Teamsters Local 117

State government and Coke have something in common: They want their employees to shoulder an excessive burden of the cost of health care.

Coke's proposals to increase health care premium share by 800% and eliminate health care coverage for retirees led to a week-long work stoppage.

Now, the Governor is proposing that State employees pay a more than 100% increase on the cost of their health care premiums. Like workers at Coke, State employees and their supporters strongly oppose the Governor's proposals and are prepared to fight back.

Or call the legislative hotline in Olympia at 1-800-562-6000 and tell the Governor to stop cutting health care for State employees!

2. STOP CORPORATIONS FROM PRIVATIZING WASHINGTON'S WORKERS' COMP. SYSTEM! NO ON I-1082!

Corporate interests are at hard at work in Washington State attempting to privatize Washington's workers' compensation system.

Right now, Washington pays out the 3rd highest benefits to injured workers while its costs are 5th lowest in the country. Although far from perfect, it is clear that our system in Washington State protects workers who are injured on the job and prevents them from falling prey to profit-greedy insurance companies.

The Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW) and its corporate bedfellows are scheming to change all of that. With the help of insurance behemoths like AIG, the BIAW is busy collecting signatures for a ballot initiative (Initiative-1082) that, if approved by voters, would allow out-of-state insurance companies to game the system in ways that would likely lead to wrongful denials or delays of benefits when a worker gets injured on the job.

Don't let corporate interests corrupt Washington's State's workers' comp. system! Don't sign the petition that would put Initiative 1082 on the ballot this fall!

Washingtonians for Education, Health and Tax Relief is a growing coalition of business, labor and respected civic leaders who seek to cut taxes for middle-class families, create thousands of new jobs across the state, and provide a stable, dedicated funding source for education and health care.

At a time when 40,000 state residents have lost Basic Health coverage, funds to reduce class sizes have been slashed, and thousands of Washingtonians have lost their jobs, we can no longer afford a tax code that overburdens middle class families, penalizes job-creating small businesses across Washington State, and creates harmful boom-and-bust cycles that undermine the state’s ability to provide core services.

That is why these respected community leaders are organizing a grassroots Yes on 1098 campaign working to place Initiative 1098 on the November ballot. I-1098 will cut the state property tax by 20 percent, eliminate the B&O tax on 375,000 small businesses, and create a high earners income tax on the top three percent who currently benefit from a tax code that gives big breaks to the wealthy.

It is time for real tax reform that benefits the middle class and provides the funding we need to protect education and health care — vote yes on I-1098.

To download a flyer for the Yes on I-1098 campaign, click here.

To view an editorial on I-1098 in the Seattle Times, click here.