Thousands of WA state and community college workers reject new contract

State employees gathered outside the Labor and Industries Building in Tumwater on Sept. 10 as part of a statewide strike to demand fair wages and safe staffing levels. (Laurel Demkovich/Washington State Standard)

A union representing nearly 5,000 state government and community college workers in Washington overwhelmingly rejected a new two-year contract, putting it in a position its leaders called “uncharted territory.”

The members of Washington Public Employees Association voted against the agreement in principle, which contained a proposed 5% wage increase. Union negotiators called the measure a wage cut, saying it would not allow workers’ wages to keep pace with the rising costs of food, housing and health care.

The union asked for a 30% raise as it sought to make up for what leaders said were two decades of contracts with few or no raises leaving workers with 21% less purchasing power over the past 25 years.

“Our members love their work, they love serving the public, but they cannot afford to continue to fall further and further behind,” WPEA President Amanda Hacker said in a statement. “With these votes, our members are calling management back to the table to negotiate so we can break this negative spiral. We look forward to reopening negotiations as soon as possible.

In contrast, one of the state’s largest public employee unions ratified a new two-year agreement containing almost the same economic terms.

THE Washington State Federation of Employeeswhich represents 50,000 workers in state government, higher education and public service, approved the agreement in principle during the vote which ended on Monday. The federation had 14 negotiated contracts put to a vote.

The largest contract, covering nearly 40,000 public sector employees, was almost 85% approved, union officials said.

The agreements in principle voted by the federation and the association of civil servants provided for general salary increases of 3% on July 1, 2025 and 2% a year later. They would also increase the starting wage for state employees to $18 an hour, ensure the state would continue to pay 85 percent of employees’ health care premiums, and add new types of leave, such as for people facing wildfires.

By law, public sector unions must approve a new contract by Oct. 1 so the governor can consider it for funding in the next two-year budget, which Gov. Jay Inslee will propose in December. Inslee was not involved in the negotiations.

The Washington Public Employees Association’s negotiating team recommended rejection of the state’s “last, best, final offer” by its members working at 13 community colleges and nine state agencies. Among them are the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Revenue, the Liquor and Cannabis Board and the Ministry of Agriculture.

A framework agreement covering more than 2,500 public agency employees was rejected by about 82%, according to union officials. A separate contract covering about 2,000 classified community college staff fared worse, with 91 percent turning it down.

On Monday, the civil servants association signaled its willingness to resume negotiations with the Office of Financial Management, which is handling the negotiations. This is the governor’s budget office. If a new agreement is negotiated and ratified in the coming weeks, the union will have to lobby the Legislature in the next session to fund it, since it will arrive after October 1. And the next governor will have to approve it too.

Otherwise, the terms of the union’s current collective agreements will remain in effect and there will be no general wage increase. Any new negotiated tentative agreement must be reached by October 1, 2025 in order to be funded by the Legislature during the 2026 session.

But if the two sides resume negotiations and fail to reach a new agreement by October 1, 2025, state law allows the employer to unilaterally implement the terms of the company’s last best offer. State for the second year of the 2025-2027 biennium, which would run from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027.

For the federation, the objective is to ensure that the agreements are financed.

Kurt Spiegel, executive director of the Washington Federation of State Employees/AFSCME Council 28, said in an email that the vote shows members “were aware of the large projected state budget deficit” and, with this information, “supported the agreement in principle in a very firm manner. wide margin.

“With new elected officials in office and the state budget shortfall, we are preparing our members for a busy legislative session to ensure all of our contracts are fully funded,” he said.

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