This is the Federation Hotline updated Jan. 5, 2018
Thanks for joining us! Yes! We did record this as 2017 in our text message. We won't fix until the those receiving the text have a chance to use the link.
A big week ahead. But first this bulletin:
BULLETIN: Bellevue College agrees to $12,500 settlement for outsourcing members’ work
Local 304 members at Bellevue College have won an admission of bad-faith bargaining and a cash settlement after the college contracted out their work last year.
The Federation and Bellevue College yesterday (Jan. 4) settled the unfair labor practice complaint over the 2017 outsourcing of restroom cleaning and window washing on the college’s main campus.
In the settlement, the college administration admitted that it failed to meet its good-faith bargaining obligations.
The college will also pay $12,500 to the Federation to distribute to the bargaining unit. The college also agreed to take part in collaborative bargaining training with the union.
The settlement was negotiated with the college and signed by the Federation’s Herb Harris and Attorney Ed Younglove.
It’s 2018 and time for legislative session....
Members just like you and me gather tomorrow in Seattle for Lobby Training as we gear up for a fast-paced, 60-day legislative session that starts when the gavel comes down in the House and Senate at 12 noon this Monday, Jan. 8, in Olympia.
Remember, every day is Lobby Day. There is no workforce in the state of Washington that has more at stake in decisions made by the Legislature than state employees. So sign up online at our quick-and-easy Lobby Day page at https://wfse.org/lobby-days, on our upgraded website -- thanks to the leadership of the Federation’s Communications Committee and Public Affairs Assistant Laura Reisdorph.
Later in this message, we’ll spotlight some of our priorities that come front-and-center the first week of session, like the Capital Construction Budget, the Taxpayer Protection Act and our continuing efforts to win better pension protections for institutions workers doing dangerous jobs with high rates of injury and assault. Those priorities were included in the December issue of the WFSE/AFSCME Washington State Employee (online at https://wfse.org/wse) and are online at https://wfse.org/leg-updates.
Remember, our grassroots-lobbying program is about getting real results for real people.
There’s no better illustration of that than the Federation’s continuing efforts on shared leave.
In 2018, Federation members again are stepping up to improve the shared leave benefit even more.
It’s in our DNA. Because the state’s shared leave program is an idea that came from our members, was introduced by the Federation and became law in 1989, and has been expanded several times since because of Federation members’ advocacy in the Legislature and now at the bargaining table.
It was at the bargaining table in the latest round of negotiations that the idea for another expansion of the Federation-founded shared leave program came up.
That latest proposal to expand the humanitarian shared leave program to benefit parental leave is one of the union’s major priorities in the 60-day legislative session that starts Monday, Jan. 8, at 12 noon.
That bill, SHB 1434, would expand the shared leave program to include pregnancy-related disability or illness, or for parental leave to bond with a new child. This is a small item, but it will help make our state a little more family-friendly. The idea came from our bargaining tables in 2016; but it requires this change in law. SHB 1434 passed the House 68-30 in 2017; it’s hoped that with the new progressive majority in the Senate and member action on Lobby Days and other direct actions will make our latest shared leave bill into law this year.
That’s why we’re kicking off this first Hotline of 2018 with our shared leave request list – here as always a directory of members with serious illness or who are caring for seriously ill family members – members who might otherwise see their paychecks end when their leave runs out.
So in celebration of shared leave and validation of how Federation members always make a difference for the good of all, here are the latest shared leave requests – possible only because of the advocacy of Federation members.
Shared leave requests:
IN NEED OF SHARED LEAVE: Kathy Seiffert, a psychiatric social worker 3 at Western State Hospital in Lakewood and a member of Local 793, is in need of shared leave because of a debilitating illness. To help with a donation of eligible unused annual leave or sick leave or all or part of your personal holiday, you can fax donated time to Robin Calhoun at (253) 761-3340, or contact your human resource office.
IN NEED OF SHARED LEAVE: Kari Denham, a financial services specialist 3 with DSHS in Yakima and a member of Local 1326, has been approved for shared leave. She is requesting shared leave to cover the time she will be out of the office an undetermined time during lengthy medical treatments for complicated autoimmune diseases. She is a single mom with two teenagers who really needs shared leave. To help with a donation of eligible unused annual leave or sick leave or all or part of your personal holiday, contact Robert Loftis at (509) 225-6116 or your human resource office.
IN NEED OF SHARED LEAVE: Gary Palmer, a developmental disabilities case resource manager with DSHS in Tumwater and a member of Local 443, is requesting shared leave for a serious ongoing medical condition. To help with a donation of eligible unused annual leave or sick leave or all or part of your personal holiday, contact Linda Evans Miller at [email protected].
IN NEED OF SHARED LEAVE: Selina Stewart, a WorkFirst program specialist with DSHS in Auburn and a member of Local 843, is in desperate need of shared leave. To help with a donation of eligible unused annual leave or sick leave or all or part of your personal holiday, contact your human resource office.
IN NEED OF SHARED LEAVE: Dan Joy, a financial services specialist 3 with DSHS at the Spokane Maple CSO, has been approved for shared leave for a serious medical condition. To help with a donation of eligible unused annual leave or sick leave or all or part of your personal holiday, please contact your human resource office.
IN NEED OF SHARED LEAVE: Tom Haan, a radiation health physicist 2 with the Department of Health in Tumwater and a member of Local 443, has been approved for shared leave. To help with a donation of eligible unused annual leave or sick leave or all or part of your personal holiday, contact Kim Kenderesi at (360) 236-4058, [email protected].
IN NEED OF SHARED LEAVE: Sara J. Herrera, a commerce specialist 2 with the Department of Health in Tumwater and a member of Local 443, has been approved for shared leave for mental health recovery through May 1, 2018. To help with a donation of eligible unused annual leave or sick leave or all or part of your personal holiday, please contact your human resource office.
OTHER SHARED LEAVE REQUESTS FROM DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH:
Laura Balthrop, Theresa Berger, Cheryl Christensen, Eric Collins, Donna Compton, Kathryn Crawford, Connie Dunn, Barb Ericsson, Barbara Guffey, Kari Haschke, Arlene Hyatt, Jessica Jorgensen, Julie Kitten, Michele Lord, Becky McElhiney, James McLaughlin, Debra Mendoza, Denise Miles, Denise Mino, Ramona Nelson, Laura Olexa, Noel Parrish, Lavonda Phillips, Marquita Price, Alison Puckett, Kim-Boi Shadduck, Valerie Vajda, Diane Warner and Jane Zepp. To help with a donation of eligible unused annual leave or sick leave or all or part of your personal holiday, contact Kim Kenderesi at (360) 236-4058, [email protected].
Check out all recent shared leave requests at https://wfse.org/shared-leave on our upgraded website thanks to the leadership of the Federation’s Communications Committee and Public Affairs Assistant Laura Reisdorph.
Legislature 2018 Week 1 Spotlight: Public Service Employees Retirement System (PSERS) and Capital Construction Budget
On this Day 264 of the state Capital Construction Budget being held hostage, we’re pleased to tell that we’ll see action starting on Day 2 of the 2018 legislative session.
The House Capital Budget Committee next Tuesday, Jan. 9, is set to vote on ESHB 1075. That vote will kick start the effort that stalled last April when the previous Senate majority held the bill hostage over an unrelated water-rights issue. The previous Senate majority by doing that delayed critical projects, increased taxpayer costs and laid off state employees.
Hard hit were projects for our state institutions, including funding for increased forensics capacity in Mental Health and to deal with the Fircrest School laundry destroyed in a July 20 fire.
For more information on the damage done by this 264-day delay, go to: https://wfse.org/news/capital-budget-impasse-day-210
So for our institutions members, the Capital Construction Budget is a lifeline.
That same is true of House Bill 1558, the bill to expand the Public Service Employees Retirement System (PSERS). The measure would allow earlier retirement for direct care workers at DSHS and Veterans Affairs institutions. The earlier retirement would recognize these workers’ high rate of injury and assault. Those in high-risk institutions occupations would be allowed to retire at age 60.
“This is an opportunity for our state to remedy what really is an inequity for folks who have worked around folks who are dangerous and who have suffered greater exposure to injury,” the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Christine Kilduff of the 28th Dist., testified last year.
Like a lot of good humanitarian bills, our PSERS bill passed the House in 2017 but was ignored by the old majority controlling the state Senate.
With the new working-family-friendly majority in the state Senate and continued support from the House, our members in state Institutions are wasting no time to put both the PSERS bill and Capital Construction Budget on the fast track.
The PSERS bill hasn’t been scheduled for any action yet, so the timing of the Institutions members’ action is very timely.
Starting today, Federation Institutions members across the state are filling out “Pain Assessment Tools” detailing the harm they’ve experienced from on-the-job assaults and injuries – in line with the point made by Rep. Kilduff.
“Please respect my sacrifice by passing the Capital Budget and cover my work in the Public Safety Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS),” the members will say in their separate messages to their two House members and state senator.
TAKE ACTION: WFSE.org/pain-assessment
Here’s what’s on tap for the first week of the 2018 legislative session
As we’ll do every week from the start of the 2018 legislative session on Jan. 8 to adjournment on March 8, here’s what’s coming up next week in the Legislature.
Remember, every day is Lobby Day. RSVP TODAY!
- Enter your email at the top of WFSE.org to sign-up for Hotline emails.
- Access our audio-based hands-free version of the Hotline at 1-800-562-6102
Ok, here’s what’s on tap next week:
Monday, Jan. 8
- The House and Senate reconvene at 12 noon.
- The House Appropriations Committee gets a briefing on the governor’s 2018 supplemental operating budget https://wfse.org/news/governor-unveils-supplemental-budget
- The Federation will once again weigh in to support gender pay equity when EHB 1506 comes up for a public hearing in the House Labor and Workplace Standards Committee.
Tuesday, Jan. 9
- Revenue and fixing the state’s upside-down tax code take center stage on Tuesday. Thanks to our allies in the All In for Action Coalition, we’ll be joining a statewide action on the sixth business day of the year, all the time it takes for the wealthiest to pay their taxes for the entire year.
Watch for our email action on Jan. 9 to illustrate that our state is in last place – even Alabama is ahead of us even before their recent electoral progress. We have the most upside-down-tax code in the country.
Our tax code asks working people to pay up to 17 percent of their income in state and local taxes while the wealthiest pay less than percent. Powerful special interests have riddled the tax code with wasteful tax breaks and loopholes that siphon money out of our communities. So watch for our email action. And if you’re in Olympia on Tuesday, join the onsite action at 11:20 a.m. under the Capitol Dome.
- Speaking of tax breaks, the House Finance Committee hears from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee on the 2017 Tax Preference Performance Review Report.
- The House Capital Budget Committee takes the first vote of the session to free up the long-stalled Capital Construction Budget (ESHB 1075).
- The Senate Ways and Means Committee holds a public hearing on the governor’s proposed supplemental budget https://wfse.org/news/governor-unveils-supplemental-budget
- Gov. Jay Inslee delivers his annual State of the State Address at 12 noon to a joint session of the Legislature.
- The Federation will once again weigh in to support the Washington Voting Rights Act, HB 1800, that comes up for a public hearing in the House State Government Committee.
Wednesday, Jan. 10
- Our big hearing of the day comes Wednesday when the House State Government Committee holds a public hearing on ESHB 1851, the Taxpayer Protection Act. Most state services are delivered through third-party vendors, and the state hasn’t always done an effective job of making sure third-party vendors spend our tax dollars efficiently and effectively. The TPA requires the state to more carefully analyze the costs of outsourcing, monitor contracts more effectively, and hold contractors accountable when they fail to produce promised results. A committee vote is scheduled for Jan. 12. ESHB 1851 passed the House 69-28 in 2017; this is one bill that had bipartisan progress and great hope for 2018.
- The Federation will weigh in to support of two important bills coming up for public hearings in the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee: SB 5996 that would encourage the disclosure and discussion of sexual harassment and sexual assault in the workplace; and SB 5940, creating the presumption of occupational disease for certain employees at the Unites States Department of Energy Hanford site.
- The Senate Human Services and Corrections Committee has scheduled a public hearing on a bill concerning juvenile offenders.
- The Federation will once again weigh in to support of the Senate version of the Washington Voting Rights Act, SB 6002, that comes up for a public hearing in the Senate State Government Committee.
- The House Appropriations Committee holds a public hearing on HB 2299, the governor’s supplemental budget proposal https://wfse.org/news/governor-unveils-supplemental-budget
Thursday, Jan. 11
- The Senate Ways and Means Committee holds a work session and public hearing on the governor’s proposed supplemental Capital Construction Budget.
- The House Appropriations Committee gets an update on the new Department of Children, Youth and Families.
- The Federation will weigh in to support SB 6029 that would establish a Student Loan Bill of Rights. The measure comes up for a public hearing in the Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee.
- The House Judiciary Committee holds has a scheduled public hearing on HB 2289 concerning the release and commitment of persons involuntarily committed after the dismissal of a felony.
Friday, Jan. 12
Another Federation Lobby Day opportunity for members: https://wfse.org/lobby-days
More bargaining unit updates
Here are two big developments that took place just before the holidays affecting Higher Education members at Washington State University and Tacoma Community College:
• WSU members gain greater voice with merger of two bargaining units
Two bargaining units merged into one will bring a greater voice on the worksite and at the bargaining table for some 140 affected members at Washington State University.
Merged into the new Construction Services, Maintenance Services and Waste Management Sections Bargaining Unit were the members in the previous units representing maintenance and construction workers and the one for waste management workers.
The merger also brings valuable contract advantages, too.
The merger requested by our WSU Local 1066 members came Dec. 19 before the Public Employment Relations Commission.
• Tacoma CC Student Support Services Unit ratifies contract
Members in the Student Support Services Unit at Tacoma Community College Dec. 14 unanimously ratified their new (2017-2019) contract.
This unit bargains under a different law than most other Federation Higher Education and General Government members so has a different timetable.
The new TCC SSSU contract is highlighted with the same 6 percent across-the-board raises over three years as the other Federation General Government and Higher Education contracts that took effect this past July 1 and that were negotiated under the 15-year-old collective bargaining law.
The TCC SSSU members view their just-ratified contract as a foundation for the next contract. The bargaining unit members will begin working on proposals and concepts for the next round of bargaining.