April 4, 2002

Yes! Gov. Locke fixes and signs Faculty CB bill

In an historic move that climaxes a 30 year campaign, Governor Locke today signed SHB 2403 giving faculty at the state's 4-year colleges and universities the right to unionize and engage in collective bargaining. Using his power of partial veto, he removed sections 2 and 5 from the bill. The removed sections contained the poison pill amendment that would have forced faculties to abolish their faculty senates if they wished to engage in collective bargaining. The now signed bill is similar to the new law that permits collective bargaining for TAs and RAs.

VICTORY comes after three decades of work by AAUP and the Faculty Senate and there are many people who deserve our thanks and gratitude. First among them are Dick Ludwig and Wendy Rader-Kanofalski who have spent the past six months writing, negotiating, and lobbying the bill. Dick, representing the Faculty Senate, and Wendy representing the faculty unions at Eastern and Central, forged the complicated coalition of faculty senates and administrations of the six campuses and were in Olympia almost constantly during the session, baby-sitting the bill from one committee to another and through its final complicated passage into law.

Brad Holt and Mary Coney, chairs of the Faculty Senate this year and last, also played critical roles. They negotiated the breakthrough agreement with President McCormick last year and Brad worked continuously behind the scenes as the bill was written and lobbied. Secretary of the Faculty Lea Vaughn, Deputy Legislative Rep Jan Sjavik, and Senate Vice Chair, Sandy Silberstein also deserve congratulations.

None of this would have been possible without President McCormick. His decision to work with the Senate on the bill reversed 30 years of administration opposition to enabling legislation. It was a courageous and difficult move. It is not often that AAUP finds reason to applaud the central administration. This is one of those happy occasions. President McCormick has demonstrated a new kind of leadership in the past few years. His willingness to work with the Faculty Senate on this and other matters shows a respect for the principles of shared governance that is refreshing and admirable.

FRIENDS IN THE LEGISLATURE worked miracles to get this bill passed. In the House, Representatives Phyllis Kenney and Steve Conway sponsored the bill and never backed off. They were joined by all of their fellow democrats and some courageous Republicans, notably Tom Campbell and Fred Jarrett. Speaker Frank Chopp took charge of the final maneuvers that ensured passage.

The Senate was where the battle was the toughest. Senators Jeanne Kohl-Welles and Margarita Prentice and were absolutely brilliant, working the bill at every step and saving it after the McDonald amendment passed. Lisa Brown, Paul Shinn, Darlene Fairley, Ken Jacobsen, Adam Kline, Karen Keiser, and Erik Poulsen head a long list of other Democrats who also deserve thanks. Republicans Shirley Winsley, Don Carlson, and Pam Roach supported the McDonald amendment that almost wrecked the bill, but their willingness to vote for the bill on final passage was critical to ultimate outcome.

To all of these legislators and to Governor Locke we say thank you. In this year of nightmare budgets, there has not been much to cheer. But this session will be remembered as the one that finally fixed the flaw in Washington state law that for so many years has left faculty and teaching assistants without the customary rights enjoyed by other employees.

Next year maybe the legislature will finish the job and extend collective bargaining rights to librarians and professional staff.