This is the Federation Hotline updated Jan. 16.
Capital Construction Budget takes major step in the Senate
The state Capital Construction Budget (SB 6090) this morning was moved to the full Senate for a vote of all senators. That could come as early as Wednesday (Jan. 17). The House version, 2SHB 1075, is awaiting a vote of the full House. What a difference a new Senate majority makes!
Campus police arbitration bill boosted
AFSCME Council 28 (WFSE)-initiated bill (HB 1559) to give state college and university campus police binding arbitration got a good reception in the House Appropriations Committee Monday (Jan. 15).
The bill makes sense because it would level the playing field for these law enforcement officers, AFSCME Council 28 (WFSE) Lobbyist Matt Zuvich told the committee.
“Every other fully commissioned police force enjoys interest arbitration as a sacrifice for (no) right to strike,” Zuvich said.
A separate bargaining table would allow these campus police officers to deal with their unique safety, training and equipment needs, Zuvich said.
“These are fully commissioned police officers who work in conjunction with their police forces in their local communities and they have very specific bargaining needs that we hope to see addressed through a separate table.”
Priority privacy bill set for hearing Friday
Senate Bill 6079, the bill make state employee dates of birth non-disclosable to protect your privacy, will have a public hearing Friday (Jan. 19) in the Senate State Government Committee. Sen. Patty Kuderer of the 48th Dist. is the prime sponsor.
Also:
- Another AFSCME Council 28 (WFSE) priority bill, 2SHB 1541, addressing prescription drug cost transparency, has been moved to the full House for a final vote.
- The priority Affordable House Bill (HB 2583) has been moved to the House Judiciary Committee. So at this point there is no hearing on that bill this week. The Senate version (SB 6400) is in the Senate Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee.
On the passing of former Gov. John Spellman
John Spellman, the former King County executive who won election for one term as governor from 1981 to 1985, died Monday. He was 91.
Gov. Jay Inlsee lauded Spellman for taking office shortly before the Reagan-era recession and his efforts to protect Puget Sound.
http://www.theolympian.com/news/politics-government/article194881614.html
But there’s always a “rest of the story.”
Spellman played a significant role in the lives of WFSE members – and not for the better.
Because of his actions against us, we did in the 1980s what we are doing now against the likes of the Freedom Foundation and special interests pushing for the Janus case in the United States Supreme Court.
Spellman, this state’s last Republican governor, was considered a moderate. But with “Reagan Revolution” majorities in the state House and Senate, he often got caught on the wrong side of history.
He alienated his Republican colleagues in the Legislature by calling them “troglodytes.”
And he angered the AFSCME Council 28 (WFSE) and most unions by at best going along with the then-new anti-union strategy of those lawmakers.
He allowed to go into law without his signature legislation radically revamping the civil service and collective bargaining rights of state ferry system workers, spurring not one but two wildcat strikes during the 1981 legislative session.
And in an eerie preview of our current fights in 2018 against so-called “right-to-work” laws and the Janus case now before the United States Supreme Court, Spellman in 1982 signed a law that stripped WFSE members and state employees of most key civil service rights.
So, thanks to Gov. Spellman, we actually know what it’s like to lose those rights if “right-to-work” comes and the Supreme Court repeals our bargaining rights in the Janus case. (We should note that WFSE know-how won a “poison pill” provision in that 1982 anti-union law that delayed implementation of some provisions in the hopes that a later Legislature would restore the rights.)
But then as now, AFSCME Council 28 (WFSE) members used their power and know-how to win the day -- as we’re doing in 2018 with our 100% Union effort.
When a political and economic backlash brought Democratic majorities in 1983, Spellman became the troglodyte, twice vetoing legislation to restore our civil service rights.
Fed up, WFSE members in 1984 did something they’d never done before: They got involved in the governor’s race. They endorsed Pierce County Executive Booth Gardner, who went on to oust Spellman. And in 1985, Gardner did what Spellman wouldn’t: He signed the law (SHB 116) restoring our civil service rights.
We take nothing from the tributes and mean no disrespect for former Gov. Spellman. But his story from nearly 40 years ago shows that when we stand together to defend our rights, we win, then and now. That’s what the 100% Union campaign in 2018 is all about.
That’s it for now.
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