WFSE unit ratifies deal at Evergreen State College

UPDATE (June 13, 2013) — The Washington Federation of State Employees, AFSCME Council 28 has announced that after 17 months of negotiations and a one-day strike, members of the Student Support Services Staff Union at The Evergreen State College on Wednesday (June 12) ratified their contract on a vote of 52-2. This first-ever collective bargaining agreement takes effect July 1 and runs through June 30, 2015. It includes a fair compensation package and “just cause” due process rights for disciplines. Get more details here.

OLYMPIA (June 7, 2014) — The Washington Federation of State Employees, AFSCME Council 28 has announced that the bargaining team for the Student Support Services Staff Union reached tentative agreement on Thursday afternoon on a first-ever contract with The Evergreen State College that includes what they called “an acceptable just-cause and compensation package.”

Contract details will be discussed with bargaining unit members on Friday and a contract vote is planned for next Wednesday, June 12. If members ratify the contract, that would end any further strike actions. The college’s Board of Trustees also must approve the plan.

State employee counselors, advisors, resident directors and others at Evergreen voted May 15 by a 90% margin to authorize job actions up to and including strike action. After several unsuccessful days of mediated talks — following more than a year of unsuccessful negotiations — the members walked off the job on May 28, shutting down the college campus. It was the first strike action by the WFSE at any level since the successful statewide “rolling” strike of 2001.

The bargaining team thanked all WFSE members, plus labor and community members, “for their support of the strike and other actions that helped break the logjam and achieve this victory.”

Learn more at www.wfse.org.