Labor's anti-employer gag rule bill continues to get panned by the state's editorial pages. Like the Seattle PI, which a couple weeks ago called the bill "pointless" and a waste of time, today's Seattle Times editorial page concludes it's a "one-sided" "bad idea" that should be rejected.
Notably, the Times editorial cuts through the rhetoric about supposed workplace forced listening on political and religious opinions and exposes the real purpose of the bill: to tilt a labor organizing campaign in the union's favor by prohibiting the employer's effective communication of its position on unionizing to its employees. This right, of course, is both allowed and protected by federal labor law, and scrupulously monitored by the National Labor Relations Board to ensure employer communications during a campaign are not coercive.
The editorial explores this federal pre-emption issue but also focuses on the bill's First Amendment issue -- placing content-based restrictions on employer speech the state disfavors. But the Times's conclusion is the most salient: "The Legislature should scrap this bill and focus on balancing the budget."
Indeed, with the challenges this Legislature faces, there is no time to waste on a legally dubious, politically charged, one-sided attack on the long-held rights of Washington job providers.
