A picket line erupted earlier this week on Highline’s campus, organized by Washington Public Employees Association (WPEA) members across Highline staff. Nearly two dozen people showed up to show support for equal pay. 

For the past year and a half, WPEA, a labor union for state workers, has been in a slow-moving, locked argument with Washington’s Office of Financial Management (OFM) over contract negotiations – specifically, cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs).

Union contacts are negotiated every other year for members’ two-year contracts. COLAs have been on the bargaining table for well over a year now. The new contracts went into effect on July 1, 2025. Despite WPEA members ratifying their contracts in April, the legislative budget released later that month did not include any of the WPEA contracts. 

Julie Thurman-Lascurain, a WPEA’s Member Education and Mobilization Director said, “In September of last year, the original offer on the table for compensation was 0% first year and 1% for next year. The cost of living has gone up nearly 4% [just last year], we’re negotiating a pay-cut here… Eventually through negotiations, OFM put 3% and 2% on the table.” 

“WPEA employees are 21% below the inflation rate,” said Lauri Miles, Highline Administrative Assistant and WPEA steward. “This is why we rejected the contract, we are so far behind and we were hoping for a higher COLA to alleviate some of the much needed inflation we need to recoup.”

Members were still unhappy, so they voted down the 3% and 2% COLAs. This took place a week prior to the Oct. 1, 2024 deadline to have these contracts in. WPEA continued to call for OFM to return to negotiations, which did not take place. WPEA filed a lawsuit against OFM for bad faith bargaining. The deadline passed, the case went to the Supreme Court, to ultimately be dismissed, but OFM did return to the negotiation table. 

It wasn’t until January OFM offered regular dates for bargaining sessions to WPEA. Sessions were opened up to all union members to attend and be a part of negotiations at the beginning of 2025.

“We did get them to the table finally… but it really didn’t seem like they were putting in an earnest effort to reach an agreement,” said Kyle Samspon, WPEA Special Project Union Representative from Clark College who attended the picket line on Monday. 

Sampson said, “[OFM] ran us around the bush” and contracts were not funded because of missing that initial Oct. 1, 2024 deadline months prior. About bargaining sessions, he said, “it’s ridiculous – they talk in circles, they play dumb. A lot of the meetings are just super unproductive as a result.” 

Pressure mounted in the spring, and OFM agreed to 3% and 2% COLAs for the 2025-2027 contracts. With time running out, WPEA members voted to ratify contracts in hopes that legislation would fund the contracts. 

“All of our sources suggested that as long as contracts were ratified during the session, they would be funded, and so by April 3, all the contracts were ratified and sent off to legislation to be viewed for budget approval,” said Thurman-Lascurain.

In late April, the legislative budget was released and none of the WPEA contracts were funded across three different union coalitions. Which means “none of the things that were bargained during any of the bargaining in the last 18 months go into effect,” said Thurman-Lascurain. 

WPEA members launched a writing campaign, which was received by Governor Ferguson’s office but has not been acknowledged. 

Despite the lack of COLAs and other budgetary negotiations, certain bonuses and incentives within the contracts fall outside of legislative budgets and can be paid for with other funds. Contract incentives, including personal days and signing bonuses, were promised to members by Highline College to be paid from local funds outside the legislative budget. 

The Highline Executive Cabinet sent out an email after the legislative budget was released stating, “[The] Executive Cabinet is beyond disappointed by this decision and understands the devastating economic impacts this has on our classified staff… While Highline College does not have the authority to grant COLAs, [the] Executive Cabinet is fully committed to providing each classified staff member with the $1,200 contract incentive, as well as the personal days we agreed upon during our local negotiations.”

They continued, “To our classified staff – please know that we hear you and stand with you. We are committed to supporting all members of our valued community to the best of our ability during these very challenging times.” 

However, Highline rescinded the offer shortly after, stating, “we were informed we do not have the legal authority to use local funds in this manner, as the relevant statutes do not permit such an action.”

Richard Cannefax, Highline Help Desk lead and WPEA steward, wrote back, “This legal position is not only unjust, it is in direct conflict with an established PERC legal precedent. In PERC Decision 10608-A, a nearly identical situation occurred at the University of Washington. A wage increase agreed to and implemented by the university was later suspended after OFM refused to certify similar contracts….PERC concluded that OFM oversight… only applies to state-funded agreements, and does not extend to provisions paid from local funds.”

In other words, due to legal precedent, OFM has no jurisdiction over how Highline chooses to use its local funds, yet Highline’s Executive Cabinet has rescinded their offer to use local funds to pay out previously-agreed-to contract incentives. 

The Highline-WPEA coalition has followed the practice of using local funds for bonuses for the past five negotiation cycles, so roughly 10 years. 

“There was a moment where Highline employees thought that the [college] was going to support them, that the college was going to give them some amount of relief and some people counted on that. And then that was ripped away,” said Thurman-Lascurain.

Attention now remains on Highline’s choice to fulfill their previous agreement to fill bonuses through local funds, and the pushback from OFM. If Highline decides to honor their agreement to use local funds, other individual college and university WPEA members may pull out of higher-education bargaining and choose to bargain independently with their college – the same practice Highline-WPEA employees use. 

WPEA stewards at Highline campus signed up to speak at last week’s meeting of the Board of Trustees. Unfortunately, Highline President Dr. John Mosby and Vice President of Administration Dr. Michael Pham were not in attendance. 

As it stands now, members are fighting for a 3% and 2% COLA raises to be retroactively instituted on July 1, 2025. Negotiations are taking place once more, with the next bargaining session taking place next week. 

WPEA includes over 5,300 employees across many different government agencies and educational institutions. Highline staff make up 160 of these members, ranging from library staff to facilities. After an 18-month battle, patience is running thin. Frustration is palpable. 

The question remains: Will Highline honor its agreement to support its classified staff? 

**Mavrie has been serving as editor for the ThunderWord since 2024. She is also the founding president of Highline’s Non-fiction Writers Circle.