Study shows state worker pay disparity

Middle managers offered bonuses, more opportunities

By Adam Wilson | The Olympian • Published December 29, 2008

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Mid-level managers at the state Department of Ecology have seen their pay increase 14 percent more than rank-and-file workers over the past eight years, union members say.

The increases in bonuses and training opportunities for members of the Washington Management Service haven't been sudden, but they've caught other employees' attention for the past few years, said Stan Leja, a hydrogeologist at the agency.

He and other members of the Washington Federation of State Employees studied the salary information for about 175 middle managers at the 1,600-person agency from 1999 to 2007 and released their findings this month.

Fairness issue

"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."

The one-time bonuses for performance were not huge, hitting a maximum of about $5,000, Leja said. But they seemed to be increasingly common.

Curtailing growth

The union said stopping the growth in pay for middle managers — 42 percent over eight years, versus 28 percent for classified staff — is a good way to trim costs as the state faces a $5.7 billion shortfall in the next two-year budget.

Gov. Chris Gregoire recently decided not to back the 2 percent annual raises she negotiated with the union in September, saying the worsening recession makes them unfeasible.

"If we're going to be cut back, if the governor's sending a message to the Legislature to vote down the new contract, and we're not going to get anything, then the (middle) managers should not get anything," Leja said. "But beyond that, there's this business on how they are treated on vacation time and other things."

He said the bonuses, as well as extended periods of leave and seemingly unnecessary trips to seminars, are used to reward managers while staff members struggle to find money to improve their own training.

Releasing the study on pay raises was one way of making management discuss the issue, Leja added. He said there has been no direct response so far.

Canceled bonuses

Schmanke said the bonuses for next year already have been canceled as budget cuts take effect.

"We suspended any of the growth-and-development and lump-sum funds. When we've faced tough time before, we've suspended them," she said.

And a response to the salary study will have to wait until agency executives review it, she said.

"It is a fair question for us to ask, and just be sure that it is an apple-to-apples comparison," Schmanke said. "We'll know more later. Right now, we're looking."