PRMCE RN Contract Extension Vote
Contract Extension Vote
At the end of May 2020, Providence approached the Union and proposed a contract extension for the RN unit through June 2021. The current RN contract expires October 31, 2020 and we had planned to start bargaining before October.
It is typical that the Union and Providence enter a contract extension of three months during regular bargaining in order to keep the contract in effect. Since this is a longer than typical extension, we started having weekly calls amongst the bargaining committee and key RN leaders to discuss the benefits and negatives of an extension.
After many meetings, your RN bargaining committee/leaders have decided that an extension would NOT be beneficial for the unit.
Currently Providence is offering a 4% increase in 2020, but all RNs would start paying for parking as of October 2021. Meaning that a portion of your increase would go towards parking. Parking was a huge issue during the professional and technical units’ bargaining last year. They fought to postpone paying for parking until the RNs started paying for parking. As so, an extension with paid parking would affect the RNs, Pros, Techs, and even other union members at PRMCE. Although a 4% increase sounds enticing, all units would loss the benefit of free parking and we likely will never be able to win back that benefit!
That said, your bargaining committee and RN leaders are recommending a “NO” vote! We will be conducting the contract extension vote via standard mail. All ballots must be postmarked by August 7, 2020 in order to be counted. If you do not receive mail from the Union, please update your contact information online: ufcw21.org/update-your-information or contact Anthony Cantu, Union Rep (206)436-6566.