News

If these cuts are implemented by the legislature, the colleges will decide how to implement them. Furloughs are on the table and have been utilized in the past. We need to speak up and demand the rich begin paying their fair share.
After a hard fight, WFSE members received an arbitration opinion vindicating our nine Department of Corrections members who teach Defensive Tactics courses who had been unfairly excluded from receiving assignment pay.
The proposed closures would negatively impact those who are in most need of these services , result in increased recidivism (a 2007 study showed Washington’s reentry centers lead to at least a 2.8% reduction in recidivism), cost the state more money (research conducted by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy indicates that reentry programs have a positive cost/benefit impact; for every dollar spent, $3.82 is returned to the state.), and threaten the capacity of our community custody system when the need for more capacity is rising.
When AFSCME members stand together, we have power in numbers. Together, we can defend our freedom to take our loved ones to the doctor when they get sick and retire with dignity some day. Together, we have the power to make our voices heard at work and in our democracy. That’s our AFSCME Agenda.

Public service workers across the country are losing their foothold in the middle class. So says an article in The New York Times this week that serves as a reminder of why labor unions are more needed now than ever.

More on Monday’s Supreme Court hearing

Top quotes from Monday’s US Supreme Court hearing on the Janus case that aims to install inequality at the bargaining table (to negotiate wages to sustain our families) and also in representing state employees’ contract rights in the workplace: