After WFSE fought in the 2023 legislative session to bring back the Productivity Board, a Local 443 member won $10,000 for her idea to improve letter translation in the Paid Family Medical Leav
If these cuts are implemented by the legislature, the colleges will decide how to implement them. Furloughs are on the table and have been utilized in the past. We need to speak up and demand the rich begin paying their fair share.
After a hard fight, WFSE members received an arbitration opinion vindicating our nine Department of Corrections members who teach Defensive Tactics courses who had been unfairly excluded from receiving assignment pay.
As a fish hatchery specialist with the Department of Fish and Wildlife in 1998, Kurt Spiegel was lucky. He had a good state job, and even better he had a great coworker—a friend to learn the ropes with as they navigated state service.
Thanks to engaged WFSE members and a robust union contract, we don’t have non-merit staff providing unemployment insurance or employment services within our state. We don’t contract out.
In a coordinated effort, over 400 Western State Hospital and Eastern State Hospital employees signed petitions demanding safe working conditions and fair compensation. Both petitions were delivered to management over the last week.
Each year, Women’s History Month is a chance to thank and appreciate the many women in our movement who give their talent, time, and passion to lift up their union siblings.
We spoke with four women leaders in WFSE who exemplify the courage and solidarity that unionism is all about.
Leanne Kunze
“I have a low tolerance for injustice That’s why the labor movement has been a calling. It’s about advocacy and helping people find their voice.”
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.
