A Complete Lack of Direction - GG Bargaining Update 7
WFSE AWAAG (Local 5297) and WAGPRO (Local 795) members at their statewide walkout at Office of the Attorney General locations on August 5th
Yesterday, your General Government bargaining team met with management for the seventh time.
We're still fighting for you, but the line is getting redrawn every time we meet. We need to keep pushing back to make sure that line doesn’t falter.
Behavioral Health Specialists at Western State Hospital found some spare change for OFM...
In years where money is tight, our union has traditionally made gains in member priorities that don’t have direct costs, like workplace safety, time off, discipline procedures, and improvements to overall quality of life.
But this year, it sure looks to us like the Office of Financial Management (OFM) isn’t being given direction or the ability to make progress at the table on important issues to state employees, both economic and non-economic.
If you saw the update at our healthcare table, you know that we experienced the same thing: OFM had nothing to present and canceled our meeting today, leaving just one day left to hammer out a deal.
This boils down to respect.
We were elected by you to negotiate this contract, and we are doing our best given what appears to be a complete lack of authority on the other side.
Take Action! Our Power at the Table is with You!
Join our statewide Walkout With Washington on August 31st
Send a letter to Governor Ferguson and his team here.
Your Story is Powerful: Share It!
Public perception is everything to politicians. Our walkouts will generate significant press interest.
We need stories from our members that show how the state’s refusal to invest in employee retention costs the state money. We’ve shared examples of how we’re still paying the price for mistakes made during the Great Recession, and how our state leaders are considering them again.
Each WFSE member, regardless of what state agency, community college, or four-year university they work at will have similar examples.
Send us your story here.
There’s the deferred maintenance backlog, always in the hundreds of millions of dollars, at State Parks.
Big system failures cost taxpayers much more than it would cost to simply pay competitive wages that attract and retain the trades workers needed to keep our parks open and available to the public.
Share your story and join us on August 31st to demand respect for the work we do.
In solidarity,
Your General Government Bargaining Team