Washington Public Sector Labor Negotiations Blog
Trends and Developments Concerning Washington Public Labor Contracts
By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
In last three parts of the wage series we have discussed State wage rankings for the various public safety classifications. In the next part of the wage series we run our series of articles on factors that might influence or explain, at least in part, those wage rankings, with updated 2016 wage rankings.
By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
This is part 6 of our continued series on Washington public safety employee wages. In this issue we report on wage rankings for 911 dispatchers and police records clerks.
By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
This is Part 5 of our 10 Part 2016 Wage Series. In our last article, we covered Commissioned Deputy and Police Officer Wages. In this article, we turn to Firefighter and Corrections Officer Wages. We’ll cover Dispatcher and Records Clerk Wages in the next article.
By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
In part 4 of our on-going wage series we now turn to the rankings of County Deputy and City Police Officer rankings throughout the State. This series always produces both expected and unexpected information about the relative standing of jurisdictions.
By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
This is the third article in our 10 part series reporting on contract settlement trends. This article highlights some of the recent economic developments most likely to impact your negotiations outlook.
By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
This is the second part of our 10 part Fall 2016 wage series. In this article we take a look at recent contract settlements and examine how those trends vary from recent previous years. Our view of 2015 and 2016 settlements and what we have so far from 2017 indicates that the Washington State public sector wages are a mirror of national wage stagnation. We see some wage increases with little substantial “real wage” growth (as measured once controlled for inflation). Whether a growing economy eventually will accelerate these is something we’ll discuss later in this series.
By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
The latest inflation reports show CPI on the rise. In the last two month reporting period the Seattle CPI (W) has jumped from 2.0% to 2.6% and the All-Cities (W) has doubled from 0.7% to 1.4%.
This is the first of an 11 part series addressing current economic conditions and wage settlement trends. In this Fall 2016 Wage Series we’ll bring you an update on CPI and economic developments, wage settlements, interest arbitration trends, statewide wage rankings for public safety classifications across the State, and an in-depth analysis of what factors appear to be impacting those rankings and settlements.
By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
As we recently wrote, CPI Edging Up , the Seattle CPI continues to far outpace the All-Cities Index. The latest report has the Seattle Index at 2.6%, far outpacing the 0.8% All Cities Index. This probably should not be too surprising giving the robust Seattle economy which is far outpacing the most modest economic growth occurring elsewhere. The economic growth is no doubt placing additional pressures on local prices.
By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
The latest release of CPI shows that it is continue to climb, edging up enough that it may also bump up contract settlements. The April CPI was released this past week showing the Seattle CPI-W climbing to 2.6. The All-Cities-W index, although also climbing, continues to significantly lag behind at 0.8. This chart reveals the trend line in those two indices over the past 12 months:
By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
In the last issue we discussed whether – and to what extent — population influenced a jurisdiction’s relative wage ranking. In this article we discussed to what extent assessed valuation influences that ranking.
