2006 Negotiations
LRO negotiated with the Unions twenty-two (22) master agreements for 2007- 2009, including:
- 7 for general government employees at 38 agencies,
- 2 for higher education at 23 Washington State colleges and The Evergreen State College,
- 2 for the uniformed officers of the Washington State Patrol,
- 9 for the Washington State Ferries and
- 2 for Washington state home and child care workers.
The negotiations focused on modifying specific working condition issues with the main focus on pay and health benefit costs. Negotiations were able to meet management priorities while also addressing specific union concerns.
Contract Highlights
Highlights of the changes of the following general government agreements: WFSE, WPEA/UFCW 365, UFCW, Coalition, SEIU, 1199NW, IFPTE L17 and the Teamsters.
Please refer to the applicable master agreements for detailed information on each of these subjects.
Hiring and Appointments
In most contracts, the streamlined hiring process was maintained allowing for a broader pool of applicants, while providing increased flexibility to transfer internal candidates who are currently in a similar position at agency discretion.
Hours of Work and Overtime
The agreements vary, but most provide for the ability to provide $25.00 per day for overtime exempt employees who are on standby outside of their normal work hours. Overtime is still only provided to those employees traditionally eligible under state and federal law.
In many contracts, Union concerns were addressed about frequent scheduling changes without proper notice to employees; however, we were able to reach agreements that should provide employees some protections, while retaining the needed flexibility to schedule employees when needed.
Compensation
The Department of Personnel completed a survey in January 2006 used to form the baseline for the 2007-2009 agreements. The result is to bring all positions more than 25% behind the survey results up to that level.
In addition to the survey results, agencies were asked to identify job classifications where they were having significant recruitment or retention problems. As a result, there are a number of classifications that will receive additional salary increases to help address those challenges.
The terms of the agreements include maintaining the 1.6% wage increase scheduled to end on June 30, 2007, a wage increase of 3.2% on July 1, 2007 and a 2.0% wage increase on July 1, 2008.
Healthcare
In response to concerns about funding levels identified in the 2005-2007 contracts for healthcare for represented employees, a two-part settlement agreement was created. The first provides a lump sum to eligible employees of $756.00 per person on July 25, 2007.
The two requirements to receive the lump sum are employees must be:
- Insurance eligible (according to Health Care Authority WAC 182-12-115) for the month of June 2007.
- Covered by a 2007-2009 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiated pursuant to RCW 41.80.
The second part of the agreement establishes a rate that will be adjusted as necessary to maintain the current level with the State paying approximately 88% of the premium cost, in order to prevent the issues from the 2005-2007 contracts from reoccurring.
Discipline and Grievance Procedure
"Just Cause" is maintained as the standard for discipline. A mediation phase was added to the grievance procedure for discipline before going to arbitration.
Contracting Out
The WFSE master agreement added language that continues to provide the Unions with the right to bargain over mandatory subjects if the state decides to contract. All other master agreements remain silent on this issue.
Union-Management Committees
Negotiations were maintained at the state-wide level, creating clarity on how agencies and the Unions will discuss issues at the local level. There are provisions that clarify expectations and will hopefully improve communication between agencies and the Unions locally.
