WSLC glad Legislature is out

OLYMPIA,WA -- It's over. And the reviews are already coming in: Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "Politics won, substance didn't." Seattle Times: "What a frustrating, unproductive outing."

The Washington State Labor Council's (WSLC) preliminary review is that the Republican-controlled Legislature made its priorities quite clear in 1998.

"Even though their budget was $65 million under the spending limit, GOP leaders couldn't find new money for farm worker housing. They couldn't find money for health care for children. They couldn't find money to reduce class size in our public schools. They couldn't find money for a stable funding source to respond to our transportation crisis," the WSLC said.

But they did find $35 million laying around for business tax breaks. This year's recipients include coin-operated laundries, thoroughbred horses, alfalfa distributors, pharmaceutical warehouses and electricity generating facilities.

And while they were at it they considered a remarkable number of anti-worker bills for a short 60-day session. Here's a summary:

Bills that passed and the WSLC would like to see Governor Gary Locke veto include: SB 6168, the farm worker housing bill -- The GOP leaders spent two months hemming and hawing over a relatively tiny $2 million annual appropriation for the much needed community-based farmworker housing. In the end, the best they could muster was a one-time $2 million appropriation, half of which comes out of existing Housing Trust funds and therefore comes at the expense of other poor families who need housing.

SB 6168 gives the growers what they want (a relaxed building standard code for on-farm housing) and not what farmworker advocates want (a foothold for a more secure future with permanent, community-based housing.)

SB 6306 creating the School Employees Retirement System. It is opposed by every AFL-CIO union representing workers in the public sector. There is no reason to rush and make this law. More time is needed to determine the full impact of the bill on the entire retirement system.

SB 6699, the Worker Blacklisting Bill, granting employers immunity from lawsuit when they recklessly give false information about current or former employees to prospective employers. Unless you could prove the employer knew the information was false your boss could defame you with lies and prevent you from getting a job and you would have no recourse.

HB 3003 would exempt computer wire and fiber-optic cable from electrical wiring standards.

The WSLC supported HB 2947, providing unemployment benefits for part-time community and technical college instructors, and HB 2976 calling for an effort to develop the infrastructure necessary to build light rail for the Regional Transit Authority.

The following anti-worker bills, all of which were opposed by the WSLC, died: SB 6203, which would have undermined the bidding process for solid waste disposal; HB 2578, would have change the composition of the State Electrical Board and was believed to be an effort to build momentum for electrical deregulation; HB 2902, would've authorized the Department of Social and Health Services to contract out to private vendors for specified Work First contracts; HB 3073, would have created a new system for determining prevailing wages, one opposed by the building and construction trades unions; and HB 3044, would have revised the way "kept-on-salary" benefits are determined for seasonal workers when they are injured on the job. This would have translated into a significant cut in benefits for injured workers.

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