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
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 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.
By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
We have been closely tracking and reporting on inflation trends. The recent “ups and downs” (in inflation has implications for the broader economy but it has some rather direct impacts on our contract negotiations.
By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
In the last newsletter, we reported on the Bureau of Labor Statistics release of the June CPI numbers. As was noted, over the past 4 months the CPI has slid dramatically, although the Seattle numbers remain high by historic standards and substantially outpace the national CPI indices. The June CPI-W numbers are reflected in this graph:
By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the June CPI Numbers on July 12. Both the Seattle and All Cities CPI numbers dropped significantly, although the Seatle numbers continue to notably outpace the national indices. This graph shows the relative numbers over the past 12 months and to date for the “W” index:
