McLain Named as State's New Chief Negotiator

April 12, 2005

Steve McLain has been named the state’s new chief labor negotiator. As the new director of the Washington State Labor Relations Office, McLain will represent the Governor’s Office in collective bargaining negotiations with state employee unions beginning summer 2006.

McLain served as the deputy director of the Labor Relations Office through the historic first round of bargaining with state employee unions, which concluded last September.

“I look forward to helping agencies implement the master agreements we negotiated last year,” said McLain. “These agreements provide the flexibility managers need to make the kind of changes necessary for improving state government.”

Prior to his work at the Labor Relations Office, McLain spent 14 years at the Department of Labor and Industries, where he gained experience in human resource management and program management as a regional administrator.

He has been a state employee most of his career, serving at the Employment Security Department, State Auditor and Attorney General before going to Labor and Industries.

McLain replaces former Labor Relations Director Eva Santos, who was recently named director of the Washington State Department of Personnel. The Labor Relations Office soon will move out of the Office of Financial Management to become part of the Department of Personnel, under Santos’ direction.

Both Santos and McLain played leading roles in talks with employee unions last summer.

Costs of the first-ever master contract agreements were included in Governor Gregoire’s 2005–07 budget proposal and currently are awaiting approval by the Legislature.

The 2005 Legislature has the role of approving or rejecting the cost of the agreements. If the cost proposal is rejected, that would trigger a return to negotiations or unions could request mediation.

The Personnel System Reform Act, approved by the Legislature in 2002, expanded collective bargaining to make wages and benefits subject to negotiations. In the past, the Legislature unilaterally set those terms.

The law also reforms the state civil service system. New labor agreements and new civil service rules will help state managers and employees perform their jobs more effectively and will create a more flexible and responsive personnel system.

For more information on collective bargaining, visit the Labor Relations website.