Source: By ADAM WILSON, THE OLYMPIAN, March 27, 2006
The state and the Washington Federation of State Employees are going to the mat over contracting out government jobs, the first wrestling matches over how the state will use its new authority to go to the private sector. The largest state worker union has filed five unfair labor practice complaints and five appeals of proposed contracting out rules, hoping to restrain the state’s ability to go to the private sector for contracted workers. ..... The Personnel System Reform Act of 2002 was intended by legislators to make three major changes to state employment. It allowed unions to bargain for wages and pay, the first contracts for which went into effect in July. It also did away with the old Civil Service rules and gave agency managers more decision-making power The final piece — which business interests have been skeptical would ever be used — allows state agencies to contract with private companies to do their work.
