University of Washington Contract Voting Documents and Timeline

WFSE members have voted to ratify the tentative agreement for your 2027-29 union contract! Thank you to the bargaining team for their hard work at the negotiating table and every member who supported them by making calls, sending emails, and getting loud in our communities.

What's next? Get involved in our union's Legislative and Political Action program to win funding for your union contract, protect jobs and services, defeat the repeal of the Millionaires' Tax in November, pass the AI bargaining bill, and more.

For a bigger picture of how our contracts receive funding, check out our Road to a Fair Contract.

Don't fall for "Opt Out Today." Many of us are getting messages from a group called Opt Out Today, a project of the anti-worker, billionaire-funded “Freedom” Foundation.

In short, the people who have been trying to cut public workers' pay and benefits for years aren't trying to save you money. Here's what they're really about.

Find details of the agreement below.

Message from Your Bargaining Team

Negotiation of the 2027-2029 UW Tentative Agreement (TA) has concluded. 

As you all know, the budget deficit continues to grow, and compensation discussions were incredibly difficult as a result. Despite the state being in a financial crisis and the University coming to the table and fighting us on every single word we proposed, the contract secures the following: 

• The CEGP steps will become regular, AUTOMATIC, annual salary adjustment steps, providing long-term earning power for years to come.
  • Defended and secured over $348.5 million in new funding to protect the current healthcare cost share and fought off increases proposed by management. 
  • Weekend Shift Premium increased to $2.50 
  • And more…
• Plus, many, many more economic and non-economic improvements! 
  • The Employer must notify employees that they have the right to representation at an investigatory meeting.
  • Employees may use personal holiday time off to cover sick time if they run out of sick leave.
  • If the Employer sends employees home due to illness, the absence will be marked as authorized leave without pay.
  • Unpaid time off may now be approved for an employee or household member involved in an immigration enforcement action.
  • At employee request, the Employer will notify others in their department or work unit of their need for shared leave.
  • Up to three days of paid sick time may now be used due to inclement weather.
  • An apprentice steward may attend certain meetings as a second steward up to three times for training purposes
  • See the full tentative agreement for details. 

A complete copy of the tentative agreement is available here: Read the Complete TA.

We want to thank you all for your hard work, research, job actions, and solidarity. Your strength makes all the difference! 

Your WFSE UW Bargaining Team

Download and Share the TA Highlights flyer
 Read the Complete TA 

Highlights

• Despite the state being in a financial crisis and the University fighting us on every improvement we proposed, the contract secures the following: 
  • The CEGP steps will become regular, AUTOMATIC, annual salary adjustment steps, providing long-term earning power for years to come. These steps will no longer be discretionary! Management will no longer be able to decide who gets paid more for the same work and who doesn’t. 
  • Defended and secured over $348.5 million in new funding to protect the current healthcare cost share and fought off increases proposed by management
• Weekend Shift Premium increased to $2.50 for classes on Appendix II
  • Preceptor pay has been expanded to include Hospital Central Service Tech 2’s (in addition to Surgical Techs)
  • The Trades License Premium has been expanded to include Elevator Mechanics/Leads
  • Formal Bilingual Staff: $800 one-time stipend when employee completes program requirements, including a language proficiency test (excluding those meeting requirements in Oct. 2024)
  • Hospital Security Officer Safety Footwear: $100 reimbursement for required footwear every two calendar years
  • Recruitment and Retention range increases for: 
    • Dietetic Techs,
    • Ortho Tech 1 & 2, 
    • Audiology Assistants,
    • Medical Assistants,
    • MA Apprentice, 
    • MA Registered,
    • Supply Chain Techs,
    • Supply Chain Tech 2’s,
    • Supply Chain Tech Leads,
  • Reduced parking rate to $9.00 from 7/1/2027 to 6/30 2028 for WFSE represented employees at HMC for pay per use parking passes for off-site employee parking only.
• Plus, many, many more economic and non-economic improvements! See the full tentative agreement for details.  
  • The Employer must notify employees that they have the right to representation at an investigatory meeting.
  • New language preventing your work from being supplanted by volunteers and preventing volunteers from supervising,
  • Employees may use personal holiday time off to cover sick time if they run out of sick leave.
  • If the Employer sends employees home due to illness, the absence will be marked as authorized leave without pay.
  • Unpaid time off may now be approved for an employee or household member involved in an immigration enforcement action
  • At employee request, the Employer will notify others in their department or work unit of their need for shared leave.
  • Up to three days of paid sick time may now be used due to inclement weather.
  • An apprentice steward may attend certain meetings as a second steward up to three times for training purposes 

How did we get here? 

Read all the bargaining updates from this round of negotiations on our UW landing page here.