A digression on compensation

Several of the people I work with are getting hefty raises this year. This isn't part of any regular increase, it is something of a catch-up for years of being under-paid. I understand how this goes, I had the same thing happen to me at my old job when I got an effective 17% raise thanks to a salary study. I think some of the raises being passed out are around the same levels.

How did this come about? To answer that, I have to take tour through Labor Relations, a topic I've never touched on before on this blog. But it talks about technician pay, so I figure it's relevant!

Note: I'm not classified, so this doesn't apply to me. I'm exempt.

Note: WWU is a state funded institution, just like the University of Washington. We're all State employees here, even if we're 100% grant funded.

The ball got rolling in 1999 when a class-action suit was filed, Shroll vs. State of Washington.
There are State employees in two parallel personnel systems, one for general government agencies and one for higher education institutions. This case is a class action on behalf of all state workers at general government agencies or at higher education institutions who perform the same duties but are paid a lower basic salary range than their counterparts in corresponding job classes in other personnel system (i.e., either general government or higher education). Thus, the case challenged the fact that state workers in these "common classes" were performing "equal work" but were not being paid "equal pay." The case sought back pay and a change in the compensation system.
To summarize, an INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SPECIALIST 3 at the Washington State Department of Transportation (WS/DOT) and the University of Washington were paid differently for exactly the same job duties. The suit alleged that this was unfair, and ultimately the state Supreme Court agreed with them. This year the pay-scales were unified. Areas where general government were paid less were brought up to the higher-ed levels, and areas where higher-ed was paid less than general government (most tech positions) were brought up to general government levels.

But that isn't all! Throw into the mix that the Democrats now hold both houses and the governor's mansion. Democrats being hip to organized labor have taken their own steps to kick the Civil Service structure into shape. One way they're doing that is to do a salary survey and reorganize pay scales and pay grades for job classes to reflect what's out there in the private sector.

Washington has been doing salary surveys on job classes since the 1970's. According to the HR person that spoke to us yesterday, before a few years ago they've only DONE SOMETHING with that data twice in that time. And "done something" means reorganize pay scales and grades based on the salary data. One of the changes being introduced is that this reorganization will now happen every two years, so job classes experiencing wage inflation in the private sector (some tech classes) will by proxy drag up the compensation of civil servants such as those I work with.

There is a law on the books now that says that job classes that are being paid less than the 25th percentile of the wage in the salary survey will be brought up to the 25th percentile. This is the OTHER area that is causing raises among those I work with, as tech pay here at WWU has lagged significantly according to the statewide salary survey (of which 40% of the state lives in highly urban and tech-heavy King County, not half rural Whatcom county). I don't know what they ranked according to the survey, but I know it was below the 25th percentile.

With the salary survey being applied every two years, it is possible that certain tech-classes will be getting raises above and beyond the cost-of-living raises we all get. This is a good thing in the end, because it's a way to limit turn-over. Having myself lived through a 'drastic underpaid' situation in the 1996-99 .com boom, and the resultant reclassification and reorganization, I really understand how this feels. And it is a good feeling to feel appreciated again.