Unions' win streak in Washington State Legislature is broken

The Seattle Times reports:

After years of success at passing laws that allowed tens of thousands of low-wage, service-sector workers to unionize, labor groups hit a wall — or at least a speed bump — this year in the Legislature.

Democratic leaders in the Senate last week pulled the plug on a bill that would have extended collective-bargaining rights to some 12,000 day-care-center workers. Lawmakers also shot down bills that would have allowed many of the state's foster parents and about 4,000 adult-family-home workers to unionize.

"There seems to be a general uneasiness among many people about the concept of collective bargaining in these nontraditional areas," said Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, chairwoman of the Senate Labor, Commerce, Research and Development Committee.