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| Vol. 12 No. 2 | View the Table of Contents | Summer 1997 |
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| Vol. 12 No. 2 | View the Table of Contents | Summer 1997 |
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We've come a long way since 1982 |
 April 1, 1997 marked my 15th anniversary of working on Council 2 staff. Other
than the obvious personal changes - less hair, more weight - we've experienced many
changes here at what once was a much smaller Union.In 1982 , I was assigned to be the Staff Representative for a number of Local Unions stretching from Snohomish County to the City of Bellingham. My office, which essentially opened in Bellingham on my arrival, consisted of a rather small, really depressing space in the Labor Temple on State Street. My first request was to put in a second telephone line so members could get through if I was on the telephone. An initial move toward efficiency. The membership at the time was roughly 6,500 and the number of staff was a third of the number today. No Staff Attorney, rarely a Council 2 newspaper (which became one of my duties) and long, long drives periodically to assist other staff across the state. Proposals were cut and paste Contract proposals were cut and paste. Computers with a wordprocessing capability were just arriving at the local governments. Secretaries were something that really didn't exist in Bellingham-or should I say in the Union office. Any typing I needed was done by a member or on a rare occasion a secretarial service. Copies were provided through the clandestine use of the City of Bellingham Library's copy machine. My briefcase was filled with my area's contracts and even though I haven't driven I-5 from Everett to Bellingham on a regular basis in the last seven years, I still can run through my mind that 60 miles of freeway. Through the past 15 years, the membership in Snohomish County has gone from 350 to better than 1,300 and statewide we're now approaching 14,000. The staff has grown while the membership has doubled. More offices, shorter drives, telephones not only with multiple lines, but with voice mail. The unorganized seek us out The moves forward cannot be underestimated. In a period of time when most labor unions have declined, we have grown and become better. We emphasize the basics; negotiating good contracts and enforcing those agreements during their term. For these reasons, the unorganized seek us out to represent them! This past Council 2 convention really typifies the excellent organization the members, leadership and staff have built and are continuing to build. It is solution-oriented striving to help all involved. We can still do better and will continue to strive to do so. But, even with the periodic setbacks this Union has become one with a proven track record of successes. On April Fool's Day in 1982 no pranks or practical jokes were played on me, just the good fortune of being offered a job that has become half a career and being part of a successful Union. |
| Table of Contents | |
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Please note that the Table of
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| News In Brief | |
| Golfing greats emerge from union
ranks Several union leaders could be heard mumbling, "I am Tiger Woods," after they won a special golf tournament held during the June convention. The winning team consisted of Staff Representatives Rob Sprague and Clem Edwards, President/Excutive Director Chris Dugovich, and Council 75 Executive Director Ken Allen. Winner of the contest for the longest drive: Doyle McGinley. About 30 people took part in the golf tournament, held at the municipal Downriver Golf
Course in Spokane.
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42 vote to join Council 2 Forty-two employees at the Division of Industrial Waste of King County have voted to join Council 2. The election took place April 24. The division formerly was part of Metro and was unorganized. The union has just started to organize the new local and is putting together the first
proposal for a contract. |
 CALENDAR |
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| July 9-11 | Washington State Labor Council Regular Convention, Wenatchee |
| Aug. 22 | Steward Training: Tacoma Library-Basics |
| Sept. 4 | Steward Training: Lewis County-Beyond |
| Sept. 11 | Steward Training: Grays Harbor County-Beyond |
| Sept. 12-13 | Sept. wsccce President's Conference Wenatchee Convention Center, Wenatchee |
| Sept. 16 | Primary Election Day Remember to vote! |
| Sept. 16 | Steward Training: Cowlitz County-Beyond |
| Sept. 17 | Steward Training: Pacific County-Basics |
| Sept. 23 | Steward Training: Olympia - Beyond |
| Sept. 29 | Steward Training: Yakima - Beyond |
| Sept. 30 | Steward Training: Hood River - Beyond |
| Oct. 2 | Steward Training: Mason County - Basics |
| Oct. 15 | Steward Training: San Juan - Basics |
| Oct.17-18 | wsccce Executive Board Meeting, Seattle Hilton, Seattle |
| Oct. 23 | Steward Training: Vancouver - Basics |
| Nov. 4 | Election Day Remember to Vote! |
| Dec. 31 | afscme Scholarship Deadline |
| Historic law was turning point |
| Of all the legal and reference books on the shelves at Council 2 headquarters, one is
more dog-eared and marked up than any of the others. By far. It's Volume 4 of the local government regulations. And it contains RCW 41.56 -the Local Government Collective Bargaining Act. The legislation is the road map for almost all of the negotiations conducted by Council 2 on behalf of its members. It lays the groundwork for Council 2's day-to-day activities and sets forth the rules under which the union and its members work. Without it, say union leaders, "we would be collectively begging." This year marks the 30th anniversary of the passing of the Act. "Unarguably this Act has benefited the wages, hours and working conditions of all government employees," says Pat Thompson, Director of Legislation/Political Action for Council 2. "Many of the things we take for granted, like the ability to negotiate with our employers for a whole host of items would not be possible without this Act. "We must never forget that without political action none of this would have been possible. We must always remember those who came before us and who fought the fight for dignity and public employees. The Act brought public servants up to the level of public employees. It marked the death of political patronage. "We owe a great deal of gratitude to those individuals who were instrumental in getting it passed in the legislature." One who was instrumental in the passing of the legislation was Sam Kinville, president of Council 2 at the time. In the 1930s, the Federal Congress passed the National Labor Relations Act, Kinville explains. But that law exempted agricultural workers and public employees. "It was up to the states, if they wanted to do so, to enact their own Act," Kinville says. "Our union was a strong advocate for such a law. Indeed, that was the union's Number One objective." Kinville, who was Olympia lobbyist for Council 2 as well as president at the time, spent many, many hours talking to legislators and administration officials. After much hard lobbying, in 1965 the Collective Bargaining Act for local public employees was drawn up and was passed by the legislature. But then Governor Dan Evans vetoed the law, Kinville explains. But, over the next couple of years, Kinville and other labor leaders continued to work on the concept and, with the technical assistance of the then director of Labor and Industries in the Evans' administration, Harold Petrie, resubmitted the legislation. This legislation was subsequently passed and signed by Evans. "It is probably the most important legislation passed in this state concerning the rights of local government employees," Kinville says. "Our union led the fight for the collective bargaining rights for local government employees. Before that, we had a system of collective begging. We would go to a School Board meeting or a County Commissioner and ask for certain things. If they wanted to do so, they gave it to us; if they didn't want to do so, they didn't." The Act gives workers the guaranteed right by law to form an organization of their own choice and then to meet and negotiate with their employers to discuss hours, wages and conditions of employment. Once agreement is reached, it is reduced to writing and recorded. "It ensures workers have a voice in their employment situation," Kinville says. The law covers 27,000 county employees, 37,000 city employees and 42,000 classified school employees-people who work in the schools but are not teachers. It covers 275 cities and 296 school districts in Washington's 39 counties. Originally the law was administered by the Department of Labor and Industries, but
since 1975 it has been administered by the Public Employees Relations Commission. Kinville
serves on the commission. The executive director is Marv Schurke. |
| Council 2 convention reflects a New enthusiasm for unions |
 A new spirit of enthusiasm and confidence
is sweeping the union movement. That was clear at Council 2's 43rd convention held in
Spokane in early June.The new vitality was apparent in several ways. For one thing, the numbers themselves told of the resurgence. The 275 delegates and 42 guests made the gathering the largest convention in the union's history. "The presence of all of you here today proves that union membership is far from dead," Council 2 Secretary-Treasurer Judy Johnson said. Also, Council 2 has almost doubled in size since 1989, Johnson added. The number of members has risen from 7,000 to today's almost 14,000. "We see a lot more diversity in our union today," Johnson said. "When we work together, there is nothing stopping us. We have the power. And when we have the power, we have control." Referring to the doubling of Council 2's membership, afscme President Gerald McEntee said, "It takes a lot of time and effort, but you have shown you can do it. You should feel good." But it was not just the numbers that pointed to strength. From the excited response given to guest speakers to the intense interest in the workshops and resolutions, the convention delegates showed that those who try to ignore unions are underestimating their capacity and vigor. Even the social gatherings during the conventions were filled with brisk debate about the issues facing public sector workers. Two national speakers underlined the message that workers not just in Washington state, but across the nation are increasingly rallying to the union side. "There is more action in the labor movement than at any time I can remember," McEntee told the convention.
"Every single regional conference for organizing we have done in this country has doubled the kind of numbers that we were expecting. "But the most exciting was that out of 1,200 who attended in New York, half never had attended or usually never attended these kind of programs." The afl-cio also is reaching out to minorities and to the next generation of workers, Chavez-Thompson said. McEntee said the power of the American labor movement was shown in the way it changed the political debate in 1996. "They started out talking about reducing government and ended up debating Medicare and welfare," McEntee said. "And the American labor movement made them pass minimum wage legislation." At the start of 1994, the conservative forces were on a roll. Then the grass-roots movement became involved and Bill Clinton became the first Democrat to win a second term since Franklin Roosevelt. "Did you make a difference? Did this new labor movement make a difference? Of course. Twenty-five percent of the vote in 1996 was caused by union members and union action," McEntee said. "We worked hard. You worked hard." There was talk of changing the way the Consumer Price Index is calculated, McEntee said. The change would have meant that the cpi would on average be 1.1 percent less. That, in turn, would mean that workers whose wage agreements are based on the cpi would receive lower increases. "We fought them on it. They dropped it. It is over with," McEntee said. The speakers emphasized that the resurgence in labor action is just the start. "For public workers, it is never over," McEntee said. |
| Why political Action often is essential |
Political action often is an essential part of union activities.That was the message from speakers at the Council 2 convention in Spokane.
"I wish we didn't have to be involved in politics," afscme president Gerald McEntee told the delegates. "I wish that when we made a request that was right and decent we would get it. "It doesn't happen that way. "Unfortunately we have to be in politics for our members and for our people."
"We need to remind our public officers why they are there," said Linda Chavez-Thompson, executive vice president of the afl-cio. "It is no longer just those public officials in Washington D.C. It has to be union members, picking up the telephone, calling and calling our state legislators and telling them what you think is important in your district. "They can be Democrats, Republicans. I don't care because if we don't hold our elected officials accountable every day for every vote, we know what happens." Since 1994, Council 2 has faced a pretty hostile conservative legislature in Olympia, Chris Dugovich, president and executive director of Council 2, said. "They were going to do all kinds of things. But those things didn't happen most of
all because you carried the ball and made sure they didn't happen."
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| What we resolved to do |
| Here are some of the resolutions that were approved at Council 2's June convention. BE IT RESOLVED THAT: Members of the Executive Board Resolution #1: Washington State Recall Procedure
Simplification #2: Washington State Public Employees Retirement
System #3: Referendums and Initiatives #4: Child Care/Catastrophic Illness - Injury Leave #5: Welfare Reform #6: Collective Bargaining 30th Anniversary #7: Warehouse Workers #8: Fair Labor Standards Act Council 2 urges afscme International to lobby the Secretary of Labor to refuse to grant any regulatory changes under the Fair Labor Standards Act to public employers since such concessions would seriously disadvantage police officers and other public employees; and the Senate and House should refuse to enact statutory changes that would deprive public employees of their Fair Labor Standards Act coverage and rights. #9: Social Security Cost-Of-Living Adjustments #10: Privatization of Prisons #11: Privatization / Contracting Out #13: Workplace Violence #14: Sweetser - Unfair #15: Contribution Limits #16: Support King County Library Workers #17: Corrections Organizing #18: District Court Judges Attack on Collective
Bargaining #19: Idaho Organizing #20: City of Spokane Municipal Court #22: Washington State Primary Election #23: Retirees' Risk Pool |
County is ordered to promote worker |
| Lewis County was wrong in failing to promote Danielle Heppe, a parts assistant in the
county Central Shop, to Traffic Control Specialist 1, an arbitrator has ruled. The arbitrator, George Lehleitner, ordered the county to offer the position to Heppe effective March 1 last year and to compensate her for all wages and benefits lost on account of the failure to promote her on that date. The ruling was made June 13. Lehleitner said the county violated the relevant section of the collective bargaining agreement when it failed to award the position to Heppe. Audrey Eide, Council 2's General Counsel, represented Heppe. In the arbitration hearing, Eide argued that the county had created a moving target for Heppe-one that was impossible for her to hit. Heppe applied for a job in September 1995 and was told that, even though she was not accepted, she was equally qualified to a senior candidate with a Commercial Driver's License (cdl). Three months later, she applied for the same position and was bypassed in favor of a junior applicant because he had a cdl, she said. This scenario does not make sense, Eide argued. Heppe was equal or more qualified than the other applicant in September, but three months later she was less qualified than him for the same position. She contended that Traffic Control Supervisor Roger Schang was biased against Heppe and he manipulated the selection criteria once he learned she was going to be an applicant. The county argued that having a cdl was the single most important qualification and that the county did not act unreasonably or arbitrarily when it determined Gary Stone, who was selected for the position, had superior qualifications. Lehleitner rejected this argument and ruled that the selection made by the county was arbitrary and lacking in fundamental fairness. "More specifically, fundamental fairness in a hiring situation requires the hiring authority to make it clear to the applicants what job requirements they must fulfill to be selected," Lehleitner said. "This the county did not do." He agreed with Eide that the county created a moving target for Heppe. |
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| Master contract ratified |
| A five-year struggle by two afscme Local 275 chapters in Grays Harbor County for a
master contract ended April 10, 1997. On that day a 22-year agreement was ratified. All employees will receive 3.5 percent increases retroactive to Jan. 1, 1997. A 3 percent increase will be paid to all employees for 1998 and they will receive a 2 percent increase for the first half of 1999. The union went to the table not only with a master agreement in mind, but with the intention of upgrading some 50 positions. Those goals were accomplished within the target of this year. The new contract combines the Health and Social Services Department with the Courthouse and Juvenile Department into one master agreement. With this agreement, the Health and Social Services Department moved to the Courthouse pay grid. Members of the nursing staff in the Health Department, over the years, have become some of the lowest paid in the profession. The new agreement upgrades their positions, which results in most receiving up to 6 percent (or more) increases in their salaries. The Juvenile Detention I employees received one full pay grid increase. More improvements still need to be made as this is one of the most hostile environments in which to work. But the increase is a step in the right direction and a definite improvement. The employer will contribute $150 toward dependent medical in 1997; $165 in 1998; and open medical benefits for negotiation in October, 1998-an increase over the last contract of $35 an employee. The employee longevity plan was increased to parity with other units in the county. Almost all the articles in the two contracts were revised and combined into the master agreement. The combined negotiating teams have worked very hard for the past seven months to achieve an outstanding working agreement. In the words of Staff Representative Jerry Gillming, "You know you have a good agreement when you can get a 98 percent yes vote at ratification." Most employees agreed that it was the best contract they have had in 10 years. |
| Priggee expresses his opinions |
| There's no doubt about it. Milt Priggee has an opinion. He knows where he stands on
racism, on gay rights and on judicial corruption. And he expresses those opinions in his
editorial cartoons in the Spokesman Review, Spokane's daily newspaper. Priggee expressed his opinions, too, when he spoke at the people breakfast during Council 2's 43rd convention in Spokane. He did so not only by outlining his approach to drawing editorial cartoons, but by showing delegates a number of his best efforts - including a few that were turned down by the newspaper's editors. His job is to make you upset, to stir you up so you will think about the issue, Priggee
said."I continually question society. It's a weird job, but that's what it is."
Cartoonist Milt Priggee drew this |
| Quick work lessens welfare worker threat |
| The most serious threat posed by new welfare legislation is over-thanks to quick work
by Council 2, helped by afscme. But union members still need to watch how the new measure is applied to ensure Council 2 members are protected. The threat was in the form of new legislation that stipulated that welfare recipients should work for their benefits. Council 2 officers feared the law would cause the estimated 14,000 welfare workers to displace county and city employees. The welfare workers could be offered lower wages than those received by present employees. The law also threatened to strip away all labor standard protections for welfare workers. But, thanks to afscme, Council 2 was prepared, says Pat Thompson, Council 2's Director of Legislation/Political Action. "afscme brought us up to speed on the problem and by the time the session started we were way out in front," Thompson reports. "afscme was the only union that understood the importance of the issue and we were the only union able to fix it." Anti-displacement and worker protections sought by Council 2 are included in the new law, passed on April 17. Thompson thanked these legislators for helping in a bipartisan effort to get the language into the bill:
But Thompson said the battle is not yet over. "We need to monitor our work place to ensure that welfare workers are not displacing members of bargaining unions," Thompson says. Displacement can take many forms, Thompson adds. One is reduction of overtime hours as a result of the new workers working. Another is vacancies not being filled timely. An additional way is through any of the bargaining work being performed by the welfare
workers. |
| Here's why membership has doubled |
 Membership of
Council 2 has doubled in the last eight years because the union does the basics well,
president/executive director Chris Dugovich told the 43rd annual convention.When it comes to organizing, Council 2 no doubt has the best track record in the state of Washington, Dugovich said. "But probably we also have the best track record for a good part of the United States in terms of organizing new members and making our organization grow," he added. "We do that because we want all local government members to have good wages and benefits, but also because we want those people to get involved in this organization so we can do better in grievances and bargaining all across the state," Dugovich said. Dugovich, who became director of Council 2 in 1989, said the union negotiates 130 contracts every three years. "There is no other union in the state that does that amount of collective bargaining," Dugovich said "We are experts when it comes to that issue." In addition, the union spends every day enforcing the contracts it has helped bargain and it lobbies successfully in Olympia. "The bottom line is that we do a good job covering those basics and ensuring that our members get the representation that they wish." Also, Council 2 offers training on diversity, on discrimination laws and on the Americans with Disabilities Act, Dugovich said. "We are trying to train more and more of you so you can recognize when a wrong
occurs and we can change it in the best way we can." |
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Back to the top of the page |
A similar
message came from Linda Chavez-Thompson, executive vice president of the afl-cio. She told
how 750 attended their Seattle convention when they were expecting 400. The same pattern
was repeated around the US, she said.
