We last talked about the overall process of how a bill becomes a law. Today, we’re going take you inside a committee hearing, then we’ll talk about what happens during floor debates.  To view the transcript of the podcast click here. 

KUOW journalists picket (again) over low-wage proposal
Short URL: https://www.thestand.org/?p=113178

​SEATTLE (Dec. 15, 2022) – The continued refusal of managers to pay anything close to a living wage has forced KUOW’s unionized staff, including the familiar voices that bring you the news, to picket the public radio station for a second time this fall. KUOW’s SAG-AFTRA members held an informational picket Tuesday outside the KUOW studios in Seattle. They picketed to let management know it has to get serious about ongoing negotiations for livable wages for at KUOW.
The journalists who work at KUOW Public Radio believe in the mission of public media and have dedicated their lives to it, but that can’t come at the cost of not being able to live in the communities they cover.
KUOW is a well-funded institution with roughly $21 million in annual revenue, yet most KUOW journalists last year earned so little they could qualify for low-income housing in Seattle. Under management’s latest offer, presented Monday to the KUOW SAG-AFTRA union team, half of KUOW journalists would still qualify for low-income housing as a one-person household, and two-thirds would qualify as a two-person household.
Union members and their SAG-AFTRA representatives walked out on contract talks Monday after receiving another insulting offer from management.
“We need our bosses to take our demands for a living wage seriously and bargain in good faith to keep this station from bleeding any more talent,” said KUOW announcer/producer Natalie Newcomb.
Since the KUOW newsroom signed its first union contract in June 2019, the cost of living has shot up 18.5 percent in the Seattle area (as of October 2022). Union wages at KUOW have gone up just 6.1 percent in that time.
Union negotiators have tried to make sure nobody working at KUOW needs to depend on government assistance to live in Seattle. Still, the union has lowered its salary proposals repeatedly despite minimal effort by KUOW management or the University of Washington (KUOW’s FCC license holder) to compromise in return.
Fair pay is also the missing link in KUOW’s push to have a diverse and equitable workplace.
“KUOW managers tell listeners that equity and inclusion are critical to our journalism. But management is not backing up the talk with equitable wages,” said KUOW host Patricia Murphy. “Paying fair wages should be standard for an organization as resource-rich as KUOW.”
The two sides have been in contract negotiations since April and, at management’s insistence, in mediation through the Washington Public Employment Relations Commission since September. The KUOW SAG-AFTRA contract expired on June 30.
Follow KUOW’s SAG-AFTRA members on Twitter @WeMakeKUOW and post messages of support using #SoundStoriesSoundWages.

Next Washington Wednesday will be January 4th

In a previous episode, we were talking about the work of the legislature, and I briefly mentioned the process by which a bill turns into a law. I invited you to recall schoolhouse rock, because, frankly, that’s a pretty good basic outlining of the legislative process – it was written for US congress, but the process in the WA state legislature is much the same: A successful bill has to go to committee, then to the floor, then to the committee in the other chamber, then the floor of the other chamber, then to the governor’s desk. Along the way, it can be debated and amended. That’s the simple version of the story. As you may have guessed, the real story – the legislative process as it is actually practiced - is a bit more complicated.  
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Check out our new Podcast page at: www.wpea.org/podcast
To read the full transcript of today's podcast click here

Union to Kroger: Fix your payroll problems
​Original Article: https://www.thestand.org/?p=113139

​UFCW 367 calls on Fred Meyer, QFC parent company to pay employees what they’ve earned amid payroll software glitches

TACOMA (Dec. 14, 2022) — A number of the 2,700 Kroger employees represented by UFCW 367 who work in Fred Meyer and QFC stores in Pierce, Mason, Thurston, Lewis, Pacific and Grays Harbor counties are facing paycheck shortages due to a faulty new payroll system implemented this fall, according to the union.
UFCW 367 announced that it has filed a class-action grievance on behalf of the affected workers and is collecting wage-and-hour claim forms to be submitted to the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries. As it continues these efforts to ensure Kroger employees are paid what they have earned, the union is demanding that the company fix its payroll system immediately and stop the harm being caused to employees and their families.

“Essential grocery store workers shouldn’t have to worry about making ends meet during the holiday season,” said UFCW 367 President Michael Hines. “Kroger needs to step up and take care of their associates.”
The union says that members at Fred Meyer and QFC have reported various payroll problems, including:
●  Receiving no paycheck, some for as long as three weeks.
●  Being denied contractual wage increases that should have gone into effect on Oct. 16, 2022.
●  Confusing paycheck stubs that fail to explain earnings or new deductions.
●  Other pay errors that continue to occur on a weekly basis.
Fred Meyer and QFC workers in the south Puget Sound area are not the only ones experiencing payroll issues. After Fred Meyer workers in Oregon and Southwest Washington experienced missing or shortchanged paychecks, company officials acknowledged to The Oregonian in November that payroll software problems had occurred. But the company claimed only a small percentage of its employees were affected.
Meanwhile, attorney Richard Myers of Bennett Hartman has filed a class-action lawsuit against Fred Meyer on behalf of two workers who weren’t properly paid. The Northwest Labor Press reports:
Filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, the lawsuit explains that Fred Meyer began using a new payroll software system in September. Since then, workers have had missing or late paychecks, been paid incorrect wages, had their hours incorrectly recorded, had incorrect deductions from their paychecks, seen direct deposits get canceled, and more.
Kroger’s payroll problems come as the company is focused on a proposed $24.6 billion merger with Albertsons Companies, Inc., and trying to convince federal regulators that the merger would not create a monopoly that harms consumers or results in widespread store closures. Unions representing grocery store workers — UFCW 7 in Colorado, UFCW 324 and UFCW 770 in California, UFCW 367 in Pierce and surrounding counties, UFCW 3000 across Washington state, and Teamsters 38 in Everett — strongly oppose the Kroger-Albertsons merger.


Homegrown cafe workers vote Union Yes!
​The following is from UNITE HERE Local 8:SEATTLE (Dec. 13, 2022) — Workers at Homegrown’s cafes are excited to have won their NLRB union election just weeks after Homegrown’s wholesale distribution workers at Catapult NW won theirs. The cafe workers are eager to join their distribution colleagues in negotiating a fair contract that will provide the wages, benefits, and health and safety protections that would make their jobs at Homegrown sustainable.
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Workers in Homegrown’s cafes and wholesale distribution filed for union elections with the NLRB in October after company-wide delegations, picketing, job actions, and leafleting of customers and clients. They have organized as Homegrown Workers Uniting for Sustainable Jobs with UNITE HERE Local 8. (Follow them at @OurUnionIsHG.)
TAKE A STAND — Sign the solidarity petition with Homegrown workers to support them as they bargain for a fair contract.

Today we’re talking about the budget process, and the process our state employee member contracts go through, from negotiation to ratification to funding.  Call the legislative hotline at 1-800-562-6000 and ask your legislators to fully fund state employee contracts this year, including 100% of the funding for higher education employees.   

Check out our new Podcast page at: www.wpea.org/podcast
To read the full transcript of today's podcast click here

WPEA is pleased to announce the release of our new Podcast. This first series will focus on the Legislature and hosted by our Legislative Specialist/​Lobbyist Seamus Petrie. To check out our Podcast, visit: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2085272​