Greetings, Teamsters at King County! With fall in the air, it's time for another update to all of you, our union family. 

Now that all of our contracts have been ratified by the membership and gone through the County's transmittal process, you can find them on our Teamsters website. You can link to your contract here.  

Once you're on the site, I encourage you to spend a few minutes checking out our union scholarships and community sponsorship program, upcoming events, life insurance beneficiary forms, and more. You can even grab some Teamster apparel at our online union store.

WAGE INCREASES AND BONUS PAYOUTS

As a reminder, the County has indicated that your general wage increases (GWI) and bonus payouts will be dispersed on the following timeline:

  • Prospective GWI: 10/13/22 paycheck
  • Sliding Scale Bonus: 11/10/22 paycheck
  • Retroactive GWI Payment: 11/23/22 paycheck

Additionally, we secured a 4% general wage increase for 2023 and 4% for 2024. We also eliminated step-based merit increases, which means that everyone in progression should automatically move through their steps per their contract.

YOUR HEALTHCARE BENEFITS

The Joint Labor Management Insurance Committee (JLMIC) of Unions concluded negotiations with the County over healthcare benefits through the end of 2024. See highlights from those negotiations below:

  • Preserved no out-of-pocket premiums and increased the funding rate per employee per month for 2023 and 2024;
  • Reduction in deductibles in the KingCare Select Plan. No changes in deductibles for any other plan;
  • Increase in the benefit access fee in the KingCare Plan from $100 to $125. This is basically when someone who’s spouse declines coverage with their employer to be on the County plan instead;
  • Delta Dental: Coverage expanded to include topical fluoride treatment for adults. There will also be a new Dental HMO plan coming online this year for folks to consider (especially good for those covering any orthodontia work);
  • Hearing Aid Enhancement for all ages. Increase allowance to $4000 every three years.
  • Supplemental Life Insurance (100% employee paid). New annual election and increase from $400,000 to $750,000 max;
  • Continuation of the SpecifCare program.

UPCOMING TEAMSTER EVENTS

We've got lots going on at our Union hall and in the community this month. I encourage you to check out some of our exciting Teamster events and to join us.

That's it for now! Thank you for the incredible service you provide our communities and for your membership in Teamsters 117. As always, if you have a union-related issue in the workplace, please reach out to one of our fantastic shop stewards. You can also always reach your Union Reps Maria Williams at maria.williams@teamsters 117.org or Cara Mattson at [email protected].