3/4/10

    This is the Federation Hotline for Thursday and Friday.


MORE REPORTS OF SPONTANEOUS WILDCAT JOB ACTIONS

    We’re getting more reports of members staging more impromptu job actions as they get more and more fed up with the latest legislative budget attacks on programs for the abused, elderly, vulnerable, disabled and public safety. There appears to be a snowball effect.

    As we get more details here in Olympia we will pass them along to you. They appear to be spontaneous but lively and not like the tightly coordinated rolling actions during the union’s 2001 statewide strike.

    But this new development we’re seeing for the first time this week only underscores the growing frustration of state employees. They perceive the Legislature as targeting state services already cut to the bone and asking state employees who’ve already sacrificed so much to sacrifice even more while billions in tax loopholes remain on the books.

    What we know from the past two days:

Today, we have reports that members walked out during the noon hour at the King County Telecenter (Employment Security Department) and later in the afternoon at Rainier School in Buckley, where employees are furious about the state Senate’s latest sneak attack on Rainier School and the other residential habilitation centers (RHCs). See call to action below.


Members picket Thursday outside the King County Telecenter in Seattle.


Members at Rainier School in Buckley act against the RHC sneak attack bill.


Banner at Thursday's UW walkout.

Members of University of Washington Local 1488 also walked out in support of students during today’s nationwide student strike. Members joined students and other workers to pack the Quad on the UW campus in Seattle—spied on by management, if you can believe it. One large two-story tall banner was unfurled from one of the UW’s historic buildings.

We understand similar solidarity walkouts by Federation members may have taken place at Seattle Community College and elsewhere, and as we get confirmed reports, we will pass them along to you.

Yesterday (Wednesday, March 3), 40 members of Seattle L&I Local 976 marched through the SoDo District of Seattle to protest the Legislature’s plan to triple state employee health costs. Seattle Police looked on.


Impromptu peaceful picketing Wednesday in Tacoma.

Also, employees at the Centennial Building in Tacoma walked out at noon Wednesday and set up several impromptu picket lines along busy 19th Avenue and in front of the Tacoma News Tribune. According to reports, motorists honked in support as they drove by the peaceful picketers. The only apparent opposition came from an employee of the Tacoma News Tribune who asked the picketers not to exercise their First Amendment rights on the public sidewalk outside the newspaper that is dedicated to the First Amendment rights of its community.

    We also understand that employees picketed at Western State Hospital, which has been hit by downsizing and faces loss of the successful Program for Adaptive Living Skills (PALS). These peaceful picketers walked out and marched off campus to wave signs and chant along busy Steilacoom Boulevard in Lakewood.


Western State Hospital members march off campus as frustration over legislative budget attacks builds.



At Fircrest School Local 341's "Hotdogs and Hotline" job action March 2.

    No disruption of services to the public or clients took place during any of these spontaneous job actions.


STOP THE RHC WIPEOUT BILL!

    The Senate Ways and Means Committee resurrected a dead bill from 2009 that would wipe out all RHCs and passed it out of committee March 3.

    Senate Bill 6182 now goes to the Senate Rules Committee, which schedules bills for votes of the full Senate. We need calls to the Rules Committee to keep SB 6182 off the Senate floor.

    SB 6182 is bad. It would wipe out the statutory authority for all RHCs: Rainier School, Frances Haddon Morgan Center, Yakima Valley School, Fircrest School and Lakeland Village.

    SB 6182 would allow the governor to immediately shut down any or all RHCs.

CALL TO ACTION:

1. Call 1-800-562-6000 and urge your senator to oppose SB 6182. RHCs are quality campuses that care for some of our state’s most profoundly disabled citizens when there are no resources for the kind of community care they need.

2. Contact members of the Senate Rules Committee, especially if the senator from your district is on the committee. Especially call if your senator is on the list of committee members below. If you’re able to call or e-mail them directly from your own phone and computer and on your own time, please do so.


SENATE RULES COMMITTEE

Chair: Lt. Gov. Brad Owen
(360) 786-7700
ltgov@leg.wa.gov

Franklin, Rosa
Dist. 29
(360) 786-7656
franklin.rosa@leg.wa.gov

Hewitt, Mike
Dist. 16
(360) 786-7630
hewitt.mike@leg.wa.gov

Brown, Lisa
Dist. 3
(360) 786-7604
brown.lisa@leg.wa.gov

Eide, Tracey
Dist. 30
(360) 786-7658
eide.tracey@leg.wa.gov

Fraser, Karen   
Dist. 22
(360) 786-7642
fraser.karen@leg.wa.gov

King, Curtis
Dist. 14
(360) 786-7626
king.curtis@leg.wa.gov

Kohl-Welles, Jeanne
Dist. 36
(360) 786-7670
kohl-welles@leg.wa.gov

Marr, Chris
Dist. 6
(360) 786-7610
marr.chris@leg.wa.gov

Murray, Ed
Dist. 43
(360) 786-7628
murray.ed@leg.wa.gov

Parlette, Linda Evans
Dist. 12
(360) 786-7622
parlette.linda@leg.wa.gov

Pridemore, Craig
Dist. 49
(360) 786-7696
pridemore.craig@leg.wa.gov

Regala, Debbie
Dist. 27
(360) 786-7652   
regala.debbie@leg.wa.gov

Schoesler, Mark
Dist. 9
(360) 786-7620
schoesler.mark@leg.wa.gov

Stevens, Val
Dist. 39
(360) 786-7676
stevens.val@leg.wa.gov

Zarelli, Joseph
Dist. 18
(360) 786-7634
zarelli.joseph@leg.wa.gov


LAW ENFORCEMENT LOBBY DAY FRIDAY

    Tomorrow, Friday, March 5, is Law Enforcement/Criminal Justice Day at the Capitol. For the first time, Federation law enforcement and public safety members have been asked to participate.

    The event will give the Federation a huge opportunity to educate the Legislature and other members of law enforcement about the issues that these members face and the adverse effect of budget cuts.

    Law enforcement and public safety members who have not registered can show up at the Federation headquarters in Olympia at 9 a.m. for a briefing.


CRITICAL DAYS AHEAD—KEEP THE PRESSURE ON

CRITICAL CALL TO ACTION ON HEALTH CARE

STOP HEALTH CUTS! Call 1-800-562-6000. Tell legislators to fund state worker health care at a fiscally responsible level in the supplemental budget (SSB 6444/HB 2824). They will know what you mean. They want to triple your health care costs—that is unacceptable on top of the $1 billion you’ve already sacrificed and the average hike of $1,100 a year in health care costs imposed on you this past Jan. 1.


KEEP THE MOMENTUM GOING WITH CALLS ON THE KEY ISSUES:

Call 1-800-562-6000. Tell your legislators:

• STOP HEALTH CUTS! Tell legislators to fund state worker health care at a fiscally responsible level in the supplemental budget (SSB 6444/HB 2824).

• CLOSE TAX LOOPHOLES! SUPPORT HB 3176 to close tax loopholes. It will recoup hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue.

• OPPOSE FURLOUGHS! OPPOSE SSB 6503, the state employee furlough bill. Its unintended consequences will cost more, not less. Several proposed but unadopted floor amendments also await action in the House. Furloughs are in the budget bills, too.

• OPPOSE INSTITUTIONS CLOSURES!

• PASS INTERPRETERS’ COLLECTIVE BARGAINING BILL, E2SSB 6726. Give state Medicaid interpreters a voice on economics and workplace issues and a seat at the table on a reform-oriented work group. It needs to pass out of the House.


UPCOMING RALLIES

    “Stop the Madness/Closures Rally,” this Saturday, March 6, 1-4 p.m., Denny’s Foods, N. Lefevre St. and Hwy. 902, Medical Lake. Hotdogs and soft drinks will be provided. Come show your support to those who provide quality services to the citizens of Washington. Increase revenues, not decreased services.


SHARED LEAVE REQUEST:

    Finally, a shared leave request:

IN NEED OF SHARED LEAVE: Elizabeth Bullock, a support enforcement technician with DSHS in Olympia, is in need of shared leave to deal with an ongoing medical issue. If you can assist Elizabeth with a donation of eligible unused annual leave or sick leave or all or part of your personal holiday, contact Athena Thomas at (360) 725-4585 or thomaad@dshs.wa.gov.


    That’s it for now. Call Saturday for the next message.