Months into bargaining with the University of Washington, WFSE members feel disrespected by UW’s resistance towards better pay and benefits for the staff that keep the university clean, safe, and f
Thanks to her hard work in the AFSCME Free College program, WFSE Local 443 member Kaycee Keys was recently promoted to Fiscal Analyst 4 at the Department of Social and Health Services, earning a significant pay raise.
Keys found her way to this new position through perseverance, a desire to help others, and public service.
After finding herself in difficult times, Keys learned about DSHS employment programming when she visited an office to apply for food stamps.
The COVID-19 pandemic arrived at a time when our nation’s health care workers were already experiencing burnout. The National Academy of Medicine, in a report from 2019, said that 35% to 54% of nurses and physicians in the United States had “substantial symptoms of burnout.”
When eight WFSE members at Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) realized they were being asked to do work beyond their job class without a pay increase, they joined forces to make things right.
They organized to win back pay—and planted seeds for a stronger union in their workplace.
WFSE members at community colleges have approved a memorandum of understanding (MoU) bringing raises to targeted state employee/college job classifications--with a 99% ratification vote.
