We, the undersigned employees, request that our essential staff in the skilled trades be recognized with class-specific pay increases in our 2025-27 contracts.

With prevailing rates in skilled trades doubling and many skilled trades workers nearing retirement, the state will lose valuable trades workers and candidates to private and other public sectors and lose the institutional knowledge of existing staff.

It is critical to retain highly skilled members to successfully transfer knowledge and perform essential work to maintain aging buildings and infrastructure, equipment, roadways, and lands for the public’s use, safety, and increasing demands.

We work hard to create safe, functional living, learning, recreational, and working spaces for Washington’s valued residents, students, visitors, and employees. We are required to perform journey-level work across multiple trades in order to help design, plan, build, and directly maintain safe water systems, sewer systems, roadways, snow-park winter operations, marine facilities, entire campuses, heavy equipment, vehicles, and vessels as well as preserving numerous historic sites and structures.

When we as public workers see increasing state revenue while struggling to make ends meet and absorb added workloads due to documented recruitment and retention difficulties, we have a civic responsibility to speak up and propose solutions to address these disparities. The pay inequities and compression and inversion of salaries while taking on higher level duties fully support pay increases for trades.

We are experts in our field. As industrial standards constantly evolve, the state relies on our expertise, and we must retain and recruit experienced and proficient skilled tradespeople throughout state service. The communities we serve deserve nothing less. As proud, dedicated skilled employees, we ask that our loyal service to the state be recognized with fair pay and to respect the craft.