Washington Picket-Rally Brings Results

January 01, 2006

Seventy members of AFSCME Local 120 in Tacoma, Wash., were joined by representatives of five more unions in a picket-rally at the Tacoma Municipal Building on February 7 to draw attention to the city's refusal to negotiate fairly with our members.

Local 120 (Council 2) has been without a contract since December, 2004, while the City of Tacoma sought pay cuts of up to 18 percent. The City also refused to recognize the impact of departmental reorganization on our members.

Representatives of Local 120, along with five other unions, raised awareness of the stalled contract negotiations and went a step further that same day when John Ohlson, president of the local, presented the union's complaints at the public City Council meeting inside the Municipal Building.

The city quickly drew up a cost of living increase for workers of 1 percent the day after the rally. But the local's bargaining unit says that doesn't go far enough; it called the offer "insulting." The union will vote on it on Feb. 27, with a counter-offer to follow.

Local 120 represents 150 City of Tacoma workers in such units as information technology, warehousing, purchasing and graphic arts. The local's other bargaining units represent 500 more workers at Pierce County, Tacoma Pierce County Health Department, Tacoma Public Library, City of Bonney Lake and City of Ortig.

Picketers at the Municipal Building in Tacoma included members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Service Employees International Union, Teamsters, Longshoremen Local 117, other affiliates of the Pierce County Central Labor Council and representatives of Jobs With Justice.