Coming out of legislative session in Olympia, we have some good news to report and more work to be done. 

DOC/WMS CONTRACTS FULLY FUNDED

The legislature voted to fully fund our DOC and WMS contracts for the 2025-2027 biennium. That means the wage increases we achieved in our interest arbitration award and at the WMS bargaining table are secure. Your next increase will be effective July 1, 2025. As soon as your contract is finalized and signed by me and the Governor, we will post it on the contracts page of our Teamsters website.  

The final budget deal hashed out by lawmakers and the Governor also includes no furloughs for state employees. This means there will be no reductions to your negotiated compensation. 

Unfortunately, the legislature, the Governor, and the DOC are all determined to shut down Mission Creek as part of a cost-saving measure to address the $16 billion budget deficit. I want to thank all of our members who emailed legislators to try to prevent the closure. I hope those of you who work at WCCW and other facilities will welcome and help your fellow Teamsters at Mission Creek as they make the challenging adjustment to a new environment. 

PRIORITY BILLS FOR DOC

This session, we worked on four priority bills for our DOC and law enforcement members - two we were able to pass and the other two we made excellent progress on.

We passed our two interest arbitration bills, one for WMS and the other for our law enforcement members working in small jurisdictions. As it has done at DOC, interest arbitration will be a game changer for those groups, allowing us to negotiate much stronger contracts.

We made significant progress on both our bill to allow us to negotiate over supplemental retirees health care and our proposal to give DOC employees presumptive coverage for PTSD. While we didn't get those bills across the finish line this year, we are in a good position to pass both bills in coming legislative sessions. 

Shout out to all of you who attended Teamsters Lobby Day, spoke out in legislative hearings, and emailed your lawmakers. Your active participation in the process is critical to our Union's success in Olympia. 

Please reach out to your Union Rep if you have questions.