News

Local delegates, executive board members, and member of PEOPLE, our union's political action fund, came together on April 27 to decide which candidates our union endorses in a critical 2024 election season.

Like many DCYF workers in Washington, Taylor Andrews-Garcelon loves her clients but has felt her job get more stressful and dangerous in the last few years. 

Tucked amid the temperate rainforests, streams and tidelands of Washington’s Pacific coast, Naselle Youth Camp (NYC) is a peaceful environment where youth undertake major transformations.

They graduate from the camp’s high school. They learn trades like forestry, aquaculture and electrical that serve them for a lifetime and fast-track them for good-paying careers. They receive behavior therapy, anger-management training and chemical dependency treatment from dedicated professionals that monitor and celebrate their progress. 

WFSE: Inadequate Funding of State Institutions Jeopardizes Staff & Public Safety

Injuries reported at Echo Glen are a regular occurrence in understaffed state institutions    

Olympia, Wash. – The Washington Federation of State Employees released the following statement regarding the assaults on staff at Echo Glen Children’s Center Wednesday morning:

WFSE members from across the state attended our union's lobby training on January 8. Now, members are testifying in support of WFSE priorities, including funding for agreements that bring as much as 3.25% in pay increases along with a lump sum payment.

Virtual lobby days are scheduled. Pick your date here.

Check out the 2023-2025 WFSE bargaining teams. Next, teams will attend a training, review bargaining proposals and prepare to negotiate the best possible contracts for our jobs, families and communities

Solidarity Makes the Difference - WFSE President Mike Yestramski

Our union, WFSE, is closed out the year with plenty to celebrate. Once again, our unity gave us the strength to secure victories at our worksites and the state capitol, despite the global pandemic and attempts by anti-worker groups to strip away our rights and cut our pay. Although we have more work ahead, let's recognize what we accomplished together in 2021:

Members won a verdict against a multi-billion-dollar company running a for-profit detention center that was paying detainees as little as $1/day to keep the facility running.

The Early Learning Center on the Everett Community College campus is in danger of being handed over to an outside contractor that will operate it as a limited-service daycare center. Our community of educators, workers, parents, and community have been left out of the process.