Like many DCYF workers in Washington, Taylor Andrews-Garcelon loves her clients but has felt her job get more stressful and dangerous in the last few years.
Economists of diverse backgrounds, who might otherwise disagree on a range of policy issues, spoke with a single voice on Monday on the need for Congress to provide robust aid to states, cities and towns.
Such aid, they said, is crucial in the midst of an economic crisis that is decimating state and local budgets and threatening essential public services that are critical to beating the pandemic and jumpstarting the economy.
Olympia, Wash.—The Washington Federation of State Employees (AFSCME Council 28) Executive Committee released the following statement condemning the recent murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd:
Even in the best of times, organizing can be tough work. Add in a global pandemic, and growing your local union can seem impossible. Yet over the last few months, a group of interpreters in Washington state hasn't let the COVID-19 crisis slow them down.
Essential workers at several community colleges in King County fought for and won hazard pay, but there's work to do at Bellevue College. Sign the petition!
When UW Medicine announced they would be furloughing staff, our union took action to ensure that any reductions would be minimal and applied fairly. Our team negotiated into early Saturday morning and secured the following:
No workforce in the state of Washington has more at stake in decisions made by the legislature than public employees. That’s why we want you to know which legislators walked the walk and voted to support public employees—and which didn’t.
The good news is, legislators work for us. They go to Olympia to represent the voters, and we choose who will be reelected.
