They are Washington’s state employees -- the people who treat our injuries, protect our homes and property, build and repair our roads, maintain our parks, protect our environment, care for our elderly and disabled, and provide countless other vital services.

With their historic first master contracts likely to be ratified by the 2005 State Legislature, state employees are getting the long-overdue cost-of-living raises, strengthened health benefits and other job protections they deserve. But many of them are also getting an education for the first time about the benefits -- and responsibilities -- of being union members.

After the 2002 passage of the Civil Service Reform Act, which granted state employees full collective bargaining rights, a number of state agencies and departments immediately organized unions. Many of these employees became union members for the first time and have never experienced workplace democracy in action.

You see, in unions you get to vote on who represents you at the bargaining table, vote on what you bargain for, vote on who your elected leaders and shop stewards are, you vote on all sorts of things. Just like in public elections, you are free to be as active -- or inactive -- as you like, and free to advocate your position. After all, you are the union.

And just like in other elections, you sometimes find yourself in the minority, but you are still expected to respect the process and abide by the results.

In recent weeks, some state employees -- egged on by a right-wing anti-labor foundation that’s been spamming them at their work e-mail addresses -- have balked at the “union security” clauses in their contracts.  Employees in a few state offices are suddenly so upset about these clauses that some have even filed for new elections to decide whether to keep the union.

What’s union security?  Those of us who have been a part of the labor movement all our lives understand it is the difference between having a strong and effective union, and having a weak association with little bargaining power.

Union security is contractual language designed to ensure the union’s continued survival.  If agreed upon by the workers and the employer, these clauses say that every worker covered under the contract must pay for union representation.  In other words, nobody gets a free ride.  Everyone that enjoys the benefits of the union contract -- higher wages, better benefits, job security, grievance procedures, etc. -- must pay their fair share of the costs of negotiating, enforcing and maintaining that contract.

People who organize new unions routinely vote to include these clauses in their very first contracts because they know that without union security, their union will be weak at the bargaining table.

People who oppose unions know this, too. That’s why they seek to impose so-called “right-to-work” laws -- also known as “right-to-shirk” laws -- that make union security clauses illegal.

Union security clauses are found in almost every collective bargaining contract in Washington state.  Why?  Because people don’t like the idea of freeloading co-workers ducking their responsibility to pay their share for representation while still getting all the benefits.  That’s why members demand union security at the bargaining table.

Some people may call this “compulsory unionism.”  I call it democracy.

States with right-to-shirk laws impose the heavy hand of government into collective bargaining between workers and their employers by denying them the freedom to negotiate. Thankfully, Washington has a long, proud labor history and a culture of protecting the working class from abuse by employers and corporate interests. That’s why we don’t have right-to-shirk laws, and that’s why union members here consistently vote for union security.