As expected, no politicians are actively opposing I-695 since the landslide November 2nd. Yeah Ron "Tax-to-the-max" Simms is whining, but even he's leary of voter backlash. So, in steps this transit drivers union??? Well, its obvious that they're going to be the political workhorse for the politicians who want to keep their fingernails clean. Are we the people going to allow this?

Also, I reacon if the R's would have the stones to draft bills that echo I-695 and force D's to vote against them and Gary Locke to veto them, we would un-Locke Washington and regain control of both houses of the legislature.

-- Tod Karlson (TodKarlson@aol.com), November 23, 1999

Answers

WA is too liberal to support a union busting initiative, but it would be interesting to see the response... we would be sinking to their level by seeking to extract revenge.

The bill idea is excellent! It would totallt deflate the constitutionallity issues, and force the Democrats to show they true colors and contempt for the will of the people.

-- Amanda T. Culebra, M.D., PhD (AmandaSez@aol.com), November 23, 1999.

Please excuse the typos, I was in a hurry and didn't look before I hit "Submit".

-- Amanda T. Culebra, MD, PhD (AmandaSez@aol.com), November 23, 1999.

You would not be able to single out one Union and have it hold up in court. Because of National Labor Laws, you can't outlaw them all either. You could require all Unions to be open shops, membership voluntary. I doubt it would hurt them in the short term, but they would probably die a slow and agonizing death in the long run.

-- Marsha (acorn_nut@hotmail.com), November 23, 1999.

We should have an initiative to outlaw all public employees from being unionized. Public service should be a sacrifice, not a free ride on the backs of taxpayers. Did you know Bellingham city employees get their health insurance fully paid for themselves and their families? And its gold plated too. Enough of this.

-- (Samizdat1@home.com), November 23, 1999.

If fact, let's make Washington a "RIGHT TO WORK" State since it seems like the unions were ALL against I-695. And I like the idea of disallowing public employee unions. v/r, Tod

-- Tod Karlson (TodKarlson@aol.com), November 23, 1999.

"WA is too liberal to support a union busting initiative, " Actually, Amanda, you are partly right. Seattle is quite liberal, and there is a tradition for this that goes back to before the Seattle General Strike with the International Workers of the World. The Wobblies had enormous power within the Seattle area, but when they tried to spread their power to other areas were met with resistance, often violent resistance. There were Wobbly massacres and lynchings in Everett and Grays Harbor. But it would be interesting to try to implement section 14B of the Taft-Hartley Act here, outlawing closed union shops.

-- Craig Carson (craigcar@crosswinds.net), November 23, 1999.

Oh, God, would I love to see unions become open-house.

My wife works in EMS, and her company calls for mandatory Teamster membership. So the deal is, she gets to give a portion of her paycheck to Jimmy Hoffa Jr. In return, the union can represent her by forcing her to sign a contract that calls for a lower wage than before. They can also assign shop stewards to receive more money for less work, use her money and membership to support political issues she is strongly against, and threaten her job as easily as the company itself.

Is this a union? Or is it a company that acts as a "beard" for management, allowing them to put the pressure on labor without getting the suits in legal trouble? It makes sense; transit seems to be performing the same service for the politicians.

-- Steven B. (sistrum@earthlink.net), November 23, 1999.