Seattle-area labor council says it could expel police union

SEATTLE -- The Seattle area’s largest labor group says it will expel the Seattle Police Officers Guild later this month unless the union admits that racism is a problem in law enforcement and agrees to address that problem in negotiating its next contract with the city.

The Martin Luther King Jr. County Labor Council passed a resolution Thursday as protests continue in Seattle and nationally over the killing of George Floyd. The resolution attributes policing problems to systemic racism. It called on the Seattle police union to acknowledge that or be thrown out of the umbrella group of more than 150 unions and 100,000 workers that wields tremendous power in greater Seattle politics.

SPOG President Mike Solan declined to comment to The Seattle Times. In Tweets Thurdsay, the police union thanked people for increasingly peaceful protests and said officers and protesters are part of the same community “and there are people with loved ones, frustrations and hope for the future on both sides of the line.”

The labor council’s resolution specifically mentioned contracts between police and the city. It said the police union must participate in an effort “dedicated to promoting safety within our community and within law enforcement by addressing racism within SPOG … and ensuring that contracts do not evade legitimate accountability.”

Floyd, a black man, died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on his neck for several minutes, not lifting it after Floyd stopped moving and pleading for air. That officer and three colleagues were fired and now face criminal charges in the death.

Protests in Seattle and across the country have continued for more than a week.