It was a festive night at the Union hall. Santa made his rounds, the Seahawks game was streaming in the overflow room, and a spirit of camaraderie and solidarity was in the air.

Check out photos from our annual Holiday Membership Meeting here.

As usual, some union business was suspended to make time for our raffle drawing, but we did touch on a couple of important topics that impact members and their families.

We are in the midst of developing a new strategic plan. As a part of the process, we are collecting feedback from members on issues like our union's mission and purpose, building unity, communication, and member involvement.

To provide input on those topics, you can fill out a short member survey here. Thank you to the volunteers who helped distribute the survey last night!

We also talked about achieving interest arbitration rights in our contract for our corrections members. Michelle Woodrow, our Union's Director of Corrections and Law Enforcement, congratulated the bargaining committee for their role in that historic achievement.

As Michelle pointed out, we'll need to do a lot of work in Olympia next year to get our DOC contract funded. Brenda Wiest, our Legislative Affairs Director, talked about that challenge and some of the other issues we will be working on next legislative session. 

Then the fun got underway. Secretary-Treasurer John Scearcy and his predecessor Tracey Thompson ran the raffle drawing with humor, love, and as always a touch of irreverence. 

Before the raffle kicked off, Scearcy expressed his gratitude to the membership. "This is our way to thank all of you for the incredible work you do to make our Union strong. Happy holidays to you and your family."