Labor leaders and lawmakers rubbed shoulders and gave each other pats on the back in a crowded room Monday where Gov. Bob Ferguson signed Senate Bill 5041 into law. The bill allows workers who strike to collect unemployment insurance (UI) benefits, paid for by employers and meant for workers who lose jobs through no fault of their own. See the celebratory event here. 

Before the signing began, people could be heard talking about the turnout: “Folks might be a little excited,” said one attendee. “This is a big deal,” said another. “Can you tell we like this bill?” and, “We need a bigger room,” participants said. 

With SB 5041, unions don’t have to pay workers not to work, even though the member dues they collect each year from each worker could and should build an appropriate strike fund. That is the route lawmakers should have endorsed. Instead, employers will get the bill.

Doing this favor for unions and sticking it to businesses, and thereby harming the majority of workers in the state, could pay off for lawmakers. Union money runs blue. Governing.com reported, “Almost 96 percent of political action committee (PAC) spending by the four largest public-sector unions that could be traced went to Democratic candidates and organizations, according to a new report from the Commonwealth Foundation.”

SEIU 775 has been a significant political player in Washington state, using its ballot fund to support Democratic proposals and candidates. Washington Federation of State Employees bragged in November that the union’s work paid off, defeating initiatives on the ballot and electing labor-friendly representatives “that will vote to fund our contract and fight for the labor movement in Olympia.”

Nineteen of 30 Democratic Senators signed on as cosponsors to the legislation. A former labor-friendly senator, Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Des Moines, was in attendance and given a signing pen along with the primary sponsor of this year’s bill, Sen. Marcus Riccelli, D-Spokane.

Two statements were repeated by all three speakers at the signing, Ferguson, Riccelli and April Sims, president of the Washington State Labor Council. They all claimed that striking is “a last resort.” A last resort to what? A union not getting its way? Finish the sentence, please. Striking is not negotiation, it’s hijacking. 

Second, the three claimed this bill “levels the playing field.” How? It gives one side a huge advantage in negotiation and will likely bring more strike activity or prolonged strikes. It clearly unlevels the playing field. 

This bill should offend all workers. Not only it is hard to understand why lawmakers think an unemployment safety net should be used for people who choose not to work, but giving employers another reason not to do business in Washington state will result in fewer jobs to choose from. More frequent strikes also can bring lower pay or layoffs for some workers and higher prices for things all workers consume. 

Because SB 5041 allows private and public employees to collect unemployment insurance benefits, public employers and the Employment Security Department need to make sure public employees asking to collect benefits know two key things before they harm taxpayers even more than they already do now when denying services to state residents. Public strikes are prohibited. And being paid from the UI fund, if you’ll also eventually be paid by an employer, as happens in teacher strikes, results in an overpayment that can be recouped by the state.