Court Opinion

ID: 9571970
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:36:56.340184+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:31:16.069006
License: Public Domain

Utter, J.
(dissenting) — RCW 43.52.391 mandates that " [ejxcept as otherwise provided in this section, a joint operating agency shall have all powers now or hereafter granted public utility districts under the laws of this state." This broad statement of legislative intent implies that joint operating agencies such as WPPSS, which consists of 19 PUD's and 4 municipal corporations, should be treated as PUD's for labor law purposes. Nothing in Chemical Bank v. Washington Pub. Power Supply Sys., 99 Wn.2d 772, 666 P.2d 329 (1983) implies a contrary rule.
The majority assumes that if WPPSS is treated as a PUD for labor law purposes, PERC is without jurisdiction. I disagree. RCW 41.56.020 provides that RCW 41.56 shall apply to any municipal corporation "except as otherwise provided by RCW . . . 54.04.170, 54.04.180 ..." Although RCW 54.04.170 and RCW 54.04.180 provide that PUD's shall be treated as private employers with respect to the collective bargaining rights and privileges of PUD employees and the manner of collective bargaining relations, they do not generally exempt PUD's from the other provisions of RCW 41.56. One such provision grants PERC jurisdiction.
PERC jurisdiction is essential for enforcement of the labor laws, since neither the NLRB nor any other agency has jurisdiction over PUD's. While some labor law provisions are enforceable, others are essentially administrative tasks, such as supervising union elections and selecting *36bargaining units. Some administrative agency must have discretion to administer the applicable law.
RCW 54.04.170 and RCW 54.04.180 are intended to incorporate most of the protections of the NLRA. RCW 54.04.170 gives PUD's and employees "all the rights and privileges incident [to collective bargaining]11 which employees in private industry have. RCW 54.04.180 gives PUD's collective bargaining powers "in the same manner that a private employer might do". For private employers, these rights and powers are defined by the NLRA. Therefore, our state statutes were intended to apply the same NLRA rules to PUD's in order to put PUD's on an equal footing with private employers.
Section 159(b)(3) of the NLRA, which prohibits the inclusion of guards and nonguards in the same bargaining unit, would seem to be a limit on the "manner" in which private employer collective bargaining relations may be framed.
I believe the PERC has jurisdiction but only because it should have jurisdiction over PUD's in general, not because WPPSS is not a PUD. RCW 54.04.170 and RCW 54.04.180 apply the provisions of the NLRA to PUD's so that guards and nonguards cannot be put in the same bargaining unit.
Dolliver, J., concurs with Utter, J.