WFSE Contract Talks Hidden From Workers and Taxpayers

0:00This opinion column was written by Elizabeth New, also known as Havdi, with the Washington Policy Center. Bob better have our money, read a sign at Saturday's State Worker Rally. But the money being negotiated isn't Governor Bob Ferguson's. It comes from taxpayers. That is not an argument against state employees receiving reasonable compensation. It is a reminder that the money on the bargaining table belongs to neither Ferguson nor the Washington Federation of State employees or WFSE. Spares will finance whatever agreement is ultimately approved. And unfortunately, neither rank and file workers nor taxpayers can fully evaluate what is fair, because the parties negotiating have not publicly disclosed complete wage proposals or their estimated taxpayer costs. Washington law excludes collective bargaining sessions from the Open Public Meetings Act, allowing the governor's negotiators and union representatives to bargain outside public view. The resulting agreement and funding request eventually reach lawmakers, who generally must approve or reject the request as a whole.

1:01That secrecy is especially consequential, because public sector unions also participate in politics. They make candidate endorsements, they weigh in on initiatives. WFSE says it evaluates and supports candidates based on wages, benefits, job security, working conditions, outsourcing, and collective bargaining. The same subjects negotiated with elected officials. That fact does not prove an improper deal, and it tells us nothing about how individual demonstrators voted. It does make transparency more important. WFSE is also a political heavy hitter. While negotiating with the Ferguson administration, over its 2027 to 2029 contracts, the union has also become one of the leading financiers of the campaign, defending the income tax Ferguson signed. WFSE says its members helped pass the tax and have endorsed voting no on its repeal. All this political spending does not prove that Ferguson and WFSE have predetermined the outcome of contract negotiations. It does reveal their aligned interest in preserving additional state revenue, while they negotiate

2:01privately over employee compensation. Physical context matters right now too. Both the Ferguson administration and WFSE acknowledge that the state faces a serious budget imbalance. Yet the current 2025 to 2027 general government contract included meaningful compensation increases. Despite incredibly challenging budget projections, WFSE wrote about that deal. The contract secures general wage increases of 3% in 2025 and 2% in 2026. A one-page summary also lists more than 330 classification specific increases, raises through reallocations for more than 40 classifications, additional assignment pay, and expanded leave. Rases are not free. With limited revenue, additional compensation can mean higher taxes, fewer services, fewer employees, or reductions elsewhere. For anyone demands that Bob better have our money, both bargaining teams should disclose their wage proposals, estimated taxpayer costs, and expected staffing impacts. Only then can state workers and taxpayers decide for themselves what fair actually means.

3:04Negotiations over public money should not happen outside of public view. We also need a taxpayer representative at the negotiation table. It's not Bob's money. Elizabeth New, also known as HuffDee, is the director of the Centers for Healthcare and Worker Rights at the Washington Policy Center.