Collective bargaining approved

House gives state workers, unions new power over wages

PATRICK CONDON, THE OLYMPIAN

OLYMPIA -- State employee unions would be able to directly negotiate with the state for wages and benefits, according to legislation approved Wednesday night by the House of Representatives.

The legislation, a longtime goal of state worker groups, passed 54-43, with five Republicans joining 49 House Democrats to support it.

The two Republican House members from South Sound, Richard DeBolt and Gary Alexander, both voted for the bill.

The wide-ranging legislation includes sweeping provisions to change the state's employment structure, and to let private contractors bid for some jobs traditionally performed by state employees.

"This is the ground floor for reinventing state government," said Rep. Sandra Romero, D-Olympia, the bill's chief sponsor. The collective bargaining piece recognizes that state workers should have greater say in setting their own compensation, Romero argued.

"City employees and county employees have collective bargaining," Romero said. "It works for Boeing, and it works for Weyerhaeuser."

State employees, Romero said, "are the people who care for our sick, who clean up our roads. Do they deserve less? I think not."

22 amendments failed

The debate saw Republicans raise a lengthy list of concerns, and they offered 22 separate amendments to alter the bill, every one of which Democrats rejected.

Opponents characterized the legislation as a gift to organized labor.

"If this passes, it's going to be Labor Day all year round," said Rep. Jim Clements, R-Selah.

Atop the list of concerns was the designation of the governor's office as the contract negotiator, which Republicans said robs the Legislature of oversight for the nearly one-third of the state budget that goes to state worker compensation.

"It takes away the authority of the Legislature and gives it to the governor," said Rep. Dave Mastin, R-Walla Walla. "The unions represent the state workers, and the governor represents the state managers. Who represents the taxpayers?"

Rep. Barry Sehlin, R-Oak Harbor, argued that taking that oversight from legislators would mean that whenever state employee unions have an ally in the governor's office, other spending priorities will take a back seat.

"If you want to prioritize salaries and benefits above the developmentally disabled, vote yes," Sehlin said. "If you want to prioritize salaries and benefits above public education, vote yes. ... How long should I go on?"

Romero, though, pointed out that in the last decade legislators have traditionally raised state employee salaries higher than what has been proposed by Democratic governors. That was the case last year, when Gov. Gary Locke proposed a 2.6 percent salary increase for state workers, only to have lawmakers boost it to 3.6 percent.

Campaign contributions

Republicans threw particular weight behind one amendment, which would have barred campaign contributions to all candidates for governor from any union that bargains on behalf of state employees. Otherwise, argued House Minority Leader Clyde Ballard, governors could be accused of a conflict of interest when they sit down at the bargaining table with unions who donate to their campaigns.

"To tell the public it's OK for that person to sit down with his huge contributors -- you can put any kind of face you want on it, but if this (amendment) is not adopted, I guarantee you this will be the subject of discussion for the next several months," Ballard said. "You want to know why? Because it's not trustworthy."

Democrats countered that the same argument applies to any interaction between politicians and well-funded interest groups.

"If you follow this logic, then we're going to have to eliminate campaign contributions altogether," said Rep. Sam Hunt, D-Olympia.

Contracting state work

Private contracting of state work has always been part of the legislation, mainly to pacify business-backed Republicans. But Republicans argued that the private contracting provisions in the bill are "phony," in the words of Rep. Luke Esser, since the contracts will be subject to union bargaining.

"They are illusory," said Esser, R-Bellevue. "They are nonexistent. They will not occur in this bill."

After four hours of speeches, Republicans couldn't make majority Democrats reconsider.

The bill now heads to the Senate, where similar legislation has passed three times in recent years.

Patrick Condon covers state government for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-753-1688 or at condonpatrick@ hotmail.com.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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