HOTLINE 3/5/18

This is the Federation Hotline updated March 5.


More on Friday's PSERS passage in the state Senate

After years of effort, workers in DSHS and Veterans institutions with unacceptable rates of assault and injury will now be able to join the PSERS retirement system if the governor signs SHB 1558 into law.

The state Senate Friday (March 2) on a vote of 34-14 passed the bill to allow those high-risk workers into the Public Safety Employees Retirement System (PSERS). PSERS comes with an earlier retirement age of 60.

Sen. Steve Conway of the 29th Dist. led the charge on the Senate floor, arguing that workers facing years of assaults and injury shouldn't have to work until they're 65. This good humanitarian bill is now headed to the governor for his signature into law.

AFSCME Council 28 (WFSE) Lobbyist Matt Zuvich thanked the prime sponsor of the PSERS bill, Rep. Christine Kilduff of the 28th Dist.

Zuvich said passage caps eight years of work to right an old wrong when those workers facing high rates of assault and injury were left out when PSERS was created.

Here are more details taken from the official bill summary:

  • Provides membership in the Public Safety Employees' Retirement System (PSERS) for employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs (Veterans Affairs) and the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) whose primary responsibility is to provide nursing care to, or to ensure the custody or safety of, offender and patient populations in state institutions including the mental health hospitals and the Child Study and Treatment Center.
  • Provides membership in the PSERS to state, city, and county corrections personnel who are employed by a PSERS employer and whose primary responsibility is to provide nursing care to, or ensure the custody and safety of, offender and patient populations.
  • Adds the Veterans Affairs and the DSHS as eligible PSERS employers.
  • Permits members of the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) Plan 2 or Plan 3 made newly eligible for the PSERS to choose between remaining in the PERS or transferring to the PSERS for periods of future service.


Other highlights as we enter the final four days of the 2018 legislative session

Including the PSERS bill, AFSCME Council 28 (WFSE) members saw five major priority bills pass in a short session when there's less time to get legislation passed.

It goes without saying this success would not have happened without the phone calls, emails, Lobby Day visits and personal testimony from AFSCME Council 28 (WFSE) members. Once again, tens of thousands of union members stepped up, told their stories to legislators and made a difference.

  • One of those five bills, 2SSB 6245, the interpreter services expansion bill, is currently on the Senate's concurrence calendar because of House amendments. It already passed the Senate 31-16-2 and House 53-44-1.

The four others are already headed for the governor's desk for his signature into law:

  • As we said, the bill to expand PSERS (SHB 1558) passed the Senate March 2 on a vote of 34-14-1. It earlier passed the House 89-9.

Three priority bills did not clear the final cut-off deadline March 2 for most House bills to pass the Senate and most Senate bills to pass the House:

Also this week, the compromise supplemental budget is due out by Wednesday. The session adjourns Thursday, March 8.


Bargaining update: Community College Coalition

AFSCME Council 28 (WFSE)'s Community College Coalition, the bargaining team elected by members at 12 Community Colleges, met on March 1 and 2 to begin the work of drafting initial contract proposals that came from ideas submitted by members.

The team reviewed the contract proposal forms submitted by members in the Community Colleges and began the work of creating the initial contract proposal language.

The CCC Bargaining Team also took time at lunch to contact their state legislators demanding transparency and accountability for government contracting and support for 2SHB 1851 that unfortunately did not come up for a Senate vote.

The CCC team will meet again in late April to finalize their initial proposals, and will kick off negotiations on May 9.

The Community College Coalition Bargaining Team's scheduled dates of negotiation: May 9-10; June 5-7; June 27-28; Aug. 7-9; and Aug. 28-30.  Learn more at https://ccc.wfse.org


Inslee, Ferguson call out "Falsehood" Foundation, explain why coalition of 20 states backs public employees at the United States Supreme Court

In a "point-counterpart" pair of guest editorials in Sunday's Tacoma News Tribune, Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson debated a representative from what one Local 53 member dubbed the "Falsehood Foundation" over the Janus case now before the United States Supreme Court.

Inslee and Ferguson in their "Court should preserve union 'fair share'" said attacking unions and their members is attacking the American Dream. Here are excerpts from the Inslee-Ferguson piece:

"In what could be one of the most significant workers' rights cases of our lifetime, the U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to overturn a time-tested standard that protects public employees' right to collectively bargain for wages and benefits.

"Our modern-day laws guaranteeing minimum wages, safety standards and reasonable work hours are a result of union-driven reforms. And unions set standards for entire industries and occupations, which helps boost wages for non-union workers.

"That's why Washington is proud to be among those fighting for the right of state employees to use their power in numbers to improve their lives.

"We are among a coalition of 20 states that recently filed a court brief arguing that our states benefit when we have strong unions and workers are not striking. We don't want to go backward 40 years to a time when public employees took to the streets because they didn't have any other way to be heard.

Their entire piece at: http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/article203211794.html#storylink=cpy

Many members have asked how to submit a letter to the editor to debunk the lies from the "Falsehood Foundation" writer. To submit a letter to the editor to the Tacoma News Tribune, go to: http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/submit-letter/


That's it for now.


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