10 Questions for Your Union
Any union should be able to answer the questions below. If it can't, beware!
- How many dues-paying members do you represent?
- Have you ever negotiated a contract?
- Can you share your constitution and by-laws? I want to know how important decisions are made.
- Who elected your leadership?
- Do you have a member bill of rights?
- How many paid staff do you have?
- Are your membership meetings public and can I attend?
- Who is funding your organization?
- How much are your dues?
- What have you won for your members?
As a transparent union run by thousands of interpreters, Interpreters United (WFSE) can answer all these questions. And we would be glad to!
A union is not a conspiracy video on YouTube. A union is interpreters coming together to make real change.
WA Interpreters is trying to stop the online scheduling system by filing an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP). When the dust settles and the online scheduling system stays, we interpreters will have a choice to make:
Go with the only certified union run by and for interpreters in Washington state, with a track record of winning victories and increasing pay, or go with a group that makes unachievable promises and has won nothing for interpreters.
Hundreds of interpreters across the state have already made their choice.
Why?
- We want to pick our leaders and not have self-appointed leaders.
- We want the power and resources of being part of the biggest union in Washington State with 47,000 members.
- We want to choose our own priorities and not have them be dictated to us by the self-appointed leadership.
- We want a union that walks the walk, instead of talking the talk.
Join Us and Let's Make it Happen!
Our Achievements
- Doubled wages for represented interpreters over 10 years
- Won reimbursement for late cancellations/no-shows
- Won hourly minimum per appointment
- Won protection against claw backs
- Won fair appointment distribution
- Passed a new law in 2020 giving ALL freelance interpreters the right to negotiate state-funded health insurance
- Supported interpreters through the COVID-19 pandemic
- Stopping the offshoring of appointments
We defeated an unfair system and brought respect to our profession. Now L&I interpreters are joining us to do the same thing.
