Washington State Ferry workers have been getting a taste of Wisconsin-style anti-union attacks this year because some politicians in the Evergreen state have been scapegoating ferry workers as lazy, overpaid union members.
Most ferry workers belong to the Inlandboatmen’s Union (IBU), the ILWU’s Marine Division. After being bashed in public for most of the year, IBU workers and others in the Ferry Union Coalition developed a plan in early 2011 to avert a potentially lethal attack by anti-union politicians who were aiming to strip job rights, slash pay and cut benefits for ferry employees.
- The ferry workers survival plan calls for some hard work and sacrifices that were proposed as a last-resort:
- Involving more workers to discuss, analyze, and mobilize against the attacks.
- Building alliances with passengers and community group who want good ferry service.
- Re-negotiating contracts to eliminate controversial “hot button” issues and accept cuts that showed a willingness to make sacrifices in the face of severe budget cuts and the recession.
90% of ferry workers voted on March 25th to support this survival plan.m“Washington Ferry workers aren’t out of the woods yet, but it looks like we may have survived the initial round of attacks,” said IBU President Alan Coté.
The storm started building last year
Beginning last summer, ferry workers found themselves attacked in a series of “investigative reports that aired on a Seattle TV station. Background for the attacks was provided to the TV station by right-wing, business-funded activists who have been promoting their anti-tax, anti-union agenda for many years.
Following the sensationalistic “investigative” news reports, a group of Democratic and Republican politicians introduced legislation to strip bargaining rights and other provisions from the ferry workers’ union contracts.
Why were ferry workers so vulnerable?
“It may not have been a perfect storm, but ferry workers have been taking waves from all directions,” says IBU Secretary-Treasurer Terri Mast.
First, the state budget crisis left the public ferry system without enough funding. Adequate funding disappeared in 1999 when anti-tax activists convinced voters to cut car registration fees that were funding transportation programs, including the ferries. Since then, the ferry system has had to beg each year for funding, creating an annual crisis that some politicians have exploited by scapegoating “overpaid workers” and “wasteful union rules.” The recession only made things worse, she adds, because unions have done little to build public support for making corporations and the rich pay their fair share of taxes, leaving government-funded services vulnerable.
Second, Mast says the sensationalistic news reports resonated with the public because they fit into a familiar story-line that’s been repeated by anti-union groups for 30 years, beginning with Ronald Reagan: “government is the problem, public workers are lazy and overpaid, unions are selfish and greedy, and public services should be privatized.”
Third, she noted that there were a few kernels of truth in the otherwise exaggerated and distorted news reports. For example, a handful of employees had been milking travel time and mileage reimbursements to double their regular pay. While this was allowed under the contract and involved only a few IBU members, these examples became lightning rods that politicians used to turn the public against workers.
The fact that Washington State operates one of the largest, most dependable, and safest ferry systems in the world – moving 12 million passengers and 10 million vehicles a year – was quickly clouded by the smokescreen of anti-union attacks that gained momentum last year and snowballed into a full-fledged storm by 2011.
Politicians pile on
A bi-partisan attack on workers has been led by State Senators Mary Margaret Haugen (D) and Curtis King (R). Washington’s Governor Gregoire, who won her election by a handful of votes with critical help from unions, has been cautious in dealing with the ferry worker controversy. It may be up to the Governor to protect workers’ rights by vetoing anti-union legislation if it passes through the legislature and reaches her desk.
Even after workers made millions of dollars in concessions, legislation is still being proposed that would eliminate the Marine Employees Commission (MEC). The MEC is part of the conflict resolution process in the ferry workers’ contract that originated from a historic agreement between former ILWU President Jimmy Herman and then-Governor Spellman who settled a difficult strike in the 1980’s. A failure to protect the MEC and other contract rights would be dimly viewed by ferry workers because these provisions have promoted peace on the waterfront for thirty years.
Workers are pushing back
Ferry workers made a point of attending the April 4th rally in Seattle where hundreds of members from dozens of unions rallied to show solidarity for public employees who are fighting back in Wisconsin and at home. A larger rally on April 8th at the state capitol in Olympia also had good turnout from ferry workers. “Our members are doing a great job during this difficult time. We are unified and very angry. The state can have some money, but not our rights.” said IBU President Coté.
Rich Austin, President of the ILWU’s Pacific Coast Pensioners Association, wrote a strongly-worded defense of ferry workers that was published in the Everett Herald newspaper on Sunday, March 6th. In it, he ridiculed politicians who focused on relatively petty problems instead of doing something about the massive transfer of wealth that’s going to a tiny minority in Washington State and the nation. To see his article, go to www.heraldnet.com and search for Rich Austin.
“Everyone knows this fight won’t end soon,” says President Coté. “We’re in the same boat as workers in Wisconsin and everyone else around the country who’s coming under attack. All of us need to get more organized, recruit more allies, and build stronger coalitions to achieve a fair tax code that fully funds state budgets. Politicians must be held accountable for pandering to the corporations and the wealthy who receive tax break after tax break while hourly state workers get screwed. Enough is enough.”