More signs of the coming apocalypse: at the same time Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is threatening to terminate the collective bargaining rights of state workers in the birthplace of the public employee labor movement, recently deposed Washington State Republican Party chair Luke Esser has taken a job lobbying for… wait for it… Services Employees International Union Local 775, arguably one of our state’s most aggressive and influential public employees unions.
“Republicans need to have better lines of communication with unions and organized labor,” [Esser] said. “Casting against type can be a good thing.”
Not that it’s really all that much against type as you might imagine. SEIU 775 endorsed Esser in his state senate campaigns in 2002 and 2006, and as a legislator, Esser proved to be a reliable supporter of their organizing efforts. You know… for a Republican.
In any case, I’m guessing the two-thirds of state Republican committee members who voted to oust Esser as state chair last night, and replace him with ultra-conservative, walking talking-point Kirby Wilbur, aren’t feeling much buyer’s remorse at this news.
SEIU 775 workers are not public employees. They’re employed by private home care agencies and hospitals, and some are family members caring for their relatives in their own homes (which I am). Before SEIU represented them, they made minimum wage.
sarah68 @1,
You know, I struggled with that, as technically home health care workers are not state employees per se, but their services are mostly funded by the state, and their wages are set by the state, so SEIU 775 pretty much operates as a public employee union.