Jobs with Justice -- Fall, 2005 Updates
Over the
summer, many individuals made a much needed contribution to keep
JwJ's critical organizing continuing. If you have already sent
off your contribution, thank you!
We are still a little over $3,000 from reaching our budgeted
goal of $28,000 from individuals for the year. Please help us
reach this goal by calling (206) 441-4969 to contribute via
credit card, or mailing your contribution to PO Box 9662,
Seattle, WA 98109-0662. You can also donate tax-deductible
online through National JwJ at: https://secure.ga3.org/08/WashingtonDonate.
Three quarters of our funding comes from local individuals
like you and local democratically run organizations. We are an
almost all-volunteer organization except for two full-time staff
organizers, and have a small organizing expense budget. Even
with these modest costs, our bills are over $100,000 per year.
In the next few days, you should receive our fall newsletter
with photos and updates about our actions this year. Please help
us continue this important work by sending in your
donation.
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On October 29th, 500 activists
and leaders from throughout the Seattle-Tacoma area joined
together to support the work of WA State Jobs with Justice and
to honor some of those who lead the movement for social justice.
Thanks to strong support from both labor and community allies
(and despite significant cost increases from previous years),
the dinner resulted in almost $30,000 net income from an ad
book, a collection at the event, and a silent auction.
We continued to build our program to expose the war's impact
on worker organizing by honoring both a peace activist and
Department of Defense employees. Honoree Father Bill Bichsel is
a leader in the South Sound (Tacoma) peace and justice movement,
and is an inspirational activist in the Catholic Worker
movement.
We also honored Federal workers and their unions,
particularly the American Federation of Government Employees
(AFGE) and the Bremerton Metal Trades Council, for their fight
against efforts to use the war and "national security" as an
excuse for union-busting. WA JwJ's work on the impact of war on
workers has included faith-based peace activists joining an
informational picket by defense workers at the gates of a
military base and defense industry workers attending a major
peace rally to educate the community about the challenges that
they're facing from the National Security Personnel System
(NSPS).
The third set of honorees were the 25 union members in the
Washington State Legislature (including 20 Representatives and 5
Senators) who have formed a labor caucus to fight for the
interests of working people. The labor caucus was instrumental
in reversing business-inspired cuts to unemployment
compensation.
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Progress Report on Recent Local WorkersRights' Campaigns
After several months of difficult
negotiations, Space Needle workers represented by UNITE HERE!
Local 8 voted in favor of a new collective bargaining agreement
covering employees at the Space Needle's Sky City restaurant
with more than 90% of the vote. The agreement is a great success
for workers at the Space Needle. They had to fight hard for a
fair discipline policy, to protect their rights to freedom of
speech and Union activity, to protect immigrant worker's rights,
to keep tip-credit out of their contract (which would decrease
their hourly wages), to defeat an arbitrary drug testing policy,
and to get guarantees that their jobs will not be contracted
out.
The workers showed management and their attorney Wayne
Hansen, a self-proclaimed "Union avoidance specialist", that
they were not going to back down and that they would only accept
a contract that grants them decent wages, affordable health
benefits, a great pension plan, and dignity and respect on the
job.
By strongly sticking together and standing up for each other,
and with the help and solidarity of WA State JwJ, community,
faith & labor organizations, elected officials, and their
UNITE HERE! Local 8 Union brothers and sisters, Space Needle
workers won an immensely important struggle.
This contract includes important language around immigrants
rights, including protections in case the employer receives a
"Social Security No-Match Letter", time off for INS meetings,
and paid time off for the US citizenship ceremony.
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Bush's Department of Justice has postponed
implementing the NSPS while Congress is also taking a closer
look at this Bush plan to strip the right to organize a union
from and create a backdoor draft on 850,000 workers. The Bush
plan would also convert a still partially independent civil
service system into a patronage frenzy at the Departments of
Defense and Homeland Security.
Washington State Jobs with Justice has worked with federal
unions to integrate this struggle with the AFL-CIO's global
campaign and with the Washington State Labor Council's local
statewide actions for the December 10 International Human Rights
Day. Anti-NSPS organizing led by the American Federation of
Government employees and over 25,000 Western Washington federal
workers is fast becoming a featured campaign through out the
nation. Our goal is to convince US Rep Reichert to help lead
this organizing.
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Despite neighboring US Rep Norm
Dicks' recent critical support of Bush's poverty-wage
"race-to-the-bottom" policies, Smith is demanding real
government support for all workers impacted by the global
economy. This support would include healthcare, public higher
education, more responsible economic policies such as a stronger
framework of rules for international trade and mandatory
tracking of job trends. Current government support applies to a
very narrow population, is underfunded, and does little to
counter the causes that shift our economy to poverty-wage jobs:
industry leaders (like Boeing and Microsoft) exporting
living-wage jobs coupled with corporate profit protectionist
treaties like CAFTA and NAFTA that help grow low-wage industries
such as Wal-Mart style retail and ServiceMaster style commercial
janitorial.
Smith has taken this campaign locally into the media, penning
an advocacy article in the News Tribune. Nationally, Smith is
leading in Congress by proposing and organizing support for a
new law that would enforce the demands above, and rallying last
summer against Bush's CAFTA.
In South Sound, one of the most job exported regions in the
nation, Smith and Dicks represent Tacoma and surrounding areas
and have taken sharply divided directions on the issue of
sustaining our local economy. Dicks helped Bush pull out the
narrowest win for CAFTA from an earlier stage when the CAFTA
campaign faced bleak prospects. From the CAFTA global economy
model, we will continue to experience locally:
- Desperate workers from Central America forced to migrate
from globally glutted markets just as millions of Mexicans have
recently done due to NAFTA.
- Thousands more lost living wage jobs just as we have
experienced in our once vibrant textile, aerospace, and hi tech
local industries.
- Continued growth of "replacement" Wal-Jobs and McJobs and
accompanying unaffordable taxes to support swelling shelters,
food banks, clinics, and criminal justice costs that come from
poverty-wage companies.
This is why we must continue to
organize with leaders like Smith and hold accountable the
Wal-Marts, Boeings, Microsofts, ServiceMasters, and Norm
Dickses.
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Nearly 1000 call center workers at a
Cingular office in Bothell have organized with WashTech / CWA
37083, citing the pace and volume of call processing as one of
the key issues behind the organizing drive. Employees also
wanted the same access to the higher quality health care plan
available to other unionized Cingular workers. Cingular proudly
advertises that it is a union company and claims to respect the
collective bargaining process, meaning workers theoretically
face less hostility in their efforts to organize in the
workplace or sign cards in favor of a union. Anne Marshall, a
Cingular spokeswoman, said it's the employees' decision whether
they want to join a union.
Meanwhile, the low-wage immigrant janitors who work for
anti-union Cascadian Building Maintenance and clean Cingular
headquarters in Redmond are still facing harassment and threats
of losing their job for trying to organize with SEIU 6. Workers
cite the pace and volume of backbreaking work, as well as access
to quality affordable healthcare that union janitors enjoy, as
key issues. Cingular has not budged in helping this process move
forward. Why won't Cingular enforce the decision of the janitors
who clean Cingular Headquarters?
Cingular Headquarters is currently cleaned by Cascadian,
where janitors work under sweatshop-like conditions with no
affordable health care benefits (the Cascadian healthcare costs
$20 a month PLUS a $25 copay for each visit PLUS the deductible
is $1000 for an individual or $2000 for a family – after
the deductible is paid, workers must pay 50% of all medical
expenses and insurance covers the other 50%). The unionized
janitors in Seattle and in Bellevue have employer paid family
health care and dental, plus 26 weeks of short term disability,
plus yearly raises, plus vacation pay and 7 paid holidays. Join
SEIU 6 for caroling at Cingular Headquarters at Redmond Town
Center to continue to support low-wage janitor organizing - look
for lots of purple people on Tuesday, December 6th at 4 pm on
Bear Creek Parkway. We need to keep pressuring our "union"
wireless phone company, Cingular, to hold Cascadian to the same
standards of respect for their workers.
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Other News and Upcoming
Events
Please welcome Alex Bacon & Danielle
Friedman as JwJ staff for (at least) the next 3 months. Alex,
our former volunteer Volunteer Coordinator, will be working
half-time administrative work. He will be in the office Monday
through Friday from 9 am to 1 pm. Danielle came to us originally
as an intern from the UW School of Social Work. She will be
working full time for the next few months on a joint campaign
with Wake-Up Wal-Mart to fight against the anti-worker corporate
giant . . . stay tuned for calls to action. Although we
currently only have funding for the next 3 months, we're hopeful
to figure out how to keep these two great staff on board.
Please also welcome Lambert Rochfort who will be
interning with us through June 2006 from the UW School of Social
Work Master program. He will be with us 2 days a week starting
in January. We're so excited to have him working with us!
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www.unionvoice.org/campaign/d10 for
more details on how you can get involved. We hope to see you
there!
- 12/6 - Song rehearsal (prep for King & Pierce County
actions) from 6-8 pm at WA State Labor Council office (314 1st
Ave W, Seattle)
- 12/9 - WHATCOM COUNTY: Meal, music and speakers from 6-8 pm
at the Garden Street Family Center (1231 N Garden Street)
- 12/10 - KING COUNTY: Singing and leafleting at 5 locations
around Rep. Reichert's district - meet in Bellevue or Auburn at
11:30 am for staging
- 12/10 - PIERCE COUNTY: Free food and holiday party at noon
at the Best Western followed by leafleting at the South Hill
Mall in Puyallup
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Join JwJ as we celebrate the holidays
with our annual fundraiser -
- 12/7 - PIERCE COUNTY: Join us from 5:30-7 pm (before the
Labor Council meeting) to take a lucky wack at the Scrooge
Piņata and win prizes. Each body part symbolizes a local
scroogy deed. We'll also have a screening of Stuart Acuff's
speech on the Right to Organize, a Holiday Sing-Along, and a
no-host bar. Celebrate with us at the IBEW Hall (3049 S 36th
St). Please bring a potluck dessert. Call 253-459-5107 for more
info.
- 12/15 - WHATCOM COUNTY: Vote for one of 3 "Scrooge of the
Year" finalists by buying a ticket - the more tickets you buy,
the more votes you get! This year's nasty nominees are:
Mega-Mall Mayor Landcastle of Ferndale, the Public-Plundering
Port Commissioners of Bellingham, and the (former) Ferndale
Cowardly Council. There will be refreshments and snacks, the
"Scrooge" movie, and fun and games for kids. Join us before the
Labor Council meeting at 5:30 pm at Union Center (1700 N State
St). To purchase tickets, call 360-647-1752.
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Rachel
Taber, UW undergrad student and JwJ Executive Board member, won
this year's Martin & Anne Jugum Award for Labor Studies,
which covers tuition for a full year. She won in a competitive
process with a number of other undergrads, but stood out because
of her incredible involvement in fighting for worker justice on
campus. She is a founding member of the Student Labor Action
Project (SLAP) at the UW and decided to take more leadership in
SLAP by serving on the JwJ EBd. Congratulations, Rachel!
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