WALKOUT August 31st | Send a letter to Gov and Higher Ed Leaders
After being told "not a dime" had been authorized by Governor Ferguson's team for WFSE members' 2027-29 contracts, WFSE announced:
- A statewide "Walkout With Washington" on August 31st (a map of scheduled walkouts will be published here August 4th.)
- A call to action to send a letter to Governor Ferguson, OFM, and higher education leadership
"Not a Dime"
Most WFSE members just received a 2% general wage increase as of their July 25th paychecks, after receiving 3% in July of last year.
Every bit helps, and it's more than folks in the private sector gained over the same period, but it doesn't address the affordability crisis that far too many of our members are experiencing.
For relief from stubborn inflation, recruitment and retention challenges, and ballooning workload, WFSE's 52,000 members were looking to negotiations underway for their 2027-29 contracts.
Unfortunately, during a recent negotiations session, Governor Ferguson's negotiations team admitted that they hadn't been authorized to spend a dime one our 2027-29 contracts.
That comment was made at the General Government table, but it's fair to say that other WFSE-represented groups — from the University of Washington to our community colleges — will be getting the same "offer."
Find updates from your contract here and read on to learn what's at stake, why we're walking out, and how to help us build support in our communities.
What does a 'walkout' mean?
Now is a time to use our numbers. Our walkout will show our elected officials, higher ed leaders, and their negotiations teams that we're organized and paying attention to what's happening at the negotiating tables.
This is a coordinated action where folks will take regularly scheduled break, lunch, or vacation time to get outside, get press attention, and bring our message to our communities.
What does 'leading' your walkout mean?
On the RSVP page for each walkout, you'll see the option to "lead" the walkout.
Leading simply means you'll be the one coordinating with WFSE about where supplies should be delivered or can be picked up. You'll also assign roles based on the suggested agenda in the toolkit, which you can use as a guide or your event or as your exact agenda.
Check out the toolkit items here. There are also signs, stickers and window clings.
What about people who telework?
Folks who telework will be encouraged to RSVP for the closest worksite to them in addition to sending a letter to state leadership and following up with a phone call to either the governor or their university leadership.
The Definition of Insanity
The state’s financial strategy, both at the bargaining table and in the legislature, is a textbook definition of insanity: repeating the exact same mistakes and expecting a different result.
As negotiations continue for new collective bargaining agreements covering WFSE members across state agencies, community colleges, universities, and healthcare facilities, members are warning that Washington cannot continue expecting world-class services while refusing to invest in the people who provide them.
During the Great Recession, cuts and furloughs to staff in agencies heavily backed by federal matching dollars didn't save the state general fund a penny—it literally shut off the valve on hundreds of millions of federal matching dollars that would have been flowing into our state.
Delayed disability payments due to short staffing led to increased burden on local state-funded safety net programs. Persistant recruitment and retention challenges force employers to rely on expensive external help, paying up to triple the cost of in-house work.
“Years of cuts and ballooning workloads for employees in high-stakes jobs, like protecting vulnerable children, maintaining public safety, and caring for intellectually and developmentally disabled folks, is a recipe for avoidable suffering and billions in liability,” said WFSE President Mike Yestramski, a psychiatric social worker at Western State Hospital.
“We are sounding the alarm that the governor’s team seems intent on following the same failed policies that produced the shortfall in the first place,” Yestramski said.
The state set another record in fiscal year 2026 with $537 million in lawsuit payouts, according to the Department of Enterprise Services. Over the last five years, the state has paid over $1.6 billion in tort claims, not including the cost of legal defense.
It took walkouts and thousands of letters in the summer of 2024 to win the 5% increase in our last contract. Then, a few months later, the governor and senate tried to cancel the increase by mandating one furlough day a month, which would have equated to a 5% reduction in pay.
WFSE members mobilized statewide and defeated the furloughs.
The state went through all that to try and "save" around $650 million* over two years. Then they went and burned double that, $1.3 billion, over the last two years just in legal liability.
Meanwhile, construction is actively underway on an estimated $8.6 million project to restore the historic skylights in the House and Senate chambers.
That’s $9 million in taxpayer dollars so legislators can sit under soft ambient daylight while the folks who do the work are left in the dark.
Send a Letter to State and Higher Ed Leaders
Join us in calling on our leaders to reject failed austerity policies and invest in the workforce that powers the state's economy, educates its future workforce, and delivers critical services to millions of residents every day.
What's at Stake
New federal requirements for Basic Food (SNAP) benefits are already multiplying workloads for workers at the Department of Social and Health Services who are stretched thin from years of cuts. Hungry families are paying the price.
This round of negotiations is pivotal for our communities and will determine the state of our safety net when $4b in Medicaid cuts threatens vulnerable Washingtonians in 2027.
Budgets are a reflection of our values – and Washington can help lead the nation by showing a different way to address systemic inequality and shortfalls than what is being modeled in the other Washington.
State leaders project growing demand for public services. At the same time, they are proposing compensation packages that workers say fail to keep pace with inflation and rising living costs.
The WFSE Community College Coalition are negotiating a contract for workers at 12 community colleges.
“The rise in unemployment and the federal restrictions on eligibility for food benefits and Medicaid are pushing people into school and caseloads for public services are going to keep growing. Both of those impact the workloads of frontline state workers,” said Emily Rodriguez, a WFSE Local 304 member and customer service specialist at Seattle Colleges.
At the very moment Washington needs to train more nurses, healthcare workers, tradespeople, and other in-demand professionals, the state seems prepared to propose compensation policies that make it harder to retain the employees who provide that training.
“Our work helps Washingtonians transform potential into practical expertise,” said Tracy Stanley, WFSE Secretary and IT customer service manager at Lower Columbia Community College.
“We help bridge the critical gap between our current industry demands and the highly skilled workforce our future depends on.”
Businesses Supporting Public Workers
Taken together, employees in the public higher education workforce and in state agencies make state government the largest employer in Washington. Their wages support large and small local businesses, housing markets, restaurants, retail stores, and communities across the state.
Every dollar invested in public-sector jobs generates approximately $1.60 in local economic activity.
Pay and program cuts in response to economic downturns — everything the governor’s team is proposing as a solution — had the opposite impact by shrinking local tax bases and reducing the state's capacity to bring in revenue.
Our positive impact on our communities is a big reason that over 100 small businesses across the state have publicly pledged their support for public workers during this round of negotiations.
If you haven't yet, bring signs to your favorite local businesses and get them behind our fight for a fair contract!
*$650m includes WFSE members in state government and higher education as well as non-represented workers who received the increase.