Washington state Capitol on March 7, 2024. (Jerry Cornfield/Washington State Standard)
It took Democratic staff in Washington’s Legislature a little longer but they have joined their Republican colleagues in approving two-year contracts, concluding the first-ever round of collective bargaining for legislative employees.
Legislative assistants, policy analysts and communications staff in the House Democratic Caucus and legislative assistants in the Senate Democratic Caucus unanimously ratified agreements in separate votes in late December. The decisions came nearly three months after workers overwhelmingly rejected proposed contracts with their employers, which are the chief clerk of the House and secretary of the Senate.
“We’re pretty excited. It’s not everything we wanted. But it’s a reasonable first contract,” Josie Ellison, a communications specialist and member of the House Democratic Caucus bargaining team, said Thursday night. “For now, everybody seems pretty enthusiastic about it.”
The Washington Public Employees Association represented both Democratic staff bargaining units.
“This historic agreement marks a new chapter for our members, providing the protections and support they deserve,” Amanda Hacker, association president said in a statement.
Legislative assistants in the House and Senate Republican caucuses approved their respective two-year agreements in September.
Each contract contains pay hikes of 3% on July 1, 2025 and 2% a year later, the same amount offered to other state employee unions. State lawmakers and the next governor, Bob Ferguson, will now decide whether to fund them in the next two-year budget.
Under the collective bargaining law, state employee unions — including legislative staff units — needed to submit a ratified contract by Oct. 1 to be considered for funding. Because Democratic staff did not meet the deadline, they will need to make a separate case to Ferguson and lawmakers to fund their deals.
Jeremy Knapp, an executive legislative assistant with the Senate Democratic Caucus and member of the bargaining team, said Thursday that administration of the Senate and House are supportive.
“It’s in the Legislature’s hands now,” he said.
A 2022 law cleared the way for partisan legislative staff to unionize and negotiate terms and conditions for the workplace.
Employees of the Democratic and Republican caucuses in each chamber had to be in separate units unless a majority of each caucus voted to be in the same unit. All four units negotiated collectively on economic issues, like wages and benefits, and separately on workplace-related issues.
“The collective bargaining agreements represent several months of hard work by the negotiating teams and we are pleased that we have been able to reach an agreement with both the Legislative Professionals Association and the [Washington Public Employees Association],” Chief Clerk of the House Bernard Dean wrote in an email.
The contracts with Democratic staff call for a third-party arbiter in the grievance process. That means if a dispute arises on a contract provision, the two sides will have access to arbitration through the American Arbitration Association, to resolve it. This had been a sticking point as employers resisted involvement of an outside party, employees said.
“It gave us what we think is a very fair grievance process,” Knapp said.
Secretary of the Senate Sarah Bannister called the agreement “a significant milestone” that “brings a sense of relief and allows us to focus fully on the work ahead.”
She said the decision to add a panel with an arbitrator “was made collaboratively, reflecting a commitment from everyone to ensure fairness, transparency, and efficiency in resolving disputes.”
The contracts also outline new ways to resolve conflicts between elected officials and legislative staff. And there are provisions to create a “transition” pool for union members facing the loss of a job because the lawmaker they work for retires, loses re-election or leaves office for another reason.
Knapp said the Senate contract lays out how a person facing the loss of work could get a job as a session aide to avoid unemployment. There’s also language ensuring the employer provides workers, who are at-will employees, with two weeks notice before being let go or two weeks pay if fired.