For-profit insurers want to take over our state's workers' comp system

The following column by the staff of WSLC Reports Today appears in the latest edition of Real Change.

About 100 years ago in Washington State, we gave up the right to sue our employers when we get injured at work. In exchange, we got a public nonprofit insurance system that pays our medical costs and partially replaces the wages of those who miss work due to on-the-job injuries.

Our employers gladly accepted this trade-off. Facing potentially bankrupting lawsuits whenever an employee was injured, businesses jumped at the chance to pay for this insurance, as long as they got some legal immunity.
The system is called workers’ compensation. And by most accounts, it’s worked pretty well for a century.
But now, the insurance companies want a piece of the action.

It’s crunch time for putting America back to work. Members of Congress have been talking a lot about jobs. Now is their chance to put that rhetoric into action with The Promoting American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act (H.R. 4213), which the U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote upon this week -- perhaps as soon as today.

Call 1-877-442-6801
 
Please call 877-442-6801 NOW and urge your U.S. Representative to vote for H.R. 4213 to create and save jobs and make Wall Street pay. Tell your representative that a vote against H.R. 4213 is a vote against jobs.

TAKE ACTION: Please call your U.S. Representative and Senators TODAY and urge them to support H.R. 4213. This is particularly important for those of you who live in the congressional districts of U.S. Reps. Brian Baird and Adam Smith, neither of whom have indicated yet whether they plan to support H.R. 4213, but ALL union members in Washington are urged to make the calls because U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell also hasn't indicated which way she plans to vote.

The Promoting American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act (H.R. 4213) does four critical things:

1. Extends Unemployment Benefits and COBRA subsidies for the rest of the year
2. Provides additional Medicaid money to cash-strapped states
3. Provides funding for infrastructure improvements
4. Closes tax loopholes to Make Wall Street Pay

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says, "If you are not for this bill, you are not for jobs -- period. No more excuses."

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) issued the following statement Tuesday on reports that the Department of Defense has further delayed the awarding of the contract to replace the U.S. Air Force’s aging aerial refueling tankers:

"These endless delays come at the expense of our men and women in uniform, American workers, and our economy. I want to hear directly from the Pentagon on why we are again delaying this contract for a company that has had ample time to bid and compete. I also want to know why we continue to bend over backwards to accommodate an illegally subsidized foreign company.

"Concession after concession has been made to keep Airbus at the table. Yet we have seen no bid and no sign that they are willing to play by the rules. In fact, all we have seen are delay tactics and repeated efforts to gain U.S. market share and undercut American workers.

"Boeing’s workers have the know-how and product to build these tankers. They are ready to compete. It’s time to stop playing the waiting game and get these tankers into the hands of our men and women in uniform."

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If you want to know what life in the Third World is like, just ask Lisa Pack, an administrative assistant who works in the roads and transportation department in Jefferson County, Alabama. Pack got rudely introduced to life in post-crisis America last August, when word came down that she and 1,000 of her fellow public employees would have to take a little unpaid vacation for a while. The county, it turned out, was more than $5 billion in debt — meaning that courthouses, jails and sheriff's precincts had to be closed so that Wall Street banks could be paid.

As public services in and around Birmingham were stripped to the bone, Pack struggled to support her family on a weekly unemployment check of $260. Nearly a fourth of that went to pay for her health insurance, which the county no longer covered. She also fielded calls from laid-off co-workers who had it even tougher. "I'd be on the phone sometimes until two in the morning," she says. "I had to talk more than one person out of suicide. For some of the men supporting families, it was so hard — foreclosure, bankruptcy. I'd go to bed at night, and I'd be in tears."

Homes stood empty, businesses were boarded up, and parts of already-blighted Birmingham began to take on the feel of a ghost town. There were also a few bills that were unique to the area — like the $64 sewer bill that Pack and her family paid each month. "Yeah, it went up about 400 percent just over the past few years," she says.

Posted By Mike Hall On April 6, 2010 @ 2:48 pm In Corporate Greed, In the States | No Comments

After an explosion at a Tesoro refinery in Anacortes, Wash., killed five United Steelworkers ([1] USW) members and severely injured two other workers, the petroleum industry claimed its safety record is exemplary. Says USW President Leo W. Gerard:

It’s incredible this industry brags about its safety record just after five people were killed in a refinery explosion.

After the April 2 explosion, officials of the American Petroleum Institute told reporters that the industry was not getting enough credit for its health and safety record, citing drops in injury and illnesses rates during the past several years.

Also, says the USW, National Petrochemical & Refiners Association officials bragged that the industry has a lower injury rate than the U.S. manufacturing sector as a whole.  Says Gerard:

The problem is the injury and illness rates the trade associations cite are misleading and do not give the full picture of health and safety within the refining sector. The recordable injury rates that [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] OSHA collects measure items like slips, falls, sprains and fractures, not poor safety practices that lead to incidents like explosions and fires. There’s a difference between a sprained ankle and an explosion that kills five people.

The USW members killed were Matthew C. Bowen, 31; Darrin J. Hoines, 43; Daniel J. Aldridge, 50;  Kathryn Powell, 29, and Donna Van Dreumel, 36. Two others are still hospitalized with severe burns. They are USW member Matt Gumbel, 34 and Lew Janz, 41, a supervisor and longtime USW member.

WASHINGTON – Today, as part of its ongoing commitment to continuously improve housing relief efforts, the Administration announced adjustments to the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and to the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) programs. These program adjustments will better assist responsible homeowners who have been affected by the economic crisis through no fault of their own. The program modifications will expand flexibility for mortgage servicers and originators to assist more unemployed homeowners and to help more people who owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth because their local markets saw large declines in home values. These changes will help the Administration meet its goal of stabilizing housing markets by offering a second chance to up to 3 to 4 million struggling homeowners through the end of 2012. Costs will be shared between the private sector and the Federal Government; the Federal cost of these changes will be funded through the $50 billion allocation for housing programs under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

Click here to read the full press release.

Fellow Anglers and Sportsmen/Sportswomen,

 The Union Sportsmen’s Alliance is holding the 1st  Annual Turkey Hunting contests.  We invite you to share this with your union friends and family, as we challenge all members across North America to Harvest, photograph, and enter your wild turkey in this years’ competition.  Please click on the link below for all details. If you are unable to click the link, you can find out all the information, by going to our website www.unionsportsmen.org 

Tim’s Turkey Hunting Contests

http://www.unionsportsmen.org/index.php/promotions/turkeycontest2010

The North Central Washington Central Labor Council will hold a rally on
 April 6 at 6:00 p.m. in support of FAMILY WAGE JOBS at Centennial Park on Wenatchee Avenue. 
 
The current recession has been devastating for a large and growing number of families in the region.  Thousands have lost their jobs and homes or had their business go bankrupt.  If this was not tragic enough, many local employers have decided that the current economic environment has provided them with the opportunity to attack the wages and benefits of workers who are the heart and soul of our community.
 
The time for action is NOW!  Whether you belong to a union or not, please join us on April 6th.  Let the political and economic powers in the region know that everyone who works day in and day out are struggling to raise their families and pay for even the most basic services such as shelter and health care.  People deserve to be paid a living wage with benefits.  It is imperative that we send a message to local city and county government that now is the time to move forward on economic development that will create sustainable family wage jobs that will benefit everyone in North Central Washington.
 
There will be guest speakers, food, soda and water.

From Associated Press and staff reports
March 25, 2010

Giving a boost to Eastern Washington, state lawmakers last week passed a temporary sales-tax break for companies that build and operate server farms in rural areas.

The sales and use tax exemption, which would take effect in April and last until 2018, applies to server equipment, software and electric infrastructure at eligible computer data centers in rural areas.

The measure was approved on a 91-2 vote in the state House and heads to Gov. Chris Gregoire for final adoption.

Supporters said the tax exemption will help Washington compete for construction of server farms, the massive, computer-filled buildings that tech companies use to handle data storage and Internet traffic for e-mail, instant messaging and other products.

“The Port of Quincy is very excited about the passage of (the bill), as it will help attract more development and expansion of high-tech industries, such as data centers, in rural areas of Washington such as Quincy,” said Curt Morris, the Port of Quincy’s commission president.

“As a result, the Port of Quincy greatly appreciates the legislature’s passage of (the bill), which will create new economic development and jobs and greatly increase our rural property tax base.”

A handful of data centers already are operating in Eastern Washington, which boasts cheap hydroelectric power and ample real estate. But in 2007, the state ruled that data centers were not covered by a sales tax break meant for manufacturers.