Last year, lawmakers in Olympia dramatically changed Washington’s workers’ compensation system. The biggest change was the legalization of “structured settlements,” also known as compromise-and-release buyouts, whereby employers can negotiate with injured workers to pay a series of lump-sum payments to settle claims.

Although organized labor aggressively opposed this change, it has become the law. Therefore, it is in the interests of union organizations to learn how this new system will work in order to best preserve the rights and protect the interests of workers injured on the job.

The Washington State Labor Council and the Project Help program will present two free seminars in January to explain the dramatic changes and answer questions about structured settlements. The seminars will feature presentations from various perspectives will give you an overall picture of the new structured settlement options, including from:

• Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO
• Self-Insured Ombudsman’s office
• Department of Labor and Industries
• Board of Industrial Insurance
• Washington State Association for Justice
• Project Help

The seminars will be held from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.:

Friday, Jan. 20 in SPOKANE at Operating Engineers Hall, 510 S. Elm St.

Friday, Jan. 27 in OLYMPIA at the WSLC’s Davis-Williams Building, 906 Columbia St. SW

Due to limited space, registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. So the time to sign up is NOW! Please call Karen White at 206-281-8901 ext. 14 or email her at kwhite@wslc.org to register. You must indicate which of the two seminars you want to attend, and provide the names, union organizations, mailing addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers for each attendee.

The Project Help Program is a cooperative effort between the WSLC, the state’s business community, and the Department of Labor and Industries with the goal of facilitating early and successful resolution of workers’ compensation claims.

Construction labor unions met with the U.S. Navy in November to explore the benefits a PLA would offer on this project. Cost savings and highly skilled labor proved to be the winning combination to secure the agreement. Once the project gets underway, this will be the first PLA utilized by the Navy.

An aerial view of a section of the Delta Refit Pier at the Bangor Submarine Base showing two Ohio class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines tied up at the facility. (www.dodmedia.osd.mil)

“The use of a PLA is a very good fit for the Navy’s business needs on this project,” said David Myers, Executive Secretary for the Washington State Building and Construction Trades Council.  “All construction unions came together and made a commitment to meet the very strict windows available to do construction on the waterfront.  This sort of commitment to the project will ensure success and open talks for additional PLA’s in the future.”

The construction labor on this project will be provided by the Olympic Peninsula Building Trades and the Northwest Regional Council of the National Construction Alliance II (NWNCA).

“I applaud the decision to use an available, highly skilled local workforce,” said Lee Whetham, President of Olympic Peninsula Building and Construction Trades Council.  “Many Fortune 500 companies have already completed successful construction projects using this same approach.”

“This PLA is a first for the Navy, and will lead to more across the country,” said John Littel of the Northwest NCA. “It demonstrates the leadership and value the Washington state construction unions bring to the industry.”

The Washington State Labor Council played an important early role in putting all the players in the room to prove the value of PLA’s to the Navy.

“This is an historic moment for the relationship between the U.S. Navy and labor,” said Jeff Johnson, President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. “With this PLA, the Navy will get the highest quality product from our skilled building and construction trade workers and the local economy will get much needed family wage jobs.”

The Building Trades and the Northwest NCA II look forward to delivering the Navy a quality product that is both on time and safely built.

A successful conclusion to our two day summit January 4-5! Left to right: Curt Koegen IUOE 370, Ed Taylor IUOE 612, Ed Triezenberg Northwest Carpenters, Jimmy Matta Northwest Carpenters, Cass Prindle Northwest Carpenters, John Littel Northwest Carpenters, Eric Franklin Northwest Carpenters, Daren Konopaski IUOE 302, Mike D'Antuano NCA, Doug Tweedy Northwest Carpenters, Ernie Evans IUOE 612, John Palmatier Alaska Carpenters, Ken Stroup Northwest Carpenters, Russ Burns IUOE 3, Carl Goff IUOE 3, Dan Hutchins Northwest Carpenters, Bob Alvarado Northern California Carpenters.

But just a few hours earlier, opponents of the tunnel vowed to defend city taxpayers from being stuck with part of the bill.

The winning bid came from Seattle Tunnel Partners, made up of several contractors: Spanish-owned Dragados-USA, HNTB Corp., which has a Bellevue office, Tutor-Perini Corp. of Sylmar, California, Frank Coluccio Construction and Mowat Construction based in Western Washington.

The value of their winning bid was $1,018,123,002.  Read more and view video….

Meanwhile, under his leadership his local is following the advice of their International Associate General Counsel Steve Cuddy who advises Laborers locals “Don’t kid yourself…there are too many construction unions in North America….a consolidation is necessary and will happen”. In 2008 Dale Cannon took the unprecedented move of interfering with an active labor dispute between concrete pump truck companies and the Operating Engineers Union by stepping in and signing them to a Laborers agreement. So much for solidarity!

Local 242 is currently asking its members to sign bargaining cards to force their contractors to go through unnecessary elections. Members are being told that unless the elections are held and are successful, they will be non-union immediately. This is not actually true, but it sounds good and is meant to stir up jobsite hate and discontent between crafts. No doubt many LIUNA members will look back years hence and recall the moment when their relationship with their contractors began to deteriorate beyond repair. By that time Dale Cannon will be a dim memory, but his toxic legacy will still live on.

It is worth stating that the Carpenters and the Operators departed the Building Trades precisely because of these kinds of antics. Perhaps Dale should spend a little more time reading the business pages and skip the comics. He would read of legacy contractors barely hanging on, of decent hardworking craft people who are at risk of losing everything. Now is a good time to remember that our contractors are our partners and we are in a life and death struggle to survive…together.

Whatever Dale Cannon’s motivations, he owes it to his members to level with them. They are smart enough to know that we are not a threat to their livelihood or for that matter whatever labor union they want to belong to. It would indeed be ironic if by his choice of tactic he only succeeded in eroding the contractor base that he currently has and that his members take for granted. Given the responses we have heard from the contracting community that appears increasingly likely. No one needs to “raid” you Dale. You are going to drive away the contractors that you already have all by yourself.

See Video

The NWNCA believes in constructive engagement.

And that is why we will not be participating in the March 17^th Rally being organized by the Seattle Construction and Building Trades Council. It is not because we disagree with Executive Secretary Lee Newgent’s assessment of the misery and uncertainty that many Construction Union members are currently facing. It is not because we are indifferent to rates of unemployment for craft workers not seen since the great depression. It is because we have a different view of the way forward.

We do not believe that characterizing Mike McGinn the new Mayor of Seattle as “very anti-construction industry and an environmentally friendly Mayor” is constructive. Certainly the new Mayor’s green credentials are well established but that is not mutually exclusive with supporting progressive labor standards as he is known to do.

While we may disagree with Mayor McGinn on the Viaduct replacement for example, our differences are principled ones and they are sincerely held. We have more in agreement than not. Our members’ livelihood depends upon us to be participants in the dialogue and not walk off the field marbles in hand.

The future of the 520 project has stirred emotions and powerful interests to begin to align in a struggle for total victory. But in reality, with limited time and funding, we had all better find common ground and quickly. It is much too early to rule out any compromise and begin to demonize our opponents.

The upcoming Rally on March 17^th should not be a missed opportunity, but sadly that is what it appears to be. We will continue to communicate with any and all elected officials, community leaders and stakeholders about the future of our community because it is the right thing to do.