Washington State Ferries.

The Washington State Department of Transportation Ferries Division, or Washington State Ferries (WSF), operates and maintains ferry vessels; constructs, operates, and maintains terminals; and acquires vessels.? The WSF maintains a fleet of 21 ferries that carry passengers on 10 routes between 20 terminals.? The WSF has nearly 2,000 employees.

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The WSF employees have collective bargaining rights and bargain with the state over wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.? The employer, for purposes of bargaining with the collective bargaining representative of ferry workers, is the state.? The employer is represented by the Governor or their designee.

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The Office of Financial Management (OFM) produces a salary survey of public and private employees who perform directly comparable but not necessarily identical work to WSF work groups for use in bargaining negotiations.? For this survey, the OFM considers employees along the west coast of the United States, including Alaska, and British Columbia.

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Interest Arbitration.

The WSF employees have interest arbitration procedures to resolve impasses over contract negotiations which cannot be solved through mediation.? Under interest arbitration, an impartial third party makes decisions regarding the unresolved terms of the contract.? There are statutory procedures for parties to select arbitrators and factors the arbitration panel must consider when making its decision.

Washington State Ferries.

When producing a salary survey of public and private sector employees whose work is comparable to WSF employees, OFM must contract with a nationally recognized human resources management consulting firm.? The final salary survey must be made available to all bargaining parties by April 1 of each even-numbered year.? While gathering data for the survey, the OFM must seek input from employee organizations.

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For deck department, terminal department, engine room, and all other covered employees not specifically listed, the survey must compare the wages, hours, employee benefits, and conditions of employment of WSF employees with public and private sector employees in states along the west coast of the United States, including Alaska, and in British Columbia doing directly comparable, but not necessarily identical work.

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Certain WSF work groups must be compared with specifically enumerated groups of employees as follows:

• The survey for masters and mates must include comparisons with business entities whose operations include the movement of unlimited tonnage vessels, in the designated pilotage waters of the states along the west coast of the United States, including Alaska.
• The survey for engine room employees must include comparisons with private sector shipping employees, and public sector employees on the east coast who operate double-ended vessels with similar horsepower that carry more than 2,000 passengers.
• Trade employees at the Eagle Harbor Shipyard Facility must be compared with public and private sector employees in the Puget Sound region, including the:? Port of Seattle maintenance facility, Port of Tacoma maintenance facility, King County maintenance facility, and the state prevailing wage rates for shipyard and building trades employees.

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Interest Arbitration.

If WSF employees and their employer go to interest arbitration, the arbitration panel must consider the wages, hours, employee benefits, and conditions of employment of those public and private sector employees as described above.