State workers stage rally for bigger pay increases: Gregoire in talks over next contract

KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Aug. 13--OLYMPIA -- Citing the high cost of gas, food and housing, hundreds of state workers converged on the Washington Capitol on Tuesday to call for larger pay raises. "We ain't nobody's working slave, we deserve a real pay raise," the crowd of about 500 Washington Federation of State Employees chanted on the statehouse steps. "We realize that we're in a bad economy, but it's unfair to take it out on the backs of state employees," said Bridget Flory, a worker at the state Department of Labor and Industries. Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget office is in the midst of more than two dozen contract negotiations with bargaining units representing more than 60,000 of the state's more than 100,000 employees. Among them: many employees at Washington State University, Eastern Washington University, the... [read full story]