Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Every year, the nation celebrates the contributions made by Dr. Martin Luther King. His words and actions supported the labor movement in its fight for respect and dignity for all workers. He gave his life supporting AFSCME sanitation workers carrying signs demanding union justice with the words, “I AM A MAN.” . He inspired a nation to change. In 2013, our country will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington that rallied hundreds of thousands of people to call for jobs and freedom.
The labor movement will celebrate this milestone at the 2013 AFL-CIO Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Observance. The theme is “We Are One: Worker’s Rights and Civil Rights”. You may join in the workshops, enjoy the speakers, and spend one day in community service at the conference.
The details and costs are as follows.
Date: January 17-21
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Lodging: Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown Hotel, 201 North 17th Street
Costs: Conference registration $180 before December 17, 2012
Late Registration: $200 through January 2, 2013
On-site Registration: $210
Room: $109 plus 15.2% tax per night
Parking: $15 per day
Make your conference registration and hotel reservation at www.aflcio.org/kingevent.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Thursday, October 11, 2012
President's Report, October 2012
Fall has arrived and with it the elections are just around the corner. Thank you to all who have been working the phone banks and the labor walks. Our future, as always, will be seriously impacted by the outcome. Collective bargaining rights, budget decisions that strengthen or weaken agencies, whether healthcare is affordable or not, the funding of our negotiated contracts – all hang in the balance. It is up to us now to get out the vote. Our members don’t have to walk for miles, risk their lives, stand in long lines to vote as we have seen some do in other countries – at least not yet. Please make the time to encourage our membership to vote. It is the most important goal we can achieve right now.
In Washington, we have had a record breaking dry spell. The fires have impacted much of the state. Many thanks to our members who fought those fires and our members who supported those efforts. Very few have lost homes. A special thank you to the caring members of Local 443 who donated $25,000 to the Washington State Labor Council Foundation For Working Families Natural Disaster Fund. They took immediate action as soon as they knew working families were at risk. A WFSE family in Central Washington did lose a home. Husband and wife were our members. They were very grateful for the assistance they received.
The Green Caucus held a special breakfast event on the Sunday after the last Policy Committee meeting. They invited legislators and did an amazing job of highlighting the green jobs state employees do and pointing out the impact the budget cuts have had on those programs. They were able to draw the connection between those impacts and the impact on our citizens. Those conversations need to be happening all over the state. Telling our stories is the key to success. One could literally see the lights going on as legislators thought about what was being said. It was well presented in a very comfortable and non-pressured manner. We all wish more legislators had attended but it was a great beginning effort.
We must all be talking to legislators now before the session starts. There will again be heavy pressure on budget decisions no matter who wins election. A recent Supreme Court decision in Washington State will make K-12 education funding a priority issue. As the demand for more state dollars to be funneled that direction, the impact on social services, public safety, higher education and other programs may be significant. The Governor is already talking about how difficult the decisions will be for the legislature.
Funding for our contracts hangs in the balance. Negotiations continue on our healthcare package. Our members asked us to hold the line on healthcare. We are working hard to do that. The Governor is holding fast to her position and so are we. Bargaining has been a very rough road for some teams. Supplemental bargaining happened this time but was limited to what the parties would agree to discuss. Thank you to all the team members who served on the teams.
Our Executive Director, Greg Devereux, has been in the midst of the storm over healthcare and bargaining in general. Thank you Greg and staff for all the hours of hard work that was required to bring us to this place where we have ratified contracts and a strong stance on the healthcare issue.
At DOC, assets were purchased that our members are not being allowed to use. We met with the head of the agency this past week to see if we could get those tools released. Our DOC members represented themselves very well in the meeting. Greg and I attended to signal how serious we are about our member’s safety.
At DSHS, our members who work with Provider One are keeping a close eye on management’s plans. There is a serious concern about the potential impact of changes to the program on the number and quality of jobs there. Discussions will be held this month.
Sue Henricksen and Julianne Moore are serving on the DDD Taskforce trying to protect our interests as we brace for a renewed attack on our RHCs.
Local 1488, currently in administratorship, recently held interim elections. They will hold regular elections in March 2013. We are hopeful that the administratorship will be lifted very soon. Thank you to all the staff and members who put so much energy into this effort.
Congratulations to our Ecology members in Thurston County who have just established their new local!
On November 17th, members are invited to support our KTSS folks through a job action. We have heard the stories of their struggles with the employer at the last two Policy Committee meetings. Workers there are fired for trying to join our union and work under a union contract. Please contact Pam Carl in the Organizing Department for details.
Rosemary Sterling, our Treasurer, is doing a great job of monitoring our budget. Because of the pressures we will soon face, having a healthy balance of funds is critical to our success in the coming year.
Hats off to our Secretary, Judy Kuschel who was recently recognized by the Southwest Labor Council for her contributions to the labor movement.
Our Vice President, Sue Henricksen, has been working very hard, attending UMCCs, local membership meetings, Taskforce meetings, and her efforts have been non-stop. Her energy and drive to help our members achieve their goals is deeply appreciated.
Thanks to all our member activists, staff and leaders for the good work you do everyday!
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