A too-generous state

The collective-bargaining law passed by the Legislature in 2002 has led to state-employee pay raises that, as The Seattle Times reported Sunday, are the most generous in years. Taxpayers cannot know whether this generosity is a one-time thing or a permanent condition, but it should concern them.

The system for setting state-employee pay has a certain circularity. Except at the universities, state-employee unions bargain with appointees of the governor. The unions mostly support Democrats. The governor is a Democrat. Both houses of the Legislature are majority Democrat.

When the two sides agree on a labor contract, it goes into the governor's budget. The legislators can remove it, but if they leave it there, they don't have to vote on it specifically. It would be better if they did. Scrutiny would provide a check on the generosity of the state.

In the state's contracts, the basic wage increase for this fiscal year averages 3.2 percent, and that is acceptable. But there are also increases in pay grades for every employee, including the creation of a new pay grade for employees at the top. There is a one-time cash payment to union employees of money the state saved on health insurance. For some employees, particularly nurses and prison employees, there are large, extra raises, sometimes more than 20 percent, to bring them closer to rates in the private market.

If the state is having problems recruiting, some of this may be justified. But state employees are not supposed to be making market wages. They often have more holidays, better pensions and better medical benefits. State employees pay only 12 percent of their health-insurance premiums, far below the average in the private sector.

This year's raises are a done deal. But next year, with the pressure off and employees happy, the Legislature should inject some scrutiny into the collective-bargaining law. For a start, it should require a separate vote on all contracts. And it should start increasing the percentage of health-insurance premiums paid by employees.