starting
wages will rise to $15 and more
for the seasonally fluctuating
workforce of 400 to 700 work-
ers at City recreation centers,
and those who are permanent
full-time workers will get
health insurance, “just cause”
discipline and grievance rights.
Professional & Technical
Employees Local 17 (the union
formerly known as COPPEA)
also ratified a new contract, in
votes counted Aug. 25. It cov-
ers about 700 city planners and
other professional, technical
and engineering employees.
Like the Local 483 laborers’
deal, it includes cost-of-living
increases based on the con-
sumer price index, plus selec-
tive increases for some classifi-
cations, and a requirement to
get a preventative medical
exam every two years.
For the DCTU, meanwhile,
the last hope to stave off a labor
dispute is mediation, which is
scheduled to begin Sept. 6.
There’s no sign of a deal yet,
but DCTU union negotiators
say the City finally provided a
bona fide counter proposal at
their last negotiation session on
Aug. 17.
—Don McIntosh
TriMet declares impasse in
contract negotiations
After an unsuccessful 14-hour
mediator-led bargaining session
on Aug. 16, TriMet has once
again declared impasse in bar-
gaining with Amalgamated
Transit Union Local 757.
Public transit workers aren’t
allowed to strike under Oregon
law. Instead, if the union and
management can’t reach agree-
ment, they present their final of-
fers to a neutral arbitrator, who
picks one side’s offer in its en-
tirety.
This is the third time in a row
that bargaining between TriMet
and Local 757 has reached im-
passe. In 2010, the impasse led
to arbitration, which the union
lost. In 2014, the two sides kept
meeting after the impasse decla-
ration, and reached a deal. That
contract expired Nov. 30, 2016.
“We are able to get collective
bargaining agreements with 23
other employers,” says Jon
Hunt, Local 757 vice president.
“I know how to close a deal, and
I know how to compromise. But
I can also recognize when I’ve
got somebody across the table
that’s just playing games.”
Among the many points of
disagreement: TriMet wants to
cut contract language prevent-
ing the contracting out of union
members’ work, curtail paid
union orientation during em-
ployee training, and end a policy
of giving cleaners and helpers
first dibs when mechanic ap-
prentice positions open up.