Public employee unions: Don’t validate their ‘divide and conquer’ strategy

Re: “Inslee, just say ‘no’ to union proxy war,” (TNT, 3/12).

The News Tribune Editorial Board is absolutely correct that the governor should veto House Bill 1888.

But the language used to make this point is misleading because it appears to blame the Freedom Foundation rather than the lawless actions of state government employee unions for creating the problem.

As you note, the Olympia-based Freedom Foundation is “relentless about collecting public employee contacts” in order to educate them about a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling affirming that mandatory union membership, dues or fees in the public workplace violate the First Amendment.

But the TNT dismisses these important outreach efforts as “spamming workers” and accuses the Freedom Foundation of “exploit(ing) birthdate access for political purposes.”

If the media resent having access to public information challenged, their anger should be directed at unions anxious to hide their misdeeds and at labor-beholden politicians for crafting an unconstitutional compromise.

Demanding the governor veto HB 1888 is entirely appropriate; expressing it in terms that target the wrong party and validate the unions’ divide-and-conquer strategy isn’t.

This story was originally published March 21, 2020 at 7:18 PM with the headline "Public employee unions: Don’t validate their ‘divide and conquer’ strategy."