In conducting its prebargaining survey, and publishing the findings, the commission shall make comparisons of wages, hours, employee benefits, and conditions of employment of Washington state ferry employees with those of public and private sector employees doing directly comparable but not necessarily identical work. In making its comparisons between and among employers, the commission shall recognize the principle that the greater the degree of comparability between work requirements and conditions of employment, the greater will be the validity of comparisons of wages and employee benefits. The commission shall give consideration to factors peculiar to the area and the classifications involved.
In determining the scope of the survey and in selecting the ferry systems or other employers to be included in the survey, the commission shall consider the size, tonnage, and horsepower of the vessels operated by the Washington state ferry system and by the employers to be included in the survey. The commission shall not include those classifications of employees exempted as outlined in RCW
41.06.079.
Except as provided in the following subsection of this section, salary and employee benefit information collected from private employers that identifies a specific employer with the salary and employee benefit rates which that employer pays to its employees is not subject to public disclosure under chapter
42.56 RCW.
A person or entity, having reason to believe that the salary survey results are inaccurate, may submit a petition to the state auditor requesting an audit of the data on which the salary survey results are based. The state auditor shall review and analyze all data collected for the salary survey, including proprietary information, but is prohibited from disclosing the salary survey data to any other person or entity, except by court order.
[Statutory Authority: RCW 34.05.230. 08-09-119, § 316-85-020, filed 4/22/08, effective 5/23/08; 01-01-124, § 316-85-020, filed 12/19/00, effective 1/19/01. Statutory Authority: RCW 47.64.280. 90-06-046, § 316-85-020, filed 3/2/90, effective 4/2/90.]