Labor, Management Partner to Create Jobs in Wash. State
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Here’s a bipartisan solution: Labor and management working together to create jobs.
In Washington State, where construction workers are experiencing up to 50 percent unemployment, a labor-management coalition is working to push a jobs bill through the state legislature to alleviate the jobs crisis and rebuild infrastructure.
The Washington State Labor Council, the Washington State Building and Construction Trades Council, the Association of General Contractors are sponsoring the Infrastructure Jobs Bond legislation and have released lists identifying which capital construction work around the state could be funded through the legislation.
Says Dave Myers, executive secretary of Washington State Building and Construction Trades Council:
These jobs will become a reality right away for thousands of laid off constructions workers and returning veterans. The projects will also be targeted toward key sectors of economic development including construction of aerospace training facilities and college research facilities, both of which will spin off other economic development.
Read more here.
Senate Measure Backing Korea-U.S. FTA Dies
This is a cross-post by David Groves at the Washington State Labor Council.
Legislation before the Washington State Legislature—pushed by multinational corporations and the notorious billionaire Koch brothers—urging Congress to pass the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) has died without a vote in the state Senate. Senate Joint Memorial 8006, sponsored by Sen. Val Stevens (R-Arlington), failed to survive Monday’s cutoff deadline for legislation to pass from its house of origin. Though it could be revived through extraordinary procedural means, it is effectively dead for the session.
Organized labor and other advocates for job creation in the United States are strongly opposed to the Korea FTA, another in a long string of trade agreements pushed by multinational corporations in recent decades that have proven time and again to promote the offshoring of American jobs.
Hundreds Rally in Washington State for Health Care Reform
More than 600 people rallied in Seattle this weekend as part of a statewide push for health care reform. Union members, religious leaders, community activists and elected leaders came together for the rally.
Jacqueline Hix, one of the speakers at the rally, told how she was hurt by our broken health care system:
My family and I were the status quo. We had nearly a million dollars in insurance coverage. We were middle class, we had stellar credit, we owned our own home and we were preparing to buy a farm so that we could start a new life as self-employed.
All of those dreams were destroyed in less than a second when I was broadsided by a vehicle on my way to work. I had to take a year-long leave from work—at the end of that year, I was let go from my job and my family lost its health and disability insurance. Our family went from middle class to bankrupt.
IAM, ALPA, AFA-CWA and TNG-CWA Workers Reach Tentative Contracts—and More Bargaining News
Customer service workers, flight attendants, pilots and telecom workers gain tentative contracts—and more updates here from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 900 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
WORK STOPPAGES AND JOB ACTIONS
IBEW, WTMJ-TV: Camera and media tech workers, represented by the Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 715, picketed outside of WTMJ-TV studios in Milwaukee as talk show host Conan O’Brien visited the NBC affiliate on his nationwide promotional tour. The local is in the process of negotiating a new contract.
