By Erica C. Barnett

This week’s podcast, as I promised last week, featured just me, Sandeep, and David, and guys: It got LIVELY.

First, we talked about some behind-the-scenes scuttlebutt that the Seattle Times missed in its coverage of local union backlash to Mayor Katie Wilson’s ouster of Dawn Lindell as the CEO of Seattle City Light. Thousands of IBEW77 union members signed a petition demanding Wilson rehire Lindell in what the Times described as widespread employee “concern by her decision to fire the utility’s previous CEO and her initial pick for her replacement.” Meanwhile, the MLK Labor Council, a union of unions, passed a resolution demanding more transparency into the process of hiring Lindell’s replacement.

But there’s more to the story—according to multiple sources in the city, an IBEW (and former MLK Labor Council) leader lobbied Wilson hard to oust Lindell and appoint her as Lindelll’s replacement; after that didn’t happen, according to internal city sources, the unions started their full-court press against Wilson. Both IBEW77 and the MLK Labor Council endorsed former mayor Bruce Harrell.

In another city union-related story, SPOG—the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild—negotiated a ludicrously generous police contract last year that also happens to restrict the CARE Team of unarmed first responders from actually doing first response. This week, CARE Department Chief Amy Barden was extremely candid about the limitations the police contract imposes on her team of social workers, which she said SPOG has interpreted to include any area from which a person could be trespassed, such as parking lots or even sidewalks adjacent to a private business.

I’ve been reporting since last October about the explicit restrictions, which prohibit CARE from responding on their own to calls if there is drug paraphernalia in the area, if the person is inside a car or building, if there is evidence that any crime has taken place, or if a minor is present. (Yes, Seattle is so committed to alternative response that they signed a contract saying police, not social workers, are best suited to help vulnerable young people.)

The additional restrictions SPOG is claiming now make it clear that the police guild, at least, doesn’t want CARE to succeed. And as Police Chief Shon Barnes confirmed at the committee meeting last week (when he said, among other things, that he doesn’t want cops “relegated” to doing cop stuff), there’s no internal pressure at SPD for the union to renegotiate the agreement so CARE can actually do their jobs.

We also discussed my story about Seattle Office for Civil Rights Director Derrick Wheeler-Smith, whose employees have accused him of discrimination and retaliation. Through their union, PROTEC17, some staffers asked Wilson to remove him before she started her term, saying his behavior rose to the level of “just cause” that’s required from removing the SOCR director.