With contract negotiations nearing a critical deadline, hundreds of Washington state workers recently walked off the job for an hour to highlight demands for wage hikes in their next two-year deal.

Roughly 100 employees from an array of agencies lined Capitol Way in Olympia on Aug. 31, most facing the domed Legislative Building where Gov. Bob Ferguson’s office is located. They waved signs, shook cowbells and chanted throughout the noon hour, periodically interrupted by honks from passing vehicles.

The negotiations have led to rising friction between union workers and Ferguson, a Democrat heading toward the third year of his first term, and the third consecutive session where he and legislators will have to navigate a budget shortfall.

Ferguson proposed state worker furloughs in 2025 but lawmakers shelved the idea after union backlash.

“We’re not going to agree to furloughs. We’re not going to agree to cuts,” said Ashley Fueston, vice president of the Washington Federation of State Employees. “We’re not going to agree to takeaways. That’s not acceptable.”

Statewide, employees from more than 100 worksites – including in the Tri-Cities – delivered similar messages as talks on a new collective bargaining agreement enter their final month.

State law sets an Oct. 1 deadline for unions to ratify agreements to be considered for funding in the next two-year budget. Failure to meet the deadline can result in an extension of an existing contract without a wage hike, as one public employee union experienced last year. Those workers eventually got paid retroactively.

The Washington Federation of State Employees, which represents 52,000 state government, higher education and public service workers, organized the recent walkouts to demonstrate frustration with the progress of talks and the state’s failure to propose adequate pay hikes.

“I think they are just testing our unity. That’s what it seems like to me,” said Sam Brown, who has worked more than a decade with the state Department of Agriculture. He and several colleagues carpooled from their Tumwater office to attend the Olympia event.

“We understand the state has limitations. But there are ways to try to deal with it,” he said. 

For example, he said, a base wage hike could be agreed on, and contract language added to boost it should state tax collections come in higher than estimates relied on by state negotiators.

“If it’s better, we do better,” Brown added. 

The Aug. 31 statewide action followed a mini-protest the week before where a handful of union members showered the governor with chants as he attended an event at Western State Hospital.

“We’re negotiating. I don’t have anything else to add,” Ferguson said when asked about the workers’ demands.

Brionna Aho, Ferguson’s communications director, cited the challenging budget environment clouding this year’s negotiations. 

“In the past 18 months, we implemented billions of dollars in budget reductions,” she said in a statement. Aho added that the state is also dealing with “draconian cuts” from the Trump administration, including ones that eliminate health care coverage for thousands of Washingtonians.

Wage hikes can amount to a chunky increase for the state budget. The last round of labor agreements yielded general wage increases of 5% – 3% in July 2025 and 2% in July. The total cost of the contracts was about $1.7 billion.

“As he develops his budget, the governor is focused on preserving core services for the most vulnerable people in our state,” Aho said. “In working to accomplish that goal, the governor will face many difficult choices, and understands not everyone will be happy with his decisions.”

Fueston said it sounded like the governor “is trying to make the case for no wage increase.”

One major issue, health care costs, is apparently resolved.

Fueston said a deal reached in August ensures the state will continue to pay 85% of monthly premiums with employees paying the remaining 15%. The state wanted employees to pay a larger share. Maintaining the status quo for all state workers will cost $348.5 million in the next biennium, she said.

“That was huge. That covers every public employee,” Fueston said. 

But the health care agreement wasn’t top of mind for workers at the recent rally.

They said they feel disrespected by the governor and his administration’s negotiators from the Office of Financial Management, so much so they wrote a chant.

“OFM you cannot hide, we can see your greedy side.”

One sign waved at passing drivers referenced grounds maintenance work and impolitely targeted Ferguson.

“We cut the grass, Bob can kiss our a**,” it said.  

“I have really supported Bob in the past, so it feels disappointing to be out here having to hold a sign like this,” said Sierra Keough, an accountant at the Department of Social and Health Services. “I didn’t make it, but I hold it with pride.”

Workers at the recent rallies suggested Ferguson was not living up to commitments he made while campaigning.

“What we’re fighting for is the opposite of what he ran for and promised us,” Keough said.