Gregoire Pays Off Union For Election Victory
Saturday, August 13th, 2005It looks as though Gov. Christine Gregoire of Washington has found a way to repay a statewide government employees union for their help in getting her elected:
Government workers in the state of Washington are being hit with a tough choice — if they want to keep their jobs, they have to join the union or pay a hefty union fee.
“I don’t like being forced. I don’t like being told either join the union or I lose my job,” said state employee Sharon Mathews.
The Personnel Reform Act passed in 2002 gives managers more flexibility in hiring, firing and outsourcing. It also allowed the workers union to bargain directly with the governor on provisions of their contracts. After taking office this year, Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire gave state workers a raise and then gave the union the power to have any worker fired who didn’t either join or fork over a representation fee of up to $45 per month.
So now all state employees are forced to pay the union either membership dues or a monthly representation fee. If they don’t want to, they will lose their job.
In her inaugural speech given on January 12, 2005, Gov. Gregoire said this:
I will ask a lot of state employees because I intend to pay them fairly, and because I respect and admire them.
Question: How does forcing state employees to fork over a portion of their hard-earned paycheck to union thugs show respect or admiration? Answer: It doesn’t. Rather, it shows how far she is willing to go to provide money to the special interests that got her elected.
Question: How does raising state employee’s salaries, and then forcing them to pay union dues or representation fees which probably negate or come close to negating this raise show your intentions to pay them fairly? Answer: It doesn’t. It shows your utter disdain for the intellect of the people who work for the State of Washington.
I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised after the way the election was run and managed.
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August 14th, 2005 at 5:57 pm
I knew that there was a controversy about the results of the Washington gubernatorial race, but I hadn’t been following this situation. So the Democrat was finally declared the winner?
Darn it… Maybe they’ll get her out next time.