Workers in in Washington state may soon find it easier to go on strike for better pay and benefits, now that a bill allowing them to collect limited unemployment benefits while on strike has passed in the state House of Representatives.
HB 1893 passed late Tuesday night by a 53-44 vote, with five Democrats choosing to side with Republicans against it — Reps. Mike Chapman, Debra Entenman (who is not the heiress to a coffee cake fortune, I checked and it’s spelled differently), Larry Springer, My-Linh Thai, and Amy Walen.
The bill’s chief sponsor, Rep. Beth Doglio of Olympia, said that this legislation is designed to encourage a level playing field between workers, who may very well be striking because they are already not being paid enough to live, and their employers, and ensure that workers don’t have to worry quite as much about how they are going to pay for food or rent during the strike.
Naturally, Republicans and industry groups say that this would hurt businesses by driving up the cost of their unemployment insurance, though that seems highly unlikely.
Via Washington State Standard:
Washington, unlike about 20 other states, did not borrow money from the federal government to keep its unemployment insurance system afloat as joblessness surged during the pandemic, pointed out Joe Kendo, a lobbyist for the Washington State Labor Council.
“There’s no reason to think a less than 1% increase in monthly benefits during a month where there’s a qualifying strike stands to threaten the health of the trust fund,” Kendo said.
Several amendments to the bill were passed, including one that would shift costs to the employers involved in labor suits and another that would limit the amount of time they could actually collect benefits to four weeks. While it’s not a great concession, most strikes don’t last longer than two weeks, so it would cover a lot of people.
Importantly, this would also reduce the ability of anti-labor factions to undermine worker solidarity between striking workers and workers who are not on strike but can’t work because their coworkers are on strike. This was a major issue during the writer’s strike and the SAG strikes last year, with anti-union conservatives pretending to weep for the janitors and stagehands (who, you know, are also unionized and will benefit from the strikes when their own negotiations are up) who couldn’t go to work because of the bad, selfish writers and actors.
This will be particularly huge for non-union workers, who are legally allowed to go on strike but — because they are not represented by a union — don’t have strike funds to help them out financially during a strike.
Hopefully, the Senate version of the bill will advance soon. Chief sponsor state Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Des Moines, says she is going to take a look at some of the amendments, but wants to approve it and get it out as soon as possible. A spokesperson for Gov. Jay Inslee has indicated that he will sign it once it gets to him, so hopefully it will be smooth sailing from here on out.
PREVIOUSLY:
I am SO damned proud of my state and respect the hell out of our governor, Jay Inslee.
Effective Democratic governors are both pragmatic and humane. Governor Inslee strikes that balance expertly.
See, my fellow citizens? This is what happens when you put Democrats in charge. They do things, things that benefit you.