Convention - Making Our Voices Heard

Brothers and Sisters,

Thank you to those who attended the 43rd Biennial Convention of the Washington Federation of State Employees. Thank you to the members who elected representatives to carry their voice to the convention.

As you know from reading the WFSE hotline, Rosemary Sterling, Lee Novak, and I were re-elected. Thank you for the honor of representing you. Sue Henricksen was elected Vice-President. Congratulations to Sue. We all look forward to serving together and are committed to representing the membership to the best of our ability.

I want to take a moment to thank those who ran for office. It takes courage and commitment to run for office at the statewide level. They are very demanding jobs and these are tough times for all our membership.

The governor of the state of Washington attended the convention and we hosted “a conversation with the governor”. Our members directly addressed her on the issues we face today. It was important to do that. We must never allow ourselves to be ignored or sidelined as we walk through this historic economic recession. The citizens of Washington count on us as much as they do the governor and the legislature. We are required directly to carry out the programs and changes the governor and legislature mandate. We are the ones carrying the load of too little money, too much workload. At the same time, we face our own economic hardships and fears of job loss. More than that, those of us who care deeply about our programs and our clients/customers worry about the impacts on those programs and clients/customers. We are the voice for those who need our voices most – the vulnerable, the environment, public safety, and more.

In addition to the voices she heard that day, the governor left with letters written by our membership. The letters were raw, uncensored, and unread by anyone but the governor and the people with whom she shared them. The conversation at the convention was at times uncomfortable but these are uncomfortable times. We cannot be numbers on a page or data in a bank. We are citizens of Washington and we need to be heard. There are administrations that do hear our members and there are administrations that do not. The governor and the legislature will hear us. We will not stand by and be ignored.

The upcoming legislative session will be rough. We must actively engage with our representatives and senators now and throughout the session. The hotline, the newspaper, the blogs on the website at www.wfse.org will be important resources for getting information out to the membership. Please check them frequently so that each of us can take up the cause effectively to succeed at maintaining our programs, our jobs and the quality of life in Washington state.

We are already on the move. Let’s make sure that we are united, strong and active. Wherever the job action, whatever the activity – Be there! Take part! Support one another. We are WFSE warriors and the battle is now!