Tentative deal for 30,000 state workers includes raises, $12 minimum wage

[TexasTowelie]

About 30,000 Washington state workers would receive pay raises of roughly 6 percent under a tentative deal struck Tuesday between state officials and union leaders.

The proposed pay raises, to be spread over two years, would be the largest across-the-board increases state employees have negotiated since they gained full collective bargaining rights in 2004, said Tim Welch, a spokesman for the Washington Federation of State Employees.

The proposed labor contract would also establish a $12 minimum wage for the approximately 30,000 general government workers, who make up the largest segment of state employees, Welch said.

Welch announced the tentative agreement to union members in an email at about 5:45 p.m. Tuesday. Union members still must ratify the contract by Oct. 1, he said.

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/politics-government/article101697842.html

[Sherman A1]

1. Good start

but $12.00/hour is simply not enough. Even $15.00 is really below what it should be.