Posts tagged Public Employment Relations Commission
More Democratic legislative staff seek to unionize in Washington
March 30, 2026 // A 2022 law cleared the way for partisan legislative staff to unionize starting in 2024 and to negotiate workplace terms and conditions. Legislative assistants, policy analysts and communications staff in the House Democratic Caucus, legislative assistants in the Senate Democratic Caucus and legislative assistants for Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate did so. Each has since negotiated their first collective bargaining agreements. Washington Public Employees Association represents the Democratic employee bargaining units and the Legislative Professionals Association represents the Republican staff unions. Democratic policy and communications staff are looking to be part of the same bargaining unit as legislative assistants in the Senate Democratic Caucus.
NFIB WASHINGTON STATE: No Small Business Relief in Millionaire Tax Bill
January 26, 2026 // NFIB also opposed HB 2471 and SB 6117, which would allow unionizing small businesses under the state’s Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) through card check (also called cross check). We also signed in opposed to HB 2409 and SB 6045, which would allow unionizing farm workers through that same process and agency.
Washington Democrats propose collective bargaining for farmworkers
January 21, 2026 // Washington Farm Bureau director of government relations Breanne Elsey told the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee on Jan. 19 that farmworkers are excluded from the federal law for good reasons. Untimely labor disputes would bankrupt farms, she said. “Striking during harvest could threaten the small window of time farmers have to produce their income for the entire year,” she said. SB 6617 would apply to housekeepers and employees of some small businesses, as well as farmworkers. Senate Bill 6045 and House Bill 2409 are confined to collective-bargaining rights for just farmworkers. Those bills are scheduled for initial hearings Jan. 20.
City of Everett Employee Slams AFSCME Union and City With Labor Board Complaints for Illegal Dues Seizures From Paycheck
May 6, 2025 // “I exercised my constitutional right to stop my hard-earned money from going to the AFSCME union or its officials, but neither my employer nor the union is respecting my freedom” commented Davidsen. “I’ve made it clear that I don’t support the AFSCME union. Union bosses shouldn’t get to hold onto my money simply because my managers violated the law by continuing to take it after I demanded a stop.”
Republican legislative staff move first to unionize under new WA law
May 3, 2024 // Legislative assistants for GOP members of the state House and Senate want the recently formed Legislative Professionals Association to represent them. Petitions on behalf of workers in each chamber were filed with the Public Employment Relations Commission, which will certify the bargaining unit and conduct an election. Legislative assistants want to ensure their concerns are heard in a workplace where they are in the minority, Lund said. The workers don’t want to risk living with a contract they disagree with and have no say in negotiating. Nor do they want to be pulled into a union and see their dues funneled outside the state to a national group.
WASHINGTON DEMOCRATS ADVANCE BILL TO PERMIT ELECTRONIC UNION ORGANIZING
February 26, 2024 // The real problem with SB 6060 is that it doesn’t go far enough. The state agency administering Washington’s collective bargaining laws for public employees — the Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) — processes three kinds of representation petitions: (1) petitions filed by unions seeking to represent groups of non-union employees; (2) petitions filed by unions seeking to supplant an incumbent union; and, (3) petitions filed by employees seeking to decertify the union currently representing them. To proceed, state law requires that each of these three petition types be supported by signatures from at least 30 percent of the affected employees. Under SB 6060, unions could use electronic signatures in their efforts to unionize new groups of employees while those seeking to change unions or remove an unwanted union would still have to gather John Hancocks the old-fashioned way. But if the goal is to “empower” public employees to choose whatever union representation they wish, shouldn’t electronic signatures be permitted across the board?