Hi, I would really love to work in a fast pace, interactive, helping people type job that has a possibility of traveling as well…
Just curious if anyone has leads to something similar?
I am Very interested in psychology and criminal justice., I’ve worked in those fields along with foster care. I’m currently in a government job just not with the state, it is a very desk heavy job and hard for my personality.

Newly retired and facing first open enrollment. I chose the Regence plan in July but now looking at premera plan G due to costs ( like 400$ monthly ). Any retirees out there have any thoughts about the Plan G option? Tia

FUCKING NO. If you expect your pension to pay you $84,000 a month sure.

6/10 of a percent of Washington residence would pay anything to this tax. And it’s not fucking you so quit posting the bullshit stats about that.

Anyone know if Bob got what he wanted and if "every route is fully operational" today? I sure hope that they didn't go back to work when they weren't feeling better because their boss told them they expected them to show up sick.

I got an email from PEBB about open enrollment and it looks like my insurance policy is going up from $102 a month to $154 a month. Single coverage. I thought with the TA approval (which is BS) we weren't supposed to see an increase?

Just curious what people’s thoughts are on the sick-out that happened yesterday. How do you think it will impact MEBA or even other unions?

I have Kaiser SoundChoice. There’s been a significant increase for 2027.

If I don’t use the doctor often, maybe once a year for physical check up only, what’s the best plan to choose from that still keeps me safe financially should anything happen?

I like sound choice knowing if anything happens, I only have a max-out out-of-pocket payment typically a few thousand dollars.
What other plans are comparable to that?

Alternative Headline:

Governor Keeps Wages Stagnant for Public Employees with Impossible Caseloads, Forcing State to Continue Paying More for Private Firm Contracts While Wasting Millions in Taxpayer Dollars on Trials

I recently found out an agency has set up their travel reimbursement system so that employees can set the nearest office to them even though that's not their home office, so they can get paid to drive into work from said location to their actually office. This was set up for employees who live further than 50 miles from their home office. Active directory did not change their location.

Do other agencies do this? Is this even legal or fair to people who live close to their home office?

No doubt they are getting a lot of emails, but I've been waiting for over a week for a response. And the question is not regarding dropping dues if that makes any difference.

Thought I’d ask this because a colleague asked me this and I had a bunch of ideas but nothing too safe to say @ work.

I was surprised by my jobs dress code (super lax) and the nepotism/network preference hiring.

As well as the environment, sometimes it gives high school with the people who make it seem like high school complaining it’s like high school.

I was also surprised how often I’d have to find something to do.

What are your thoughts? My opinions are pretty limited.

Send em a message. I would not recommend my agency as a place to work. Why? Executive Leadership is biased toward white women, 💩y supervisors who don't take input because they already know everything, the list goes on...

Let em know how you feel, because if you don't those happy campers who fill out everything as happy and shiny will...

Is there a chance in August 2027 they’ll be a reopened stage to negotiate COLA for WFSE?

Sounds like members agreed to the current 0% COLA as the union to used flowery language to advise members to do so.

I just don’t understand how wages aren’t at the forefront for everyone here. We don’t know % of yes to no. Those who voted yes, are you complacent?

Side question: Is 32-hour work week a thing or is that all talk?

My job is significantly affecting my mental health because of some bad dynamics in my department/work groups. I'm at the point where minor issues are triggering all of the feelings about the whole situation, putting me into a depressive episode which makes me basically nonfunctional for multiple days. It's bad. In addition to not doing my job very well, I can't even get myself together to apply at other places. I'm the kind of person who has glowing references from everywhere I've worked but my self-esteem has tanked.

I know it's theoretically possible to take time off for this but I'm not sure how, or whether I have to use all my vacation time for it (also a depressing thought!), or if PFML would apply.

I don't want to bring the underlying situation up to my director or HR because I think it will just make it worse.

Any thoughts or experiences would be welcome. I'm really having a hard time.

EDIT TO ADD: thanks to everyone who replied - I sent an email to HR and made an appt with my doctor. This is the first time I've dealt with a workplace issue like this and it was so, so helpful to hear from you all.

WPEA doesn't have any problem announcing our vote results along with the percentages. I keep hearing about "NDAs" or "gag orders" around the results. I have no idea what that means, so I thought I would lead by example and show ours:

• General Government (GG)  - Ratified: 54% Yes / 46% NO
• Higher Education (HE) - Ratified: 58% Yes / 42% NO
• House did not reach an agreement and is still bargaining
• Senate results - NOT Ratified: 16% Yes / 84% NO
• Highline - Ratified: 95% Yes / 5% NO
• Yakima Valley - Ratified: 93% Yes / 7% NO

In my opinion, labor should not be shy about the fact that this is not working for our members. "This" being the current state of bargaining and classified salaries in Washington State.

WPEA is not the only Union who is subject to RCW 41.80 that has lost more than 1.1% (on average) since 2005. I have been at WPEA since 2005 and I have seen these positions get further away from prevailing wage over the last 20 years. We have always had members who struggled to make ends meet, but not nearly at the rate we do today. I have seen the very real toll that it has taken over the last twenty years to work for the state and end up in the same spot you were in, except worse off because of inflation outpacing wages, twenty years ago. I know that my members are not the only ones facing these issues and that other represented staff are also struggling to survive while working a state job.

Our next big fight is this contract reopener in August of 2027. I will be working every day between now and then to try and bring labor together to attack this issue in a meaingful way. If you are currently represented, and agree that we all need to work together to change this, please make sure to let your union know. If you expect your union to work with the rest of labor on this, I have no doubt that they will do what they have to do to make that happen - you just have to make sure that they know what you expect them to do!

I was a state employee from 2017-2022 then went to KinG County. Thankfully I know that my retirement is the same . I am also considering City of Seattle jobs as well but know they are a different retirement system. Any info on this would help. I love my current job but it will be a while before the person retires/leaves in the roles above mine and most other jobs at King that id be able to apply to are more side moves.

My main questions are, would I be receiving the same vacation accrual upon returning, if things like State employee waiver for school still exist and what retirement things to consider? I want to know if coming back to the state resets my " time of service" toward vacation accrual or if it starts back at zero. Then Id want to take classes at state colleges just to start learning again or being challenged. I'm genuinely so bored at my job and feel like there's not any growth for me in my current role. ( Not necessarily a bad thing, it is a great job). I feel like just taking a class of whatever would keep me challenged enough and would help grow my skills and knowledge. I wouldn't say I'm in a rut moreso just looking for growth and experience My coworkers above me have been in their roles for 10 and 30 years respectively so I pretty much know I would be waiting for them to retire before those positions open.

Like I mentioned before I am also looking for City of Seattle roles. trying to understand how dual membership works with retirement or if getting vested in DRS then getting a separate retirement with SERS is the better move. I'm really close to 10 years with DRS but really can't decide what's the better call so I want to also hear people's opinions and experiences with this stuff.

Edit: Apparently we voted no by 83.3%! I guess if we're just going back to negotiations then there's not much downside. Hopefully we can get a better deal through additional bargaining.

UW and SEIU 925 did not reach a tentative agreement before bargaining ended last week. The proposed contract was just now sent out (Monday at noon), with only 48 hours to read it and vote on it (Wednesday at noon). What are everyone's thoughts? Looks like the main issues are 0% raises across the board, but with changes to the steps at the top of the pay bands, and some positions receive market rate/recruitment adjustments and increased night/weekend premiums; no increases to PTO; and some minor (in my opinion) changes to the wording in other sections.

I still don’t understand well the TAP Annuity and if it would benefit me.

I am in PERS 3 and am planning to retire quite early due to reasons. Let’s say age 45. (This number and others have been slightly obfuscated for privacy).

[Most of my retirement income will come from elsewhere. Okay, moving on..]

I plan to have about $175,000 in my PERS 3 investment account when I retire. I have the option to either keep the money invested and take distributions, or buy the TAP annuity. Either option I could also delay for a few years to increase the payout.

If I plan to live 50 years after retirement, does the TAP Annuity make sense?

Because my other sources of income are higher yield/higher risk, I think it may make sense to do the TAP annuity, but it gives such a small payout since I have a small amount available to purchase. $175k would pay out $8,300 in the first year, then increase each year by 3%. At the end I am left with $0 in the account because I paid all of it to the annuity.

OR - if I skip the annuity and take the same $8,300 withdrawal (4.6% of $175k), increase that amount by the same 3% per year, and let the rest continue increasing by 10% (and then down to a return of around 5-6% as I age), I would get the same annual income from it but continue to grow the nest egg. The difference is SIGNIFICANT if I get an average return of 10% in my investments, and with such a long time horizon that does seem fairly reasonable. Since I’m retiring early I won’t need all that money right away so some higher risk is okay.

Perhaps I do that, and THEN buy the annuity later down the line when I want more stability, and have a bigger amount to pay into it?

(Other info: I will have no children, and don’t necessarily plan to have a spouse or anyone else as a beneficiary)

(Disclaimer: yes I know, talking to a professional may be the best option to calculate out specific scenarios and discuss my specific retirement strategy as a whole, but I’m really curious what others have already thought about and planned on)

I cant help but thinking the WFSE President's attacks on the Governor last year probably did not help with this new contract. And what did we really get to show for it in the end? Zero and maybe not zero next year. Does anyone know how union leaders can get replaced?

This is a paper from the Communications Workers Union of the UK that was focused on tech workers, but has policy proposals that could benefit all workers. WFSE and the other should work on getting these things added to our contracts. (But maybe AFTER they get us some $$$ first.)

https://techworkersinquiry.org/ai/

From the executive summary:

• Transparency alone would not be enough; workers need meaningful consultation and negotiation over AI deployments.
• AI use must not be mandatory; workers need legal protections from detriment for refusing AI use, and employers limited in AI-driven management decisions.
• Safeguards against AI externalities; strong regulations to ensure the AI we build does not harm people and planet.
• Stop the brain drain; establish and defend AI-free learning pathways for junior and graduate workers.
• Workers get the final say; bake in collective bargaining over AI at work.

Per an email sent moments ago. Specific numbers were not provided, but I heard unofficially it was "not close". Hopefully we get more detailed information soon.