Letter: Call for ‘transparency’ is an attack on unions

Matt Beaton and Jason Mercier’s opinion about transparency in Franklin County is only about eliminating collective bargaining. In addition to the “strong mandate” that Beaton cites, he fails to mention the act also exempts some meetings from the public to include collective bargaining sessions. What Beaton’s like-minded officials in Lincoln County, Tukwila and Pullman did instead was pass a mandate against the wishes of their employees.

The Public Employment Relations Commission governs collective bargaining in Washington state. It ruled in Lincoln County that opening collective bargaining to the public is a ground rule. Instituting a ground rule without both parties’ agreement is an unfair labor practice. If both parties in Franklin County agree to open the meeting, then fine. That is not the case in Tukwila and Lincoln County.

It is condescending to public employees to insinuate that their unions are misrepresenting them, wasting their money and keeping them in the dark, and therefor this mandate would benefit the employees. If true transparency were the goal, Beaton and Mercier would be asking for executive sessions to be open as well. A quick web trip to Mercier’s Washington Policy Center shows this group is all about eliminating unions and promoting “right to work” instead of transparency.

This story was originally published November 16, 2017 at 4:18 PM with the headline "Letter: Call for ‘transparency’ is an attack on unions."