Virginia Mason Franciscan Health - St. Joseph Medical Center Pharmacy Contract
/ St. Joseph Hospital/ UFCW 3000Correcting the Record: Decades after Organizing Her Own Unit, Leslie Ball Is Still Fighting for Her Coworkers
Leslie Ball, a certified surgical technologist at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma and a longtime UFCW 3000 Union Steward, has spent decades standing up for herself and her coworkers.
Her fight for better working conditions began in the late 1990s, when she received a 30-cent wage increase, which ended up only being a five-cent raise after her employer reduced her shift differential by a quarter. With years of experience and a deep understanding of the value surgical techs bring to the table, she knew a nickel wasn’t going to cut it. So she and a coworker, Gail Miller, started organizing their colleagues at St. Joe's despite warnings that previous organizing efforts had failed.
Within a year, they helped Radiology, Respiratory Therapy, Pharmacy, Physical Therapy, and other departments form the hospital’s first Technical Unit, which ratified its first contract in 1999.
After ten sessions across six months of negotiations, our union Bargaining Team reached the difficult but necessary decision to call for a strike authorization vote.
We’ve come to management with contract language addressing our positions being overstaffed by agency & traveler employees. Management have come to us rejecting this proposal.
Join your Bargaining Team and coworkers for an update on the current bargaining campaigns on Tuesday, Sept 22, 5:30-6:30pm. We will give updates on the St. Michael and St. Joseph bargaining and how we can build power together. Please show your support for your bargaining teams by wearing your union swag with pride every day, but especially today, September 18, for our next bargaining session.
Any questions can be addressed to Charlie King at 360-409-0606 or a Bargaining Team Member.
