State workers rally at Capitol as negotiations continue

The state has reached tentative collective bargaining agreements with more than a dozen unions, but negotiations continue with eight more, and another six are in arbitration.

The Office of Financial Management released a bargaining status update Wednesday, ahead of a rally at the Capitol Wednesday sponsored by several of the unions.

Under state law, negotiations for 49,000 state employees and 46,000 publicly funded non-state employees are exempt from public view until after they are approved and included in the budget. To be included in Gov. Jay Inslee’s 2017-2019 budget proposal, the agreements must be submitted by October. At that point, the governor’s budget office will determine whether they are financially feasible and able to be included in the proposed budget, which will be released in December.

When the contracts are in the budget, the Legislature can’t amend the agreements. It can only vote to approve or reject.

This story was originally published August 31, 2016 at 4:07 PM with the headline "State workers rally at Capitol as negotiations continue."