The following editorial appeared Monday in the Olympian of Olympia:

On Labor Day 2006 the biggest labor story in South Sound is the negotiations between state employee unions and Gov. Chris Gregoire on a collective bargaining contract for the next two years. Negotiators have reached an agreement that must be ratified by union members and the state Legislature before it can be put into place.

After months of negotiations, the Washington Federation of State Employees – the state’s largest employee union – and the governor’s negotiators settled on a two-year wage and benefit package. But rather than disclose the details of the agreement, the state negotiators deferred to union leaders who said they would inform their members individually via the mail last Friday.

The hush-hush nature of the deal is yet another black eye for the union, which alienated thousands of state employees two years ago by mishandling the contract ratification vote.

Taxpayers will foot the bill for the new salary and benefit increases. But, apparently, the state and union leaders believe taxpayers didn’t deserve to know the details of what they will pay for.

That’s wrong.

Shame on Gov. Gregoire’s negotiators for kowtowing to the union by agreeing to keep the details secret. Aren’t they supposed to be working on behalf of the taxpaying public?

This round of contract negotiations seems to be headed down the same troubled path that plagued the state’s negotiations and contract ratification vote two years ago.

What a disaster that was.

Yes, it was the first collective bargaining agreement between the two parties. And, yes, there will always be wrinkles to iron out in something new.

But thousands of state employees were disenfranchised by the negotiating process.

The federation did an awful job of telling nonunion workers they were eligible to vote on the labor contract. That was demonstrated by the fact that only 6,133 of the estimated 30,000 state employees actually cast ballots in the ratification election.

Employees also were shocked to learn that the contract required them to pay a fee to the union. That led many state employees to try to dump the union. The final outrage came when state workers learned that union employees would get their salary increase months before nonunion members.

To their credit, federation leaders have admitted the shortcomings of the last election and have promised to do a better job this year.

“This time we have the luxury of time. I think we’ve done a much better job all along in communicating what’s going on in bargaining. I think we’ll have more than enough time to both mail the ballots and answer any questions members may have,” said Greg Devereux, executive director of the federation.

This election will be conducted through the mail with all union members receiving a ballot that must be returned by Sept. 16. Employees who pay the representation fee will not be voting in the election, however.

But the negotiators are not off to a very good start. Keeping the details of the negotiated agreement secret is a step backward – for the union and for Gov. Gregoire’s negotiators.