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Collective bargaining authorized

One of the most significant accomplishments of the 2002 Legislature was the passage of collective bargaining rights for state employees.

It's a milestone 14 years in the making. It's only right, and a matter of equity, that state employees have the same bargaining rights as police officers, firefighters, teachers, other municipal and county employees.

State employee unions have put collective bargaining at the top of their legislative priority list. And every year -- until now -- they have been denied.

When the Democrats seized control of the House and Senate through elections, that increased the chances for passage. But so did expansion of the bill to include civil service reforms and provisions to contract out state services. That expansion drew enough Republican votes to ensure passage of the bill.

Sen. Tim Sheldon, D-Potlatch, was prepared to vote against the collective bargaining bill. He didn't get to vote because of a family emergency, but his "no" vote could have torpedoed the bill in the Senate where Democrats hold a one-vote majority.

The fact that five Republican senators, including Sen. Dan Swecker, R-Rochester, voted for House Bill 1268 was the difference between success and failure. The bill passed 29-19

Under existing law, the governor addresses salary issues in his budget proposal to the Legislature. But the power to increase salaries for state workers rests with the Legislature through adoption of a two-year budget.

Collective bargaining reverses the role of the governor and the Legislature.

Under HB 1268, beginning in 2004 the governor will appoint a bargaining team to sit down with union negotiators and hammer out a collective bargaining agreement.

The Legislature can accept or reject the negotiated contracts, but lawmakers will not have the power to alter the agreements.

Republican leaders have repeatedly shot down collective bargaining based on the philosophical belief that the Legislature, not the governor, should have salary-setting authority. Republican leaders also believed collective bargaining will increase state spending.

But the Democrats -- with the help of the five Senate Republicans and a similar number of House Republicans -- were able to overcome the objections and put the bill on the governor's desk for his signature into law.

In addition to giving the governor authority to bargain on salaries, the bill:

- Limits the duration of the collective bargaining agreement to a two-year budget cycle.

- Sets administrative costs at $4 million -- down from an initial allocation of $40 million.

- Gives the governor or Legislature power to force a renegotiation of wages in a financial emergency.

- Exempts retirement benefits from collective bargaining.

- Allows the state to reduce the number of job classifications from 2,700 today. About 400 job classes have only one person in them.

- Gives the state more flexibility in hiring.

- Draws a distinction between management and nonmanagement personnel.

- No longer protects employees with the longest state service from layoffs.

- Allows some state services to be contracted out to private industry. Contracted services would be part of the collective bargaining process.

Gov. Gary Locke supports the collective bargaining bill that passed the Senate last Friday and the House on Monday.

Senate passage was marred by an ugly display of partisan parliamentary maneuvering. Republicans, who did not have enough votes to kill the bill, piled on amendments and injected time-consuming procedural motions in a desperate attempt to scuttle the legislation.

They failed when Sen. Karen Fraser, D-Thurston County, got the floor and launched into a rambling, disjointed speech on an unrelated bill.

One lawmaker called it "great political theater."

To state residents it looked like a waste of valuable time in a year when the Legislature has serious budget and social issues to resolve.

State employees can thank Rep. Sandra Romero, D-Olympia, for shepherding the collective bargaining bill through the legislative maze.

It's only right that state workers have the same bargaining rights as other public and private employees.

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The Olympian Copyright 2002

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