Collective bargaining ends to mixed reviews among unions

As this year's round of negotiations for state workers unions wraps up, some union leaders are wondering whether the collective bargaining system is living up to its promise.

After the Legislature approved the Personnel Reform Act in 2002, unions were able to negotiate with the governor for pay and benefits for the first time in 2004.

In that round and the two that have followed, two governors have established a pattern of offering the same pay raises to all unions. And since the law requires the unions to negotiate as a group for health care benefits, the result has been nearly uniform pay deals for all workers.

"This idea of having the same wage increase for every bargaining unit is not collective bargaining," Leonard Smith of Teamsters Local 117 said.

The Teamsters represent 6,400 workers inside state prisons. They've managed to squeeze out deals slightly better than other unions, in 2006 by voting down one proposal just before the Oct. 1 deadline to turn in contracts to the state budget office. They came back to the table in a rush and worked out an agreement.

This year the Teamsters fought the Oct. 1 deadline again, Smith said, but ultimately resolved to vote on Gov. Christine Gregoire's final offer, to which the union's bargaining team did not agree.

"You can't strike, and you can't go past Oct. 1, that's it," Smith said. "We pushed it as far as we can."

The Teamsters are voting on a contract with 2 percent pay raises, starting Sept. 1 next year and in 2010. That's the precedent set by the Washington Federation of State Employees earlier this month.