Sweetser Warns Employees They’ll Be Fired If They Strike

Spokane County Prosecutor Jim Sweetser warned his employees Tuesday they’ll be fired if they join county co-workers in a strike.

“Participation in a strike, work-stoppage or slowdown both violates the law and betrays the trust vested in this office,” Sweetser wrote in his letter.

Participating in a strike or work slow-down “constitutes grounds for immediate, irrevocable termination of employment,” he wrote.

About 1,000 county workers are scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to authorize their union representatives to call a strike, if necessary.

At issue is whether Sweetser’s employees, and workers in District Court, should be part of a master contract for nearly all county workers.

Sweetser and the judges contend that as elected officials, they should negotiate separate contracts for their workers.

In addition, Sweetser contends - and a Lincoln County judge agreed Monday - that deputy prosecutors don’t have collective bargaining rights.

Sweetser referred calls to Martin Muench, a deputy prosecutor who represents him on labor matters.

The letter, Muench said, was written for the benefit of “good employees, a number of whom have felt harassed by union employees, who have wanted them to wear buttons and so forth.”

It was sent to deputy prosecutors as well as support staff, he said.

Muench said the letter was similar to one county officials sent to striking workers in 1993. In that case, workers were told they would be fired if they didn’t return to work.

As they did last Thursday, some county employees staged an “informational strike” Tuesday, marching around the Courthouse with signs reading, “Prosecute crime, not employees.”

, DataTimes