MONDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2008
Meanwhile, in addition to labor's election-year efforts...
Celebrations of labor's roles, pre-apprenticeship training, immigrant worker history

By JEFF JOHNSON
Special Assistant to the President
Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO

Let’s take a quick break from the economic roller coaster we’re on and the work we are doing to get the real working family “change" candidate Governor Chris Gregoire reelected, to celebrate some wonderful things about our labor movement that didn’t hit the front pages of the news.

On Thursday, October 9, more than 300 union stewards and leaders met at the Murano Hotel in Tacoma to celebrate the first-ever Pierce County “Union Summit.” The summit was the brainchild of Teresa Iverson, President of UFCW Local 367, and was carried out under the umbrella of Patty Rose, Secretary-Treasurer of the Pierce County Central Labor Council, and its affiliates.

The premise of the summit was simple: “we are the labor movement in Pierce County , we are the ones that support one another in times of need and solidarity, and we are the ones that help make Pierce County a wonderful place to live and work.”

Each local union was given two minutes to say something about their union -- who and how many members they represent, what sorts of jobs they do, and a quick reflection on their history. For many in the audience it was a big “whoa” moment understanding just how vital the labor movement is to making our economy and society work.

The Governor, fresh from her Spokane debate, was the keynote speaker. And let me tell you she has hit her rhetorical stride. While we may not agree with every position the governor takes, what cannot be denied is that she has working families’ values in her heart. And this is so important to get across to our members in light of the reports that the Building Industry Association of Washington, the extreme right-wing, homebuilders group, just dumped over another $3 million into Republican Dino Rossi’s efforts to become the Governor who deregulates our economy. Don’t be fooled. When Rossi says he wants to make Washington an ”entrepreneurial state,” he means lowering workers’ compensation and unemployment benefits, dismantling employment standards, attacking our apprenticeship standards and programs, weakening our safety and health regulations, ensuring that we don’t achieve universal health care coverage, lowering the minimum wage, and laying off thousands of state workers, which will lower both the quantity and quality services our residents need.

On Saturday, October 11, more than 200 people attended a dinner at South Seattle Community College to celebrate the “Pre-Apprenticeship Construction Training Program” created by Bob Markholt (AFT member and former UFCW member) at the Seattle Vocational Institute.

Bob and Diane Davies train, mostly low-income people of color, in the construction trade and workplace skills necessary to make these students eligible for journey-level apprenticeship programs. Over the past decade the program has graduated more than 250 students. We heard from four graduates who are now journey-level electricians, laborers, and ironworkers.

These workers told personal stories of broken families, gang violence, wasted years in prison, and then a transformation when they found a moral and civic core in the skills training at SVI and through the compassion and toughness of their beloved mentor, Bob Markholt. One of the students said, “Bob’s mantra is you always have to be on time, and being on time is being 15 minutes early.”

Van Jones, founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland , Calif., and an advocate for “Green Jobs,” was the keynote speaker. Jones, who has a national following, told us that he talks about the SVI PACT program everywhere he goes as the model for pre-apprenticeship.  He is leading an effort to help eradicate poverty through the creation of green jobs. What Bob Markholt and the Washington labor movement would like to do is to make sure that these green jobs are union jobs. The SVI PACT program is one part of the pathway to union green jobs.

On Wednesday, October 15 , there was a dedication of the Alaskero Project at the Wing Luke Museum in the International District of Seattle. The Alaskero project is a fantastic photo and audio exhibit of the Filipino-American elders who helped build the Cannery Workers’ Union in Washington State . Alaskeros were the workers dispatched from Seattle to go up to Alaska and work in the canneries.

The event was emceed by Dolores Sibonga, former Seattle City Council member, and was keynoted by Terri Mast and Rich Gurtiza of the Inlandboatmen’s Union . The evening was a celebration of our rich immigrant worker history and labor history.

The photos and stories of these workers are compelling and the exhibit has a replica of the dispatch hall and living quarters of these workers who toiled long and hard at backbreaking, dirty, smelly, and dangerous work while building the rich fishing industry in the Pacific Northwest .

It is worth your time to take time out to visit an important part of our labor history and visit the Wing Luke Museum at the corner of 8th Avenue and King Street in Seattle .

Copyright © ^{2008 --  Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO}