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RIBCO
Articles of Interest
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2006-08-21
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Washington State Unions Near Final Stage of Negotiations |
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By ADAM WILSON
The Olympian
State worker unions are nearing the end game in their negotiations with the governor over pay and workplace rules.
"Most of the general government unions we're working with, we're getting to the tough stuff. I would say we are getting fairly close to that point to where things are getting done," said Steve McLain, director of the Labor Relations Office and chief negotiator for the state.
The unions want to finish in time to let their members vote on new two-year contracts before the end of September, and the largest union might be in position to finish talks first.
When the Washington Federation of State Employees returns to negotiations Tuesday, it plans to continue bargaining until it reaches a deal, possibly within three days.
"We have told management that we intend to negotiate until we get an agreement. That may mean long hours, but we don't plan to leave the table without an agreement," spokesman Tim Welch said.
Other unions also will be making big pushes soon. The Washington Public Employees Association plans to enter mediation with the state next week. The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 17 plans to negotiate as long as it needs to in the week of Aug. 28.
"It's a unique approach for us to have those kinds of multiple-day sessions," said Kathy Cunningham, a representative with Local 17.
The list of items left on the table for Local 17 is similar to most of the unions: high-priority topics such as overtime and leave, and a cost-of-living pay raise for 2007 and 2008.
In the last contract talks two years ago, the federation seemed to set the standard. It agreed to a 3.2 percent raise in 2005 followed by a 1.6 percent raise this year, and other unions received the same deal during the next several days.
However, Cunningham said the state's track record from 2004 also shows that it is willing to give different raises to different unions, because the Teamsters won a larger than average raise - 2.9 percent this year - for workers in the Department of Corrections.
Like the prison workers the Teamsters represent, traffic engineers and right-of-way real estate specialists represented by Local 17 want more than a cost-of-living raise, Cunningham said. They want substantial progress toward the salary of their peers in other states and the private sector as shown in the state salary survey, she said.
Nurses represented by Service Employees International Union Local 1199 have made similar demands.
And the Teamsters still want significant raises for members. Deals reached by other unions won't affect that, organizing director Leonard Smith said.
"Nobody is under an obligation to take anything," he said.
With the federation determined to reach a deal next week, however, other unions could at least get an idea of the state's willingness to give raises. The federation asked for a 5 percent raise in each of the next two years, and the state made a counteroffer of 2.5 percent next year and 2 percent in 2008.
The tightening negotiation schedule is natural, McLain said, not a strategy on the part of the Labor Relations Office.
"It's just a matter of how this process tends to work. We're working with everybody to get to that finish line," he said. "I imagine there will be a lot of work next week. But we're getting down to the point where those tough discussions take place. And whatever happens, happens."
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