Judge’s Ruling Blow To Deputy Prosecutors About 1,000 County Employees Scheduled To Vote On Authorizing Union To Call A Strike

FOR THE RECORD: 11-12-96 The state Public Employees Regulations Commission may appeal a judge’s ruling that deputy prosecutors don’t have collective bargaining rights and PERC has no authority over labor disputes involving court employees. A story on Nov. 5 incorrectly stated that a union may appeal the decision.

Spokane County deputy prosecutors don’t have collective bargaining rights and can be fired at will, a Lincoln County Superior Court judge ruled Monday.

Judge Philip Borst also ruled that Spokane County commissioners cannot negotiate working conditions for District Court employees, and that the state Public Employees Relations Commission has no authority over courts.

Borst’s decision is a major blow to deputy prosecutors and the Washington State Council of County and City Employees, who are embroiled in a labor dispute with Prosecutor Jim Sweetser and District Court judges.

Labor union president Chris Dugovich plans to appeal the decision.

Meanwhile, about 1,000 county employees are scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to authorize union officials to call a strike. The employees are working without a contract.

The court decision means labor strife in the county “will probably get worse,” said Dugovich. “Now I expect Jim Sweetser to hide behind the ruling, continue to threaten (his deputies’) employment and ignore their rights.”

Spokane union representative Bill Keenan said his executive board would meet tonight to discuss the ruling.

The union and its members donated heavily to Sweetser’s 1994 campaign.

The union claims Sweetser promised to end his predecessor’s practice of firing deputies without “just cause.”

Sweetser has denied making the promise, contending state law prohibits him from giving that protection.

Shortly after he was elected, Sweetser angered the union by firing some employees and demoting others. He claimed he had that right because they are political appointees who work at the will of their boss - a claim bolstered by the judge’s ruling Monday.

In recent months, seven union locals negotiated a single contract to cover nearly all county employees. It included protection from being fired without just cause.

Sweetser obtained a restraining order preventing county commissioners from signing a contract for his workers.

District Court judges joined Sweetser’s legal action, saying commissioners have no authority to set working conditions in their courtrooms. Such an arrangement, they said, would violate the constitutional separation of the three branches of government.

Borst agreed.

“It would be pretty hard to be independent” if judges gave control of their employees to another branch of government, the judge said in court Monday.

The decision that the Public Employees Relations Commission has no authority over the courts means employees must file unfair labor complaints to higher courts, rather than the state agency.

“It’s the first time that you’ve had an administrative body try to claim authority over the courts and be challenged,” said attorney Frank Conklin, who represented the judges.

, DataTimes