Washington Public Sector Labor Negotiations Blog
Trends and Developments Concerning Washington Public Labor Contracts
By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
This is Part 5 of our 11 Part Summer 2013 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
This is the first of an 11 part series addressing current economic conditions and wage settlement trends. In this Summer 2015 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
More often than not, employers prefer a fixed percent COLA adjustment, as opposed to a number tied to the CPI. Having a fixed percentage COLA number written in the “out year” labor contract settlements provides the employer a “known” number to plug into their budgets. While your members have often preferred the ability to keep full pace with inflation, the recent falling and erratic CPI numbers pose a new question: Would you be better off with your contract settlements tied to a fixed percentage increase?
