BY GEOFF MIRELOWITZ
SEATTLE - On election day November 3, three referenda items
of significance to working people appeared on the ballot in
Washington state. In adopting Initiative 688 by a 67 percent
majority, voters overwhelmingly approved raising the state's
minimum wage. Initiative 200, which aims to end affirmative
action, carried with a 59 to 41 percent vote. Voters here, as
in several other states, also turned back an effort to restrict
women's right to choose abortion by rejecting Initiative 694,
which would have banned a type of late-term abortion procedure.
Jeff Powers, a railroad switchman and member of the United Transportation Union, was the Socialist Workers Party candidate for congress in Seattle's 7th CD. At a gathering of campaign supporters on October 31, Powers explained why he called for a "yes" vote on I-688, the minimum wage initiative. The measure will raise Washington's minimum wage for every worker - 18 years of age or older - to $5.70 an hour on Jan. 1, 1999 and to $6.50 an hour on Jan. 1, 2000. It also requires further increases in the minimum wage as the cost-of-living index rises. These figures are above the federal minimum wage of $5.25 an hour.
Supporters of I-688 collected more than 200,000 signatures to place the initiative on the ballot. Much of the work was done by unions affiliated to the Washington State AFL-CIO. Some liberal politicians and labor officials decided to promote this measure, which they touted as a "living wage." They felt pressure to be seen as doing something to improve wages in face of an upturn in resistance by working people to demands of the government and employers for sacrifice.
"Our campaign demands a sliding scale of hours and wages," Powers said. "That the government establish for all public employees automatic cost-of-living adjustments of wages, pensions, and social benefits such as welfare, unemployment compensation, and Social Security. We call for a fight for full, automatic cost-of-living protection in all union contracts and for workers in every plant and workplace. In capitalist society, wages are set from the bottom up. In order to help increase the wage level for all working people, we also call for raising the minimum wage." Powers noted that "$6.50 an hour is not the `living wage' that promoters of I-688 claim. But if it leads to a wage increase, it will benefit some workers. Most workers, especially the lowest paid, see that as a good thing. And they are right.
"It is also an affirmative action measure because working people who are paid the minimum wage are disproportionately Black, Native American, Latino, and women," Powers added. "Passage of this bill puts no road blocks in the way of workers fighting for the substantially higher wages that are really needed," Powers said. "As we campaigned we introduced fellow workers to An Action Program to Confront the Coming Economic Crisis, adopted by the SWP in 1988. This pamphlet outlines proposals the labor movement can fight for through independent, working-class political action. This is the strategy needed to fight for an adequate minimum wage and other measures that can defend working people from the impact of the capitalist crisis," Powers concluded.
Anti-affirmative action measure
I-200 was modeled after California's Proposition 209,
adopted in 1996. The Washington initiative says the government
shall "be prohibited from discriminating or granting
preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity or
national origin in public employment education and
contracting." I-200 supporters chose the language in an effort
to portray the initiative as an "anti-discrimination" measure.
Powers explained, "whenever I spoke I called for a no vote on I-200. The referendum was consciously worded to confuse people. Some actually thought the measure promoted affirmative action, though most knew better.
"The big-business politicians and their supporters who opposed I-200 refused to present a clear explanation of the political stakes involved. Nor are they capable of doing so," said Powers. "Many workers were influenced by the propaganda that some `unqualified' Blacks, Chicanos, Native Americans, and women receive special treatment and get into school or get a job because of it," Powers continued.
"As I campaigned I sought to explain that affirmative action is a tool that can help unite the working class and overcome the divisions imposed by capitalism which weaken us in our battles against the employers and their government. Affirmative action is needed because of the legacy of race and sex discrimination and because such discrimination continues today in employment, education, housing and other areas. It is not a `thing of the past,' " he continued.
"Taking the time to answer this and explaining how the capitalist class benefits by paying workers who are women or of oppressed nationalities less and by keeping us divided proved to be my most effective arguments."
Less than 24 hours after I-200 was adopted, University of Washington President Richard McCormick announced, "Beginning immediately...I am setting in motion steps to suspend the use of race and sex as factors in admissions decisions to all University of Washington schools and colleges." This decision, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer noted in a November 5 front page article, "is expected to lead to a significant drop in the number of blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans on UW campuses." That night 60 students organized a candle light vigil protesting the University's decision.
Led by campus MEChA chapters, students at Sunnyside High School in the Yakima Valley and Mt. Vernon High School which is north of Seattle organized significant protests against I-200's passage on the day after the election.
At Sunnyside, 256 students were suspended for three days after they walked out November 4. The next day the school principal reduced the suspension to two days, after he was faced with a meeting of angry parents and representatives from the United Farm Workers Union (UFW). Sunnyside lies in the heart of the Washington state apple industry and many of the students' parents are farm workers. It is where the UFW office is located.
More than 300 students in Mt. Vernon participated in a similar protest against the I-200 vote. After leaving the school the students marched to the office of the mayor, who met with them and expressed sympathy for their protest.
"The actions of these students show defenders of equality how to fight to keep affirmative action" Powers told the Militant. "The passage of I-200 does not end the fight. Those of us who seek to defend it will regroup, draw the lessons of this experience and continue the struggle," he said.
Geoff Mirelowitz is a member of the United Transportation Union Local 845.