Our message is loud and clear. By an overwhelming margin, DOC Teamsters have voted to reject the State’s contract proposal.

The final vote results are as follows:

• 98.8% (2886) voted to REJECT the State’s offer.
• 1.2% (34) voted to ACCEPT the State's offer

With over 50% of the DOC membership casting a ballot, this contract vote has one of the highest voter participation rates ever.

Clearly, the membership found the State’s proposal to increase wages by 2% in year one and 2% in year two insultingly low. With a strong economy and higher than expected revenues, the State needs to do more to recognize your work and the sacrifices you make every day to serve and protect our communities.

The vote to reject the proposal means that we now have the opportunity to present our argument for higher wages before a neutral, third-party arbitrator in a hearing scheduled to start this Wednesday, August 22 in Tacoma. 

The arbitrator will listen to evidence on both sides and issue a decision on general wage increases and other economic elements of our contract by the end of September.

No matter what the arbitrator decides, we will need to make sure that the award is fully funded by the State legislature during the next legislative session in Olympia, which starts in January. This will require a massive participation at our annual Lobby Day event, which will take place in February next year.

The interest arbitration hearing is scheduled to run for eight days. During the hearing, we will provide you with regular updates. We will also be calling on members of the bargaining unit to testify at the hearing as we make our case before the arbitrator. 

Thank you to everyone who made their voice heard and for following the lead of our union’s negotiations committee that unanimously recommended that you reject the State’s proposal.

Your work as Teamster corrections employees is worth more than the State’s substandard offer. You face challenges and dangers on the job that the public doesn’t understand to protect all of us. The State needs to do more to honor your service.

Teamsters at Shuttle Park 2, an airport parking lot in SeaTac, voted to unanimously ratify their contract last Sunday. We had been in bargaining since May. The company has a history of complicated negotiations.

“Previous contract negotiations lasted over a year,” says Guled Ali, a Teamster and Shuttle Park 2 employee who was present at the bargaining table. “It went faster this time because we had better experience.”

Local 117 Secretary-Treasurer John Scearcy signs our DOC 2017-2019 collective bargaining agreement. 

Yesterday, in a ceremony in Olympia, the Governor and our union's Secretary-Treasurer, John Scearcy, signed our 2017-2019 DOC collective bargaining agreement.

Our new contract is now available for you on our union's website here.

In the agreement, our bargaining committee achieved general wage increases of at least 10.5% over the coming biennium for all DOC Teamsters and we achieved interest arbitration rights. 

I encourage you to familiarize yourself with your contract. It provides important information about your rights, protections, guaranteed wages, and working conditions as a Teamster at the DOC. 

Thank you to our outstanding bargaining committee who worked long hours to make this important achievement possible. And congratulations to all of our members who stood together and spoke out for safety, family wages, and better working conditions.

This victory is yours.

Safeway Shop Stewards in bargaining: Jose Madrigal and Bryan Vangstad.

Last night at the Tukwila Hall we reach a fully-recommended offer for over 300 members working under the Safeway Grocery agreement.

“The bargaining committee was focused and determined to achieve the top priorities of the membership. This offer meets those demands,” mentions John Scearcy, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 117.

"The bargaining committee was focused and determined to achieve the top priorities of the membership. This offer meets those demands."

Going into the bargaining, members' concerns included improving their pensions, protecting their family’s health and welfare benefits, and many were hoping to extend the leave of absence such as funeral leaves.

“We were looking for more ethical treatment. A employee’s job cannot be jeopardized if he or she is there for their family during a troubling time like that,” says Jose Madrigal, the youngest Shop Steward in the crew. His first bargaining resulted in a big win for him and his coworkers as he is expecting to welcome a third child into his family.

Marcus Williams, the union representative coordinator who took the lead on this challenging negotiation mentions:

 “This contract would not have been achievable without the strong membership participation and our collective efforts with Local 174. Teamster Strong!”

Teamster contract wins are even more crucial for workers in the tough reality of our changing economy.