A Message from Your WPEA President
As President of WPEA, I believe that all members of our Union deserve an honest accounting of the strategy, decisions and actions that led us to where we are today, with many of our members being denied a 3% COLA on July 1^st. When I started with this union 20 years ago, we had just won the right to bargain for wages. After decades of fighting for this, it felt historic and hopeful. We thought we were stepping into a new era of fairness – of finally being able to negotiate for what we’re worth.
But it came at a cost. The State got the right to contract out our work if they could show cost savings. And over time, what we thought was “full scope bargaining” turned out to be something much less. We were technically negotiating wages – but without leverage, without power, and without the legal right to strike, we were pretending to bargain. The State negotiated multiple contracts across different unions through OFM, and some how, they all came out almost exactly the same – same salaries, same language, same structure. It didn’t feel like a real bargaining process – it felt like a script everyone was supposed to follow.
Year after year, inflation outpaced our raises. Our members fell further behind. The economy changed, the cost of living soared, but our contracts kept coming up short.
By the time Janus hit (The Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court decision in 2018 required the union to represent all members covered under the contract but made it optional for those covered employees to pay for that representation), our structure hadn’t adapted. We were still operating like the old days – heavy on representation, light on organizing. That model just didn’t hold up when our very funding depended on members making the choice to stand together- to believe in this union enough to pay for the representation they receive. We were just treading water.
I wasn’t the President then – I was a staff rep. But I knew we couldn’t keep doing the same thing and expecting different results. So, when members and staff asked me to run for President, I agreed. Because I believed we needed to try something different. To stop playing along with a system that wasn’t delivering. To challenge the entire premise that this is as good as it gets.
When I took office in January 2024, I inherited a broken process. Our bargaining teams began negotiating in spring. Progress was slow. Members rejected the first TA offered by the state. The State fought us. Hard. We had to take legal action to get them back to the bargaining table.
Eventually, we got agreements – and we got them ratified intime for the Legislature to fund them. But the Legislature didn’t fund them . The Governor signed the budget without including our contracts, and as a result, WPEA members lost their 3% COLA in the first year of the contract. That loss weighs heavily on me – not just as your President, but as a fellow worker who knows how much that COLA meant.
I made the decision to empower our bargaining teams when they recommended rejecting the state’s proposed TA. I could have pressured the teams to take the safer route and accept another bad contract, or told them that they did not have the authority to make a recommendation on the TA. Instead, I delegated that authority to the bargaining teams who took the risk to fight for something better. I stand by that decision – but I take responsibility for the consequences that followed.
At the same time, I want to be clear: I didn’t make these decisions in a vacuum. I consulted with multiple members, the bargaining teams, our Executive Board and legal counsel. Our contracts were ratified intime to get funded. We did our part. The failure wasn’t ours – it was the State’s. The Governor and Legislature chose not to fund our agreements, even though we met every requirement necessary for funding. That’s the truth. And it’s not acceptable.
So let me be clear: I am responsible for the decisions I have made throughout this bargaining cycle.
I made the decision to empower our bargaining teams to decide when to move agreements forward. I still believe in that – in putting power in members’ hands. But that choice came with risk. And it cost us. That’s on me.
I also made the call to lead differently. To push back on a system that isn’t serving us. To stop pretending that performative bargaining was real bargaining. I’m proud of that stand, and I am even more proud of you for taking it with me. But I won’t pretend there weren’t consequences. You paid a price for our integrity. That’s on me, too.
Here’s what I won’t do: I won’t hide behind strategy or spin. I won’t tell you this was some brilliant play that went exactly as planned. It wasn’t. It was hard. It hurt people that deserve better. And yet, I believe with everything in me that it was necessary.
Because what were we protecting if we didn’t fight? The right to fall further behind every two years? The illusion that we were bargaining when we were really just getting in line?
This union – you – did what others wouldn’t. You said no. You walked away from the table. You demanded more. Not just more pay – but more honesty. More respect. More power.
And if you’re someone who feels like the status quo worked fine – if losing 21.05% in buying power over two decades still felt “good enough” – then I am not the leader for you. That 21.05% isn’t just a number -it’s gas in your car, groceries in your fridge, child care and rent. It is the difference between having to work two jobs or being able to spend time with your family. It is the difference between quality of life and struggling to get by. And if that loss feels acceptable, then it’s okay to want someone else in this role. That’s fair. This union belongs to all of us, and anyone who is a dues paying member has the right to run for this office. My term expires at the end of 2026 and the next election will be conducted in late summer/early fall next year.
But if you believe that we’ve given enough ground – and it’s time to take some back – then I’m still here. I will keep fighting. I will keep learning. I will keep showing up, not because I have all the answers, but because I refuse to go back to pretending that the past twenty years didn’t happen.
You elected me to do something different. We did. And now we face the consequences – together. But we also face the future – and that’s still ours to change. Together.
In solidarity,
Amanda Hacker
President
