We're pleased to report that today our Coalition of Unions achieved an agreement with the State on health care for State employees.

We’ve come a long way since the last issue of our Guardian newsletter. We completed the bargaining process and achieved some meaningful improvements to our DOC contract.

Last Friday was the final day of our interest arbitration hearing. We used the opportunity to emphasize our main argument in the case.

Host of rank and file members provide first hand accounts of working for DOC

On the third day of our interest arbitration hearing, your Director of Research, Paul Marvy, along with financial experts retained by your Union, provided detailed and well-researched evidence of the dramatic disparity in pay between corrections employees in Washington State compared with other Western states.

In the second day of our interest arbitration hearing, I provided lengthy testimony to explain the basis for several of our bargaining proposals to Arbitrator Howell Lankford.

Today was the first day of our interest arbitration hearing for DOC employees. The hearing was held in Tacoma and runs through the end of the week.

Our interest arbitration hearing for members at the Department of Corrections starts today and will run for the rest of the week.

Whatever the arbitrator decides in our upcoming interest arbitration hearing next week, one thing is clear. We'll need to come together to hold the State accountable so that we can get our contract funded.