Negotiators for a fledgling support-services union failed to reach agreement and administrators at The Evergreen State College in their final bargaining talks this week, and a two-hour mediation session also did not bear fruit Wednesday. With a date set Tuesday for a possible strike, Student Support Services Staff Union leaders say they still hope to work out a two-year agreement in a second day of mediation planned Thursday.

State workers in Washington “do not have a legally protected …

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If case you wondered, Gov. Jay Inslee isn’t getting a pay raise this year – or in 2014. But the nine members of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Barbara Madsen will get raises on Sept. 1 – when their pay rises above that even of the governor.

The Washington Citizens’ Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials finished its work today and it is holding pay for governor – the top elected official’s spot – at $166,891. That’s the same it’s been since September 2008, shortly before the economy’s bottom fell out.

UPDATE: “It’s appropriate for these times …

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UPDATED to fix glitch in data – pushing WSU football coach Mike Leach to No. 2 overall in 2012.

Just as he was two years before, University of Washington football coach Steve Sarkisian was the top paid employee on the Washington state-government’s payroll in 2012. He earned $2.7 million in 2012 – money actually paid out of athletic department funds (like earnings from selling tickets or television rights for Husky games) and not by taxpayers.

While most state employees saw 3 percent reductions in pay and hours worked since July 2011, Sarkisian’s pay was up from $1.98 million in …

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UPDATE: Student-services workers at The Evergreen State College  voted 45 to 5 today to authorize actions “up to and including a strike” this afternoon. The overwhelming vote does not mean a strike will happen, but it will be an option for the employees as they continue to bargain with the administration over pay and disciplinary issues at the four-year school.

The affected workers include counselors and academic advisers.

ORIGINAL POST: About 55 student-services employees seeking a first-time labor contract at The Evergreen State College were voting today on whether to authorize a strike or other job actions, while their ongoing …

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Asking the Supreme Court to shed light on matters was given new layers of meaning Tuesday. An electrical problem in the Temple of Justice was causing a shorting-out of lights in the high court’s chambers, and the on-off aspect was a bit odd – even causing two justices to mention it, once during arguments.

“I want to apologize for the darkness earlier. Justice is blind but we usually don’t turn off the lights,” Chief Justice Barbara Madsen said after litigants concluded their arguments concluded Tuesday morning in an appeal of a $95 million judgment against the state in a …

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State workers will be recognized at Safeco Field on Saturday, according to Secretary of State Kim Wyman‘s office. Wyman is due to throw out the ceremonial first pitch in the evening game between the Seattle Mariners and Oakland A’s.

The event caps Public Service Recognition Week, which the secretary of state’s office marked with a lunch on the Capitol Campus Wednesday and continues with two similar events today in Eastern Washington: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Department of Transportation Building in Spokane, and 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Howard Ammon Park in Richland.

The Washington Federation of State Employees, the largest state worker union, said today it is airing ads for the next three weeks to pressure lawmakers to close tax loopholes.

The advertisements are airing on the radio in nearly every part of the state, according to the union, which said it is running cable television ads in areas that lack commercial radio stations. The federation released this transcript:

There’s a good plan in Olympia to close two percent of Washington’s 640 tax loopholes to fund schools and

…

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The state Employment Security Department has sent out two more  rounds of “at-risk” layoff notices to hundreds of workers, part of the agency’s slim-down after the Great Recession.

All told about 400 jobs are being wiped off the books in the agency that pays out unemployment compensation and also helps unemployed workers get jobs. Because roughly 140 positions had been kept vacant, the number of people eventually handed pink slips is going to be far less that those getting warned they are at risk of layoffs.

“It will be a few weeks before we know exactly how many people are …

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