Furlough Answer-Because Someone Asked

Question sent in: Why is the union making furloughs worse by delaying them?

Under the bill 6503, union members were provided protections that the current (management initiated) furlough response related to the Governor directed 6.5% cut does not contain. Absent those protections, our members have everything to lose and nothing to gain. We went to the table based on DSHS statement that agreeing to furloughs would save jobs and that they were willing to negotiate real flexibility in how furloughs happened and that they would agree to put those protections in place for our members. If you go to the website, under the blog section, in the President's blog I related day by day what was occurring. Management did NOT agree to flexibility in scheduling the furloughs. There is no guarantee that the money saved will save our member's jobs. DSHS management, in our view, is not negotiating and if you could call what happened negotiation then it was not done in good faith.

The union agreed on a Thursday of one week to negotiate an agreement with management on Monday of the following week. Management never expected a response so timely. We fully expected to have a written agreement by the end of the work day and publish it that evening. No one was more surprised and appalled than the union bargaining team when it became clear that the other side was not motivated toward that outcome. We wanted a clear and cogent outcome we could publish quickly so that our members would not be upset and confused by the rumors and e-mails. During the time we were "negotiating" our members were notifying us of one e-mail and then another sent by various management in DSHS. Even the team on the other side of the table was surprised by what was occurring. Furlough date for October was first one date and then another.

These are difficult and dangerous times for state employees and for the citizens we serve. There is nothing simple about negotiating the impacts of the budget cuts we face. Still the union members were ready and motivated to work toward saving jobs and services. However, management cannot expect to hold our workforce accountable to the same numbers and the same workload that our members carry when they are given fewer hours to accomplish that workload. The lay offs and hiring freezes that have already occurred have had a severe workload impact on those who remain. We cannot allow our members to be held to the same performance numbers and criteria that they were before all that happened. In this dark economic time we must stand together and continue to fight for respect and dignity for the members who make Washington happen.

Our bargaining team members know how important it is that each of us do the right thing for the members we represent. Pressure is being brought to bear on us. We are threatened with more furlough days, more lay offs, more crushing workload. It is designed to divide us, to break our will to stand up for the workers and their families. It is designed to bust our union. We have already sacrificed so much to save our state. More may be required. We are all in this together and together we must stand up for state workers, stand up for our families, stand up for citizen services and protect those rights for which we have so long labored. Together we CAN do this. And so we shall.


Thank you for your comments to our website. It is important to have real conversations about the issues before us. Thank you for sharing your perspective and allowing me to share mine.