Given budget constraints, many Washington State Labor Council affiliates focused on legislative proposals with no price tag, including expanding collective bargaining rights to more workers. Some proved successful, but one was derailed after a Republican Senator’s troubling declaration that a promise was made to some prominent private charitable foundations not to allow these workers to form unions.

First, the legislative victories:

Symphony Musicians -- SB 5046, sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-Seattle), places symphony musicians under the Public Employment Relations Commission’s jurisdiction for purposes of collective bargaining. Musicians in most orchestras, those grossing less than $1 million a year, don’t get basic rights through the National Labor Relations Act. Under SB 5046, they can now seek bargaining rights through the state’s PERC. It passed the Senate 30-17 (see Senate Vote #3) and the House 60-36 (see House Vote #6), and was signed into law by Gov. Chris Gregoire. Rep. Ross Hunter (D-Medina) sponsored the House version, HB 3003.

Interpreters -- Sen. Chris Marr’s (D-Spokane) SB 6726, makes the governor the employer of record for interpreters contracted by the Department of Social and Health Services, which grants them the right to form unions.

"Interpreters’ wages have been going down, not just in the short-term because of a crisis, but systematically over the years," testified Dennis Eagle of the Washington Federation of State Employees, AFSCME Council 28. "As independent contractors, the interpreters are powerless to do anything about this."

Not anymore. SB 6726 passed the Senate 29-19 (see Senate Vote #4) and the House 58-40 (see House Vote #7) and was signed by Gov. Gregoire. Now, if they choose, these interpreters can form a union to try to improve their wages, benefits and working conditions. That’s good news not just for the interpreters, but also for their clients and for the continuity of effective social services in our state.

Higher education employees -- HB 1560, sponsored by Rep. Steve Conway (D-Tacoma), makes important changes to protect the rights of employees engaged in multi-employer bargaining at four-year colleges. It passed largely on party lines, 64-33 in the House and 33-15 in the Senate, with most Republicans reflexively opposing anything supported by unions that has "bargaining" in the title.

HB 1329, sponsored by Rep. Eric Pettigrew (D-Seattle), would have allowed child care center directors and workers to bargain collectively with the state over subsidy rates and professional development.

Having passed the House 62-35 and the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee, the bill was sailing along fine until it landed in Senate Ways and Means, where it died.

At a Feb. 27 hearing, Sen. Cheryl Pflug (R-Maple Valley) reminded her fellow senators that when she and other legislators negotiated the Department of Early Learning’s role in the formation of a public-private partnership called Thrive By Five, they made an agreement "that we would not unionize child care centers."

"Not doing this bill was the bright-line promise that we made to the Paul Allen Foundation, The Boeing Company and the McCaw family that contributed the funding for this," Pflug said. "We might want to remember that when we make a commitment to somebody that gives us $70 million, we might want to keep it."

That’s right. Sen. Pflug openly reported that a deal was made to accept millions of dollars from private foundations for a public-private partnership with the stipulation that the State Legislature would not allow child care workers to form unions.

Imagine how quickly the cops would be called if a union contributed to a public-private partnership with the stipulation that a law must be passed allowing workers to unionize.