500 state workers rally for cost-of-living raises

Members out in force to support union contract negotiations

By Adam Wilson | The Olympian • Published August 12, 2008

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Times might be tough for the state, but they're tough at home, too, more than 500 state workers said Tuesday.

Members of the Washington Federation of State Employees gathered at the Capitol to support their team in contract talks with the governor. On the minds of many was the slumping economy, which opened an expected $2.7 billion shortfall in the state's 2009-11 budget.

"What's important in the contract is that we don't lose anything," said Steve Cole, an information technology specialist for the Employment Security Department. "We'll be lucky if we get 5 percent over two years."

In their last contract, unionized workers agreed to a 3.2 percent pay increase for 2007 and 2 percent raise last month. That was on top of a new pay step for longtime employees and boosts for professionals far behind peers in the private sector.

But after retirement costs and other deductions, that July raise put an extra $6 in Tim Rolfe's paychecks, the Department of Labor and Industries claims manager said.

His rent went up $50 a month, and then there are higher fuel and food prices, Rolfe said.

"Everything is going up, except our wages. We can't even stay ahead of the cost of living," he said.

Calling himself a conservative, Rolfe said he became active in the union to push for good contracts.

"I was one of those that was reluctant to join the union. I was pretty much forced into it to save my job," he said.

The first contracts to include pay raises also started mandatory union dues in 2005. The result has been a boom in union income. The federation alone doubled its membership to nearly 40,000 combined in government and state colleges.

Gov. Chris Gregoire has benefited politically from the change, winning support from large unions such as the federation and Service Employees International Union locals, which also bargain with her negotiators.

The unions are paying for advertisements criticizing Gregoire's Republican challenger, Dino Rossi.

Rossi says that's a conflict of interest.