(The Center Square) – Senate Democrats advanced a bill Friday that would create a trigger allowing the state to step in on private-sector labor disputes if the federal agency responsible loses jurisdiction, or if the National Labor Relations Act stops preempting state regulation of parties previously covered.
The Senate Labor & Commerce Committee advanced House Bill 2471 to the next step in the legislative process, following the state House passing it with a 58-35 floor vote last week. The Senate committee didn’t hold a public hearing before taking action on Friday, fast-tracking it for a potential floor vote.
“House Bill 2471 builds on Washington’s labor past.” Rep. Shaun Scott, D-Seattle, said during a hearing on his bill in the House Labor & Workforce Standards Committee last month. “It responds to the ongoing dismantlement of the NLRB in the present, and it will protect many working Washingtonians.”
The federal government usually enforces private-sector labor law through the National Labor Relations Board, with the state’s Public Employment Relations Commission handling public-sector labor disputes.
Supporters argue that HB 2471 creates a backup plan for private-sector labor disputes if the NLRB can no longer oversee certain employers or industries or declines jurisdiction. Agricultural industry employers worry that the bill could bring farmworkers into the fold since the NLRA doesn’t cover that category.
“Agriculture is excluded from the NLRA not due to oversight, but because of the uniquely seasonal and perishable nature of the farm work,” Benton City farmer Shawn Gay testified during a public hearing last month in the state House. “A strike during a short harvest window doesn’t just delay work, it risks the loss of an entire year’s crop and income — causing severe economic and food supply disruptions.”
An earlier version focused on employees not covered by the NLRA, rather than those currently covered, who could lose coverage if the NLRB loses or declines jurisdiction of the industry. The House fixed this by narrowing the scope to exempt any employees who don’t currently fall under the NLRA jurisdiction.
Another proposal would’ve explicitly put agricultural workers under the state’s labor relations commission for collective bargaining, but it stalled before the cutoff to advance bills into the opposite chamber.
If approved, HB 2471 would create a framework to establish rules for recognizing unions, handling collective bargaining, resolving impasses, including through arbitration, and laying out enforcement tools.
Scott argues that it’s necessary amid changes to NLRB membership that could affect decision-making.
The NLRB warned last August, amid a lack of quorum, that states attempting to fulfill the board’s duties would likely be preempted by the NLRA. It described concerns that the NRLB might not be able to fulfill its duties as “unfounded” before swearing in members last month to regain a quorum to make decisions.
Still, several lawsuits are challenging the makeup of the panel. The NLRB sued California last year to block a law that would hand certain private-sector labor disputes to the state amid a lack of quorum.
Scott is attempting to thread the needle in Washington state by setting HB 2471 up as a trigger law, though it would expand state bureaucracy over labor relations and could still invite federal lawsuits.
“What this bill is doing is taking the federal layer away and putting it into the state before we know that the [NLRB] is actually going to dissolve,” Rep. Suzanne Schmidt, R-Spokane Valley, said on the House floor last week. “It may come back. It may be stronger. It may be something that, you know, we believe is even better than what we have at the state, so I think that this is really just premature.”
Notably, Schmidt was one of two minority members to vote with Democrats to pass the bill off the House floor last week, joining Rep. Kevin Waters, R-Stevenson. Rep. Amy Walen, D-Kirkland, was the only majority member to vote against it. Three Republicans and two Democrats excused themselves.
The Senate Labor & Commerce Committee did not discuss HB 2471 before advancing it to the Senate Rules Committee on Friday, other than to confirm that the House amended it to narrow the bill’s scope.
