In February, the PROTEC17 member-led bargaining team began negotiations with King County management on the next Coalition Labor Agreement (CLA) for 2026 and beyond. In the two months since, a few Tentative Agreements have been reached – including improvements to organ donor leave and Bilingual Premium pay – but there is still a lot of work to do before reaching a deal.
The King County Coalition of Unions consists of 18 unions who represent over 7,000 union members across the County. By working together to negotiate the terms of the CLA, the Coalition is able to secure stronger wages and benefits for members across the County. In addition, each individual PROTEC17 bargaining unit within the CLA will negotiate unit-specific language as part of the contract appendices in what’s called “small table bargaining”.
As of late March, the County had rejected the Coalition’s proposals for wage increases and improvements to language around vacation leave accrual, longevity pay, paid parental leave, safety gear allowance, and career development resources for Temporary Time Limited (TLT) employees. PROTEC17 King County members are encouraged to sign the petition for a fair contract at: actionnetwork.org/petitions/kc-cla-faircontract.
In order to receive the most up-to-date information on contract negotiations, members should update their personal email with us at protec17.org/contact-info-update. And if you’d like to get more involved in helping to keep your colleagues informed and activated throughout negotiations, please join the Contract Action Team! Email PROTEC17 Union Representative Regan McBride for more information at regan@protec17.org.
Negotiations will continue this spring and summer, when the team will also begin “small table” negotiations.