Union lobbyists testifying against SB 5237 said that it would create “constant and perpetual conflict” for government unions in Washington.

One could be forgiven for assuming that the legislation must be pretty significant to elicit such strong protestations from organized labor.

But SB 5237, introduced by Sen. Mike Hewitt (R-Walla Walla), is not a right-to-work law. In fact, it does nothing at all to limit public employees’ collective bargaining “rights.” On the contrary, the bill would simply give employees seeking to decertify or change unions a bit more time to file the appropriate paperwork.

Though unions will often tout their democratic bona fides, public employees in Washington have very little control over their workplace representation.

As I pointed out in my testimony in support of the bill, unions can be certified either through a Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) administered secret ballot election or through the cross-check process, whereby union organizers confront employees individually about signing union cards.

After being initially certified to represent a bargaining unit, unions must never again seek the approval of the public employees they represent. Many—and perhaps most—government employees in Washington have never had the opportunity to vote on their union representative but have simply inherited a unionized workplace based on the decisions made by their predecessors years or even decades earlier.

If employees wish to switch to a different union or no longer be union-represented, then they must complete a difficult decertification process. If 30 percent of the employees in a bargaining unit sign a petition, PERC will hold an election in which the bargaining unit will determine whether to change unions or decertify.

But employees can only file their decertification paperwork during a 30-day window two months prior to the expiration of their collective bargaining agreement. If employees miss the window or if the petition runs into a technical snag and needs correction, they must wait years before getting another opportunity. When a vote is held, however, workers typically vote to change unions or decertify.

SB 5237 would give employees an extra 60 days on the front end of the existing window, allowing employees a 90-day window to file their paperwork and providing enough time for mistakes to be corrected.

Though an incredibly modest change (Oregon places no arbitrary restrictions on when employees can file), union lobbyists responded with over-the-top rhetoric.

In testimony before the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee, the lobbyist for the American Federation of Teachers claimed the bill would “add more to the conflict and chaos around this type of process.”

Not to be outdone, Dennis Eagle of the Washington Federation of State Employees stated the legislation would cause “chaos and catastrophe” for government unions. He continued:

“The current decertification window guarantees workers an opportunity to change their mind but it also allows the majority to govern. By creating constant and perpetual chaos, you deny the ability of the majority to govern themselves.”

But SB 5237 does nothing to change how elections would be conducted. The majority would still rule. It simply gives workers more time to file their paperwork. A 90-day filing window certainly isn’t catastrophic for employees.

Watch the TVW footage from the committee hearing below:

When it came time to vote on whether to pass the bill out of committee, Democrats balked.

Sen. Bob Hasegawa (D-Seattle), a longtime Teamsters official, dismissed the need for the legislation, saying:

“Life has deadlines. There is a standard window of opportunity to file a petition to decertify. The only reason that I heard is that—presented during the hearing on the bill was that, well, what if you miss the deadline? ‘This gives us a little extra time,’ you know, that’s a pretty slim reason to actually expand a window like that.”

In similar comments, Sen. Steve Conway (D-Tacoma) accused the union workers supporting the legislation of complaining:

“I just haven’t seen an enormous outpouring of concern around these issues. You know, we have one or two people come up and complain and it seems like we’re passing a bill to change a practice that’s been rooted in our labor practices for decades.”

It’s hard to take Conway’s comments too seriously, given that he has introduced legislation this session that only one person – a state bureaucrat – testified on.

Committee Chair Sen. Michael Baumgartner (R-Spokane) pushed back against his Democratic colleagues, stating that, “…moving from 30 days to 90 days is reasonable for these (union) members to express their opinion on what can sometimes be complex issues.”

The bill passed out of committee on a party-line vote.

Watch the video from the vote on SB 5237 below: