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Adam Wilson expounds on Washington state government, workers and politics. Wilson began covering those issues for the Olympian in 2004. He can be reached at: awilson@theolympian.com.
Ecology staff takes on WMS bonuses
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Members of the Washington Federation of State Employees have been studying the difference in pay raises for middle managers and classified staff for some time. Their conclusion: pay for the Washington Management Service has increased 14 percent more than hourly staff over eight years.
I talked to Stan Leja, a hydro geologist at the agency about the study. Here’s a clip from today’s story:
"The general issue is one of fairness," Leja said. "There does seem to be a issue where they give each other a lot of growth and development (bonuses). I like to call it an 'Animal Farm' situation, where you have a bunch of state employees, some of whom are more equal than others."
Department management still is reviewing the documentation submitted by the union and cannot confirm its accuracy, agency spokeswoman Kim Schmanke said.
She noted, however, that the special bonuses were created to reward exceptional work in the same 2002 law that gave unions the right to bargain for pay raises.
"It's to reward excellent service, but also be competitive with pay in the private sector," she said. "This is one way we can reward excellence and help keep people in the agency."
Department management still is reviewing the documentation submitted by the union and cannot confirm its accuracy, agency spokeswoman Kim Schmanke said.
She noted, however, that the special bonuses were created to reward exceptional work in the same 2002 law that gave unions the right to bargain for pay raises.
"It's to reward excellent service, but also be competitive with pay in the private sector," she said. "This is one way we can reward excellence and help keep people in the agency."
An interested undercurrent in this story is the timing of the study itself. Leja said it was complete before the election, but as the union backed Gov. Chris Gregoire for re-election, they didn’t want to criticize her before votes were cast.
Then, he said, there was some interest from management in discussing the subject. That seemed to fade away, and ultimately, the union released its study shortly before Gregoire released her budget proposal. The timing was such that I couldn’t get to it until after all the furious budget reporting.
Ultimately, making the information public is supposed to coax the agency directors to take the union's concerns seriously, Leja said. He also stood by the work, which was based on a public records request.
"We think that the information they provided was accurate, and when we did the analysis, that is accurate," he said.
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