The International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 286 wants to congratulate Raymond Harper on his hard fought race for Eatonville Mayor. Raymond gathered approximately 62% for the vote. He has been a Local 286 member for many years, and served as shop steward and chairman of Local 286's Boeing welders from 1998-2005. We look forward to Raymond as Mayor, and wish him much success.

Negotiating Labor Agreements in the Recession

Submitted by Terry Roberts, Local 286 Staff Counsel

As any union member would expect, given these unparalleled economic problems we are now experiencing, getting fair labor contracts is difficult.  Some of us at the Union Hall are in the midst of labor negotiations and it couldn’t be at a worse time.  With many companies struggling to survive, business in a deep down cycle, and unemployment at near record levels, the employer’s are, as one would expect, very frugal with pay and benefit raises.  But we also have some employers who are doing OK, but just using the economic situation as an excuse for not giving fair labor agreements.

Our members have been responsible in their expectations, most understand the dire economic situation and have adjusted their wage and benefit demands accordingly.  But they have also been solid and guarded against the employer who has used the climate to demand unreasonable concessions from us.  If you look around at what has been happening to unorganized labor you see nothing but “slash and burn” tactics to reduce labor costs.  Employer’s think twice before resorting to such tactics where the workforces have responsible union representation.

The other observation worth mentioning is that this climate has caused us all to revisit our seniority language and other job security issues.  Our focus right now is job protection and gaining language that protects us in that regard.  This type of language generally does not come with a economic cost, thus most responsible employer’s will work with us in developing job security language that protects our senior members or provides some benefits when layoff cannot be avoided.

Pause for a minute, and ask your self; ‘am I better off today, than I would be without our Union?’

Washington Legislative Wrap-up
Submitted by Randy Loomans, Local 302 Government Affairs Director

I believe 2009 will go down in history as a defining year for labor and politics in Washington State.

Please download the pdf file for the full report.

With regard to unemployment insurance, once the temporary stimulus portion of the Unemployment Reform bill passed, business put forth its own bill containing permanent tax breaks. Labor asked for amendments that would give workers a permanent benefit. We asked that the multiplier be returned to 4.0 from 3.85. The multiplier is part of the formula used to determine unemployment benefits. It was at the 4.0 percentage level for almost 35 years until 2005. For workers entitled to receive the maximum weekly unemployment benefit, increasing the multiplier would have raised those weekly benefits by about $18. The bill was stripped of the labor amendments by the Senate, and the House concurred. There was a lot more to this bill and the fight that went along with it. But at the end of the day we did receive the temporary raise in benefits until the end of this year. These temporary benefits will amount to $70 per week extra on unemployment checks until the end of 2009 ($45 from State stimulus and $25 from Federal stimulus dollars). Depending on the health of the economy in 2010, the Federal stimulus may be extended. One other thing that business was able to achieve in this bill was to have a Supreme Court decision overturned that previously allowed the Commissioner of Employment Security discretion to determine "good cause quits" on a case-by-case basis. 

In conclusion, I think you will find that 2009 was a good session for bills that will have a direct impact on our members. The transportation projects along with Sound Transit projects will keep Operating Engineers working for years to come.