The Seattle Times editorial board concern-trolls Mayor Mike McGinn:

MAYOR Mike McGinn should rescind his executive order to Seattle child-care providers to meet with union leaders or lose city funding. The mayor should consider whether he wants to squander his remaining time in office on impractical and, in this case, possibly illegal policies.

[...] McGinn’s claim to be interested only in improving preschool teacher quality is undercut by his directive’s interesting timing. As noted by Times reporter Lynn Thompson, McGinn issued the order in the middle of his tough re-election campaign against state Sen. Ed Murray. McGinn lost, but was endorsed by SEIU and the federation.

I could easily spend a thousand words thoroughly fisking this stunningly unselfconscious piece of anti-labor bullshit, but instead I'll just resort to a handful of bullet points. I mean, why put any more effort into this than they did?

• Because if there's anybody who's earned Mayor McGinn's obeisance during his final weeks in office it's the Seattle Times editorial board. Um, yeah, right.


• As even the editors point out, the mayor isn't requiring city-funded preschools and daycares to unionize; he's just requiring that they meet with union leaders. Where's the fire?


• "Seattle is a city that values public process." Translation: "Let this die a slow death by committee."


• Aaagghh! SEIU! It burns! It burns!


• "That’s the last thing Seattle’s universal preschool efforts need." Actually, unionized teachers may be one of the first things our universal preschool efforts need. Experts agree that only high-quality preschool is worth the investment, and that you can't get high-quality preschool without high-quality teachers. And you don't get high-quality teachers without paying them a decent wage. Unionizing would remove the need for the city to regulate pay scales.