Our Union fights for higher pay and stands up for fairness for state employees.
Fair pay is a priority for our union. Public employees are the driving force behind quality public services and we deserve to be compensated fairly for the work we do.
Raising wages is the only way the state will recruit and retain high quality employees needed to ensure efficient and quality public services in Washington state. Keeping our union strong and vital is the only chance we have of making sure the state recognizes the value of public employees and fair compensation.
Together, we won more raises for state employees in the 2017-19 contracts. After the recession and rising inflation, we are still behind. Now we’re looking ahead to the next round of bargaining – and building even more raises for state employees.
The ‘Freedom’ Foundation wants to get our union out of the way because they don’t think we’re worth what we’re paid.
They want to see our jobs sent to the private sector with lower pay and less benefits.
So what does the Freedom Foundation have to say about state employee pay?
The Freedom Foundation is a front group for corporate special interests. They promote policies in state government that are very bad for public services and state employees. Take a look what they say about pay for state employees.
The ‘Freedom’ Foundation opposes raises for public employees.
“It makes little sense to promote a pay raise for state employees who are satisfied enough with their jobs that 90% or more of them choose to remain employed by the state.”– Do State Employees Need a Raise? Amber Gunn, June 2014, Freedom Foundation Blog
The Freedom Foundation opposes COLAs (cost of living adjustments) for state employees.
“There are not resources available just sitting around and waiting to be spent on this . . . 65% of state employees already get annual pay increases and don’t need cost-of-living raises on top that those . . . The real question is, is the wage we’re paying for the services the citizens are receiving the right wage or not?” –-‘Freedom’ Foundation staffer Jami Lund, KING5 VIDEO 2014.
The ‘Freedom’ Foundation also opposes automatic step increases for state employees.
“Policymakers should delay automatic pay increases for state employees… This also shows that public sector employees are held accountable and don’t brazenly plunder the public purse.” –‘Freedom’ Foundation founder, Bob Williams, co-author of the ALEC policy manual for state legislators, ALEC Budget Toolkit.
The ‘Freedom’ Foundation even opposes paid sick days.
“Consumers, workers, and employers are all negatively affected by mandatory paid sick leave policies . . . Evidence indicates that requiring employers to provide paid sick leave benefits produces few appreciable benefits and even raises costs,” ‘Freedom’ Foundation Maxford Nelsen. July 2015 Spectator
Our collective bargaining power matters!
Raises won in our last union contract:
- 6% wage increase over 2 years
- $12/hour minimum wage
- Additional recruitment and retention raises for more than 12,000 state employees
- More vacation pay
Our power in the halls of government matters!
In a prior legislative session, despite receiving an 11.8% raise themselves, The Senate majority —who support the Freedom Foundation policies— tried to block state employee raises and refused to fund our union contract
That wasn’t the first time. They also attempted to replace our defined benefit pensions with risky 401(K) plans, which would be economically devastating to many families. We organized and fought back!
In 2017, we beat back the seven (7) anti-worker bills attacking our well being by mobilizing over 20,000 union members to take collective action at their workplaces, call, email, and visit legislators, and help build public pressure.
