OLYMPIA, WA – Thousands of state government and community college employees in Washington are considering a new pact that would secure raises they lost out on in July when state lawmakers did not fund their contract.
Nearly 5,300 members of the Washington Public Employees Association didn’t get a 3% pay hike other state workers received July 1 because they failed to approve their two-year deal in time for lawmakers to account for it in the state budget.
Now, association members are voting on a revised accord that, if ratified and funded by the Legislature next year, would boost their salaries 3% retroactively and provide a year’s worth of back pay.
The ratification vote began Aug. 22 and will end Sept. 14. Union officials said they would wait to see the results before commenting.
By law, public sector unions in Washington must approve a new contract by Oct. 1 to be considered by a governor for funding in the ensuing two-year budget.
The 2025-27 budget funded multiple contracts that provide pay hikes of 3% on July 1 and 2% next July. These agreements contain other salary-related changes including raising the starting wage for state workers to $18 an hour.
But Washington Public Employee Association members overwhelmingly voted down a tentative agreement with the pay hikes last fall. Association negotiators derided the proposal as a pay cut, saying it would not allow worker salaries to keep pace with rising costs. They also warned then that rejecting the accord would put them in “uncharted territory.”
Those affected work at 14 community colleges and in nine state agencies. Among them are the Department of Natural Resources, Department of Revenue, the Liquor and Cannabis Board and Department of Agriculture.
Negotiators for the association and the Office of Financial Management did resume talks last winter and eventually reached a tentative agreement in March containing virtually the same economic terms as those turned down. Union members ratified it April 3, just three weeks before the legislative session ended.
Since session ended, the union bargaining team was engaged in “one of the most difficult negotiation periods” in the association’s history before reaching the tentative agreement now getting voted on, according to a post on the association website.
“While we didn’t win everything we fought for, significant gains were made — and harmful proposals were defeated,” officials wrote online.
State government and community college employees are voting on separate agreements. Both would take effect July 1, 2026, and cover the second year of the biennium. Each offers a path for workers to get the 3% doled out this year plus a 2% wage hike next year.
The primary difference concerns who is eligible to receive back pay.
Under their deal, those working in state government would receive the 3% pay bump awarded in July plus retroactive compensation – even if they are no longer working for the state on July 1, 2026. According to the union, the state wanted to limit back pay to only those employees on the payroll as of July 1, 2026.
But not every community college employee is assured back pay under their tentative deal.
Those employed on July 1, 2026, would receive the 3% bump and retroactive pay. Anyone who is laid off, loses their job due to a disability or retires would also be eligible. But those who leave on their own before the start of the contract would not.
“The bargaining team hoped to secure retroactive funding for everyone,” officials wrote on the union website, “but we ultimately reached a point where the state was unwilling to move.”
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