Latest news with #WashingtonFederationofStateEmployees
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Union urges Ferguson not to sign budget without their pay raises
Members of the Washington Public Employees Association march at the 2025 public service recognition event at the state Capitol on May 7, 2025. (Jerry Cornfield/Washington State Standard) Thousands of state government and community college employees in Washington want Gov. Bob Ferguson to ensure they receive a pay raise in July like the rest of the state workforce. They are asking the first-term Democrat not to sign a new state budget unless it pays for their contract, which lawmakers said was ratified too late to be put in the spending plan awaiting Ferguson's signature. This request from the nearly 5,300-member Washington Public Employees Association is a long shot and could require the governor calling lawmakers back to Olympia for a special session. In the meantime, the much larger Washington Federation of State Employees is pressing Ferguson to sign the budget, which would pay for raises for its members and does not include furlough plans that the union fought against. The Washington Public Employees Association delivered a letter to Ferguson this week, asserting that inaction by negotiators in his budget office prevented contract talks from being completed faster so the collective bargaining agreement could get funded. 'I recognize that the position you find yourself in is not an easy one,' union president Amanda Hacker writes in the letter. 'Please recognize that signing a budget that harms over 5,000 of your employees for asserting their legal right to participate in their union is not the correct way out of this situation.' Hacker sought to drop the letter off at the governor's office on Wednesday but was told no one was there to accept it. A Ferguson spokeswoman emailed the Standard late Wednesday, indicating the letter had been received. 'Governor Ferguson looks forward to reviewing it,' communications director Brionna Aho wrote. Also Wednesday, about 100 association members rallied at a public service recognition event held across the street from the state Capitol. Throngs of state workers attended the annual celebration that featured food, music and dozens of information booths representing agencies, community organizations, and service providers. Ferguson did not attend the event, choosing instead to schedule a midday bill signing in Seattle. The Washington Federation of State Employees represents 50,000 state government, higher education and public service workers. It has more than a dozen contracts funded in the budget approved by the Legislature on April 27, the last day of session. 'We want him to sign it,' Ashley Fueston, the federation vice president, said. 'It's definitely a tough situation for all of us. We worked very hard to get our contracts funded. We hope they find a way into the budget.' Those contracts contain general pay hikes of 3% on July 1, 2025 and 2% a year later. These agreements also raise the starting wage for state workers to $18 an hour. Members of the Washington Public Employees Association are not receiving those increases. They work at 14 community colleges and nine state agencies, including the Department of Natural Resources, Department of Revenue, the Liquor and Cannabis Board and Department of Agriculture. By law, public sector unions in Washington must approve a new contract by Oct. 1 to be considered by a governor for funding in the ensuing two-year budget. But association members overwhelmingly voted down a tentative agreement with the pay hikes by that deadline. Union leaders told employees then that rejecting the accord would put them in 'uncharted territory.' Hacker said they sought to keep bargaining. But the Office of Financial Management, which represents the state, wouldn't, she said. The union sued to try to force a resumption of talks. Negotiations restarted in December. Hacker lays out the timeline in her letter. The two sides reached a tentative agreement in March and union members ratified it April 3. It is essentially the same contract they turned down, and has 3% and 2% increases, the same as the other contracts. 'As you know, Governor Ferguson was not in office when most of this occurred,' Aho, the communications director, emailed. 'We would defer to OFM for more details.' On March 19, the Office of Financial Management told legislative budget writers that separate tentative agreements had been reached with Washington Public Employees Association general government workers and higher education employees. OFM staff estimated those two contracts would cost $55.8 million for the 2025-27 biennium. In the same letter, OFM director K.D. Chapman-See said the agency supported a 'one-time non-precedent setting suspension' of the Oct. 1 statutory deadline 'to enable these tentative agreements to be considered for funding.' She also included potential language that could be put in the budget bill, making clear the funding would be solely for the upcoming budget cycle. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Protest erupts at WA Capitol, as outraged state workers slam Ferguson over furlough plan
Hundreds of state workers entered the capitol to protest potential furloughs amid a massive budget shortfall on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (Photo by Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero/Washington State Standard) Hundreds of Washington state workers descended on the Capitol on Wednesday, staging a sit-in outside the governor's office and a march to the gates of the executive mansion to protest potential furloughs amid a massive budget shortfall. Workers from the Washington Federation of State Employees and other local unions pushed for a so-called wealth tax rather than cutting their earnings or state programs to fill the estimated $16 billion budget hole. Gov. Bob Ferguson has shunned the revenue idea as an untested concept that will attract court challenges. Protesting workers made two passes to Ferguson's office. The first time they encountered a closed door and chanted from outside for the governor to meet with them. A short time later, they returned and a small crowd, including federation president Mike Yestramski, got inside but did not meet with the governor. 'One of his people came out and said we'll let him know you were here,' Yestramski said. 'I think we made our message clear.' Ferguson was not on campus Wednesday. He was working in Seattle. Brionna Aho, Ferguson's communications director, said in an email, 'We value our state employees. Our team has been in regular and close communication with WFSE at multiple levels, including numerous calls and meetings with our senior leadership.' As part of his suite of proposed budget cuts, Ferguson has floated two years of one-day-per-month furloughs for state workers. Potential budget saving options also include closing state facilities, like reentry centers for people leaving prison and residential care facilities for people with developmental disabilities. Senate Democrats' operating budget plan, unveiled last month, includes 13 unpaid furlough days in the fiscal year starting July 1. House Democrats avoid furloughs entirely. The governor and Democratic lawmakers both look to honor collective bargaining agreements with 5% wage increases over the next two years for state employees. However, state workers say the effect of the furloughs will eat up most of the negotiated pay hikes. Workers began Wednesday with an hour-long rally on the Capitol grounds, next to Tivoli Fountain, in which labor leaders and legislators repeatedly blasted the first-term governor for not standing behind them after public sector unions provided their full-throated support for him in the 2024 election. Speakers talked of the chaos that could ensue if thousands of state workers staged a one-day walkout in protest of the furlough ideas. 'Governor Ferguson, the choice is yours. We gave you your job. We can take it from you too,' said Milö Nicholas, a public health worker and vice president of Local 443 that represents state employees in Lewis, Mason and Thurston counties. Rep. Brianna Thomas, D-Seattle, said the governor seemed to have forgotten who helped get him elected. She vowed to stand strong against balancing the budgets on the backs of the workers. 'Bob may be a chessmaster, but he sure as s**t ain't beating me in a street fight,' she said. Yestramski took the stage last at the outdoor rally. He has called Ferguson a 'pseudo Democrat' and a 'ratfink.' 'I heard the governor might be a little upset with us. He doesn't like being called out,' Yestramski said. 'You know what we don't like? Being scammed.' Yestramski said he had not met with Ferguson since he took office. He called on Ferguson to 'look us in the eye and tell us why you are prioritizing billionaires over the working people of this state. He's too busy to meet with us. We've all got time right now,' Yestramski told the cheering crowd as it then headed to the Capitol. Inside the rotunda, their booming chants 'No cuts, no furloughs, tax, tax the rich' could be heard in the House and Senate chambers where lawmakers were voting on legislation. Democrats from the two chambers are now negotiating a final budget plan. Democratic legislative leaders said Wednesday they plan to release new ideas for raising revenue next week in line with the governor's wishes. 'My members and I in the House are all going to get pushed to our limit in a year like this. Every member of the Senate is going to get pushed to their limit in a year like this, and so is the governor,' House Speaker Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, told reporters. 'The point that we're trying to get to is probably a somewhat narrow path.' The legislative session is scheduled to end April 27.
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.'
