Editorials: State employee union’s lawsuit unacceptably harms vaccine push – By The Seattle Times editorial board (Seattle Times) / Sept 2 2021
Gov. Jay Inslee’s decision to require more than 800,000 state workers, educators and medical professionals to get vaccinations by Oct. 18 or lose their jobs was necessary to defeat this deadly pandemic. But the state employee union has other ideas, more interested in self-dealing than public health.
The Washington Federation of State Employees is challenging the mandate in court, seeking a stay to bargain whether state employees have to choose vaccinations or their jobs. That’s right, bargain over saving lives, protecting children unable to get vaccinated and a return to some semblance of a normal life.
Although labor has scored several memorable wins with state government lately, leaders of the Washington Federation of State Employees are now overplaying their favorable hand. Trying to make public health a bargaining chip crosses a crass, potentially deadly line.
