Draft report proposes huge cuts in DOC, JRA, RHCs; get calls and e-mails in

BULLETIN 10/14/09

Draft recommendations would close Maple Lane School in JRA, Ahtanum View in Corrections, Frances Haddon Morgan Center by 2013, Rainier School by 2017, decimate rest of RHC's.

TELL GOVERNOR AND LEGISLATORS: “THE CONSULTANTS GOT IT WRONG. SAVE MAPLE LANE. SAVE AHTANUM VIEW. SAVE RHCS.”

CALL 1-800-562-6000 AND LEAVE COMMENTS ON THE PUBLIC COMMENT PAGE

The state Office of Financial Management today released a consultant’s draft report and asked for public comment on possible huge cuts in juvenile rehabilitation, Corrections and residential habilitation center (DD) institutions.

The draft report floats the idea of:

• Closing Maple Lane School, a juvenile rehabilitation center in south Thurston County.
• Closing Ahtanum View Corrections Center in Yakima County where Federation members work with geriatric and seriously ill prisoners.
• Close Frances Haddon Morgan Center, an RHC in Bremerton, by 2013.
• Close Rainier School, an RHC in Buckley, by 2017.
• Decimate the remaining RHCs (Fircrest School in Shoreline, Lakeland Village in Medical Lake and Yakima Valley School in Selah) by making them skilled nursing facilities only with a much smaller number of beds.

The draft report does not include the expected huge costs of transitioning and bulking up other institutions to take up the load.

But OFM is putting out the draft report for public comment. It is imperative that you follow the link here and voice your strong opposition to all the draft recommendations. Don’t get fooled by the public relations ploy of using public comments as an end-run around the fact the entire report is flawed and off base.

1. SUBMIT FEEDBACK AND IDEAS HERE.  The public comment period is very short, only one week, until Oct. 21. Then, final recommendations will be made to the governor and Legislature Nov. 1. This consultant’s report was mandated by the Legislature to recommend a plan to cut 1,580 beds in DOC, 235 beds in Juvenile Rehabilitation and 250 beds in the residential habilitation centers. The consultants were Christopher Murray and Associates.
   
   
2. THEN, MAKE THE CALL.  Call the governor and your three legislators at 1-800-562-6000 on your personal phone and own time and tell her:
   
   “The consultants hired under the proviso in Section 130 of the state budget got it wrong. Reject their recommendations. Find another way. Save Maple Lane. Save Ahtanum View. Save the RHCs.”
   
   
3. OR EMAIL THEM YOUR MESSAGE HERE.
   

All members should call because an injury to one is an injury to all.

Members are already mobilizing, for instance with Maple Lane School Local 1926 and Eastern State Hospital Local 782 both meeting tonight. Lakeland Village Local 573 will picket the governor’s Spokane office all day Monday. 

Links:

Feasibility Study for the Closure of State Institutional Facilities (DRAFT REPORT)

• Part 1: Department of Corrections Facilities 
• Part 2: Juvenile Rehabilitation Facilities 
• Part 3: Residential Habilitation Centers

• Summary: http://www.ofm.wa.gov/news/release/2009/091014.asp

Check back here for regular updates. Send those e-mails. Make those calls.

UPDATE: 2:45 P.M. 10/14/09:

In the JRA report, the consultants conclude (pp. 25-26) that "the data do not support closure of either Green Hill or Maple Lane." They say closing either would not allow enough capacity in the rest of the system to handle the youthful offenders. But they include the recommendation to close Maple Lane because it gets to the numbers mandated by the Legislature. "While we want to make it clear that we think this is a bad idea, in conformance with the proviso, the final report will include a plan to close Maple Lane School."

ALSO: House Republican Leader Richard DeBolt calls into question JRA study.

In the DOC report, while AVCC is targeted for closure, Pine Lodge is not. The consultants say (p. 13) there is no ability to further reduce beds of female offenders. "The population forecast and the projected future need for beds by security level does not permit closing additonal beds." In fact, one of the options considered was reopening recently closed beds at Pine Lodge. But they instead recommend the new unit at Mission Creek to accommodate additional minimum security beds for female offenders.

• Seattle Times news story on consultants' report, closure of Ahtanum View.

RHCs: One recommendation is to immediately place children currently living at the RHCs into state-operated children's intensive care homes, meaning a transfer of current Fircrest staff and resources to a community supported living setting.

By 2013, FHMC would close, eight cottages at Rainier would close, two cottages at Fircrest, two cottages at Lakeland and one cottage at Yakima Valley. By June 30, 2019, the RHC capacity would be Fircrest 48, Lakeland 26 and Yakima Valley 38. FHMC and Rainier would be closed by then.

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GA Motor Pool Workers Say YES to WFSE/AFSCME!

Another group of state employees now has contract protections with the Federation.

Non-supervisory workers in the Motor Pool Section of the state Department of General Administration have chosen the Federation as their union.

Nine of the 13 employees signed authorization cards. That was enough to win union representation under "cross-check" rules.

The Public Employment Relations Commission conducted the tally Oct. 8.

Don't Delay in Preparing for Possible Green River Valley Flooding, Swine Flu Outbreak

GREEN RIVER VALLEY: State, local and federal officials are coordinating plans for possible winter flooding in the Green River Valley below the Howard Hanson Dam.

Some 800 WFSE/AFSCME families potentially sit in harm's way in the following zip codes: 98001, 98002, 98055, 98030, 98031, 98057, 98092 and 98188.

Several state offices, including three DSHS CSOs and a Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Office, also sit in the flood zone.

Your agency may have specific flood plans. But a good source of general flood information is on the state Emergency Management Website at http://www.emd.wa.gov/.

And you can help fund the Federation-inspired relief fund set up through the Washington State Labor Council, the Foundation for Working Families. A portion of profits from the sale of union-produced coffee goes to the Foundation for Working Families. To find out more, go to www.wfse.org and look for the "flash" panel on the home page.

SWINE FLU: Good information on precautions to take is also available on the state Emergency Management Website at http://www.emd.wa.gov/.

It's Coming Down to the Wire to Defeat Initiative 1033 and Approve Referendum 71

Absentee ballots for the Nov. 3 election are due out Friday. With most counties now voting by absentee ballot, remember that the Federation is recommending a No vote on Initiative 1033, Tim Eyman's latest ballot measure to further choke off funding for the services you provide. Times are tough enough. Let's not make them worse. Go to www.wfse.org for more information on why Tim Eyman's Initiative 1033 is a bad idea.

Also don't forget: The Federation is recommending a Yes (Approve) vote on Referendum 71, what the Tacoma News Tribune today says is simply the "completion of the state's incremental march toward a robust domestic partnership law." In endorsing Ref. 71, the TNT said a yes vote is a vote to "affirm lawmakers' work to complete the job they started two years ago." Don't get caught up in the rhetoric. Ref. 71 is about protecting basic civil rights, and civil rights are fundamental workplace, lunchbox issues.

Renton Technical College Kicks Off Bargaining with Support Event

Members at Renton Technical College, who bargain under a different law than other Federation members, kicked off their first formal day of bargaining Monday with a lunch-and-learn event and walk around campus showing AFSCME green.

Leadership Development Workshop for Unionists of Color Nov. 7

Our workforce and our labor movement are made up of many different faces and we are strongest when we speak with one voice. To rebuild our strength, the labor movement must embrace and reflect the diversity of our workforce and our membership. We must provide our members with the leadership skills to restore opportunity and justice at our workplaces and in society.

To this end, the Diversity Committee of the Washington State Labor Council and the Labor Education and Research Center of The Evergreen State College invite all WSLC-affiliated unions to send rank-and-file and staff members to a Leadership Development Workshop for Unionists of Color to be held Saturday, Nov. 6 at South Seattle Community College's Georgetown Campus, Bldg. C, 6737 Corson Ave. S.

Come learn about the political economy of Washington state, changing workforce demographics, leadership qualities and skills, lessons from state labor history, and more. Registration is $75 per participant, which includes lunch and materials.

Download a flier/registration form at http://www.wslc.org/reports/2009/September/24.htm#Thursday

For more information, contact Juan Jose Bocanegra at 360-918-2726.

CONVENTION NEWS: Delegates give Gregoire earful as Budget Office recommendations on closures loom

The legislatively mandated study of possible closures and cuts is due out any day, but delegates to last weekend's 2009 Federation State Convention wasted no time in giving visiting Gov. Chris Gregoire an earful.

News reports say institutions that could be closed include: Green Hill School and Maple Lane School (both juvenile rehabilitation); Pine Lodge and Ahtanum View (Corrections institutions whose employees are represented by the Federation); and, possibly, all or parts of an as-yet-unidentified residential habilitation center or centers (RHCs).

The report is due from the Office of Financial Management. Over the past few months, consultants writing the report have met with Federation members to hear why institutions should not be closed. But some of the possible recommendations leaked out to the Seattle Times.

Meanwhile, Federation members used last weekend's convention to mobilize against current and future cuts, closures and consolidations.

Groups of members and delegates held a number of caucuses to continue the "boots on the ground" strategy of fighting the cuts. Those caucuses included: The member steering committee watchdogging the plan to start two pilot privatization projects in DSHS Child Welfare Services; juvenile rehabilitation; residential habilitation centers; and DSHS Community Services Division and call centers.

Delegates also unanimously passed a resolution to use "any and all remedies" to stop the closure of Pine Lodge Corrections Center for Women and other state institution.

Members of Local 573 at Lakeland Village, an RHC in Medical Lake, announced plans for a major job action Oct. 19 in Spokane.

With all this going on, the governor herself heard first-hand the folly of the institutions closures and other cuts.

Seven delegates from targeted programs escorted the governor to the floor of the convention hall at a SeaTac hotel, then individually welcomed her with pleas for her to stop the bleeding.

Greeting the governor were: Julianne Moore from DD/RHCs; Ursula Petters from Child Welfare Services; Alice Rogers from Corrections; Greg Davis from Mental Health; Pam Carl from Higher Education; Gabe Hall from Juvenile Rehabilitation; and Scott Mallery from Natural Resources.

They politely welcomed the governor and asked Gregoire, "with all due" respect, to recognize the harm of cuts, consolidation and contracting out.

WFSE/AFSCME President Carol Dotlich presented the governor with hundreds of letters from members and delegates respectfully pleading with her to find alternatives to an "all cuts" approach to filling another $1 billion deficit.

"Please find another way to preserve these vital, quality services for the public," Moore told the governor in her Oct. 3 welcome.

"Please join us in restoring these cuts before a tragedy occurs," Rogers said.

"The cuts are a recipe for disaster," Hall said.

Gregoire responded, "I get it," but added, "You'll have to tell me where to cut."

Delegates quickly shouted, "Administration!" and "WMS!"

She still praised WFSE/AFSCME members. Delegates sought her out to shake her hand at the end of the cordial exchange.

"I know I am proud to have you as my partners," she said.

Gregoire said the past legislative session was "ugly, ugly, ugly....It was the worst legislative session I'd ever seen."

"We're going to get through these tough times, but it isn't going to be easy," Gregoire added.

Read the Convention Daily here: FRI | SAT | SUN

CONVENTION NEWS: Henricksen elected WFSE VP

The Federation may be the only AFSCME council with an all-female slate of top officers.

Sue Henricksen, a DD case resource manager in Tacoma and president of Local 53, got convention delegates' nod as vice president.

She joins re-elected incumbents President Carol Dotlich (Local 793, Western State Hospital, Lakewood), Secretary Lee Novak (Local 1400, Community Corrections, Longview/Kelso) and Treasurer Rosemary Sterling (Local 1381, Whatcom Community College, Bellingham).

Henricksen prevailed in a two-way race with incumbent Vice President Bill Copland of Local 1253.

Dotlich won re-election as president in her race against John Frazier, UW Local 1488.

Novak won a run-off in the secretary race against Steve McGillis, Local 313. The other nominee, Shellie Savage (Local 443), finished third in the first round of balloting.

Sterling was the sole nominee for WFSE/AFSCME treasurer. She was declared re-elected by acclamation.

The four officers will serve until the next WFSE/AFSCME convention in 2011.

Call today on the public option!

If you haven't gotten the text message from us, please call 1-877-264-4226 today to tell our two U.S. Senators, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, to support the public option in any final health reform bill.

Photos from Convention Banquet (Friday) and Convention Hall (Saturday)