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VOL. 37 NO. 8 Appeals Court victory for WFSE/AFSCME. The official newspaper of the
WASHINGTON FEDERATION OF STATE
OCTOBER 2009 Judges overturn contracting out rules. Details, page 8 EMPLOYEES/AFSCME Council 28•AFL-CIO
WASHINGTON
FALL ALERTS!
Times are tough enough. In case of Green River Valley flooding...
State, local
and federal
them worse.
for possible
winter flooding in the Green River Valley below the Howard Hanson Dam.
Some 800 WFSE/AFSCME families potentially sit in harm’s way in the fol-
lowing zip codes: 98001, 98002, 98055, 98030, 98031, 98057, 98092 and
98188. Several state offices, including three DSHS CSOs and a Division of
Vocational Rehabilitation Office, also sit in the flood zone.
On your absentee Your agency may have specific flood plans. But a good source of general
flood information is on the state Emergency Management Website at
ballot or at the polls
Nov. 3, WFSE/AFSCME http://www.emd.wa.gov/
recommends... Swine flu information
Details, page 3
Third in a series
WWU members win cash for contracted out work they should have done
Two maintenance me- received checks for $369.12 to for work we should’ve done,”
chanics at Western Washing- compensate them for the lost Harvey said.
ton University in Bellingham work. WFSE/AFSCME Council
got a nice addition to their Representative Addley Tole
wallets. It came as a settlement and Local 1381 President
It came in the wake of over the work done in the Old Brandon Taylor presented the
contracting out of some Main building on the WWU checks to Harvey and Suter-
remodeling work they should campus. man Sept. 21.
have done. The two Local 1381
members were pleasantly
Tim Harvey, a main- surprised by the victory and FROM LEFT: WFSE/AFSCME
tenance mechanic 2, and the cash settlement. Council Rep. Addley Tole, Local
Stephen Sutterman, a main- 1381 President Brandon Taylor, Tim
tenance mechanic 3, each “It’s nice to be reimbursed Harvey and Stephen Sutterman
Member outrage triggers possible changes after escape, capture of Eastern State hospital criminally insane murderer
Members in mental health have Hospital criminally insane murderer authorities. field trip danger.” Greg Davis, an
united in sharing the public’s outrage during a “field trip” to the Spokane The ward workers, members of Eastern State Hospital worker and
over the escape of an Eastern State County Fair Sept. 17. Local 782 of the Washington Federa- president of Local 782 in Medical Lake,
State Employee
WASHINGTON
When state officials and media tion of State Employees, have repeat- appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning
outlets started the typical scapegoating edly over the years opposed the ad- America” Sept. 21.
of WFSE/AFSCME members given an ministration policies and practices that And when DSHS Secretary Susan
impossible job, Eastern State Hospital allow the kinds of “field trips” like the Dreyfus issued her preliminary report
Washington State Employee (USPS 981- members struck back. one Paul took to the fair. They believe Oct. 2, she agreed that the workers on
200) s pub shed month y, except February
and Ju y, for $5.08 per year by the Wash ng-
They issued the following state- he was an extreme escape risk and the scene not once, but twice, asked
ton Federat on of State Emp oyees/AFSCME ment that was carried by media the administration should never have their management to call 911 imme-
Counc 28 • AFL-CIO, 1212 Jefferson St. S.E. around the world: allowed him on the field trip. The work- diately. And, Dreyfus said, they were
Su te 300, O ymp a, WA 98501. Affi ated w th In the Phillip Paul incident, the ers have unsuccessfully fought to stop told not to return to the hospital im-
the Amer can Federat on of State, County
and Mun c pa Emp oyees (AFSCME) and the
hospital workers on the scene at the the outings for murderers, rapists and mediately after the escape.
Wash ngton State Labor Counc , AFL-CIO. fair, as they were instructed to do, pedophiles committed to the hospital Both were “significant break-
notified their chain of command within as criminally insane. downs,” state Mental Health Director
Periodicals postage paid at Olympia, WA two to three minutes of discovering Media outlets across the country Richard Kellogg said.
and at additional offices. Circulation:
40,000.
Paul’s escape. It was the administra- carried the members’ concerns, run- The head of Eastern State Hospi-
tion in Medical Lake that waited some ning stories with headlines like this: tal, Hal Wilson, resigned in the wake
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to two hours to notify law enforcement “Wash. Union says it warned about of the controversy.
Wash ngton State Emp oyee, 1212 Jefferson
St SE Su te 300 O ymp a WA 98501-7501
Important date change! November November meetings originally sched- The Nov. 21 Policy Committees are
Carol Dotlich, Pres dent policy committee meetings moved uled for Saturday, Nov. 14, have been important because that’s when del-
moved to the following Saturday, Nov. egates to the nine respective commit-
Greg Devereux, Execut ve D rector to Nov. 21
21, at the SeaTac Airport Hilton. The tees will elect their representatives to
Editor im Welch change came to avoid a conflict with the Federation’s Statewide Executive
e-mail: tim@w se org • Internet: www w se org If you’re a Policy Committee del-
Member, ILCA the AFSCME Public Safety Congress. Board.
egate or alternate, please note that the
Page 2 WFSE/AFSCME Washington State Employee October 2009
NO ON 1033!
Tim Eyman’s latest initiative uses the same failed for- This year we’ve slashed school funding by $1.5 billion,
mula as the “TABOR” law passed in Colorado, which and as many as 3,000 teachers and education em-
led to deep cuts to public schools, roads and high- ployees are facing layoffs. The Eyman TABOR plan will
ways, children’s health care and other public services. take even more resources away from Washington’s
classrooms - and Washington’s kids.
By 2015, Tim Eyman’s Initiative 1033 would slash state
revenues by $5.9 billion, according to the Office of Despite a growing senior population, funding for nurs-
Financial Management. We’re already facing more ing homes, in-home care and adult day health services
layoffs, closures, consolidations and contracting are being cut - and 40,000 Washington residents of
out with a $1 billion deficit. Eyman’s initiative will all ages may lose their Basic Health Plan coverage.
only make things worse--and make it harder for us to Eyman’s TABOR plan will make our health care crisis
dig out of the recession. more severe.
Vote N ! on 1033.
honors And they feted a legislator for the kind of courage that so few
lawmakers show today. More awards on page 6.
Constitutional Amend-
ment 5 – Strengthening
process for submitting
Howard Ocobock PEOPLE Award and reviewing proposed
(for the local with the highest PEOPLE MVP membership): constitutional amend-
Rainier School Local 491. ments and resolutions.
Other PEOPLE Awards: Constitutional Amend-
• Six locals were honored for having signed up at least 15 per- ment 6 – Allowing officer
cent of their members for PEOPLE: Local 341, Fircrest School; elections to start as early
Local 482, Veterans Home (Retsil); Local 491, Rainier School; as 7 a.m. on the Sunday
Local 793, WSH/CSTC/SCC/Oakridge; Local 1181, Kitsap of convention.
County; and Local 1291, Transportation, Pasco. Constitutional Amend-
• The PEOPLE Committee honored the WFSE/AFSCME Tacoma ment 7 – Clarifying that
The Local 491 convention delegation brought their PEOPLE awards back to
Field Office with an award for its work recruiting new PEOPLE constitutional changes
the local meeting Oct. 8 in Buckley to personally award to Kellie Klimczak, the
steward largely credited with the local’s success recruiting PEOPLE sign-ups. members. are adopted by the con-
vention.
Constitutional Amend-
ment 8 – Updating the
constitution to include the
name Human Services
Policy Committee, which
has been used for some
20 years.
Constitutional Amend-
ment 9 – Giving con-
vention delegates more
notice of appointment to
convention committees
and clarifying that the Ex-
ecutive Board shall select
the city and dates of the
biennial convention.
From left at Oct. 2 Medal of Valor Award presentation: VP Bill Copland; Tim Foley, Local 1221, chair of the Medal of Constitutional Amend-
Valor Committee; recipient Jon Brogger, Local 443; Charyn Neimeyer, whose life the recipients saved; Margaret Kem- ment 11 – Tightening up
rer, nominator who accepted the award for Sunny Hawkins; and President Carol Dotlich. timeframes for convention
minutes.
George Masten Medal of Valor Award: Constitutional Amend-
Courage Award: To Local 443’s Jon Brogger and Sonja “Sunny” Hawkins (nominator Margaret Kemrer accepted
ment 17 – Prohibits
members from the same
To recipient outside Council for Sunny). In a surprise, the award was presented to them by Charyn Niemeyer, the co-worker
local or policy committee
28 who has stood up for state whose life they saved by performing CPR. “Sunny and Jon are more than deserving in my book,”
as a member charged
employees: Niemeyer told delegates at the convention banquet Oct. 2.
with violating Article X of
State Rep. Brendan Wil-
the AFSCME Constitu-
liams of the 22nd District. tracts; voting no on the “all- the budget in Olympia. Williams praised WFSE/ tion from serving on the
Williams was honored cuts” budget; publicly criticiz- “Boy I really am honored AFSCME members as the “of- accused member’s trial
for joining the union’s lawsuit ing the budget and hikes in to receive this award,” said ten unseen” force that “keeps body.
against the governor for not state employee health cuts; Williams, who had been told this state running.”
forwarding a funding request and working to undo the dam- he was presenting an award “Public employees are the See ACTS, page 6
for WFSE/AFSCME’s con- age with a recent forum on to someone else. solution,” Williams said.
ACTS, Lucy: ‘We’re doing our best movement and grown the
PEOPLE program.
from page 5
to ease the pain of our
Next Wave, the under-35
program to energize young
Delegates rejected nine activists, came out of the
other proposed amend-
ments, including ones
members’ in tough times AFSCME Northwest Region.
Allen and Council 28 Execu-
that would have changed tive Director Greg Devereux
the union’s dues struc- Council 28 isn’t resting on ing how we use our political also will help the union con- are NW Regional VPs.
ture, governance and gu- its laurels and is on the cut- power, including on endorse- tinue to grow for the benefit “These two councils start-
bernatorial endorsements ting edge of the labor move- ments. of state employees. ed this (Next Wave) together
process. One proposed ment in recognizing trends “The key to 28’s strength “We’re not going to sit on and we should be proud of
amendment was ruled overlooked by other unions is the power of political our behinds proud of some- that,” Allen told convention
out of order. and building a stronger strength and the ability to thing we did 20 years ago,” delegates Oct. 3.
union, AFSCME Secretary- use it wisely on behalf of Lucy said. The Northwest Region is
Treasurer William Lucy told members,” Lucy told about “We’re going to keep a also home of the fastest-grow-
Resolutions adopted:
WFSE/AFSCME delegates at 700 delegates, alternates and strong union…,” he added. ing PEOPLE program in all of
the convention banquet Oct. guests. “We are the front line of AFSCME, he said.
Resolution 2 – Seeking
2. defense for decency in our He pledged his support to
a legislative change to
Lucy also applauded He said WFSE/AFSCME’s society.” Council 28 on upcoming leg-
waive the actuarial reduc-
WFSE/AFSCME for re-think- new strategies on bargaining islative and contract battles.
tion of income for state
employees forced to re- “Stand up and be the
Other awards: cal 793 (recently laid off from Unionists raffle: Joy Cage,
tire on a disability before leader that you can be and
• Next Wave Logo Design Western State Hospital). Local 491, Rainier School.
the age of 62 because fight for a better union,” Allen
Contest: Joseph Wells, Lo- • Coalition of Black Trade
of medical or physical said.
requirements.
Howard Jorgenson Organizing Award:
Resolution 4 – Work- Julianne Moore, Local 1326, for mobilizing her members to fight
ing to stop the closure the closure of Yakima Valley School.
of Pine Lodge and other “We’re not out of the woods yet, it may be targeted again,”
state institutions. said former WFSE/AFSCME President Howard Jorgenson in
presenting the award. “But our recipient has set the standard for
Resolutions how to fight off these ill-advised, mean and nasty attacks on our
members.”
referred:
“We’re all in this together,” Moore said in accepting the
award.
Delegates voted to
refer two resolutions.
Rosella Charvet Leadership Award:
Resolution No. 1 Rick Hertzog, Local 793, for leadership bringing the union
on safeguarding debate directly to the worksites of Western State Hospital, Child Study
on measures before the and Treatment Center, Oakridge Group Home and Special Com-
AFSCME Convention mitment Center.
was referred to AFSCME In accepting his
Regional Vice Presidents award from 2007
Greg Devereux and Ken winner Kandy
Kraig (Local
Allen and the 2010 AF-
SCME Convention. 1221), Hertzog Job Action of the Year Award:
honored WFSE/ Local 793 for its many job actions against cuts to Western State
Resolution No. 3 re- AFSCME’s late Hospital and other institutions in its local.
garding stronger contract Vice President “Their job actions spotlight nonsensical management initia-
language on assignment Howard Ocob- tives that if left unchallenged threaten the quality of care,” said
pay and special pay ock. VP Bill Copland, Local 1253, in presenting the award to the Lo-
provisions, was referred “I just try to cal 793 delegation Oct. 4.
to WFSE/AFSCME’s live up to what Other awards:
bargaining teams. Howard would do • Most LaborWeb local web-
on a daily basis,” site sign-ups: Rainier School
Hertzog said. Local 491.