Take action
You can get politically active by contacting lawmakers, attending a lobbying event, and more. Contact WPEA lobbyist Seamus Petrie to find out how you can get involved.
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On Monday, the House released a budget that fully funds our collective bargaining agreements and makes investments in K-12 education and mental health. This stands in stark contrast to the Senate budget, which rejects our contracts and cuts vital public services.
The House budget is funded by a revenue package that also helps fix our broken tax code. The House proposes closing some corporate tax loopholes, supporting collection of sales tax on out-of-state online retailers, and creating an excise tax on capital gains (with broad exemptions for single-family homes and retirement accounts). The choice is clear, between a budget that rejects our contracts (including our COLAs, our increased vacation accrual, and the specific pay increases we negotiated), and a budget that fully funds our contracts and helps build a fairer tax code. Call the legislative hotline at 1-800-562-6000 and ask your senator to adopt the House's budget, invest in Washington, and fully fund our contracts. Find your legislator here. How to call
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The Senate voted to pass a budget that rejects our 2017-19 collective bargaining agreements. The party-line vote came just after midnight Friday morning. If enacted, the Senate budget would wipe out the COLAs, the changes to vacation accrual, and the targeted pay increases we negotiated. It would replace them with two $500 annual pay-increases in the next two years. This proposal disregards both collective bargaining law and the hard work of our WPEA members who negotiated the contracts.
The House expected to release its budget on Monday, so this is just the opening move by Senate Republicans as they go into budget negotiations. But we can’t allow them to play games with our contracts and threaten the vital services provided by state employees. Now is the time to call your senator at 1-800-562-6000 and tell them to invest in Washington and fully fund our contracts! Find your legislator here. How to call
If you get a person: “I’d like to leave a message for my senator.” They’ll ask you for your name, address, and phone number. Then they’ll ask for your message and transcribe it for you. Here’s a sample message you could leave: “I work as a ________________ (job) at ___________________ (agency) and I’m a member of the Washington Public Employees Association. I’m one of thousands of state employees who provide critical services for the citizens of Washington. I’m proud to do this work, even though the state pays a salary that is below market rate, according to the state’s own salary survey. Now the Senate has released a budget that plays political games with the collective bargaining agreements we negotiated in good faith. Don’t play games with public service employees. Please invest in Washington and fully fund our contracts.” If you get a recording: “Hello, my name is _____________ (name). I work as a ________________ (job) at ___________________ (agency) and I’m a member of the Washington Public Employees Association. I’m one of thousands of state employees who provide critical services for the citizens of Washington. I’m proud to do this work, even though the state pays a salary that is below market rate, according to the state’s own salary survey. Now the Senate has released a budget that plays political games with the collective bargaining agreements we negotiated in good faith. Don’t play games with public service employees. Please invest in Washington and fully fund our contracts.”
Legislators are holding town halls this month to update their constituents on legislative session and hear your concerns. This is a chance to tell your legislators to invest in Washington and fund our contracts!
We're in the middle of cutoff season at the legislature, where policy bills will move forward in the process or die, Bills must be voted on by their house of origin by Wednesday, March 8 in order to continue through the process. Budget negotiations will start in earnest later in March. Here are some of the bills we're tracking:
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