Latest news with #Pitel
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
WA state workers slam furloughs, other pay cut plans, claiming they are a ‘tax on state employees'
Just after noon Thursday, a handful of staff trickled out of the Attorney General's Office in Olympia, holding signs in the light rain. 'No cuts. No furloughs,' their placards read. 'We serve Washington.' Jonathan Pitel, an assistant attorney general, said his office spends lots of time and energy safeguarding civil and consumers' rights. But as the state faces a deep budget deficit, Pitel and other attorneys and professional staff at the office staged a walkout to sound the alarm about the impact of possible budget cuts and furloughs. 'Protecting children, removing them from vulnerable settings, protecting vulnerable adults, is not a matter of fiscal obligation,' Pitel said March 20. 'It's a matter of the moral obligation of protecting Washingtonians.' Similar walkouts cropped up at Attorney General's Offices statewide, including in Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane, Everett and Tumwater. More than 800 attorneys and 840 professional staff would feel the effects of proposed furloughs and budget reductions, according to a news release announcing the events. The walkouts were responding to Gov. Bob Ferguson's proposal to impose one-day-a-month furloughs over two years for state employees. That hasn't sat well with state workers, some of whom feel betrayed by a man they helped elect. Kim Triplett-Kolerich, president of the Local 795 union representing professional staff at the Attorney General's Office, told McClatchy that one furlough day per month for two years would equate to nearly an entire month without pay. Attorney General Nick Brown said in a statement that there's 'a long way to go until the budget is finalized.' 'I am hopeful the legislature can balance the budget without furloughing state workers and cutting funding to vital programs that Washingtonians depend on,' he said. Washington leaders are scrambling to figure out how to fix the state's budget shortfall. During a press conference late last month, Ferguson rolled out the controversial furlough idea, prompting blowback from state workers. But in a statement provided to McClatchy, the governor remained adamant that he appreciates the important work such employees provide. 'I value their feedback on our budget situation,' the governor continued, 'and welcome any thoughts they have on how we can close the $16 billion budget shortfall I've inherited as a new governor.' Mike Yestramski, president of the Washington Federation of State Employees, said if the furloughs are enacted, they'd cancel out the collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) negotiated last year with then-Gov. Jay Inslee's administration. Ferguson has said he would honor the CBAs, but once-a-month furlough days over the next two years would save the state some $300 million. Certain workers would be excluded from the furloughs, including prison staff and state troopers. 'When they say they're going to fund the CBAs, but they're also going to do furloughs, then that's lip service because the net is unchanged,' Yestramski told McClatchy. Yestramski said the state already has trouble recruiting and retaining state employees. Most of the state's workforce wages and salaries are 'significantly behind market as is.' Public employees do their jobs because they care about their communities, Yestramski said. It's why he decided to be a social worker. On the gubernatorial campaign trail, Ferguson promised labor leaders he would support working people in his decisions, Yestramski said. That Ferguson has seemed unwilling to impose higher taxes on the state's wealthiest residents is disappointing to Yestramski, who pointed out that Washington has the 49th most regressive tax system in the U.S., placing more of a tax burden on low-income residents than their wealthier counterparts. 'I mean, a furlough is a tax on state employees,' Yestramski said. 'That's just very — it's very disheartening.' Senate Republicans unveiled their own budget proposal earlier this month, one that wouldn't raise taxes. The minority party's plan also would forego pay raises for state employees, said state Sen. Chris Gildon, the Senate Republican budget leader, but it would include $5,000 bonuses for state workers, which Gildon said would pencil out better for those making $80,000 or less. Gildon told McClatchy that there isn't a way to balance the budget while giving state employees the $4 billion in pay raises negotiated under Inslee. 'The budget is a matter of priorities, and this is a choice of priority, right?' he said. 'Do you prioritize giving pay raises to state employees who right now make, in 38 of our 39 counties, they make more than your neighbors in the private sector? … Or do you value maintaining affordability for every citizen in Washington state?' Deputy Senate Majority Leader Manka Dhingra said during a recent media availability that she is disappointed to see Republican lawmakers take aim at state employees — similar to how the new federal administration has treated federal workers. 'These are people who serve our communities, who provide services and support to each and every one of us,' the Redmond Democrat said. 'And to really have them suffer because they can't have their affordability issues met, just because they work in service to our government, I think is blatantly unfair.' Both Senate and House Democrats are gearing up to unveil their budget plans early next week. Yestramski, for one, will be watching. Furloughs would be felt by Washingtonians statewide, he said, including via longer lines to renew drivers licenses or stalled-out road repairs. 'The reality is, if these austerity measures get put into place,' Yestramski said, 'it's not just going to harm state employees, but it is, in fact, going to harm everyone in the state.'
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Washington attorney general employees across the state protest agency cuts, staff furloughs
Mar. 20—OLYMPIA — Unionized employees of the Washington attorney general's office staged protests at offices throughout the state Thursday over plans for a monthly furlough of state employees and cuts to the agency. Standing outside the agency's Olympia office, Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Pitel said his message to the Legislature was "about what's important to protect Washingtonians and the good work we do as an office." "Our civil rights division, our affirmative litigation's division, our consumer protections division, they protect the civil rights and consumers of the state of Washington," Pitel said. "Our juvenile litigation division protects children and vulnerable adults in Washington." As the state addresses a multibillion-dollar budget deficit, Gov. Bob Ferguson announced a plan that includes furloughing most state employees once a month for the next two years, which the governor said would save more than $300 million. Certain employees would be exempt from the furloughs, including Washington State Patrol troopers, prison staff and those at state hospitals. "I believe this is necessary to preserve the funding for the compensation increases they earned and negotiated," Ferguson said on Feb. 27. "I continue to support full funding for the collective bargaining increases. Furloughs, of course, reduce compensation without reducing salaries so that employees return to the compensation levels they have earned and bargained once we get through this budget crisis." Cutting the Attorney General's office, Pitel said, "doesn't really make fiscal sense in order to support Washingtonians." Cuts to the agency's affirmative litigation divisions, Pitel said, would not only hinder the work of divisions that fund themselves, but it would also negatively impact the residents. "This isn't a business. Protecting children and removing them from vulnerable settings, protecting vulnerable adults is not a matter of fiscal obligation, it's a matter of moral obligation in protecting Washingtonians," Pitel said. In a statement, Attorney General Nick Brown said that "We have a long way to go until the budget is finalized." "I am hopeful the Legislature can balance the budget without furloughing state workers and cutting funding to vital programs that Washingtonians depend on," he said. Outside of the agency's Spokane office, eight state employees and union representatives gathered at noon. The group milled about the sidewalk along Riverside Avenue near the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes for a half-hour, sporting green Washington Federation of State Employees shirts and carrying signs that read "We stand with public workers, not billionaires," and "No cuts, no furloughs." Jason Wear, a paralegal with the Spokane branch of the Attorney General's Office, said the proposed furloughs would effectively nullify the wage increases for union members that the state agreed to during negotiations last fall. "The governor has stated that he's willing to honor our collective bargaining agreement," Wear said. "But he wants to furlough us one day a month for the next two years, which essentially erases that. That would set us back, behind the cost of living today."
