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TEA Times
Tricks
Ray Goforth, the business agent for IFPTE Local 17, has been up to his old tricks again.
You may have received a copy of a Washington State Labor Council memo stating that the WSLC has placed attorney Jim Cline on its "Unfair/Do Not Patronize" list. What Goforth has done is taken a copy of the WSLC memo, underlined Cline's name as it appears in the memo, and added a note pointing out that the firm of Cline & Associates is "T.E.A.'s lawyer". This is another attempt to demoralize TEA members, this time by beating up on our attorney. Recognize this action for what it is: Bull. If you received one of these documents from Ray, and want to talk with him about it, we encourage you to call him at 206-328-7321, ext 105. Let him know what you think.
County Policy: Card-Check Neutrality.
On January 13th of this year, TEA members met with Carlos Martinez, lead staff person on the Council's Management, Labor and Customer Services Committee. The purpose of the meeting was to learn more about the Council Committee's role in establishing labor policy. Card-check neutrality (the voluntary recognition of groups that acquire a certain percentage of signature cards) is currently a "practice" at the County. However, we learned that may change this year and we learned how we can play a role in shaping this policy. This issue will be a focus of action for TEA's political action committee.
Contributions
TEA's attorney is currently preparing to file an injuction against PERC for their failure to proceed with hearings on our original petitions. The filing and court appearances will take additional financial resources. We are requesting $10/month to help with the effort. Please contact the TEA Treasurer, Ken Madden.
More on Contributions
All of us have financially benefited since we formed TEA approximately four years ago. TEA prevented Local 17 from implementing the closed shop agreement with King County; this closed shop agreement would allow Local 17 to collect union dues, 0.0085 percent of your basic wages, from all non-represented employees immediately upon the merger of Metro into King County. An employee with $50,000.00 basic annual wage income has saved $1,700.00 ($425.00 per year) in the last four years because of TEA; your support at $10.00 per month would only cost you $120.00 per year.
Some of you may not care about how TEA board members and our lawyer Jim Cline conduct the legal battle of certification with King County and PERC. And some of you may say, "I don't mind if we stay on this stalemate condition indefinitely." But to stay in the stalemate condition, we need your support to be able to pay for the ongoing legal expenses. Jim Cline has been providing us legal services for the past four years. Without Jim, TEA would have been dead a long time ago and all of us would be paying union dues to Local 17 and our seniority would be near zero. Please support our efforts with a nominal $10/month contribution. -- Juan Paraiso, TEA First Vice President
Committees
The Strategic Planning Committee, led by Eric Davison, will meet Wednesday, February 9, from 12-1 pm. Contact Eric directly for the room number and for last-minute information. The Political Action Committee is being led by Bill Serres. Take an interest in this, and contact Bill for information about the next meeting. The Communication Committee, led by Roger Scrafford, will meet Tuesday, February 1, from 12-1 pm. Contact Roger directly for the room number and for last-minute information.
Political Action
Four TEA members attended the King County Council "Oath of Office" event on January 3rd. After the swearing in, TEA members mingled in the crowd, pressing flesh and talking with
Maggi Fimia (District 1), Cynthia Sullivan (District 2) Larry Phillips (District 4), Rob McKenna (District 6) Larry Gossett (District 10), and David W. Irons (District 12)TEA is now scheduling meetings with each of these Council members to discuss our issues. |