I hope that the Free Press isn’t going to make a habit of credulously reprinting the usual tripe from Liv Finne (“Gov. Inslee funding unnecessary union job,” Sept. 3, 2020), because in her customary style the column is a load of half-truths that don’t match the reality here in the West Plains.
For example, Finne complains about unionized bus drivers and then name checks one union — the Washington Education Association, of which I’m a proud member. In both Cheney and Medical Lake the bus drivers are represented by a completely different union, the Public School Employees (PSE) and the SEIU. Finne’s a one-note flute, though, who likes to talk about the WEA whenever she can, so that’s what she does.
Her column then goes into a complaint about bus drivers having “make-work” activities like delivering packets, food and technology. I’m truly shocked that the Free Press doesn’t seem to understand the needs of the rural area they cover and would think this attack on residents outside the city was either smart or incisive. Ms. Finne is a West Sider, so I get her missing the point — it’s a disappointing take, though, from the paper of record.
More to the point, the school bus drivers tend to live in the communities they work in. They’re your neighbors, the people next to you in the pew, and the first face the kids will see when we’re hopefully coming back in the doors soon. I appreciate them not being laid off and causing further pain to our towns, and despite what you may think of the things that Inslee has gotten wrong, he was right on this one.
Ryan Grant
Medical Lake
Education Association
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