King
County Labor CouncilKing
County Labor Council
WTO week began as thousands gathered for prayer vigils. Tens of thousands rallied and marched. Students and youth led massive non-violent acts of civil disobedience, provoking an overreaction and crackdown by authorities. And finally labor, community, student, religious, human rights and farm activists and media reclaimed downtown streets and staged a peaceful weekend sit-in to win release of more than 600 jailed protesters, including many union members. When the smoke cleared — quite literally — the World Trade Organization talks had collapsed without agreement.
"We changed the nature of the global trade debate," said Ron Judd, Executive Secretary of the King County Labor Council, AFL-CIO. "We put a human face on what had previously been a secret society, and we made sure that we had a broad international coalition that demanded global trading rules that put people before profits. King County union members can feel proud that, together with many, many allies, we have made history."
In one short week — between November 28th and December 5th — Seattle labor activists and allies shocked the world’s power elite and built powerful local, national and international alliances.
"Millions have become enlightened about the World Trade Organization and its devastating impact on working families, the environment and human rights," declared a statement issued December 3rd by Seattle-area Christian and Jewish leaders. "Throughout this week, the groups that were peacefully protesting have found common purpose and now are inextricably linked... we have witnessed the birth of a movement across the world," the religious leaders declared.
It didn’t just happen.
For months, the King County Labor Council’s Education Committee led a broad effort to inform union members and community allies about the devastating impact of the WTO and its policies that place corporate profits above the needs of people and the environment. Beginning last February, KCLC Union Cities Organizer Verlene Wilder coordinated trainings of hundreds of union members who spoke to colleagues in meetings, at work and in their neighborhoods about the WTO and its worldwide impact.
Labor Council and affiliate union leaders also worked closely with environmental, student, religious and community allies. The National AFL-CIO and international unions launched an ambitious mobilization effort that brought more than 20,000 trade unionists by train, plane and caravan from across our state and the nation.
On Sunday, November 28th, 3,000 people of all faiths packed St. James Cathedral on Seattle’s First Hill to proclaim commitment to the Year of Jubilee, a growing worldwide movement that calls for canceling Third World debt. Debt cancellation would allow developing economies to devote more resources to higher wages, quality health care and education, thus raising standards for workers around the world — instead of continuing the WTO’s crushing race-to-the-bottom.
The following evening, an estimated 14,000 people marched through pouring rain with religious leaders and AFL-CIO President John Sweeney to form a symbolic human chain around the WTO’s opening banquet.
Tuesday’s labor-led march of 40,000 people was historic not just in size but by its diversity. Health care employees and longshore workers marched with Mexican farmers, turtle-costumed environmentalists, Native American drummers, college students and religious leaders. "We’re tough and we’re Teamsters, but... we’re all in this together," said Teamsters Local 174 member Sylver Pondolfino. "Teamsters have families, they like clean air just like the rest of us. Teamsters care about turtles, believe it or not," he said.
Marchers flooding downtown streets, combined with the non-violent sit-down actions of hundreds of students and environmentalists, essentially shut down WTO proceedings on November 30th. Citing vandalism by a small group of disrupters, authorities clamped down Tuesday afternoon, attacking protesters with tear gas, pepper spray and nightsticks and arresting more than 600 people. Many of the police involved in these attacks came from outside the area. For the next day and a half, the attacks continued as Mayor Paul Schell declared a curfew and a "no protest" zone.
On Thursday morning, labor, community, religious, student and environmental activists gathered at the Labor Temple to determine an effective, unified, peaceful response to the suspension of civil liberties and mass arrests. They decided to hold a Friday march through down-town in defiance of the protest ban.
"If there were still doubts about the coalition forged in the heat of the Battle in Seattle, they were swept away by the almost impromptu closing march of the contentious week," reported The Nation magazine. "Organizing overnight, the King County Central Labor Council brought 5,000 high-spirited marchers out at noon on December 3rd." Chanting ‘This is what democracy looks like,’ the marchers proceeded downtown in defiance of the protest ban and served to remind the public that our broad coalition would not allow the spotlight to be taken off the WTO’s corporate agenda."
"The success in taking back our streets on the last day of the ministerial demonstrated the strength of our coalition’s unity and determination. The challenge to us is to continue to mobilize in defense of workers’ rights and against corporate greed," Judd said.
At the January 5th Labor Council meeting, Judd announced that a new KCLC Mobilization Committee — as envisioned in the Council’s Union Cities plan — would begin meeting soon to build on the WTO experience.
"One of the best things that came out of this is that we have new rank-and-file activists who were not involved with their union before, but now they are," said KCLC’s Wilder. "The WTO mobilized them. We have turned it around."
Want to get involved?
To work on trade issues and future mobilization efforts, contact KCLC Union
Cities Organizer Verlene Wilder at 206-441-7102 or e-mail her at <verlenekclc@igc.org>.
Key issues addressed in this first contract include a union security clause, wage increases totaling over nine percent for the next two years, improved health benefits, a new pension in the third year of the contract, and a Labor Management Committee that ensures health care workers a voice in how patient care is delivered.
"These health care workers showed that by standing together for principles, workers can win the right to have a union — a collective voice for workers and patients. Our members look forward to caring for their patients and working with management to secure funding for mental health services," said Diane Sosne, president of District 1199NW/SEIU.
"We are elated that our bargaining team representatives negotiated a great con-tract so we can start building a first rate psychiatric hospital. I’m looking forward to getting back to work," said Chrie Landerth, Mental Health Specialist.
More and more KCLC affiliates are "organizing for change" under the Union Cities plan, many with support from our office and the Seattle Union Now (SUN) project.
There are several exciting organizing projects in the works right now. The Seattle/King County Building & Construction Trades Council is working with the national Building & Construction Trades Department on laying the groundwork for multi-trade, market-wide workforce organizing involving rank-and-file workers like never before. King County has yet to experience organizing of this magnitude, so expect a groundbreaking campaign.
Another drive that is making news is a joint effort between SEIU Local 6 and District 1199NW/SEIU to work with employees at 45 Medalia Health Care System clinics from Tacoma to Monroe to gain union representation. Medalia workers presented cards to the NLRB on December 23rd, showing that a large majority of the system’s 750 employees support union representation. This organizing activity comes as doctors at Medalia clinics are negotiating their first contract after voting to join the United Salaried Physicians and Dentists (SEIU) last June.
There will be more in-depth coverage of these drives in upcoming issues. Is your local organizing for the future? If not, the time is right! Call the King County Labor Council’s Union Cities Organizer, Verlene Wilder, at 206-441-7102 if you need information or help getting started. Organize in 1999!
The mural project was funded by the City of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods and was developed in partnership with the Central Area Motivational Program (CAMP), Washington Middle School, the Judkins Park Community Council and the Northwest Labor and Employment Law Office (LELO). The project was lead by the Worker Center, which is a division of the King County Labor Council.
Project coordinator Cathy Lowenberg, along with mural artists Barbara Bowen and Barb Turner, collected oral histories and memories from many people involved in the Central District’s labor community for inspiration for the mural. Volunteers did much of the painting.
The mural’s panels represent different eras in the history of work in the Central District and Seattle. The mural also highlights the many diverse cultures that live and work here and shows the common bonds shared by all workers in their struggles for economic justice. One of the panels represents the importance of elders in our community and the inspiration and wisdom the next generation can gain by listening to their stories.
A completion celebration is in the planning stages and will happen within the next few months.
After meeting with management for more than seven hours on January 13th, the union won key concessions on four out of five major issues for both the professional and technical bargaining units.
SPEEA membership skyrocketed after The Boeing Company issued its first offer in November. In the wake of that offer, labeled insulting by union leaders, more than 3,300 represented employees turned in dues authorization cards to become full union members.
"The membership solidarity and dedication prompted the Boeing Company to make significant changes in the contract," said Charles Bofferding, executive director of SPEEA.
Employees who maintain the company’s high-tech roasting equipment and boilers rejected a personal appeal from Starbucks owner Howard Schultz and voted for the International Union of Operating Engineers in a 14-8 vote on November 17th.
"We wanted a voice on the job, control of our own destiny," said maintenance mechanic Jeff Alexander, a 3˝- year Starbucks employee. "We expected that when the company was going forward, employees would go forward, too." But according to Alexander, in the past year Starbucks has raised health insurance premiums and put maintenance employees on weekend shifts at straight pay. "It’s not the small, friendly company it used to be," he said.
Starbucks revenue rose 28 percent in 1998.
The company fought hard against the union campaign, bringing in attorneys from Washington, D.C. to oppose the effort. The Kent plant is one of two Starbucks roasting facilities in the United States. An additional two hundred workers are employed in the roasting and shipping departments.
Operating Engineers Local 286 expects negotiations to begin in late January or early February.
Want to be a union organizer?: Last October, thirty-three union members and community activists said ‘yes’ and went through a three-day training conducted by the AFL-CIO’s Organizing Institute. Co-sponsored by the King County Labor Council, the weekend session trained activists on how to talk to unorganized workers about joining a union, how to deal with management’s anti-union campaigns and how to put together a winning campaign strategy.
Twenty-four union members and nine community activists from as far away as Butte, Montana completed the Seattle training, which is now scheduled locally twice a year. Several participants have gone on to internships, apprenticeships and full-time organizing jobs with unions. For instance, Julian Johnson has been hired by Service Employees District 925 to organize child care teachers. Jill Wolfe and Stan Betts are working on special projects with AFSCME. Mary Sheffield-Popham has completed a ten-day internship with AFSCME, organizing workers at the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington, D.C. Kristina Anderson is beginning a research internship with Seattle Union Now, AFL-CIO (SUN).
The next three-day training is
scheduled for March 31-April 2.
If you’re interested in becoming a union organizer or know someone who is,
call SUN at 206-956-0494.
Further training for organizer development is also available locally. As the pace of union organizing in King County and the nation has picked up, many union leaders have expressed the need to develop lead organizers — staff who can lead campaigns and direct other organizers. Seattle Union Now, in collaboration with the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute, has developed a lead organizer training program to help experienced organizers become lead organizers.
Last December, nine organizers met for two days in the area’s first Lead Organizer Training. Participants included organizing directors and coordinators from Teamsters Local 174, Communication Workers District 7, Stagehands Locals 15 and 488, and United Food and Commercial Workers Locals 1001 and 1105. Also participating were staff from SPEEA, the Boeing engineers’ union, now affiliated with the AFL-CIO as Professional and Technical Employees Local 2001.
The training taught organizers how to develop campaign strategies and accountability systems and how to identify and develop skills in new organizers.
Welcome to Peter Coates: The King County Labor Council would like to welcome Peter Coates, the new executive secretary of the Seattle Building & Construction Trades Council and our newest executive board member. He is replacing Jack Gilchrist, who has accepted a position with the National Building & Construction Trades Council.
Brother Coates has been a union member throughout his entire working career and is a 22-year member of Teamsters Local 174. He was a rank-and-file shop steward, business agent and political coordinator for Local 174, among other positions. He most recently served as the director of the Northwest Fair Contracting Association, an organization that supports both the labor and contracting communities’ commitment to our state’s prevailing wage laws. He has served as president of the Seattle Building & Construction Trades Council for a number of years.
"The union helps our family have a happy life," says Max Mendleson, 5, whose father is a former senior communications specialist with California State Employees Association/SEIU Local 1000.
Recent data collected by the University of Minnesota’s Labor Education Service suggests children who are aware of their parents’ activism are far more likely to feel positive about unions. "They benefit from the knowledge they pick up concerning what a union means," says Howard Kling, labor educator and director of telecommunications at the education service.
According to Maurice "Skip" Turner, program associate and conference coordinator with the University of Michigan’s Labor Studies Center, the best way to talk to kids about unions is by relating to experiences they are having now. For example, talking to kids about the sweatshop-made Nikes their friends wear may hit home.
"Certainly notions of stability, working together and justice are concepts kids can relate to," adds Kling. "It’s important they know adults are working for the same things, just on a different level." But Kling cautions against lecturing. "I think kids react to too much preachiness."
Here are some ways to interest children in union values.
• Ask them what their job is. (Typical answers include going to school and doing what their teacher tells them to do.) Ask "If you do good work, you’re supposed to get good grades. But if you did ‘A’ work and got all ‘F’s, would that be fair? What could you do about it?" Tell them that working adults form unions because unions work to make sure their members, and all workers, are treated fairly.
• Tell your kids that many years ago, many Americans didn’t go to school when they were children because they had to work. In some countries, children still have to work. Ask your children what working instead of going to school would mean to their lives today and to their futures. Tell them our unions helped change the law to prohibit child labor.
• Remind them that when they get sick, you take them to the doctor. Explain how your union negotiates for such benefits as health insurance, and that some kids whose parents don’t have a union can’t get the health care they need.
By exposing children to union ideas and activities, you can help shape the attitudes and behavior that get carried into adulthood and influence what kind of adults your children become in the future.
Reprinted with permission from the AFL-CIO.
It was a beautiful thing to see labor activists, farmers, environmentalists, students, religious and community activists, anti-sweatshop and child labor coalitions and human rights activists all coming together in a common struggle. For years workers and communities have suffered from corporations’ ability to move money around the world with the click of a mouse, to downsize operations, to monopolize elected officials and to destroy the infrastructure of communities. Anger and frustration had come to a boiling point! The time was right and once again Seattle’s progressive past came forth when some police crossed the line with peaceful protesters. Led by labor, peaceful protesters demanded the right to rally and march against the WTO, to fight for and support those that had been arrested and to denounce the tactics deployed by police.
Incredible actions by thousands of peaceful protesters throughout the week were undermined by the media’s desire to focus on police and vandals rather than the human and environmental problems of WTO policies. But as members of the media were getting it wrong, protesters were getting it right by pulling together in solidarity in a way that this country has not seen in decades. One who has been struggling for human and democratic rights for many decades said this was ‘world-wide class consciousness of a breadth he had never seen.’ The WTO, an organization that has always met in secret, is now recognized by many as an enemy that places profits before people and the planet.
Consider the group of people sitting in the street forming the word "democracy," the solidarity of all those arrested, and the beauty of protesters chanting "the whole world is watching and they agree with us!" These actions showed the world the meaning of democracy! — Irene Hull, GCIU Local 767M