WLA challenges ballot title of union-backed Seattle hotel initiative.

The Washington Lodging Association has filed a ballot title challenge to Initiative 124, which seeks to implement a wide range of onerous workplace provisions on hotel employers. (Read more about I-124 here.)

We believe the current ballot title “Initiative 124 concerns health and safety standards to protect hotel employees in Seattle” fails to accurately reflect the substance of the proposed measure and will mislead voters. The ballot title’s statement of subject indicates that the measure addresses only health and safety of hotel employees in Seattle. However, it primarily addresses employment terms and benefits, imposes new labor conditions on employers and contains controversial provisions that would allow labor unions to waive many of the new minimum employment standards as part of the collective bargaining processes. These new measures would far exceed existing state and federal requirements and shouldn’t be hidden behind an inaccurate ballot title and incomplete and inaccurate description.

The new title proposed in the WLA challenge  is “Initiative 124 concerns mandatory benefits, limited workloads, safety provisions, and collective bargaining rights for hotel employees in Seattle.”