WA Democrats push bill to pay picketers — GOP says it tilts the field

(The Center Square) – After Boeing workers went on strike for over seven weeks last year, Washington state may soon provide up to three months of benefits to those on the picket line if a Democratic bill becomes law.

Lawmakers remained divided on Friday after Senate Bill 5041 passed through the House Labor & Workplace Standards Committee by a 6-3 vote. Senate Democrats passed the measure off the floor by a party-line vote on March 7 after failing to pass a similar bill last year.

The committee’s approval on Friday advanced SB 5041 to the House Rules Committee, setting it up for a floor vote. Final adoption would mark a major shift in state law, which doesn’t allow striking workers to receive unemployment benefits.

“They deserve to know that when they take that step, they have a friend in state government,” Rep. Shaun Scott, D-Seattle, said Friday. “This is a bold policy that … only two other states have taken up to this point, so we have an opportunity to lead the way on the West Coast.”

New York and New Jersey have already allowed striking workers to collect unemployment benefits for up to 26 weeks, with California and others attempting to do so in recent years. Rep. Liz Berry, D-Seattle, said a dozen other states are considering similar legislation offering at least 12 weeks of benefits.

Berry said 12 weeks is the standard and asked her peers to reject a Republican amendment to reduce the benefits to one month. The majority party also rejected five other amendments from their peers across the aisle. If approved, the amendments would have:

Required a study on how teacher strikes could impact students and delayed implementation from 2026 to 2030.Required the unemployment insurance trust fund to cover 24 months of benefits before SB 5041 would take effect.Required the state to stop providing benefits if a court finds a strike illegal.Required striking workers to search for another job while claiming benefits.Prohibited striking state and local government employees from receiving benefits.

House Democrats argued that the amendments would weaken the intent of SB 5041.

If approved, the proposal allows workers to start receiving benefits about two weeks after the first day of the strike. The bill also directs the Employment Security Department to submit annual reports to the Legislature on the frequency and impact of strikes on the unemployment insurance trust fund.

“We think it’s inappropriate to unbalance the bargaining table that forces employers to pay for the cost of unemployment insurance,” Lindsey Hueer testified on behalf of the Association of Washington Business during a March 18 public hearing.

Hueer said employer payroll taxes pay for all the benefits, affecting bargaining power as workers can afford to hold out longer. However, SB 5041 only requires the employer whom the workers struck to pay those benefits, limiting a broader impact to other companies.

Many opponents of SB 5041 argue that it would prolong strikes and associated costs to the employer. Meanwhile, supporters call it a financial safety net that levels the playing field for workers.

April Sims, president of the Washington State Labor Council, said SB 5041 “will help those workers who need it most.”

“Strikes are never taken lightly. It’s a very difficult decision made during very intense periods of dispute,” Sims testified on March 18, “but for too many workers, it’s the only option to elevate to their employer that something is wrong or that their needs are not being met.”

Rep. Joel McEntire, R-Cathlamet, called the proposal a counterbalance that sways the leverage too far to one side of negotiations. He said that finding a compromise is often uncomfortable but that uncertainty incentivizes both to find a middle ground and move forward.

“If you want to imagine in your mind’s eye, a guy with a monocle and a top hat and a big mustache just wanting to make profits and money, that’s fine,” McEntire said Friday, “but you have to understand … that is the very thing that they’re losing when a strike occurs.”