Thousands of Washington state workers lose out on wage hikes [View all]

Nearly 5,300 state government and community college employees in Washington won’t be getting a 3% pay raise in July when most other state workers will.

That’s because those members of the Washington Public Employees Association did not ratify a new two-year contract until April 3, long past a statutory deadline and too tardy to be cribbed into the next state budget.

“It came very, very late in the process and it would have been quite difficult to respond to,” said Sen. Derek Stanford, D-Bothell, one of the Democratic lawmakers who pieced together the final budget agreement. “We need these groups to get their work done by the deadline.”

Amanda Hacker, the association president, said not getting the cost-of-living adjustment this year means the workers will “fall even further behind not just the private sector, but other state employees.”

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2025/04/30/thousands-of-washington-state-workers-lose-out-on-wage-hikes/