Editorial: Workers’ beer routine undermines public trust

It must’ve been quite a relief to the beer-swilling office workers on the Highway 520 bridge job when they heard their punishment: a training session with a counselor.

They’ll drink to that. Sure beats getting fired for such an obviously illegal and idiotic act. Booze and a bridge? They really thought that was a good mix?

This party was busted last week when KOMO-TV of Seattle used a hidden camera to show the widespread drinking at the temporary office of the Kiewit-General-Manson construction team. Even as the reporter announced herself and asked to speak with supervisors, a couple of clueless workers waltzed in with packs of beer. A source said the drinking was routine and had been going on for months.

While these are office workers, and not the actual crews who will bolt and rivet the widened expanse of the bridge stretching across Lake Washington, the bad publicity is sure to give public projects a hangover long after that don’t-drink-on-the-job advice is imparted.

This $587 million project is already controversial, because of the high price tag and the decision to partially finance it with tolls. Gas tax revenue, also unpopular, is covering the rest of the project. We think the project is worth it, because it’s part of a total transportation plan to keep commerce moving. Every corner of the state will benefit from that.

However, these projects are not easy to sell. The tolls themselves were recently the subject of one of Tim Eyman’s initiatives, though thankfully it failed. In this era when tax-funded items are met with heavy skepticism, it doesn’t take much to undermine the credibility of a project or service.

This televised revelation reminds us of the scandals involving electronic benefits cards, or EBTs, which some welfare recipients were caught selling. After the sale, they’d report them missing and get a new one, with no questions asked. One welfare recipient was found living in a luxurious waterfront home. Does it mean all welfare recipients ought to be cut off? No. But if caught, they need more than a counseling session that explains the obvious. This is illegal activity. So is drinking on a government job.

The real damage in scandals like these are felt by those who won’t get work or needed benefits because an increasingly cynical public doesn’t trust government to spend its money wisely.

That’s why the state can’t merely burp and move on.

The contractor has already issued notice that it “takes these matters seriously.” But we’re not impressed with its “punishment.” Now the appropriate government agencies need to step in with consequences that might actually give private contractors second thoughts about grabbing that on-the-job beer.

This goes beyond punishment; it’s about the state demonstrating that it won’t stand for workers knocking back cold ones while taxpayers are picking up the tab.