Washington Public Sector Labor Negotiations Blog
Trends and Developments Concerning Washington Public Labor Contracts
By Jim Cline
The latest inflation numbers raises further questions about whether the CPI will continue to decline quickly below 3% as had been predicted. The Bureau of Labor Statistics released US All Cities inflation numbers for March this past Wednesday. Both the National “W” and “U” March indices were reported at 3.5%. That is an increase over the respective 3.1% and 3.2% numbers reported for February.
By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
In the previous two articles in this wage series, we discussed the extent to which population and assessed valuation correlated with wage rankings. In this article, we discussed geographic location and the effect of various labor markets on public safety wages.
By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
In the last issue we discussed whether – and to what extent — population influenced a jurisdiction’s relative wage ranking. In this article we discussed to what extent assessed valuation influences that ranking.
By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
Every month the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases an inflation update on national inflation numbers and every other month they release a “bi-monthly” update that includes regional data, including the Seattle CPI. In mid-March BLS released their report showing inflation through February.
By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
In last three parts of the wage series, we have discussed State wage rankings for the various public safety classifications. In the next part of the wage series, we run articles on factors that might influence or explain, at least in part, those wage rankings, using the updated 2023 wage rankings.
By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
In our wage and settlement development survey, we’ve covered police, corrections, fire, dispatch, and records personnel. Cline and Associates collects and analyzes all public safety classifications on a statewide basis.
By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
This is part of our continued series on Washington public safety employee wages. In this issue we report on the current wage rankings for 911 dispatchers and police records clerks.
By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
This is Part 5 of our 2023 Wage Series. In our last article, we covered Commissioned Deputy and Police Officer Wages. In this article, we turn to Firefighter and Corrections Officer Wages. We’ll cover Dispatcher and Records Clerk Wages in the next article.
By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
In part 4 of our on-going wage series, we now turn to the rankings of County Deputy Sheriff and City Police Officer rankings throughout the State. This series always produces both expected and unexpected information about the relative standing of jurisdictions.
By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
This is the third article in our wage series reporting on contract settlement trends. This article highlights some of the recent economic developments most likely to impact your negotiations outlook. As always, the most important variable for your contract is your local economy and your employer’s fiscal condition but the larger state and national trends have an immediate bearing on those and are worth an examination.
