HOUSE BILL REPORT

HB 747

BYRepresentatives Walk, Schmidt, Wang, Zellinsky and Fisch; by request of Department of Transportation

Specifying requirements for salary surveys conducted by the marine employees' commission.

House Committe on State Government

Majority Report:     The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass.  (7)

     Signed by Representatives H. Sommers, Chair; Anderson, Vice Chair; Chandler, Hankins, O'Brien, Peery and Walk.

House Staff:Pam Madson (786-7310)

AS REPORTED BY COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT JANUARY 25, 1988

BACKGROUND:

The Marine Employees Commission was established in 1983 and is charged with reviewing complaints, grievances and disputes between ferry system labor and management.  The Commission also conducts a salary survey for ferry employees prior to wage negotiations.

The salary survey must compare wages, hours, employee benefits and conditions of employment of state ferry workers with those of private sector employees in the State of Washington and other state employees doing directly comparable work.  Consideration is given to local factors and the classifications involved.

SUMMARY:

SUBSTITUTE BILL:  The salary survey conducted by the Marine Employees' Commission must compare wages, hours and working conditions of private and public sector maritime and nonmaritime employees located on the West Coast and sheltered waters of the United States and Canada.  The survey shall identify directly comparable work whenever possible in making comparisons.  The Commission may supply survey findings and supplementary data as needed for collective bargaining or to resolve an impasse.

Survey results must be submitted to the Transportation Commission, Legislative Transportation Committee, the unions and the Governor ninety days before the expiration date of an existing contract.

SUBSTITUTE BILL COMPARED TO ORIGINAL:  The marine employees salary survey compares employees doing directly comparable work whenever possible.  The comparison group of employees is limited to the West Coast and the sheltered waters of the United States and Canada.  The Commission must compare wages, hours, benefits and conditions of employment.  The Commission may provide survey findings and supplementary data for use in collective bargaining and in resolving an impasse.  The survey findings shall be distributed ninety days before the expiration date of an existing contract.  There is no appropriation.

Fiscal Note:    Not Requested.

Effective Date:The bill contains an emergency clause and takes effect immediately.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:     (Committee heard testimony on substitute bill) Jim Sainsbury, Marine Division, Department of Transportation; Ben Dysart, Ferry Riders Coalition; David Haworth, Chair, Marine Employees Commission; Lou Stewart, member, Marine Employees Commission (partly for); and Donald Kokjer, member, Marine Employees Commission.

House Committee - Testified Against: (Committee heard testimony on substitute bill) Lou Stewart, member, Marine Employees Commission (partly against); Steve Ross, Marine Engineers Beneficial Association and Masters, Mates, and Pilots Union; Larry Mitchell, Regional Director of International Boatmen's Union; Dan O'Donnell, Office and Professional Employees International Union; and T.K. Bentler, International Boatmen's Union and International Longshoremen and Warehousemen's Union.

House Committee - Testimony For:     Expanding the scope of the salary survey increases the credibility of the survey.  The present salary survey is limited for most ferry system employees to a comparison with one other ferry system having thirty employees.  The current requirement of direct comparability is too restrictive.

House Committee - Testimony Against: Eliminating directly comparable comparisons weakens the survey results.  Requiring results to be submitted in October prior to the legislative session may jeopardize wage negotiations through the collective bargaining process.  There is no need to broaden the geographic scope of the survey beyond the West Coast and British Columbia.  No action should be taken until the results of the consultant's report on survey methods and recommendations are made later this year.