Olympia Business Watch

Mandatory paid sick leave bill would hurt business and workers

Representatives from businesses large and small spoke out Tuesday against a proposal that would make Washington just the second state in the country to require employers to provide workers with paid sick leave.

For small employers with narrow profit margins, Senate Bill 6229 would add signficantly to the cost of doing business, forcing some to eliminate other worker benefits -- such as health insurance -- to make up the difference.

For large businesses, even those that already provide workers with paid sick leave, the bill would be an administrative burden and could conflict with existing labor contracts.

For example, Boeing's recent landmark agreement with the Machinist's union does not include an include a waiver for the proposed state law, meaning the contract and the state law would be at odds, Carolyn Ladd, a Boeing attorney, told members of the Senate Labor, Commerce & Consumer Protection Committee.

Proponents of the bill said it's needed to make sure that sick people don't report for work at restaurants and elsewhere, spreading disease.

But business owners said there are already ways to accommodate sick workers and protect public health without adding an expensive state mandate.

Brunell: Boeing's prospects are bright ... for now

Amid all the bad economic news of late, Boeing has supplied some welcome good news, AWB President Don Brunell writes in his weekly column.

The company has completed flights tests of its long-delayed 787 Dreamliner, and despite the delays the 787 remains in strong demand. Boeing Commercial Airplanes Chief Jim Albaugh says there are 830 orders for the 787 from 52 customers, and the plane is sold out through 2019.

Boeing is adding workers and Arun Raha, the state's chief economist, expects hiring to continue for the next couple of years.

So, thing are looking up -- but all that could change, Brunell says.

He cites the National Labor Relations Board claims against Boeing over its decision to build a second production line right-to-work South Carolina, and competition from manufacturers in China, Brazil and Canada -- in addition to rival Airbus -- as notable challenges facing Boeing.

"To survive in this aggressive global marketplace, Boeing needs certainty and stability at home, with its workforce and with government regulators," Brunell writes. "Without it, Boeing's future prospects are uncertain."

 

Brunell: Under siege from the unchecked federal bureaucracy

Partisan wrangling has brought gridlock to Congress, but federal bureaucrats are finding ways to implement President Obama's programs without congressional approval, AWB President Don Brunell writes in his weekly column.

One example is the National Labor Relations Board, which is carrying out organized labor's agenda after Congress failed to approve union-backed "card check legislation.

Another example is the Environmental Protection Agency, which is systematically implementing its own version of cap-and-trade after the Senate rejected the president's plan.

The end-run around Congress by federal bureaucrats is costing taxpayers and employers trillions of dollars and adding to the national debt, which now stands at $14.3 trillion.

Congress needs to wake up, and regardless of party affiliation, take back control of the legislative branch of government, Brunell writes. "Congress sets policy and federal agencies enforce it -- at least that's how our separation of powers is supposed to work."

Supreme Court: No Job Protection for Medical Marijuana Patient

Yesterday, the Washington Supreme Court issued a long-awaited decision in a case asking whether an employee may be fired for medical marijuana use under the state law authorizing qualifying patients to use the drug.

Employee Jane Roe, suing under a psuedonynm, was fired from Teletech, a Colorado-based call-center company with a location in Bremerton, after failing a drug test.  She failed the test because she used medical marijuana with a doctor's referral under the state's Medical Use of Marijuana Act (MUMA), passed by the voters in 1998.  

After her termination, Roe sued, claiming MUMA implicitly protects an employee's off-site use of medical marijuana, and that her termination was a wrongful discharge in violation of public policy supporting medical marijuana use.  Roe's suit was strongly supported by the American Civil Liberties Union.  Teletech was represented by AWB board member Stoel Rives LLP.

In an 8-1 decision written by the newest member of the court, Justice Charles Wiggins, the Supreme Court flatly rejected both contentions.  Analyzing the statute, the court reasoned that while it allows a defense against criminal prosecution for marijuana possession, nothing in the plain language or obvious intent of the law suggests employers would face legal liability for refusing to accommodate marijuana use by employees.

A break in the logjam on workers' comp - vote coming today

It's not perfect. It's less than what employers wanted.

But it's progress, at long last.

Gov. Chris Gregoire and the leaders of the four legislative caucuses struck a deal Sunday that is expected to bring significant savings to the state's troubled workers' compensation system.

Details of the agreement, including the exact bill language, were unclear late Sunday, but the deal was expected to stave off double-digit workers' comp premium hikes next year for the vast majority of Washington employers.

"It's not the full reform we were seeking," said Kris Tefft, AWB's general counsel and government affairs director for workers' compensation. "This package is much less than what we wanted, but it's more than what we have now. It's a true compromise."

Organized labor, which has fought workers' comp reform for years, denounced the deal as "atrocious" and "absolutely astounding." But House Speaker Frank Chopp, who had been standing firm with labor, called the agreement a "fair deal for everyone," including injured workers.

When asked about labor's opposition, Gregoire said it's normal for some groups to express concern whenever there is change. "This is a fair package," she said. "Their interests were discussed."

Brunell: NLRB decision on Boeing plant is a dangerous precedent

During the 2008 presidential campaign, candidate Barack Obama promised organized labor that he would support their agenda. Now that he's failed to get the agenda through Congress, Obama has turned to regulation, AWB President Don Brunell writes in his weekly column.

The latest evidence of that is the National Labor Relations Board's move to shut down Boeing's non-union South Carolina production facility. The board, a supposedly neutral body that is in fact stacked with former union lawyers, claims that Boeing chose to locate a plant there out of "anti-union amicus" and that the decision violates federal law.

In truth, the move to South Carolina was a reasonable business decision that has created mor than 1,000 jobs and generated roughly $2 billion worth of investments, Brunell writes. And Boeing still has a strong presence in the Puget Sound, where its workers are among the best paid in America.

"Allowing the government or unions to dictate investment decisions and plant locations is a ery bad precedent to set," Brunell writes, "whether it be Congress, the president or regulators like the NLRB."

Wash. rates poorly in new report on state labor markets

Washington ranks among the worst states in the country in a new report that summarizes the overall level of state labor and employment regulations.

Relatively high labor costs -- including the nation's highest minimum wage, and very high unemployment and workers' compensation costs -- are partly responsible for the state's Tier III ranking in the new report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Other factors cited in the report, titled The Impact of State Employment Policies on Job Growth (pdf), include numerous labor and employment mandates that exceed federal standards, and one of the highest rates of private-sector unionization in the country.

Only Hawaii, New York and Nevada have a higher percentage of private-sector union members, according to the report. Washington's private-sector unionization rate is 12.6 percent; the state's public-sector unionization rate is 56.8 percent.

Brunell: Tax incentives bring value

Periodic reviews of tax incentives make sense to ensure they're cost-effective and justifiable, AWB President Don Brunell writes in his weekly column.

But wholesale attacks on incentives like the one launched recently by the United Food and Commercial Workers union create more heat than light.

For example, the UFCW members circulated a petition in Olympia suggesting that taxing cosmetic surgery and private aircraft could save the state's Basic Health Plan. But the numbers don't add up, and the notion that the Legislature is going to determine which products or services are frivilous in the eyes of the state is a slippery slope, Brunell says.

Why not slap a surcharge on high heels? Or low-slung pants? How about riding lawnmowers? Or maybe haircuts?

Tax incentives have come under attack before, and the lessens about what happens when they're cut are clear, Brunell says. And their benefits are well-documented.

Lawmakers should proceed with caution.

 

TVW examines growing push for workers' comp reform

Last night on "The Impact,"TVW's Jessica Gao tackled the complicated topic of workers' compensation reform. It's shaping up to be a major issue for lawmakers this year.

The program features a discussion with state Reps. Cary Condotta, R-East Wenatchee, and Timm Ormsby, D-Spokane, lawmakers with differing views on the subject. The set-up includes AWB's Kris Tefft disabusing the notion that allowing injured workers to enter into voluntary settlement agreements with the state -- a key provision of Engrossed Senate Bill 5566 -- puts them at risk of losing benefits.

"It's  proven technique around the country," Tefft said, noting that 44 states currently allow such agreements. "Should Washington become the 45th, this bill would provide more worker protection than any of the other 44 out there. But the over-arching worker protection in this proposal is that it's voluntary."

Check out the set-up here, including the counter-argument from Washington State Labor Council President Jeff Johnson that injured workers are not in a position to make the best decision for themselves.

The full program is here:

Fun with Photoshop? The case of the vanishing business lobbyist

We know he was there. He's got the pen to prove it.

But judging solely by the photo published on the Washington State Labor Council website, one would never know that AWB's Kris Tefft attended the governor's bill-signing ceremony Monday for Senate Bill 5801.

The legislation represents a small part of the workers' compensation reform that the business community is hoping to see this year, but it's as far as the labor unions want to go.

Could it be that this ideological gulf is the reason Tefft does not appear in the labor photo?

Consider the evidence: Tefft is clearly visible (at least to his close friends and family) in a photo published on the Washington State Wire website. This despite the fact that he's standing in the back row behind several other folks.

And yet his smiling mug is nowhere to be found in a similar photo published on the labor website.