Yesterday we received the state’s initial compensation proposal for our 2025-27 union contract. It was short-sighted and disrespectful. We won’t accept it.
To help us push back, we need our membership to get loud to put pressure on the governor and the Office of Financial Management.
Urgent Contract Action
Text UNITED to 237-263 to recieve a link to be connected with the Governor’s office. Be sure to click the link when the Governor's Office is open 8am to 5pm, Monday through Friday. You'll also receive a link where you can send an email to OFM and the Governor's Office if it's after-hours or on the weekend.
You’ll hear a short recording from WFSE and receive talking points via text. When you’re ready, you can click a link to call the Governor’s office. He won’t pick up. You’ll be leaving a message.
Use the script as a guide and personalize your message. Staying on message will ensure the governor knows where the pressure is coming from – WFSE members.
Our goal is to get as many calls into the Governor as possible before our next session on August 19!
Want to share a flyer with this contract action with co-workers? Click here.
Yesterday's Bargaining Session
During yesterday's session, management began their presentation with dire predictions about the budget and our state’s economic future.
It’s true, the economic forecast from June was not good.
Also true: The state has a habit of balancing the budget on state employees’ backs. We need to make them prioritize us – the folks who do the work and care for Washingtonians.
Every state employee should be paid fairly, be able to afford to live where they work, be able to put in their 40 hours, and not have to worry about how they will pay the bills.
We should be getting ahead, not worrying about falling behind.
Public Employees are the Solution
While Washington’s population has boomed and the legislature has piled on more and more work, our pay hasn’t kept pace and it’s become increasingly difficult to get people to stay on the job.
WFSE members at many agencies are at the breaking point.
WFSE members at many agencies are at the breaking point. That has dire consequences for everything from the condition of our roads to the well-being of the most vulnerable Washingtonians. (Not to mention our safety on the job.)
De-prioritizing our pay in the upcoming contract would be ineffective and short-sighted. If we are on the precipice of an economic slowdown, we need to invest in our public services, not neglect them.
We learned this during the Great Recession; states that cut public spending recovered slower and had greater private sector job losses. The exact opposite occurred in states that invested in the public sector. It should come as no surprise; our work underpins the state’s economy.
We think our compensation proposal is reasonable, and it’s the state’s approach to compensation that is costly.
Rampant turnover is expensive. Allowing facilities to deteriorate is expensive. Losing tens of millions of dollars in federal funds due to insufficient staffing levels is expensive.
We are the solution, and we need to remind them of it.
Call the Governor Before August 19!
Text UNITED to 237-263 to be connected with the Governor’s office. You’ll hear a short recording from WFSE and receive talking points via text. When you’re ready, you can click a link to call the Governor’s office. He won’t pick up. You’ll be leaving a message.
Follow the script as much as possible, and be sure to mention you’re a WFSE member, so he knows where the pressure is coming from.
Our goal is to get as many calls into the Governor as possible before our next session on August 19!
In solidarity,
Your General Government bargaining team
In solidarity,
