Your Contract Your Voice: Fight for Our Next Contract Today
This page covers the work our members have undertaken over the last year to prepare for contract negotiations in the spring and summer of 2026.
Find information and the bargaining dates for our 2027-29 contract campaign here.
Laying the Groundwork for Contract Negotiations
Spring 2025 - March 2026| Political Action: How much funding is available for our jobs and the people who depend on us?Bargaining Team Nominations | November 3 - 14thBargaining Team Elections | December 8-12Contract Proposals: What will we fight for? | ongoing - Winter 2025Legislative Session: How much funding will there be? | January - March 2026- Proposal Vetting and Bargaining Survey: What will we prioritize at the table? | Spring 2026 - Summer 2026
- Negotiations for our 2027-2029 contracts begin! | Spring 2026
Spring 2025 - Ongoing | Political Action: How much funding is available for our jobs and the people who depend on us?
On July 3, 2025 anti-worker extremists in Congress passed the largest cuts to Medicaid in history while giving the super-rich $1 trillion in tax breaks.
Those cuts will reduce Medicaid funding in Washington by roughly $3-5 billion a year, severely impacting our state's budget and slashing the pot of money we'll have to negotiate for when we enter contract negotiations in the spring of 2026.
We mitigated the damage and took the biggest step in state history toward fixing our upside-down tax code by passing the Millionaires Tax, but that revenue won't arrive until 2029 and the super-rich will throw everything they have at reversing it, including challenges in the courts and an initiative in November 2026 to repeal it.
Thankfully, Washingtonians have demonstrated that they want the super-rich to pay their fair share.
In 2024, the billionaire-backed organization Let's Go Washington poured huge sums into a campaign to pass Initiative 2109, which would have repealed the capital gains tax and given the richest 0.2% -- just 4,000 households -- a tax break.
Despite misleading (to put it lightly) messaging, the effort failed when 63% of Washingtonians voted NO and kept the tax in place.
- By the numbers: The potential impacts of 2027 federal cuts on WFSE members jobs
Summer 2025 - Winter 2025 | Contract Proposals: What will we fight for?
Our members decide what goes into our union contracts. If you're not familiar with yours, find it here. It details all your rights and protections at work.
WFSE members can submit contract proposals all year, but we recommend waiting to submit until you're familiar with the new 2025-2027 contracts that go into effect in July before you decide what changes you want to it.
When it’s time to go to the table, bargaining teams and staff review these proposals and prepare to bring them to negotiations.
Fall 2025 - Winter 2025 | Bargaining Team Nominations/Elections: Who will negotiate our contracts?
Union members elect their bargaining teams. Bargaining team members negotiate your union contract. Consider serving on your next bargaining team, or nominating a knowledgeable coworker who you’d like to represent you.
- Bargaining Team Nominations: November 3 - 14
- Bargaining Team Elections: December 8 - 12
- Find your elected bargaining team here.
Bargaining team members carry our concerns and priorities to the negotiating table and fight for us there. It’s our job to back them up by following the process closely and being ready to take action when needed.
Email is the primary means that nomination forms and election PINs are sent out. Make sure you're subscribed to union emails before this process begins so you can participate.
Legislative Session: How much funding will there be? | January - March 2026
WFSE members and a broad coalition of working people, educators, and public servants passed the historic Millionaires Tax, which will help fix our upside-down tax code and deliver an estimated $3.5 billion in revenue beginning in 2029.
Find all the wins from our collective work in Olympia here
Spring 2026 - Summer 2026 | Proposal Vetting and Bargaining Survey: What will we prioritize?
As we approach negotiations, your elected bargaining team will review all the contract proposals members have sent in for this round of negotiations and determine which are viable for the bargaining table.
Next, they will send out a survey so that members can make their priorities known.
The survey is an important tool for teams to understand what matters most to you. Teams review their members’ surveys in detail and use them as a roadmap for bargaining. Make sure your bargaining team is able to reach you by verifying that your personal email address is on file.
You can help them win the contract YOU want by filling out the bargaining survey and making sure your coworkers do, too.
- Action Item: Not a union member? Join here. Only union members can set priorities during bargaining.
- Action Item: Ensure you are getting emails from your union. If not, fill out this form.
- Spring 2026 action item: Fill out the bargaining survey for your contract (links will be posted here when they are live)
Spring 2026 | Negotiations for our 2027-2029 contracts begin!
Finally, we’re ready to start negotiating, and we're ready to win a strong contract with YOUR VOICE represented.
During bargaining, your team will send out updates after each session with management. We’ll also reach out when it’s time to take action like our 2024 Walkout for Washington, when thousands of WFSE members turned out at hundreds of sites across Washington to let the state’s negotiators know we meant business. After the Walkout, stalled negotiations began moving again. When we take action together, it works!
Your union contract is a powerful tool. The thousands of public employees who make up our union create each contract together, pushing for needed change and addressing issues head-on.
Action Items: Find all actions on our 2027-29 negotiations landing page.
