State Units Contract

Washington State Employees Information

 

State Contract Negotiations Update - May 2012

Please watch this page for updates and a link to the PTE 17 State Negotiations blog, coming soon.

 

Gainsharing Update - Feb. 2012

gainsharing

Oct. 31, 2011 - State Employee Unions Reject Governor's Request to Reopen Health Care Agreement

Late Thursday, Local 17 and all state employee unions acted in coalition to reject the request from the Governor to reopen negotiations on state employee health care premiums. The Governor had made the request on Wednesday (October 26th) as part of her effort to close the latest state revenue deficit.

In the response to the Governor, the coalition of unions said, "Enough is Enough." State employees have sacrificed four years of salary increases by freezing wages since 2008 and then taking a two-year, 3% pay cut. This comes during the same time as other cost-cutting measures including furloughs and increasing health plan premiums for decreasing benefits.

After over three years of cuts, Local 17 looks for state leaders to "share the pain" and cut tax loopholes to big banks and other favored businesses.

Governor Seeks to Reopen State Employee Health Care Agreement as Part of Budget Cuts


October 27, 2011 - The Governor's office has delivered her request to Local 17 to reopen the Health Care Benefits agreement with state employee unions. This request comes as part of her supplemental budget request to address the latest revenue shortfall. The health care benefit agreement is negotiated by the coalition of state employee unions who must agree to reopen the agreement for renegotiation. More information will be forwarded as this issue progresses.

(Stay up-to-date on these and other important state employee issues by following our blog at: pte17publicaffairs.org where you can also subscribe to have this info sent directly to your home email.)

Aug. 2011 Update -

On August 1st, Local 17 successfully convinced the State to amend the requirements on usage of TSR leave. Employees may now use sick leave prior to using TSR leave if they had received approval for prospective TSR leave. For instance, if an employee has approved TSR leave scheduled for December, but gets sick in November – the employee may use sick leave for the November absence. Contact your union representative if you have questions on this issue.

--

New Contract for Local 17 State Employees Take Effect July 1

Local 17 state employees ratified their 2011-2013 contract in balloting that concluded in March. The contract terms were recently adopted by the Washington State Legislature.

The contract covers roughly 2500 Local 17 employees working at the Departments of Licensing, Transportation, and the State Patrol.

The two-year agreement becomes effective July 1, 2011.

The distribution of contracts to members will be delayed as the contract could not be printed until the Legislature ended its session.

Distribution of contracts will be conducted by the employing agency, but members may choose to reduce printing costs by opting to only access the agreement online. Your agency will be setting this program up shortly. For now, members may view an electronic version.

An overview of the changes can be found here.



Contracting Out of WSDOT Design Work With the call from state government officials to streamline government and make it more efficient, Local 17 is reintroducing our research paper on the issue: Value –Subtracted: The High Cost of Contracting Out WSDOT Engineering. It will be distributed to the governor and legislators as they debate the transportation budget.


Direct Deduction for Local 17 PAC

• Legislative action in Olympia is a key component of representation for state employees.

All funding for legislative action comes from the PAC and NOT from union dues. Make a contribution today! Fill out the form PAC and send it directly to Local 17.