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Higher Ed & General Gov Contracts
As you know, the Governor recently announced that he was rescinding Directive 22-13.1, the requirement to be vaccinated for Covid-19 as a condition of employment, effective May 11, 2023. This post is intended to explain what we know about this change and how it will impact our members and the collective bargaining agreement that is set to go into effect on July 1, 2023. Consequence of Rescission: The impact of the Governor’s announcement is there is no longer a condition of employment to be vaccinated for Covid-19. If you were already vaccinated, there should be no change in your working conditions. If you are exempt from this requirement and currently being accommodated, your Employer will be contacting you to discuss withdrawing the accommodations. Any changes to your working conditions are a mandatory subject of bargaining and you are entitled to representation. If you wish to have a WPEA representative in any meetings related to this discussion, please contact your local shop steward and or Staff Representative promptly. WPEA Contracts: WPEA’s General Government and Higher Education contracts included a Tentative Agreement (TA) that outlined the condition of employment covered in Directive 22-13.1, this TA will need to be renegotiated to remove that specific language, together with the condition of employment mandate. The TA WPEA negotiated included the $1,000.00 lump sum compensation as a voluntary booster incentive; that incentive will still go into effect on July 1, 2023. The changes related to the condition of employment will not impact your compensation negotiated to take effect on July 1 of this year. WPEA’s bargaining teams will be meeting with the Office of Financial Management to make these changes to our TA. As soon as we have an agreement, we will provide you with a copy of that TA so you can review the changes. Booster: However, based on current CDC recommendations, we will need to modify the language in the TA to clarify that, from May 11, 2023 forward, the definition of being “up-to-date” under CDC will include the bivalent booster. If you received the “Booster” and provided necessary proof to your employer, you should be eligible to collect your lump sum on your July 25 paycheck. If the $1,000 lump sum was not posted on your July 25 paycheck or, if you made an attempt to provide proof of compliance and the Employer did not acknowledge your efforts, please contact us immediately to sort out the issue. Who to Contact: If you have any questions or concerns about these changes, please reach out to our Contract Administration Director, Amanda Hacker, at amanda@wpea.org or (360) 489-2315 Yakima & Highline Contracts WPEA Members: As you know, the Governor recently announced that he was rescinding Directive 22-13.1, the requirement to be vaccinated for Covid-19 as a condition of employment, effective May 11, 2023. This email is intended to explain what we know about this change and how it will impact our members and the collective bargaining agreement that is set to go into effect on July 1, 2023. Consequence of Rescission: The impact of the Governor’s announcement is there is no longer a condition of employment to be vaccinated for Covid-19. WPEA Contracts: WPEA’s Highline and Yakima contracts included a Tentative Agreement (TA) that outlined an incentive for receiving a booster (as define by the CDC and what they consider “up-to-date”). The $1,000.00 lump sum compensation as a voluntary booster incentive; that incentive will still go into effect on July 1, 2023. The changes related to the condition of employment will not impact your compensation negotiated to take effect on July 1 of this year. WPEA’s bargaining teams will be meeting with your Employer’s to make sure that our TA aligns with recent changes to the definition of “up-to-date”. As soon as we have an agreement, we will provide you with a copy of that TA so you can review any changes. Booster: If you have already received the “Booster” and provided necessary proof to your Employer, you should be eligible to collect your lump sum on your July 25 paycheck. If the $1,000 lump sum was not posted on your July 25 paycheck or if you made an attempt to provide proof of compliance and the Employer did not acknowledge your efforts, please contact us immediately to sort out the issue. Who to Contact: If you have any questions or concerns about these changes, please reach out to our Contract Administration Director, Amanda Hacker, at amanda@wpea.org or (360) 489-2315. We are very excited to begin bargaining our next contract. The teams have been selected, but we still have some units not represented at the table. If you would like to volunteer to represent your unit, please let us know! Click here.
Higher Education: First team meeting scheduled for March 26, 1 - 5 Clark College – Joey Hicklin Big Bend Community College – Nancy Rakoz Edmonds Community College – Fredrick Pieters Bellevue College – Amy West Tacoma Community College – Rich Langhorn Pierce College – Kelly Gardner Walla Walla Community College – Keenan Failing Highline College – Tessa Bowen Olympic College – Margret Hodun Grays Harbor College – Cara Beth Stevenson Skagit Valley College – Lance Levesen Cascadia College – Vacant Wenatchee Valley College – Vacant Columbia Basin College – Vacant General Government: First team meeting scheduled for March 19, 1 – 5 DNR – Noah Messing and Jacob Peterson DOR – Kriss Aker (still trying to fill one more seat for DOR – so we have one vacant seat open) Military Department – Tim Shimp and Jim McNealy DoA – Pending Response LCB – Pending Response DoL – Vacant WSP – Pending Response CDHY – Diedre Curle WSSB – Pending Response We now have translated documents for the Wage Increase MOU in Spanish. See Original Post Here
General Government Wage Increase MOU - Spanish Higher Education Wage Increase MOU - Spanish Highline Wage Increase MOU - Spanish General Government Wage Increase MOU - English Higher Education Wage Increase MOU - English Highline Wage Increase MOU - English *Yakima members have CBA language that ensure identical benefits to the Higher Education MOU. Read the HE MOU for exact terms. The WPEA was advised this morning that this information has also been sent to all organizations to share out with employees. Once you verify that your leave is as described below, please ensure that you are communicating with your HR Department if you continue to have any issues with this leave day or other MyPortal problems. If your leave does not report as outlined below, please let your Leadership Team, your Rep, and the HR team know of the lack. See the information below for an explanation of how you should see your PLD display. Additional MOU PLD in MyPortal At the beginning of January, the additional Personal Leave Day (PLD) granted through the MOUs in response to the vaccine mandates were populated in MyPortal for agencies who use MyPortal for time and leave. OFM has received questions in regards to how these are displayed within the MyPortal My Leave Request – Entitlement section. If an employee is entitled to more than one PLD, the most current quota date range for the PLD will display in the Validity date field on the Entitlement display even though eligible employees received a new quota effective January 1, 2022:  Though the employee has 2 Quotas, MyPortal defaults to read only the most current Validity period of the quota whether it is used or not. This is true even if the employee uses their 7/1/2021 to 6/30/2022 PLD quota, the Validity Date will not update, however the Quota will reduce to 1 Day:  The employee still has until Dec 31, 2022 to use the additional PLD added per the MOUs on Jan 1, 2022.
Please note: This behavior will repeat again when PLD eligible employees receive a new PLD Quota on July 1, 2022. After July 1, 2022, as represented employees eligible for the next Personal Leave Day receive the 7/1/2022 to 6/30/2023 quota, MyPortal will update Validity date to 1/1/2022 to 12/31/2022, as this would move to being the most current PLD quota validity. Normal view of PLD Quota will return on January 1, 2023 unless another PLD is added for any reason. This is not system issue or broken feature, this is functioning as designed. Originally posted 10/4/2021 on previous WPEA website.
After 18 months of what feels like a never ending calendar of negative news, restrictions, and take-aways that culminated in radically altered work environments and furloughs, I am thrilled to report positive news of growth and financial benefit for our membership! At the same time that your member/steward/staff teams were working on the terms for the Vaccination MOUs, they were also negotiating to increase wages for our GG and HE membership and those terms were also solidified at the last possible minute on Friday. The MOUs for these wage increases are below so that you can read in detail how the terms will impact you personally but the two major items to note are these:
No one needs me to generate excitement over this one, it is the kind of news we have all needed for some time! It is also greatly needed as a reminder of how truly valuable you all are. Public employees give so much to their communities through their service, and fair compensation is an integral part of an employer acknowledging that value. WPEA is an amazing labor union because it is made up of amazing members. You guys are the best and we thank you all for what you do! Dana Spain President, WPEA General Government Wage Increase MOU Higher Education Wage Increase MOU Highline Wage Increase MOU *Yakima members have CBA language that ensure identical benefits to the Higher Education MOU. Read the HE MOU for exact terms. |
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June 2023
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