Lawsuit Would Force Shelton to Let Voters Decide Labor-Reform Measures for Themselves

Lawsuit Would Force Shelton to Let Voters Decide Labor-Reform Measures for Themselves
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Lawsuit Would Force Shelton to Let Voters Decide Labor-Reform Measures for Themselves

As expected, the city of Shelton is facing a lawsuit following its decision last month to deny a pair of labor-reform initiatives a spot on the November general election ballot.

Shelton resident Diane Good on Monday filed suit against the Shelton City Commission demanding it now place Propositions 1 and 2 on the February ballot instead. She also seeks a declaration that the city erred when it voted on Sept. 8 to take no action on the measures.

A hearing is scheduled in Mason County Superior Court on Nov. 3.

“State law is unambiguous in a case like this,” said Shawn Newman, Good’s attorney. “The city commission had only two choices. It could either have passed the initiatives itself, or it could have sent them to the voters. The commissioners brought this lawsuit on themselves by choosing an option that didn’t exist—doing nothing.”

Proposition 1 would require that contract negotiations between the city and the union representing its employees be open to the public. Prop 2 would prevent the union from having the city fire workers who choose not to pay dues.

The initiative sponsors were advised throughout the qualification process by the Olympia-based Freedom Foundation, and the effort was vigorously opposed by labor unions all over the state.

“Both measures are about simple common sense,” said Good. “In what alternate universe would anyone seriously suggest the party that pays the bills be barred from even listening to the negotiations?”

Likewise, she said, “Proposition 1 is even more straightforward because it says no one should have to surrender their First Amendment rights or their rights to free association as a condition of employment with the city.”

Volunteers spent the summer collecting signatures to put both measures on the November ballot. They turned in more than enough petitions on Aug. 7, and the signatures were authenticated by the Mason County Auditor’s Office on Aug. 8.

By law, the city commission then had 20 days to take action on the measures. But instead, the members waited until their Sept. 8 meeting to announce they would do nothing. 

Identical ballot measures were proposed in Sequim and Chelan this fall, and the city council members in both communities likewise voted to deny them a spot on the November ballot. A lawsuit similar to Good’s was subsequently filed in Sequim, and supporters say they may also take court action in Chelan.

“It isn’t up to the city commission to decide what issues the voters do and don’t have a right to decide,” said Newman, who serves as Washington state director of the Initiative and Referendum Institute. “The whole point of having ballot initiatives is to empower private citizens to propose laws their elected representatives either can’t or won’t. 

“If the commissioners can preemptively kill any initiative they don’t like just by declining to take action, the right to initiative is meaningless,” he said. “The backers of Propositions 1 and 2 have met every standard the law requires. At this point, the questions belong in the hands of the voters, not the commission.”

press@freedomfoundation.com