King
County Labor CouncilKing
County Labor Council
The premise behind the economics education movement is a simple one: we as union members must educate ourselves and others so that we recognize clearly the ways which corporate America harms workers — by sending our jobs to other countries, busting our unions, demanding special breaks from the government and pitting worker against worker. This comprehensive education program is designed to help union members understand the patterns of economic injustice that only collective action can change. The larger aim is to stress the importance of union activism and organizing. Rebuilding our unions is the best way to correct the imbalance of power that favors corporations and the rich over working people.
The AFL-CIO leadership cites our changing economy as the main reason this education is absolutely necessary for today’s workforce. There is a widespread belief that we are living in a time of increasing wealth for all. The unfortunate truth is that workers are having a tough time making ends meet. The economics education program explores this problem, offering a historical perspective that makes it easier to understand how workers are affected by corporate decisions and the economy.
The training presents a description of the economic stagnation our country experienced in the late 1970’s and the resulting plant closures, loss of jobs to other countries and union busting activities. Unfortunately, these actions had lasting implications for working-class Americans and the unions protecting them. After union membership declined by over one third, organized labor was unable to effectively counter the many assaults on America’s workers.
Statistics show CEO pay rose by an astronomical 499 percent between 1980 and 1994, while average real wages fell by 9 percent during roughly the same time period. The government has assisted businesses by continually lowering their taxes and allowing workers to pick up the slack. Bottom line, the economy today is great for the lucky 10 percent of Americans who hold 70 percent of our country’s wealth, while the rest of the workers continue to struggle to earn a living wage.
It’s clear the AFL-CIO has spent a lot of time and resources on exploring some of the reasons America’s workers aren’t benefiting as much as they would hope from our professed economic upswing. Fortunately for us, they have also developed an effective way to get the word out to our membership. Bill Fletcher, director of the AFL-CIO’s Education Department, will be sharing the full economics education program with future trainers during several sessions throughout the year. The first session will be held February 3rd - 5th, with another planned for May 18th - 21st. You can get more information on the economics education program or find out how to register for one of these classes by calling the King County Labor Council at (206) 441-8510.
Labor partnerships pay off
Two recent examples of truly successful partnership efforts involve North Seattle Community College and Office & Professional Employees Union (OPEIU) Local 8 members Mary Wittenberger of Seattle Housing Authority and Leisa Edwards of Group Health Cooperative. Mary spent many hours last summer working with the Business Technology Program Advisory Council to develop specialized training for workers in the customer service, administrative support and computer information fields. Leisa represented organized labor on the Medical Insurance Billing and Coding Technical Advisory Committee and brought the perspective of the front line working members of the union workforce to the College’s training plan. As a result of these strong partnerships with labor, both programs were recently funded by the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges.
"The Advisory Council was impressed with the active program participation by labor representatives," noted Charlie Best, KCLC Worker Center staff and chair of the state-wide Worker Retraining Program Advisory Council. "Working together with businesses and the college, Leisa and Mary have greatly contributed to creating quality training resulting in family wage job opportunities for workers across King County."
For more information on how you can join Mary, Leisa, Charlie and others working with local community and technical colleges, please call Charlie at the Worker Center at (206) 461-3220.
"SPICE" of life
Each SPICE center is run by a site coordinator who is responsible for daily administration of the program. Coordinators work directly with school staff and seniors to develop activities that focus on enrichment and school activities. These SPICE coordinators are unique individuals who are called upon to bring together some of the most widely divergent (in age) members of our community and continually plan quality activities.
On November 19th of last year, a collective bargaining agreement covering the SPICE coordinators was ratified by the Seattle School District’s Board of Directors. The vote followed an acceptance vote by the coordinators themselves. As a result, the SPICE coordinators are some of the newest members of Operating Engineers Local 609.
This significant event is the culmination of years of effort by these members to gain the benefits of union membership. Since signing representation cards in 1996, the SPICE program itself has experienced formidable challenges. Soon after collective bargaining negotiations began, a plan surfaced to contract out the program’s services. Only a quick response by the union and the assistance of a number of friends at the City Council and members of the Puget Sound Council of Senior Citizens prevented that plan from being implemented. Unfortunately, there are still members of city government who intend to continue to push for the privatization the program.
The agreement currently in place will last for only one year. The only way to ensure that the SPICE program continues to thrive as a public venture is to increase participation. If you or a senior you know would benefit from participating in this program, please call (206) 378-2780 for information.
As the next step, the employees gathered "show of interest" cards from well over 50% of the 36+ workers who would be represented in the bargaining unit. They presented a petition requesting voluntary recognition of the union to El Centro’s top management. The request was tabled at El Centro’s November board meeting. At their December meeting, the Board voted to allow an employee vote to decide the question of union representation. In the meantime, Local 8 filed unfair labor charges against El Centro with the National Labor Relations Board to protest the suspension of a member, intimidation of employees signing "show of interest" cards, a five hour anti-union captive audience meeting and the intimidation tactics of a known criminal allowed by El Centro’s director, Roberto Maestas, to forcefully discourage organizing efforts.
Many in the labor community are stunned by this blatant abuse of employees’ rights. In the past, El Centro management stood side-by-side with Local 8 during rallies for Seattle Housing Authority employees and the Farm Workers. Their own principles declare that they "support the majority of people in this country, i.e., all workers — including, but not limited to, farm workers, factory workers, service workers and office workers in their struggle for collective bargaining rights, safety, benefits and just wages and salaries." Yet, they are denying their own workers the right to organize free from harassment.
At press time, the employees’ struggle continues. El Centro has been placed on the KCLC Do Not Patronize list (after Mr. Maestas declined an invitation to discuss the situation with KCLC Executive Board members). Local 8 will continue to work with the group and plans are under way to engage in more community activism and education. The word is out in the labor community, however, as evidenced by Roberto Maestas’ recently being named Jobs With Justice’s "Grinch of the Year" by an overwhelming write-in vote. Congratulations on a well-deserved title!
The Council has benefited from Saturn’s pro-union philosophy in countless instances. Saturn is a major contributor to the Annual KCLC Labor Day Picnic and was a huge supporter of last year’s Northwest Labor Arts & History Festival, held during the Folklife Festival.
But it is Saturn’s work with the Labor Agency that has truly shown their unsurpassed commitment to labor and the community at large. They have assisted with many of the Agency’s fundraising efforts. During the holidays, area dealerships help with the annual toy drive by providing toy drop-off zones and publicizing the collection efforts to their customers. They collected over 2,000 toys in 1997 alone! For the past four years, Saturn has also been a major contributor to the "Hogs for Hunger" fundraiser, which will help build a 100% wheelchair accessible playground in Kirkland this year.
The area dealerships help not only during special fundraising events, but throughout the year. Local Saturn employees help with the Labor Agency’s "Shelter Feeding & Assistance" program by providing lunches for homeless people. Saturn also donates $10 to the Labor Agency every time a union member test drives one of their cars and $25 for every purchase. Canned food drives are another regular activity.
We would like to say a huge "THANK YOU" to the Saturn Company, and especially their local dealerships, for supporting our labor community, and for continuing to build their cars in the USA with a union workforce. We could use more companies like Saturn!
The resolution, mailed in November to the principal officers of all affiliated unions, asks the local to commit to four general ideals:
e Devoting more resources to organizing,
e Devising and implementing a strategic plan for organizing workers in its jurisdiction,
e Developing a member organizing committee and organizing staff, and
e Mobilizing the local’s membership around organizing drives.
A very important part of Union Cities is shifting resources toward organizing. The resolution asks locals to aim toward the goal of shifting at least 30 percent of their resources into organizing the unorganized. Accomplishing this goal would help assure the success of another important goal, which is to increase membership to achieve a 3 percent overall union membership growth rate by the year 2000.
The Council hopes to have at least 50 affiliates signed on by the middle of this year. If your local isn’t listed, encourage your leadership to make the commitment. Additional copies of the resolution are available at the KCLC office. Participation in Union Cities will benefit everyone involved — how else can your local have over 150,000 King County union members behind it, helping out during struggles with employers and working together to increase union membership in all crafts and all unions? Increased membership means stronger unions, giving working families a louder voice and more power.
The Organizing Committee The Organizing Committee has been meeting for several years, becoming more active over the past year as Union Cities gathers momentum. With the new emphasis on organizing, the committee’s role in assisting unions with organizing efforts is more important than ever. The AFL-CIO plans to help us launch a cooperative organizing project later this year. The organizing committee will lend vital support to the effort by developing ideas for cooperative organizing campaigns, bringing multiple unions together to work on large-scale organizing drives. Look for plenty of activity from this committee in coming months as Changing to Organize heats up.
The Education Committee The Education Committee has been working to educate thousands of union members in support of the organizing programs of local unions. This committee is in charge of coordinating and planning the four Common Sense Economics training sessions taking place this year and helping locals coordinate MEMO (Membership Education and Mobilization for Organizing) training sessions for their members. This committee plays a vital role in getting the word out on the importance of organizing to a large number of union members. With more members mobilized and educated, organizing efforts will be more successful.
Several groups have been meeting on a less formal basis to develop other aspects of Union Cities. Though not official committees yet, these work groups have played an important role in planning the direction of the Council. Group topics include recruitment and diversity, mobilization, economic development, political clout and right to organize.
An opposition group began forming as soon as it was announced that the project would be built and operated non-union. The ‘Concerned Citizens for Responsible Development’ is a coalition comprised of people either living or working in the Roosevelt neighborhood, many of them union members and retirees, concerned with the negative impact the non-union development will have on the neighborhood and its workers. Another concern is the effect Whole Foods will have on the smaller retailers in the area, which will be hard-pressed to compete with the new mega-store.
Unions involved with the struggle include the Carpenters District Council, Painters District Council 5 and UFCW Local 1105. The cooperative effort between the building and service trades and the high level of community involvement are important steps toward fulfilling the Union Cities ideals of unions working more closely together and building links in the community. The building trades unions have a stake in the project because of the amount of work involved in the actual building of the complex. UFCW is involved because a vast majority of area grocery stores are staffed by their members, who are enjoying the benefits and rights that accompany union membership. The trend toward specialty grocery stores like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods being operated non-union and competing with union operated stores such as Safeway, Albertson’s and QFC is alarming.
Construction on Roosevelt Square is scheduled to begin in April of this year. The coalition continues their work to raise community awareness. They have had a good response from the Roosevelt neighborhood association, and in an effort to appease the group the project developer has mentioned the possibility of using union labor for the building stage of the project. While this is a step in the right direction, the coalition has indicated that if the development is built with union labor but still operated non-union, opposition will continue. More hands are always needed, so anyone interested in helping can call (206) 726-2965 to leave a message for coalition members.
In recent years, non-union Stage Crew Services (SCS) has grown in the area, under-cutting union contracts by paying workers as little as $6 an hour. Union scale is easily three times that amount when benefits are added.
"For years, we leafleted and picketed outside shows where SCS got work, but we couldn’t break through to the workers," said Jerry Crangi, Local 15. "When we found out SCS was doing the Rolling Stones and U2 concerts in the Kingdome last fall, we decided we had to change our approach."
For Local 15, the answer was "salting" — encouraging union stagehands and other labor activists to go to work for SCS. With help from KCLC, IBEW and Jobs With Justice, Local 15 trained more than 100 people in grassroots organizing and legal rights in five salting classes. More than two dozen union members got hired for the shows. Once on the job, they engaged in legal, protected activities, such as discussing the benefits of unions with other workers, distributing union literature, and wearing IATSE T-shirts.
"When several of the union members put on their T-shirts at work before the U2 concert, it gave a huge boost of confidence to all the workers — they saw that it IS possible to stand up for your rights," said one SCS worker.
Unfortunately, management retaliated against several of the union activists. Some were laid off in the middle of their shifts, others were threatened or denied further work. Local 15 has filed charges against SCS with the National Labor Relations Board. In addition, the salters found that many SCS employees were not being paid for the actual time they worked. Local 15 members helped these workers file wage and hour claims with the state. After years of trying, the SCS organizing campaign is off and running.
Congratulations to Local 15, whose members are proving that unions, regardless of their resources or staffing, can find ways to change to organize.
In the past, we have provided lunches for the First Avenue Services Center and the IBEW Homeless Shelter. We currently provide lunch on the second Tuesday of each month at the St. Martin de Porres Shelter. (St. Martin’s provides meals, sleeping accommodations, a clothing bank, laundry facilities and showers for homeless men over the age of 55.) Fifteen volunteers prepare sandwiches and bring them to the Labor Agency for delivery to St. Martin’s.
The "Shelter Feeding & Assistance" Program also collects and distributes coats, blankets and warm clothing to local homeless shelters.
If you are interested in assisting the Labor Agency by providing sandwiches for the lunch program or donating other items, please call Sandi Hadfield at (206) 448-9277.
Having this additional credential will help communicate a worker’s accomplishments to people outside of the building and construction trades. According to Greg Fox, coordinator for the Plumbers, Pipefitters and Refrigeration Apprenticeship program, "People don’t have a baseline to compare an academic education to a vocational education. Consequently, our people aren’t recognized for their accomplishments."
The associate degree, called Multi-Occupational Trades, combines the technical classes of an apprenticeship program with four or five general education classes. Although the apprenticeship classes are typically not transferable to a four-year institution, the general education classes are.
Also, people can transfer in credits earned at other colleges to meet the requirements. RTC requires four general education classes including English, Math, Psychology and Speech. Some fields have further options. For example, a student might be able to choose between English Composition and Technical Writing to meet the English requirement. At SSCC, five classes are required; Applied Composition, Technical Writing, Human Relations, Applied Math and either Computers or Ethics (as designated by the program’s joint apprenticeship committee.)
Those interested in a degree can begin taking general education classes as apprentices, or they can finish the apprenticeship program first then begin general education classes. Someone working full-time could probably handle one or two classes per quarter. Classes are offered at several different times so they are more convenient for working people. "We stress continuing education for our members, and the degree program ties in perfectly with that objective," says Fox.
For more information on degree requirements and course availability, please contact Renton Technical College at (425) 235-5840 or South Seattle Community College at (206) 764-5350.