Free College Benefit - Classes Start March 18

You still have time to register for the Spring classes at Eastern Gateway Community College and earn an Associate Degree for FREE, completely online.

Union Plus Free College, brought to you in partnership with AFSCME, offers union members and their families the opportunity to earn a college degree for FREE, completely online.

Seven associate degrees and two certificate programs are offered, including Business Management, Criminal Justice and Teacher Education.

Eastern Gateway Community College is an accredited, public and non-profit college.

Don't delay - Next classes start March 18!

CALL 888-590-9009
or
GET STARTED ONLINE
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A HUGE thank you to those that came out for WPEA's first South Sound Bowling Night this past Saturday.  We had a great turn out, music, and of course - bowling!  We look forward to doing this again.  If you would like to have a bowling night in your area, please contact aubrei@wpea.org for details on how to set it up. 

From the AFL-CIO issue of The Stand:

​OLYMPIA (Feb. 25, 2019) — The action in Olympia was fast and furious last week with the Friday, Feb 22 deadline for bills to pass out of policy (non-fiscal) committees in their houses of origin. This week promises to be the same, as the next cutoff date is this Friday, March 1. Bills must pass House fiscal committees and Senate Ways & Means and Transportation committees in their house of origin by that day.
Here’s a status report on legislation from the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO’s 2019 Shared Prosperity Agenda, plus some other labor-supported bills:

Recently, WPEA has been hosting Union 101 informational classes.  We’ve gotten a few questions as to what this class entails, whether or not it’s the same as a member meeting, and if they are mandatory.  So we want to set the record straight as to what a Union 101 Meeting is all about.
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WPEA is continuing to conduct basic union education meetings. These meetings are designed to inform members about how unions work and specifically how the WPEA works. The curriculum consists of breaking down and explaining the basic functions of a union, some union history and the role of the membership.  In the past, we’ve received many questions as to what is a grievance, what is a shop steward and how does the contract work.  In Union 101 we break each topic down and explain the process, the role of WPEA, and allow each member to grasp a general understanding.
 
 The topics included in the class include:
1. How unions work (history)
2. Where do my dues go?
3. Why the union is important
4. What opportunities are there to get involved?
5. Representation
6. Organizing
7. Politics
8. Bargaining updates
9. Committees
10. Where do we go from here?
 
WPEA will be scheduling member meetings with a classroom setting specifically designed to increase your knowledge of the role of Unions. In each one hour session, we will explore the inner workings of WPEA and provide you with the information to answer your questions about your union. While this session is not mandatory, we encourage all members to attend.  Please be on the lookout for a session coming to your workplace. If you would like to schedule a class for a specific date, please contact the WPEA office.