News

On Tuesday, September 10, thousands of WFSE members at over 130 worksites walked out of their jobs to draw attention to the need for a fair contract.

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

Business community gangs up our priority outsourcing transparency bill

Our priority bill to bring transparency and accountability when a state agency wants to contract out state employee work has a bull’s-eye on its back as the business community lined up to try to kill it at a rare House hearing Saturday.

Part-timers bill lauded at Appropriations Committee

Also Saturday (Feb. 3), Federation Lobbyist Matt Zuvich urged the House Appropriations Committee to keep the ball rolling on the bill to add all part-time state employees to state civil service.

“It’s a worker-friendly bill,” Zuvich said of HB 2669.

Interpreter services bill saves money, members tell Senate budget committee

The AFSCME Council 28 (WFSE)’s priority bill to expand the successful interpreter services program came before the Senate Ways and Means Committee Thursday night (Feb. 1) where WFSE/AFSCME Interpreters United Local 1671 President Leroy Mould said the 7-year-old program won for medical interpreters has streamlined scheduling and services and been cost-effective.

“These savings are the consequence of using our web-based scheduling system,” Local 1671 Secretary Milena Waldron added.

Social worker loan repayment bill needed to address “epidemic” turnover

AFSCME Council 28 (WFSE) priority bill to help Children’s Administration social workers repay their college debt is an innovative way to address the recruitment and retention crisis there.

That’s what the bill’s sponsor and Federation members told the Senate Ways and Means Committee Thursday night (Feb. 1) on SSB 6259.

Don’t think standing together as a union for affordable health care matters, consider this....

From the United States Supreme Court in Washington, DC, to the Freedom Foundation in this state, powerful special interests want to take away our ability to negotiate better wages and benefits to sustain our families and provide quality public services.

The aim of these “right-to-work” and other attacks is to cripple this movement and undo the progress we’ve made.