This is the Federation Hotline updated March 7.
On next-to-last day of session, members thank lawmakers for PSERS bill while waiting for budget release
As this update was written, we were still awaiting the release of the final compromise supplemental budget. It has to be today because tomorrow is the 60th and final day of the 2018 legislative session. We don't expect any surprises in the final budget.
But the wait for the budget allowed AFSCME Council 28 (WFSE) members to stop by the Capitol in Olympia to thank lawmakers who championed and won passage of the bill expanding the Public Safety Employees Retirement System (PSERS) to include direct-care workers in DSHS and Veterans institutions.
SHB 1558 came after years of effort and recognizes the unacceptable rates of assault and injury these institutions workers face.
Earlier today (March 7), Julianne Moore, an AFSCME Council 28 (WFSE) Executive Board member and longtime caregiver at one of our residential habilitation centers, stopped into the Capitol to thank the bill's prime sponsor, Rep. Christine Kilduff of the 28th Dist. and the bill's champion in the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Drew Hansen of the 23rd Dist.
Moore, a Local 1326 member at Yakima Valley School in Selah, thanked Kilduff and Hansen personally on behalf of institutions workers.
She told them the PSERS expansion bill will be a huge benefit for a workforce that is aging and a work environment that can be brutal on the body.
"I know it won't help me, but I know it will help those coming along behind tremendously," Moore said.
AFSCME Council 28 (WFSE) Lobbyist Matt Zuvich and General Government Strategic Coordinator Sean Dannen joined her.
SHB 1558 today (March 7) was formally delivered to Gov. Jay Inslee. When we know the date of the governor's bill-signing ceremony, we'll let you know.
UPDATE: UW students and Local 3488 Laundry workers unite against privatizing
A delegation of Local 3488 members from the University of Washington Laundry has reached out to UW student groups and forged a partnership that aims to oppose privatizing this vital public service.
The UW Laundry members spoke with dozens of UW students at the event organized by the UW chapter of the United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS). USAS in turn invited representatives from a few other groups on campus including the Filipino American Student Association, Huskies for Food Justice, and Campus Animal Rights Educators.
Our members told their stories about how the possible closure of the UW Laundry would affect their families why we have reached out to students and the community to oppose the outsourcing scheme.
Our members also explained that UW Medicine's financial challenges are in no way meaningfully addressed by closing the laundry, and that any comparison of a unionized laundry service where workers receive Seattle's minimum wage, healthcare benefits and the state pension plan cannot be made with private sector competitors that compete at the expense of labor standards.
USAS students are going to work with our union to coordinate outreach to other student organizations on campus, hosting a big educational event for UW students next quarter (with outreach to progressive classes and asking professors to offer students extra credit), and participating in campus actions in support of our campaign. We also talked through the importance of UW President Ana Mari Cauce including labor standards criteria in the University's Request For Proposals (RFP) evaluation process.
That's it for now.
###