Washington state's labor leaders don't get it

THE revolt of organized labor within the state Democratic Party is a kamikaze effort that works against the interests of the Democratic Party and the workers of Washington.

In becoming our state's dominant party, the Democrats have had to accommodate business — not totally, but substantially. Gov. Gary Locke — now President Obama's secretary of commerce (not labor) — had a commission on competitiveness. Gov. Chris Gregoire calls herself the CEO of Washington.

This is what a successful 21st-century political party has to do. It can be the pro-labor party, which the Democrats still are, but it has to adopt policies that allow employers here to compete with other states, and with the world, and win.

The Washington State Labor Council and its allies don't get this. They have their heads in the world of John L. Lewis and Dave Beck, and it is to the peril of the workers they represent.

We saw the same attitude in the International Association of Machinists' negotiation with Boeing. The union made its demands, and it lost an airplane assembly line to a nonunion plant in South Carolina. It then held a news conference to announce that the loss was not its fault.

In the face of this disaster, and of the deepest recession in more than 25 years, the Labor Council proposes to raise the cost of running a company in Washington.

Take, for example, unemployment insurance. Of all the states, Washington has the fifth-highest benefit, and the highest of any industrial state outside the Northeast. The Labor Council proposes to raise it.

Of all the states, Washington has the fourth-highest percentage of workers represented by unions. The Labor Council demands a gag rule on employers to make it easier to organize unions in Washington than in any other state.

Organized labor is really, really angry that Democrats have not given it these things.

Party lawmakers want to get re-elected. That's the reason.