Collective bargaining bill back on agenda

Democrats use new clout to push for vote

PATRICK CONDON, THE OLYMPIAN

OLYMPIA -- The last time state lawmakers tried to have a hearing on collective bargaining, it nearly broke down into a fistfight between a labor lobbyist and a Republican legislator.

The House State Government Committee will convene Tuesday for another try nearly two years later, this time with Democrats controlling both houses of the Legislature. The hearing is likely to go more smoothly.

"The Republicans can't bottle it up anymore, and we're going to get a vote," said Rick Bender, the president of the Washington State Labor Council. "It's going to put everybody on record on whether they support the fundamental right of workers to be represented in bargaining."

The committee is set to review House Bill 1268, the so-called "three-legged stool" that includes collective bargaining for state workers, hiring private contractors to perform some state services and changing the state's civil service system.

Contract talks

Under collective bargaining, negotiators the governor appoints would have contract talks with the state worker unions every two years to set salaries and benefits for union-represented state workers. Labor officials say that would make worker compensation less of a hot-button issue in the legislative process.

"A lot of people call what we have right now 'collective begging,' " Bender said.

Rep. Sandra Romero, the Olympia Democrat who heads the State Government Committee, expects the committee to approve the bill and send it to the full House by the end of the week. Gov. Gary Locke has indicated for several years that he will sign a collective bargaining bill.

"What collective bargaining's really going to do is give state employees a voice in how government is run," Romero said. "It's a direct pipeline to the governor on the important work they do. It will highlight it more, spotlight it more."

Organized labor has pushed for collective bargaining for a decade.

Republicans have largely stymied those efforts, arguing that collective bargaining is really about getting more state employees to join unions. That in turn would increase organized labor's political power, Republicans say.

"I know there are a lot of state employees out there working hard and trying to do well," said Rep. Cathy McMorris of Colville, the ranking Republican on the State Government Committee. "If I really believed this bill was to benefit front-line workers, I'd support it. But I don't. I think this is to benefit union bosses."

As co-chairwoman of the committee the past three years, McMorris consistently blocked committee hearings on the bill. She said it would be a mistake for the Legislature to give up its ability to set state employee salary and benefits as part of the budget process.

"My biggest concern is that this takes a third of the state budget and puts the decision on how to spend it behind closed doors," McMorris said.

The contract negotiations between the unions and the governor's office would not be open to the public.

"It's been difficult for us at times to ensure accountability in government," McMorris said. "When you remove us from oversight of state employees, it's removing even further our ability to ensure accountability."

Instead of directly setting worker compensation during budget deliberations, the Legislature would only vote on the contract the unions and governor agree on.

"To only allow that up or down vote, our hands our tied," McMorris said. "It provides no flexibility to address any sort of unforeseen circumstances with the budget."

Drawing Republicans

By adding provisions to the bill that allow the hiring of private contractors for some jobs and reform civil service, supporters of collective bargaining hope to sweeten the pot for Republicans and business interests.

The prospect of allowing private firms to bid for some government jobs is attractive to Sen. Dan Swecker, R-Rochester.

"I've always said I'd support collective bargaining as long as it's paired with contracting out," Swecker said. "My theory is, let's give it a try. Let's see what happens."

Bender said that's a considerable concession for organized labor, since its members could lose work. "That's a pretty big deal to some folks," Bender said.

Opponents, though, point out that private contracting would be part of the collective bargaining process, giving unions the right to block them.

"There's no way the unions would ever let there be real contracting out," said Don Brunell, president of the Association of Washington Business.

Brunell suggests that if the unions were genuine in accepting private contracting, they would support its passage this year and hold off on the implementation of collective bargaining until the state establishes a working contracting system.

McMorris said she thinks the contracting and civil service provisions of the legislation are little more than a ruse to push through collective bargaining.

Right now, 25 states have collective bargaining for state workers. McMorris insists that the trend is headed away from such agreements, but labor officials say Washington's time has come.

"I don't hold out that collective bargaining is a panacea for all our problems," said Greg Devereux, the executive director of the Washington Federation of State Employees, which represents 19,000 state workers. "But I think it would really be the most comprehensive reform of our system in decades. If there's any time for the state to be innovative, it's now."

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