The Inslee administration has certainly shown its preference for negotiating in secret, from union contracts, to gas tax schemes, to a death penalty moratorium. So it shouldn’t come as any surprise that Jay and his team were already working behind the scenes with some of his campaign contributors who were expecting to lose in the Supreme Court case Harris v. Quinn decided yesterday.
Unfortunately for Jay, his union supporters at SEIU 775NW forgot that when you’re keeping a secret you are not supposed to tell the Seattle Times that “SEIU has been ‘working closely’ with the offices of (Attorney General Bob) Ferguson and Gov. Jay Inslee in anticipation of the ruling, in case there are ‘additional steps’ the state needs to take ‘so that the home-care program continues to be strong.’ ”
Of course, when the SEIU healthcare spokesman talks about keeping the “home-care program” strong, he really means keeping the “SEIU 775 capable of continuing to write big checks to Washington State Democrats,” like Ferguson and Inslee, “by forcing people to give us excessive union dues.”
Consider these comments from someone currently paying the SEIU dues which the Supreme Court just ruled unconstitutional:
“Brad Boardman, of Everett, said he’s OK with the union charging for what it costs to represent him and other workers in contract talks. ‘But they collect much more than that, and they use that money to further their agenda. I don’t happen to agree with the liberal agenda,’ he said.”
The threat to SEIU 775NW of losing the ability to require workers to pay them is clear. As the Times reported, “If Monday’s precedent were to allow SEIU members here to opt out of paying dues, it could threaten the financial underpinnings of the union, which has become a powerful force in state politics, usually aligned with Democrats.”
And that’s something Jay Inslee doesn’t want to see happen, hence the secret negotiations with SEIU Healthcare on what to do next.
