Updated with comments from Norm Arkans, a spokesman for the UW.

The University of Washington may be guilty of repeatedly violating Washington State labor law, according to a preliminary ruling issued by the Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC.pdf). The PERC's ruling responds to six complaints filed in November by 30 unionized campus police officers, represented by Teamsters Local 117.

This fight comes down to issues brought up at the bargaining table. Specifically, the campus officers accuse the UW Police Department management team of "interfering with employee rights, discriminating against employees for engaging in protected Union activities, and refusing to bargain in good faith," according to a Local 117 press release.

“They have created a Big Brother environment at work where officers are intimidated, which makes it difficult for us to focus on protecting the public,” stated Officer Raymond Wilson, a five-year campus employee and Local 117 shop steward in the release.

"We believe the allegations are completely without merit," counters Norm Arkans, a spokesman for the UW, "and we will be at the hearing to try and convince people of that."

School officials (or rather, their lawyers) have until January 10 to respond to each of the union's allegations, at which point a PERC examiner will set up a hearing for the case. If the school fails to respond, it "will be deemed as an admission that the [allegations are] true," states a December 20th PERC letter. However, if UW was found at fault, it would simply mean that the campus's police department management team would have to void out all of the union contract changes that prompted the unfair labor practices and return to bargaining table with the campus union, where they'd have to once again "bargain for any new contract changes or bargain over what they'd done," explains David Gedrose, an unfair labor practice manager with PERC.