Union didn’t tell workers of rights

OLYMPIA – Washington’s largest union of state employees failed to tell nonunion workers they had a right to vote on contracts that made union dues mandatory, the state’s Public Employment Relations Commission has ruled.

The case involves 18 Shoreline Community College employees and mirrors complaints of general government workers represented by the Washington Federation of State Employees in several agencies, including the departments of ecology and labor and industries.

At issue are contracts the federation negotiated in September 2004. They were the first to include provisions for pay raises and health benefit costs, and they were the first to require all the workers they covered to pay some kind of fee to the union.

In exchange for the mandatory fees, state negotiators demanded the federation allow nonunion workers to vote on the contract.

In September, a Public Employment Relations Commission examiner ruled that by striking the bargain with the state, the union accepted responsibility for properly notifying nonunion workers about the vote.

The commission’s decision overruled the lower examiner, rejecting an appeal by the federation, which argued that contract votes are internal union matters over which the commission has no jurisdiction.

Though some workers had pressed for a new contract vote, the commission said there was no need for one.

“We’re certainly disappointed in that part of it, although as a practical matter it’s been a long time since that election,” said Sidney Strong, a Seattle attorney representing workers in the case.

Commissioners reasoned that even if the 18 college workers who filed complaints did know about the vote they could not have changed its outcome.

At Shoreline, only 33 out of 222 eligible workers voted. In general government, 6,133 workers voted out of about 30,000 who were eligible.

On Tuesday, the commission ordered the union to stop failing to give bargaining unit employees proper notice of their contract ratification rights. It also ordered the union to read the order into the record at its next statewide convention.

“That’s a public embarrassment, and we never like to be embarrassed,” union spokesman Tim Welch said.

The union has acknowledged it should have done a better job informing workers about the ratification vote. Welch said the union has stepped up its communications with workers about negotiations over the next contract, which will be put to a vote in August or September.