Wearing our union colors down in Olympia for the interest arbitration hearings on January 17.

With the 2019 legislative session kicking off in Olympia this week, bills that would grant interest arbitration rights to our Department of Corrections (DOC) and University of Washington Police Department (UWPD) members are already starting to move. 

Several Teamsters provided powerful testimony supporting both bills today in hearings before the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee and the House Labor and Workplace Standards Committee. 

Michelle Woodrow, our union's President and Director of Corrections & Law Enforcement, laid out our case for interest arbitration before legislators:

DOC and law enforcement employees perform one of the most stressful, dangerous jobs in the United States... Interest arbitration will ensure these employees are treated with the same respect as other public safety professionals by ensuring a level playing field in negotiations...

Interest arbitration is a right commonly available to public safety employees such as the Washington State Patrol who do not have the ability to strike. It allows our union to move mandatory subjects of bargaining to a neutral third-party arbitrator should we reach impasse in negotiations.

At the DOC, we achieved interest arbitration through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the Governor in 2014 and negotiated it into our contract, but it has not been codified in statute. Our members at the UWPD have never had access to these rights.

Without access to interest arbitration, members like Officers Mark Hackett and Marvin McKinney of the UWPD have struggled to obtain critical safety gear to protect themselves in the line of duty. 

For Sergeant Jason Heuer and Officer James Deuel of the DOC, passing interest arbitration means securing their rights into the future. "It’s critical that we win this in statute because otherwise it can just be taken away...," they said.  

Thank you to our members who took time out of their busy schedules to travel to Olympia to testify. 

• You can view the House testimony on TVW here
• The Senate testimony can be viewed online here 
• Track our bills: HB1042 (DOC), HB1043 (UWPD), SB5021 (DOC), SB5022(UWPD)

As session continues, there will be more hearings on these bills and more opportunities to make your voice heard. Passing interest arbitration for DOC and UWPD will require excellent participation at our upcoming Lobby Day on February 26-27. It will also require all of us coming together to educate legislators about the critical public safety work we perform.

It’s political season again, as lawmakers in Washington State have headed back to Olympia for the start of the 2019 legislative session. This is a budget year, which calls for a long session – 105 days, running from January 14 through April 28, 2019. 

Over the last few years, our union has built a strong voice in Olympia. Participation at our annual lobby day has grown from a few dozen a decade ago to over 200 members and their families at last year’s event.  With a stronger voice, we’ve been able to achieve legislative change that has benefited workers across our state. We’ve funded contracts for state employees and passed bills that have made our workplaces safer and more secure.

Our collective power is a direct result of member involvement, and in 2019 there will be plenty of opportunities to get involved.

Now that 2019 has arrived, Teamsters who work at the WA State Department of Corrections can look forward to much-deserved wage increases that our union achieved through the interest arbitration process.

Effective January 1, 2019, most DOC Teamsters received a general wage increase of 3% while some classifications received targeted range increases. Those increases, which can be viewed here, are the last of three wage increases in our current 2017-2019 collective bargaining agreement.

In our 2019-2021 contract, you can expect the following increases:

• A 4% general wage increase effective July 1, 2019
• A 4% general wage increase effective July 1, 2020
• Range increases for some classifications

To take effect, the wage increases in our 2019-2021 contract must be approved by the state legislature. Getting our contract funded will take an excellent turnout at our upcoming Teamsters Lobby Day on February 26-27.  

You can register online for our Lobby Day here.

Thank you for the incredible service you provide to communities across our state. Working inside a prison is a constant challenge, and you and your co-workers put your lives on the line every day to protect the public.

The wage increases you receive this year and next represent a small step toward honoring your work and giving you the recognition you deserve.

We have good news to report from Olympia. We've just received word that the Office of Financial Management (OFM) has deemed our DOC interest arbitration award financially feasible.

OFM Director, David Schumacher, made the announcement in a memo sent to Governor Inslee on December 10. This means the Governor will include our award in his proposed 2019-2021 operating budget that will be submitted to the state legislature.   

OFM's determination is a critical step toward ensuring that the 8% general wage increase for DOC Teamsters and the other terms of the award will take effect.

But it is certainly not a foregone conclusion. The legislature must still vote to approve funding the award. 

Getting the award funded by the legislature will require an excellent showing at our DOC Lobby Day on February 26-27.

Most legislators have never set foot inside a prison and do not understand the challenging and essential nature of your work. We need to educate our legislators in Olympia about the critical work of corrections so they understand its value.

Please join your DOC co-workers in Olympia for our Lobby Day on February 26-27! If you have any questions about the event, talk to your union representative or contact Teamsters 117 Political Director Dustin Lambro.

You can register for the event online here.

Thank you for your service to our communities.

Richard Coleman (center) fighting for interest arbitration at the Local 117 Day of Action event in Olympia in 2012.

Richard Coleman has his sights set on travel. The longtime Walla Walla resident has imagined destinations closer to home, and others further afield: from the Oregon Coast to the beaches of Belize, from the Civil War battlefields of Virginia to the Baltic states in Eastern Europe.

After 36 years of public service, trips once unfathomable are about to become a reality.

With retirement just a hair's breadth away, he credits his union for allowing him to bow out earlier than he’d imagined. Thanks to hard-fought wage increases over the last three contract cycles achieved through interest arbitration, he’s seen his social security and state pension benefits swell.

“Interest arbitration has been phenomenal in helping to raise our pay,” he said. “Without this level of income, I’d have to be working a couple years more. Now I have a good, solid retirement base.”

"Now I have a good, solid retirement base."

For Coleman, retirement from the Department of Corrections comes this February, the 28th of the month to be precise - not that anyone’s counting.

Join Teamsters from across our union as we work to fund our DOC contract, pass interest arbitration, and ensure that the Washington State Legislature puts working families first.

As stated in a recent memo sent from the Department of Corrections to members of Teamsters 117, a new interpretation of the law that arose as a result of a WSP and FBI audit invalidates our Peace Officer Identification Cards effective immediately.

As a result, correctional employees who formerly met the requirements under the law are no longer able to carry concealed weapons without a concealed weapons license.  

This represents a blow to your right as a DOC employee to protect yourself in public, a right that our Teamsters union worked hard to achieve through a change in statute back in 2011.

Our Legislative Director, Brenda Wiest, is currently reviewing the statue in an effort to identify a legislative fix that will restore your right to carry a concealed weapon without the licensing requirement. Assuming a solution is viable, we will include this priority to our 2019 legislative agenda along with the other priorities we have identified: funding our 2019-2021 collective bargaining agreement and achieving statutory interest arbitration rights for DOC.

As always, your participation at our Lobby Day on February 26-27, 2019 and your engagement in Olympia this legislative session will be critical to achieving these priorities. We will keep you posted as soon as we have more information.

Join us for our 2018 Holiday Membership Meetings for Teamsters at DOC. At the meetings, we will be discussing:

• the interest arbitration award & our contract
• our 2019 legislative agenda
• Lobby Day 2019 and getting our contract funded
• keeping our union strong with open shop

You can view days, times, and facilities below. Click on the link to your facility to RSVP.

The new issue of our DOC Guardian newsletter is hot off the press!

Get caught up on our interest arbitration award, the new DOC contract, and our upcoming Teamsters lobby day on February 26-27 of next year.

You can also read about our new Membership Benefits Plus program and a shop steward at Airway Heights who hosted a barbecue to educate her co-workers about how to keep our union strong in a post-Janus world. 

Check out a PDF of the Guardian online here. Print copies will be available for members at the facilities over the next few weeks.

In early October, a group of member leaders and Teamster staff spent several days at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla to discuss with members the recent interest arbitration award and how to keep our union strong in the post-Janus environment.

One evening, the group took time out to interview Skyler Rude, who is seeking our union’s endorsement. Skyler is running as a republican for a state house seat in the 16th Legislative District, which spans Walla Walla to Pasco and most of south Benton County.

Teamster Wesley Wilson, a corrections officer of 11 years at the Pen, was one of a handful of members who joined in the interview process and ultimately recommended an endorsement. We recently caught up with Wes to get his take on the candidate, the endorsement process, and politics in general.

Why do you think it’s important for our union to be involved in politics?
We have to be involved with politics because the legislature decides whether to fund our contract. We’ve got to have that political pull on both sides of the aisle. Whether it be democrats or republicans, we need to get people to understand the work that we do because it’s a dangerous job.

Was there anything that surprised you about the interview process or how our union endorses political candidates?
The surprising part for me was that I could be part of the process and give my perspective as someone who’s not a union representative. I didn’t think I could be included and that obviously was not the case.

What do you think our political priorities should be ahead of this next legislative session, especially for DOC Teamsters?
We need to make sure we’re reaching out to both political parties. A lot of people on the eastern side of the state fall on the more conservative side. So extending a hand across the aisle to get other republicans to see the value of what the union does for workers is a good deal.

What impressed you about Skyler Rude? Why did you recommend endorsing him?
He realizes the benefit and value of having worker rights and protections. I was very impressed by that. He is not going to say something that he doesn’t believe in just to get votes. I appreciate that honesty. He seems willing to speak his mind, vote the way he thinks is right, not just along party lines.

What would you say to a member who might be interested in getting involved in our union’s political program?
Being a union member, a Teamster, you do have a say. You have a say in addressing politicians or issues with the contract. We would have much more power and leverage if more people got involved. That’s what I took away from this – I felt like I had a voice, that my vote counted.