OLYMPIA — Gov. Chris Gregoire’s budget office has ruled that a slew of labor contracts negotiated for 2013-15 are “feasible” for the state to pay, opening the door to including them in a budget plan she expects to make public Tuesday.
The cost of the contracts, which are part of the shortfall calculation, has been estimated at about $238 million from the state’s general fund. That includes $171 million for ending the 3 percent pay and hour cuts for most of the state’s nearly 59,000 general-government workers –and $30 million for possible 1 percent raises in mid-2014 if the state’s revenues grow to a certain level.
Virtually all of that cost is included in state Office of Financial Management estimates that show the state faces a shortfall of about $904 million in the next two-year budget cycle. The pay changes vary quite a bit between higher-education unions in the new contracts, which are more generous in many cases than for general-government workers.
“It’s good news and a real morale boost for state employees who sacrificed to save the state during dire economic times. But now we have to work hard to make sure the Legislature goes along,” said Tim Welch, spokesman for the Washington Federation of State Employees, which represents about 40,000 workers in general government and higher education who bargained for the pay adjustments.
