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WA union marches into state Capitol as budget bargaining boils over

WFSE Local 443 holds a rally in Olympia to protest proposed budget cuts that could result in furloughs and changes for state workers’ benefits at the state Capitol in Olympia on Wednesday. (Karen Ducey/Seattle Times)
By Shauna Sowersby and Conrad Swanson Seattle Times

OLYMPIA – Escalating tensions around cuts for Washington’s budget and potential furloughs boiled over Wednesday afternoon as hundreds of workers stormed into the state Capitol building to pick a fight.

Early in the afternoon, members of the Washington State Federation of State Employees – who had been protesting on the Capitol lawn in Olympia – began making their way into the Statehouse.

The group is at loggerheads with Gov. Bob Ferguson, who had pledged to honor general wage increases of 5% over the next two years but is now proposing 24 unpaid furlough days over the next two years instead to help close the state’s $16 billion budget shortfall.

A proposed budget from the House honors the raises without furloughs; a proposal out of the Senate calls for 13 furlough days over the next year (about a 5% salary reduction).

Last week Mike Yestramski, president of the union, called Ferguson a “ratfink” for reneging on his promise and instead proposing a “cuts first” budget. He vowed to make the state’s new chief executive a one-term governor. In that vein, the group marched into the Statehouse rotunda to express their extreme displeasure, their chants echoing throughout the building’s halls.

“No cuts, no furloughs,” they shouted. “Tax, tax the rich!”

Reps. Shaun Scott, D-Seattle, Melanie Morgan, D-Parkland, and Lisa Parshley, D-Olympia, joined in with the protesters. Morgan high-fived a few. Republican lawmakers watched the group from a nearby balcony.

Rather than sticking to the rotunda, the group aimed their ire at Ferguson more directly, marching toward his office where they sat or lay down, obstructing the pathway. Then, they decided to go to his home, heading west of the Capitol and shouting profanities at the governor’s mansion over a loudspeaker.

“We have a … message for you,” one person shouted. “We got you your job, and we can take it from you, too.”

Yestramski said in an interview with the Seattle Times last week that his group is considering rescinding their endorsement of Ferguson, who was elected in November and sworn into office in January. While Yestramski said Ferguson has refused to meet with the union, Ferguson told the Times last week that he didn’t believe the union leader’s “extremely strong words” would be “conducive” for a constructive conversation.

An ad with Yestramski’s headshot and screenshots of The Times article appeared on social media sites this week, which appeared to be paid for by Local 889. In the caption, it noted that Yestramski is calling on Ferguson to “Step up for everyday Washingtonians, not just the billionaires he’s trying to appease.”

“If Ferguson throws state workers under the bus, Washingtonians everywhere will feel the pain of lost services and the cost of privatization. But the governor doesn’t seem to care,” it read.