PULLMAN, Wash. — “Washington State University’s administration is perplexed by allegations that have been attributed by the news media to officials of the Washington Federation of State Employees. According to media reports, WFSE officials in
“Further, the WFSE’s reported allegations appear unusual given the history of our previous interactions with the WFSE. After nine months of good-faith negotiations, we reached agreement with the WFSE on a contract to be submitted for ratification to the employees and the Board of Regents. As part of the negotiations, WSU and WFSE agreed that all employees to be covered by the contract (about 1,250) would be allowed to vote on ratification, not just the union members (about 200). WSU and the WFSE also developed a joint statement regarding the contract that could be provided to the employees prior to the vote, although the WFSE later used its own statement. The WFSE conducted the vote under its own rules. In the past couple of days, our human resources department has received numerous complaints from employees concerning various tactics used by the WFSE during the ratification vote and has explained to employees that they need to direct their concerns to the WFSE.
“The board of regents agreed to hold a special meeting to ratify the contract, and the administration expected there would be a ratified contract for the board to act upon at its meeting on Thursday morning (Sept. 30). When there was no official word from the WFSE on the results of the vote, the board took action to ratify the contract pending word from the WFSE.
“We are hoping that the WFSE will directly communicate with the university administration so that we can begin a dialogue and bring this matter to a mutually satisfactory conclusion.”
