Trends and Developments Concerning Washington Public Labor Contracts
By Jim Cline
A long-delayed Island County Interest Arbitration has resulted in the Corrections Guild prevailing with a six-year wage award that, with year to year compounding, increased wages by 19.7%. The contract was delayed not just by lengthy arbitration and mediation, but also by a County Unfair Labor Practice that had resulted in canceling a scheduled 2019 hearing date. The Award covers contract years 2017 through 2022.
By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
In the last two newsletters, we reported on the surprisingly sharp rise in inflation and how that development and the uncertainty in future inflation predictions would have a potentially large impact on wage negotiations. The jump in inflation suggests rising settlements but other developments likewise support our prediction that settlements for 2022 (and 2023) will be heading up.
By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
In our last Newsletter, we report on the just-released June CPI numbers. As we indicated, while we had expected a sharp rise, the size of the rise caught us (and most economists) by surprise. The June national and Seattle indices exceeded 6% as did other regional CPI measures.
