COUNCIL 2 AND COUNCIL 28 will join forces in SeaTac on December 5 at a forum on the Washington state governor’s race. The event, to be attended by leaders from both councils and to be addressed by leading gubernatorial candidates, could be followed by other joint efforts by the two councils in the future.

The forum will mark the start of a process to decide whether the two councils will pursue a joint gubernatorial endorsement and, if so, which candidate they will support.

No decisions will be made at the meeting. The endorsement process is expected to take at least the first part of next year to complete.

A joint endorsement would be significant as together the two councils represent more than 35,000 public employees in Washington State. Council 2, with almost 17,000 members, represents most of the county and city employees and Council 28, with about 18,000 members, represents most of the state employees. Together they are nearly twice the size of the next largest union in the state.

“We can have the biggest say if we stand together in our decision on who the next labor-endorsed gubernatorial candidate should be,” says Council 2 President and Executive Director Chris Dugovich. “We will have almost twice the clout as any other union.”

The present governor, Gary Locke, said earlier this year that he will not stand for re-election to a third term next year. Since then a number of candidates from the Democratic and Republican parties have announced their intention to run as candidates for the office.

All the major candidates will be invited to attend the forum. Among those who have already said they will attend are the three leading Democratic contenders — King County Executive Ron Sims, Attorney General Christine Gregoire and former state Supreme Court Justice Phil Talmadge.

Dugovich says it is more important than ever that the two councils should join forces,

“In my better-than 20-year career representing public employees, I don’t think I have seen a more difficult time for our members,” he says. “Both Council 2 and Council 28 need to start working closer together so we can have a larger impact on issues such as who will be the state’s next governor.
“We hope that this is just the start of many joint events in the future.”

Dugovich adds that Council 2 and Council 28 are even closer together now following the successful passage of the new state pension legislation.

“It is important that both of us start to exchange notes on our successes and our defeats as we pursue better wages, benefits and working conditions at the bargaining table,” he says.