Union, agencies want essential needs to be met

PATRICK CONDON, THE OLYMPIAN

OLYMPIA -- With the clock ticking on a possible state employee strike, both the workers' union and the agencies that employ union members are planning for how the state would operate in the employees' absence.

After voting last week to go on strike, members of the Washington Federation of State Employees are abiding by a four-day cooling off period that will end at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. State officials are using that time to look for a solution to head off the strike by workers angry over pay and benefits proposed by Gov. Gary Locke and the Legislature.

In the event a strike or other protests do happen, though, the union and agencies will attempt to be ready.

"Our members are committed to their jobs, and they do want to ensure that no essential needs go unmet," said Greg Devereux, the executive director of the 19,000-member union.

To that end, members in all of the agencies represented by the union's 52 local bargaining units have compiled emergency plans where they feel it's necessary, according to Tim Welch, union spokesman.

Union members will also carry pagers and radios on the picket line in order to respond to emergencies.

The union is not likely to call any long-term walkouts. Rather, union leaders say they would call rolling strikes that would go from one state agency to another, instead of shutting them all down for days at a time.

At the direction of Gov. Gary Locke, the leaders of each of the affected agencies have drawn up a strike contingency plan that would set a course of operations in the event of large-scale employee walkouts.

"They've been directed to decide what services they could provide, and what they couldn't," said Jeff Weathersby, a Locke spokesman. Additionally, Weathersby said, the Governor's Office has set up a committee, dubbed the Job Action Information Coordination Team, which will serve as a state clearinghouse for strike information.

The WFSE represents employees at the departments of Social and Health Services, Human Services, Transportation, Adult Corrections, General Administration, Employment Security, and Labor and Industries, as well as clerical and other support staff at The Evergreen State College and South Puget Sound Community College.

Among the union ranks are secretaries, custodians, data entry operators, clerks, social workers, correctional employees, law enforcement officers, human services caseworkers, road workers, accountants, juvenile rehabilitation workers, mental health hospital workers, food service staff and dozens of other job categories.

Both the union and the state say that the contingency plans are not set in stone. Neither group was willing to reveal details of the plan, for fear of tipping off the other side.

On the web:

Office of the Attorney General.

Governnor Gary Locke.

Washington Public Employees Association.

Washington Federation of State Employees/AFSCME-AFL-CIO.

Washington State Legislature.

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