The folks at the Washington State Labor Council, the state's AFL-CIO, open their annual convention today in Seattle. I assume TVW is there and will have some footage in their program guide starting next week. If previous years' coverage is an indication, it's a useful window into where workplace politics are headed in this state. Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, is on the agenda and I expect to hear a lot about paid family leave and union "neutrality."
Probably not on the agenda for WSLC is the news coming out of Michigan, from the Detroit News via Laborpains.org (here and here) about the widening pay gap between union leaders and the rank and file, and the inverse relationship between growing salaries at the top and declining membership at the bottom.
Also hot is the new push at the national level, after the demise of the union card-check bill, to allow unions to collectively bargain with employers when only a minority of the workers at the shop want union representation. The unions are being pilloried for desperation -- first attacking the secret ballot, now attacking the premise of majority rule. Shopfloor.org has the story.
Finally, a torrid labor market is apparently cooling. First we heard on Tuesday our state's unemployment rate is up, now just a touch above the national average. Today, the US Department of Labor announces the trend is up at the national level too.
