PAGE 8 | March 20, 2015 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Madore floats right to work
resolution in Clark County, Wash.
VANCOUVER, Wash. — Clark
County Commissioner David
Madore has introduced a right-
to-work resolution that would
give county employees the abil-
ity to receive all of the protec-
tions and benefits of their union
without having to pay for it.
The resolution states in part
that “it shall be the policy of
Clark County ... to advocate
against requiring county em-
ployees to join a union as a con-
dition of employment.”
Madore’s proposal follows
efforts last year to qualify local
ballot measures in the Washing-
ton cities of Blaine, Sequim,
Shelton and Chelan. In each of
those cases, city councils re-
fused to permit the ballot meas-
ures to go forward, having been
advised by city attorneys that
the measures violated state law.
The measures were spear-
headed by the anti-union Free-
dom Foundation, based in
Olympia. Union officials be-
lieve the ultra-conservative
group helped Madore draft the
resolution in Clark County.
“It’s a right-wing plan to de-
fund unions to make us go
away,” said Shannon Walker,
president of the Southwest
Washington Labor Council.
Walker said Madore, a multi-
millionaire, is couching the
Clark County resolution as
nothing more than “guidance”
from the Commission.
“Why would the Commis-
sion be ‘guiding’ county agen-
cies to do something that is ille-
gal under state law?” she said.
Walker said the resolution, if
passed, sets up the county for a
costly legal battle.
The Columbian newspaper
reported that Madore has only
introduced the resolution during
the commissioners’ Wednesday
board time meetings, when they
discuss recent and upcoming
business.
At press time, the Labor
Council was calling for union
members to denounce the reso-
lution during the public com-
ment period of the March 17
Commission meeting.
A second resolution drafted
by Madore — and opposed by
labor — calls for opening col-
lective bargaining of county
contracts to the general public.
...Right to work bill filed in Washington
From Page 1
Columbian newspaper called for
a state right-to-work law in a
March 5 editorial entitled “Right
to Work = Freedom.”
Right-to-work bills have been
introduced in Washington and a
number of other states, but
nowhere besides Wisconsin are
they considered likely this year
to get past both legislative
chambers and the governor.
But starting in 2014, some
right-wing groups began en-
couraging cities and counties to
pass local right-to-work ordi-
nances, even though those ordi-
nances are likely to be struck
down by the courts. The Na-
tional Labor Relations Act al-
lows states to enact right-to-
work statutes, but says nothing
about cities or counties.
So far, at least 10 counties in
Kentucky have passed local
right-to-work measures; the
Kentucky AFL-CIO has filed
suit in federal court to strike
them down.
And in Southwest Washing-
ton, Clark County Commis-
sioner David Madore has intro-
duced a right-to-work resolution
that would apply to county em-
ployees (see story on this page).
Right-to-work laws aren’t
what they sound like: They
don’t guarantee the right to a
job. Rather, they bar any union
contract from requiring that
workers pay dues or the equiva-
lent. In other words, “right-to-
work” laws give union-repre-
sented employees the “right to
work” under the terms of a
union contract without paying
any of the union’s costs. The
laws are intended to produce
economically weak unions, and
to create workplace rancor be-
tween dues-payers and shirkers.
Tentative contract could end Steelworkers strike
United Steelworkers (USW) reached a tentative agreement
March 12 with Royal Dutch Shell. If ratified, the contract —a “pat-
tern” for the industry—could end a strike at 14 other oil companies.
Over 6,550 Steelworkers have been on strike since Feb. 1. The ten-
tative four-year deal at Shell includes safety improvements and
raises of 2.5 to 3.5 percent a year, and maintains the current health
care plan cost-sharing ratio. It also addresses concerns about per-
formance of routine maintenance by contractors rather than union
members. Local bargaining continues at oil refineries operated by
BP, Tesoro, LyondellBasell, and Marathon Petroleum Corp.