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Local Labor News
Published: Friday, December 16, 2011 in the Everett Herald
State Agency Sides with Everett Firefighters in Complaint Against City on Overtime
It could be costly: City failed to bargain with firefighters, state says
By Debra Smith, Herald Writer
EVERETT -- The state Public Employment Relations Commission has ruled against the city of Everett for refusing to bargain with the firefighters union over the past two years about issues surrounding workload and overtime.
If the Dec. 2 ruling stands, the city could end up paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost overtime plus interest to the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 46.
Since firefighters can't strike to protest reduced staffing, filing the grievance was the only way the union could get the city's attention, said union president Paul Gagnon. He said he doesn't even want any money.
"This whole decision has nothing to do with the money," he said. "This has always been about service to citizens."
The city is reviewing the decision, including the potential monetary impact, said Everett spokeswoman Kate Reardon.
"It appears that the decision contains major errors and is not consistent with the law or the city-union collective bargaining agreement," she said.
Published in the Everett Herald Thursday, December 8, 2011
Kimberly-Clark's Everett Mill to Close After Talks Fail
Negotiations break down over environmental issues; mill to be closed by March 2012
By Mike Benbow and Kurt Batdorf
Herald Writers
EVERETT -- The last big smokestack in the City of Smokestacks will be idled soon after talks to sell the Kimberly-Clark Corp. paper plant failed over environmental issues.
Most of the 700 or so employees will soon be out of a job after negotiations with Atlas Holdings Inc. broke down, officials announced Thursday.
The company’s pulp and tissue mills will be operated by a skeleton crew and closed in the first three months of 2012. Eventually, the waterfront site will be razed and sold for development, said Bob Brand, a Kimberly-Clark spokesman.
“For the folks on the sales team, this is disappointing news,” Brand said. “We’ve been trying to sell the plant for much of a year and this is not the outcome we had hoped for.”
Brand said he couldn’t discuss details of the negotiations with Atlas but added that a problem that could not be resolved involved environmental issues relating to Everett’s East Waterway.
The waterway is part of the governor’s Puget Sound Initiative to clean up pollutants. Scientists are studying the area’s pollution and who should be responsible to clean it up. The waterway has been identified to have dioxin, a cancer-causing toxin produced in chlorine-based pulp making.
The company Thursday informed union officials and was holding meetings to talk to employees.
Josh Estes, president of Local 183 of the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers, said Kimberly-Clark had said just last week that the deal was expected to go through, probably this week.
“At that time, Atlas began the process of handing out applications with the anticipation that a sale would be final sometime in January with a startup to follow shortly after,” he said. Read full article
Machinists Vote for Jobs, OK New Contract with Boeing
Source: www.thestand.org
SEATTLE (Dec. 7) — Machinists Union members have approved a four-year contract extension with the Boeing Co. that ensures the 737 MAX will be built in Puget Sound.
The final vote was 74 percent to accept the extension, union officers said. More than 31,000 union members in Washington, Oregon, Kansas and California were eligible to vote.
“This agreement represents a historic moment in changing the relationship between this union and the Boeing Co.,” said Tom Wroblewski, the president of Machinists Union District Lodge 751 in Seattle. “For the first time, company executives are committing to you to keep work in Puget Sound.”
“This agreement shows the collective bargaining process is flexible enough to adjust with the times,” said Wroblewski. “The process allowed us to be creative and produce a win-win for everyone – our members, Boeing, airline customers, and the community. This is a vote of confidence for job security and a stronger future for this region.”
The agreement extends the current contract, which was set to expire in September 2012, another four years.
The biggest benefit to the contract was the commitment to job security, Wroblewski said.
“As a result of this vote, we have the strongest commitment to the future of aerospace jobs in Washington State that we’ve ever had,” he said. Read full article
The Herald - Everett, Wash. - www.HeraldNet.com
Published in the Everett Herald Friday, November 11, 2011
Customers, Workers Criticize Plan to Close Everett Mail Facility
By Debra Smith
Herald Writer
EVERETT -- People at the U.S. Postal Service headquarters: prepare to get an earful.
A lot of anger-laden comments are hurtling in that direction after a community meeting in Everett Thursday night about the potential closure of an Everett mail processing facility.
At stake is the loss of around 100 local jobs and next-day delivery of first-class mail sent in Western Washington.
The facility in Everett processes 1 million outgoing letters and parcels daily and serves everyone from Lynnwood north to the Canadian border. Businesses also drop off bulk mail.
The Postal Service is studying whether to consolidate operations at 252 locations around the country -- including Everett, Olympia and Tacoma -- to help stave off financial disaster. The preliminary results show that the Postal Service might save $11.6 million annually if operations in Everett were consolidated with a facility in Seattle.
Officials said the economies of scale would result in savings. However, customers sending mail to locations in Western Washington could no longer expect the next-day delivery they often get now. Instead, the standard for first-class mail would be two to three days.
For two hours, people vented, grilled and even heckled the suit-and-tie wearing Postal Service managers from Seattle who showed up.
People worried about getting their medical prescriptions by mail and their paychecks. Businesses complained about the added hassle of dropping off bulk mail in Seattle. A rural mail carrier in Marysville wondered if the mail sorted for her route would be done as well in Seattle. Read full article
The Herald - Everett, Wash. - www.HeraldNet.com
Published in the Everett Herald Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Everett Massacre's Lessons are Relevant Today
By Julie Muhlstein
Herald Columnist
The water was calm. Only sounds of traffic disturbed an ordinary afternoon. There was no mayhem. No gunshots rang out.
Writing about the 95th anniversary of the Everett Massacre, that was my experience looking out the window of The Herald newsroom Tuesday. I work near the site of where Everett's City Dock once stood at the end of Hewitt Avenue.
In the early 20th century, it was a lively place of business and travel. On Nov. 5, 1916, it became a notorious place.
That Sunday, the steamer Verona pulled alongside the City Dock. The vessel and another boat from Seattle, the Calista, carried about 300 members of the Industrial Workers of the World.
Already, members of the I.W.W. union -- called Wobblies -- had seen trouble in Everett. For weeks they had come to town to speak out in support of shingle weavers. Those local workers were on strike, pushing to regain a pay level they had in previous years.
Not long before the waterfront showdown, street-preaching Wobblies had been beaten in the Beverly Park area. When the Verona approached the dock that Sunday, tensions between Everett's ruling class and the Wobblies exploded into violence. Read full article
After the Sept. 13, 2011 vote on H.R. 2587, the "Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act," Rep. Rick Larsen released the following statement:
National Labor Relations Board Case Should be Determined on Facts and the Law -- Not on Politics
Rick Larsen, U.S. Representative, Washington State's 2nd Cong. District
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2587, a bill that limits the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) enforcement powers. The bill would curb the labor board's legal authority by prohibiting it from ordering a company to relocate its workers.
Larsen voted against the bill and entered the following remarks into the Congressional Record:
"Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 2587, the "Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act."
This bill is before us because of an ongoing dispute between the International Association of Machinists and the Boeing Company that stems from an issue involving my district in Washington State.
The case is proceeding through a well-established process where the facts of the case and the application of the law to those facts will be determined by an Administrative Law Judge, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and possibly the federal courts. Read full article
Published in the Everett Herald, Monday, September 5, 2011
Help Those Hit Hardest
We must start with steps that improve the situation of poor and working people
By Jeff Johnson
Labor Day, for most workers, is an activity-packed, end-of-summer, three-day weekend. It is also a time to celebrate the work that we do, which has created the economic and social fabric of America.
When the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. joined striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tenn., in 1968, workers who worked full time but lived in abject poverty, he proclaimed that "all labor has dignity" and should be afforded the means to achieve the "American Dream."
That "American Dream" has been rapidly unraveling during the current "Great Recession" and is under full-scale attack by a corporate America that won't invest, banks that won't lend, and politicians who would rather fight over fake political crises, like the debt ceiling, than create jobs.
As austerity budgets are imposed across our country under the mantra of shared sacrifice, the great irony is that workers, the elderly, students, immigrants, the poor and the vulnerable -- the ones who suffer most under these budget cuts -- are being blamed for deficits they did not create. Never have we seen such an attack on the middle class in our lifetimes. Read full article
Saturday, June 11, 2011
SPEEA Executive Director Proposes a New Way to Negotiate Union Contracts with Boeing
SEATTLE – Recognizing the need to avoid disruption to airplane production, the union representing nearly 22,000 engineers and technical workers at The Boeing Company is proposing the two sides use binding binary interest arbitration to resolve fiscal differences during the next round of contract talks. Agreement to the proposal eliminates the possibility of a strike or lockout.
Existing SPEEA contracts with Boeing expire Dec. 2, 2011 for 600 engineers in Wichita and Oct. 6, 2012 for 21,000 engineers and technical workers across the western United States.
In binding binary interest arbitration, the union and company create negotiation rules that submit any fiscal disputes to an independent arbitrator who, like a judge, decides the issue. The dispute is reduced to fact-and-data-driven arguments. The arbitrator’s decision is final. Read full article
Monday, March 28, 2011
Washington State Should Partner With Injured Workers, Not Pay Them Off
Paying off injured workers with a lump-sum buyout known as "compromise-and-release" does nothing to get people back to work, promote safer workplaces or address the problem of long-term disabilities.
The Seattle Times recently defended the use of "compromise-and-release" in an editorial regarding our state's workers' compensation system, but a couple of key points were overlooked ["House should approve workers' comp bill," Opinion, March 8].
As a result of bipartisan efforts, our state workers' compensation system has already seen good, solid reform this legislative session. Together, we have passed new efficiency and oversight measures that will add more flexibility for employers and injured workers, as well as stricter accident-prevention enforcement.
Gov. Chris Gregoire signed Senate Bill 5801, which will save Washington state $218 million over the next four years. This legislation, agreed to by both business and labor, will reduce the costs of disabling injuries by expanding access to the Centers for Occupational Health Education. It will also create a statewide provider network. These improvements are good for injured workers and for the state, not only because they save money, but because they get folks back to work faster.
Another piece of legislation moving through the Legislature, House Bill 2002, will further improve our workers' compensation system by helping employers — particularly small businesses — return injured workers to light-duty or transitional work.
It is estimated that these two measures alone will save $450 million between now and 2017, which benefits both workers and employers — a "One Washington" solution. Read full article
Monday, March 21, 2011
HCAN Readies for Major Week of Events to Promote
Health Care Law's Benefits, Consumer Protections
More Than 75 HCAN-Sponsored Events Nationwide Part of Broad Effort by Groups to Mark Affordable Care Act’s First Birthday
Washington, DC – Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the nationwide coalition that led the successful fight for health reform, will host more than 75 educational events and activities in 27 states next week to promote the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on its first anniversary and to rally against Republican efforts to undermine the law. By the end of the week, thousands of people will have participated in HCAN gatherings nationwide, including town-hall meetings, news conferences and educational forums.
The HCAN program is part of a coordinated effort by more than a dozen advocacy groups producing nearly 200 events in 35 states. Many of the HCAN events focus on Republicans who have devoted themselves to defunding and repealing the ACA.
"One year later, Republicans still have no health care plan other than to take away prescription drug discounts for seniors, no-cost preventive care for everyone, small-business tax credits and consumer protections like the ban on denyingcare or charging more because of pre-existing medical conditions,” said HCAN Executive Director Ethan Rome. "The Affordable Care Act eliminates the worst health insurance company abuses and frees families, seniors and small businesses from crushing health care costs and devastating denials of care. The GOP's only health care plan is to put the health insurance companies back in charge so they can deny our care and jack up our rates. We must move forward and stop re-fighting the battles of the past." Read full article
Friday, November 12, 2010
Boeing's Manufacturing Pilots and Field Service Reps
Organizing to Join SPEEA
SEATTLE – The pilots who deliver, ferry and train others to fly aircraft built by The Boeing Company are on a path to become the newest bargaining unit of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), IFPTE Local 2001.
The union’s governing council voted Thursday, Nov. 11, to begin formal discussions with the Airline Manufacturing Pilots Association (AMPA) to bring the independent bargaining unit into SPEEA. At the same meeting, the SPEEA Council approved a motion to organize Boeing’s Field Service Representatives (FSRs) in the United States.
“We’re proud the pilots and the FSRs want to join our union,” said SPEEA President Tom McCarty. “This widens SPEEA’s reach and puts our union on an upward trajectory of representing more professionals at Boeing and in aerospace.”
AMPA pilots recently voted to begin discussions with SPEEA. The two unions are scheduling a meeting to work out details of the transition.
The FSRs, who work with customers around the U.S., are collecting union authorization cards in preparation for a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) representation election.
As an existing union with a collective bargaining agreement in place, AMPA’s contract will transfer to SPEEA as a new bargaining unit. The 32 pilots have watched their ranks shrink as some pilots moved to other Boeing jobs or retired, but instead of hiring new full-time Boeing pilots, the company is currently hiring temporary (contract) pilots and training them at an undisclosed location. AMPA President David Whitacre said the pilots recognize, and need, the growing influence of SPEEA.
“It’s time we become part of a larger, more powerful, organization,” Whitacre said. “As pilots delivering Boeing aircraft and providing instruction to customer pilots in their new multi-million dollar airplane, we are the last Boeing person customer pilots see after taking delivery. If we don’t do our job right, future Boeing orders could be put in jeopardy. Outsourcing has proved to be a risky strategy, so it’s surprising the company is willing to risk its reputation to hire contract pilots. It’s contrary to Boeing’s stated goal of providing world-class training to our customers.”
About 100 Field Service Representatives are at various locations around the United States. As Boeing representatives with customers, they provide expert advice and assistance for fleet service, maintenance and repairs.
“We have fallen too far behind,” said Rich Kozel, Field Service Rep in Tulsa, Okla. “I love my job and I believe that FSRs need to join SPEEA, because we deserve the same respect and guaranteed long-term benefits that union members have.”
SPEEA is regularly approached by employees throughout the aerospace industry who are looking for union representation, said Ray Goforth, SPEEA executive director.
“After completing our vetting process, it was clear to everyone that both the AMPA pilots and FSRs are a natural fit for SPEEA,” Goforth said.
A local of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), SPEEA represents more than 24,400 aerospace professionals at Boeing, Spirit AeroSystems in Kansas, Triumph Composite Systems, Inc., in Spokane, Wash., and BAE Systems, Inc., in Irving, Texas.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Teamsters Thank Community for Strong Support During Strike
500 Western Washington Coke employees who went on strike last Monday will return to work unconditionally in a gesture that demonstrates their willingness to bargain a fair and equitable contract in good faith. Negotiations between the Washington Teamsters United and Coke are set to resume this Wednesday and Thursday, September 1 and 2.
"Over the last week, we have demonstrated to Coke the value of our professionalism and our labor," said Blaine Parks, a 32-year driver for Coke’s production and distribution facility in Bellevue. "We have also sent a strong message to Coke that its employees expect the company to take the collective bargaining process seriously."
Union representatives expect the 500 area Coke employees will resume normal operations Tuesday morning to catch up with the backlog created by last week’s work stoppage.
"We are optimistic that Coke will return to negotiations prepared to bargain in good faith," said Tracey A. Thompson, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 117 and chief negotiator for Washington Teamsters United. "Issues like the health care for Coke employees and retirees are too important to our members and their families not to be addressed in a straightforward and forthright manner."
The Union says it will continue to pursue the Unfair Labor Practice charges it brought against Coke before the National Labor Relations Board as well as the class-action ERISA lawsuit on behalf of Coke employees who had their health care benefits revoked by the company shortly after the work stoppage began last week.
Approximately 500 Coke employees in Western Washington went on strike on Monday, August 23, over charges of employee surveillance, intimidation and bad faith bargaining. Contract negotiations between the Union and Coke have been underway since April. The employees’ contract expired on May 15, 2010.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
CCE's Behavior Undermines Coke's Plans, Will CCE Hurt Coke?
The company's board of directors has repeatedly predicted that its takeover of the world's largest Coca-Cola bottler, Coca-Cola Enterprises' (CCE) North American operations, will occur in the fourth quarter. Coke executive management and its shareholders must adapt to a business model that goes from a high-margin, lower-capital cost venture to a low-margin, labor-intense business in North America. And now CCE [NYSE:CCE] is adding potential risks by sparking a labor dispute that threatens Coke sales in Washington state and may have ramifications throughout the important West Coast market and beyond.
CCE – Hostile Workplace in Washington Leads to Strike
About 500 CCE distribution and production Teamsters across western Washington went on strike on Aug. 23 in response to the company’s intimidation and surveillance of its employees and its refusal to bargain a contract in good faith. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is investigating the company for serious and repeated violations of federal labor law, including "surface bargaining," employee surveillance and threatening to retaliate against workers for engaging in protected activities.
"The last thing we wanted is a strike, but Coke has left us no alternative," said Tracey A. Thompson, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 117 in Tukwila and lead negotiator for the Teamster local unions in Washington. "The company’s refusal to bargain in good faith a contract has resulted in hardship for 500 Coke employees and their families and the disruption of its own operations." Read full article
Published in the Everett Herald, Sunday, August 1, 2010
Herald Endorsement for 38th District Senate: Put Harper's Talents To Work
Effective legislating is about more than listening to various stakeholders, making decisions and taking votes. The most effective lawmakers also lead. They come up with new approaches to old problems, and inspire others to support new solutions they never knew were possible.
The Legislature is in desperate need of elected officials with such qualities.
In the 38th District, which includes most of Everett and Marysville and the Tulalip Reservation, this year's Senate race includes a first-time candidate, Democrat Nick Harper, with the potential to be that kind of legislator. We endorse him over the incumbent, fellow Democrat Jean Berkey, and conservative Rod Rieger.
Harper is just 31 years old, but has made a name for himself as Snohomish County conservation director of the Cascade Land Conservancy, one of the most innovative environmental nonprofits around. He earned a law degree from Seattle University, and previously served as legislative director for the Snohomish County-Camano Island Association of Realtors. Read full article
Posted on the AFL/CIO blog on April 6, 2010
5 Refinery Workers Killed, Industry Group Lauds It's Safety Record
By Mike Hall
After an explosion at a Tesoro refinery in Anacortes, Wash., killed five United Steelworkers ([1] USW) members and severely injured two other workers, the petroleum industry claimed its safety record is exemplary. Says USW President Leo W. Gerard:
It’s incredible this industry brags about its safety record just after five people were killed in a refinery explosion.
After the April 2 explosion, officials of the American Petroleum Institute told reporters that the industry was not getting enough credit for its health and safety record, citing drops in injury and illnesses rates during the past several years.
Also, says the USW, National Petrochemical & Refiners Association officials bragged that the industry has a lower injury rate than the U.S. manufacturing sector as a whole.
Says Gerard, "The problem is the injury and illness rates the trade associations cite are misleading and do not give the full picture of health and safety within the refining sector. The recordable injury rates that [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] OSHA collects measure items like slips, falls, sprains and fractures, not poor safety practices that lead to incidents like explosions and fires. There’s a difference between a sprained ankle and an explosion that kills five people." Read full article
Published in the Everett Herald: April 6, 2010
'Firewall' Engulfed Anacortes Refinery Crew
By Manuel Valdes
Associated Press
SEATTLE -- Workers who died in a Washington state oil refinery blast were engulfed in a “firewall,” a lead federal investigator said Monday.
There is “indication of a very sudden release of hydrocarbon that ignited very quickly,” said Robert Hall, investigations supervisor for the U.S. Chemical Safety Board. “The individuals didn’t stand a chance; it ignited within a second.”
State and federal investigators have descended on the Tesoro Corp. refinery in Anacortes, about 70 miles north of Seattle, to seek answers in Friday’s blast. Hall said his agency’s investigation will take months to complete.
Three workers died at the refinery, while two died at a hospital in Seattle. Two survivors remain at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle — Lew Janz is in critical condition, while Matt Gumbel was upgraded to serious condition Monday. Both men are in the intensive care unit with burns.
It was the deadliest event at a U.S. refinery since 15 people died at a BP facility in Texas in 2005.
Hall said his agency is concerned about the high rate of incidents at refineries. He estimated 5 percent of all refineries in the country have had significant issues in the last two years. There are 150 refineries in the country, according to the agency.
Hall said the agency is investigating incidents at seven refineries at the moment.
“We want to get to the root causes of these incidents,” he said.
In Anacortes, Hall said investigators have done an initial tour of the damaged area. The agency will also acquire computer data of the plant’s operations from Tesoro, as well as deconstruct parts of the plant to conduct tests. His agency will also look at work fatigue and other details.
He described the fire as more of a “firewall,” adding that some of the crew were probably within 50 feet of where the blaze started.
Last week, the company said employees were doing maintenance work on a unit that processes highly flammable liquid derived during the refining process.
The state fined the San Antonio-based company $85,700 last April for 17 serious safety and health violations, defined as those with potential to cause death or serious physical injury. The fine was lowered in a settlement with the company, which required Tesoro to correct hazards and hire a third-party consultant to do a safety audit.
Dead at the scene were Matthew C. Bowen, 31, of Arlington; Darrin J. Hoines, 43, of Ferndale, and Daniel J. Aldridge, 50, of Anacortes. Skagit County Deputy Coroner Bob Clark said Monday that those victims died within minutes of the explosion from burns to their entire bodies and inhalation of toxic combustion products. Kathryn Powell, 29, of Burlington, and Donna Van Dreumel, 36, of Oak Harbor, died later Friday at Harborview.
Published in the Everett Herald: Thursday, April 1, 2010
Allied Waste Reaches Pact; Waste Management Still Talking
By Debra Smith
Herald Writer
Trash collection is continuing today even though the contract with some workers has expired.
Garbage haulers who work for Allied Waste tentatively agreed to sign a new labor contract early Wednesday evening.
The union and Waste Management plan more talks for later today after negotiating until nearly 1 a.m.
Waste Management spokeswoman Jackie Lang said negotiators would meet again later in the day but did not have a time.
She said the continued talks mean there will be no strike or lockout today.
Allied Waste workers pick up trash at nearly 25,000 homes and businesses across Snohomish County today.
The Waste Management workers collect trash at 75,000 homes and businesses in communities across the county, including Arlington, Marysville, Mill Creek, Mountlake Terrace, Lynnwood, Brier, Mukilteo, and parts of south Everett and unincorporated Snohomish County.
Talks were stalled between Waste Management and Teamsters Local 174, according to a release sent out Wednesday evening from the company.
“Waste Management and the union have barely met and have no new proposals on the table,” the release said. Read Full Story
Published in the Everett Herald: Monday, March 29, 2010
County Trash Haulers Authorize Strike If Contract Expires
Associated Press
SEATTLE — Hundreds of unionized garbage haulers in King and Snohomish counties have voted to authorize a strike if their contract dispute isn’t settled this week.
Teamsters Local 174 announced the results of the strike vote Sunday. The union represents more than 450 trash haulers for Waste Management and about 100 more for Allied Waste.
The vote means a strike could be called as soon as midnight Wednesday, when contracts covering garbage haulers for more than 1 million local homes and businesses expire. If a strike occurs, the companies are expected to bring in workers from around the country to continue garbage service. Read Full Story