Editor's note: This story has been updated. A previous version of the story incorrectly stated the Teamsters local number and the name of the welfare trust. We regret the error.
Melinda Kupers has worked for the Washington State Department of Corrections for 35 years — in prisons, community corrections, reentry centers and graduated reentry. She said working for the state agency on a daily basis is brutal.
“ Our community corrections staff are out in the community with guns on their hips, arresting people, going into homes,” Kupers said.
Officers in prisons are often entering cells, doing extractions, confronting people's behavior and dealing with people experiencing active addiction.
“That is the environment that they're in eight hours a day, 40 plus hours a week,” said Kupers, who is now a program manager for graduated reentry. “That’s not healthy.”
It’s a physically taxing job for anyone, made more difficult as employees age. Yet, staff often keep working past their date of retirement eligibility, because otherwise, they’ll lose their health insurance.
Retirees don’t qualify for Medicare until they reach 65, but state retirement can vary based on years of service. Some who have 30 or more years of service can retire with some benefits before 65. But that wouldn’t include medical insurance.
Kupers and her husband rely on the medical insurance she gets through her job. She would like to retire in about four years, when she turns 62. But for most of her career, that’s felt impossible.
“The cost of health insurance to cover my husband and I is going to be cost prohibitive from 62 to 65,” Kupers said. “I don't know how we would do that.”
First of its kind bill
Now there’s a state law that could change that. Washington lawmakers passed House Bill 1069 this month. The law will allow union-represented Department of Corrections employees to bargain over supplemental retirement benefits, such as medical plans.
The law only applies to Department of Corrections employees. The Public Employees Collective Bargaining Act went into effect in 2002. One thing that was excluded from bargaining was supplemental retirement benefits, like medical plans. That meant state workers couldn’t bargain for these.
State Rep. Mary Fosse, D-Everett, was the primary sponsor on the bill.
“ We don't want people that are well into their seniority, when they're not able to do that kind of work anymore, just [to] be forced to be on the job because they can't afford healthcare,” Fosse said. “That's not safe for the people who are incarcerated. That's not safe for the workers and that's not good for the state.”
Most DOC employees that are part of a union are represented by the Teamsters.
Brenda Wiest, vice president and director of Government Affairs for Teamsters Local 117, said this will not create a separate pension or benefit program for state workers.
“ This is not going to create two taxpayer funded pensions or healthcare systems for these workers, that's not what this is about. This is really a supplemental benefit,” Wiest said.
The Teamsters will be able to negotiate for their members for benefits through the Teamsters Retiree Welfare Trust, Wiest said. That is a trust that is funded by participating employer contributions paid under the terms of negotiated labor agreements. It includes benefits such as medical care.
Life changing for Department of Corrections staff
Employees for the Department of Corrections say the law will be a big help, since many want to retire before they are eligible for Medicare.
For Angella Coker, a community corrections supervisor, the law keeps her in her job for the long haul.
“That to me does give me motivation to stick with it,” Coker said.
Aaron McFarland, a classification counselor at the Airway Heights Corrections Center, said this legislation allows state employees to retire with dignity.
In the various positions that someone could be working in within corrections, McFarland said there is a chance that you are responding to dangerous, physical situations.
“ It's a safety thing,” McFarland said. “Somebody that's in their 40s or 50s is going to be able to respond a lot easier than somebody that's over 65 or 60, or even in their 70s.”
Chris Wright, the communications director for the Department of Corrections, said the department cannot comment on the legislation until after the governor has signed it into law. Wright said the department will dutifully enact it when it becomes law.
The bill passed the House and Senate and has been delivered to Gov. Bob Ferguson to sign.
