by Laurel Demkovich, Washington State Standard
September 10, 2024
Thousands of state employees across Washington walked off the job for an hour on Tuesday demanding livable wages and safe staffing levels amid negotiations for their next two-year contract.
The Washington Federation of State Employees, which represents 50,000 state government, higher education and public service workers, encouraged its members to walk out this week during the Tuesday lunch hour to show frustration over wage proposals and high turnover among public employees. Union members at about 100 locations statewide walked off the job.
About 60 workers gathered at the Labor and Industries Building in Tumwater. Employees shared stories about being forced to work multiple jobs, ask family members to help pay their rent, or live paycheck to paycheck as a result of their current pay.
“They know the only way you recruit and retain the best people for public service is to raise pay,” Ava Clarridge, a member at large at Local 443. “Why are they still asking us to do more with less?”
The federation is negotiating 2025-2027 contracts on behalf of several bargaining units. Formal talks with the Office of Financial Management on new collective bargaining agreements began in the spring. Sessions are planned nearly every week through the end of September.
A new contract must be approved by Oct. 1 so it can be considered for funding in the next two-year budget, which Gov. Jay Inslee will propose in December. Inslee is not involved in the negotiations.
The state presented its initial compensation proposal July 22. At the time, union negotiators called it “short-sighted and disrespectful.” On Tuesday, Clarridge said the current wage proposals do not account for inflation and could actually result in pay cuts to many workers.
The state points to a tight budget next year with revenue projections showing drops in expected revenue.
In a statement last month, the director of the Office of Financial Management said the goal is to craft a contract “that balances fiscal realities with the state’s needs, policy priorities and the critical role our employees fill in serving the public.”
“We anticipate limited revenue in the upcoming biennium,” the office’s director, David Schumacher, said. “Just as we’ve asked state agencies to limit new programs and request only essential funding, we are applying the same principle to our negotiations.”
The state and the union have three weeks left to come to an agreement. Federation leaders have not said publicly what their next steps will be if they don’t reach one.
“We will not go quietly,” said Ryan S, an organizing chair for Local 443 who did not want to give his last name. “This walkout is tame. We’ve still got the gloves on. It’s up to the state to determine if we take the gloves off.”
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