Providence Centralia Hospital Community Letter
/Dear Community & Patients of Providence Centralia Hospital,
We are the Technical Unit at Providence Centralia Hospital, serving you, our patients in a variety of different ways including Ultrasound, Echo, MRI, Interventional Radiology (IR), CT, X-ray, Respiratory Therapy (RT), and Pharmacy. Our jobs are very fulfilling, but also at times stressful, as we face chronic staffing shortages and now a global pandemic. We also know that it’s important for Tech workers to come together to voice our shared concerns, and to collectively advocate for the work conditions that we need for ourselves and our patients. That is why we voted to join UFCW 21 and are now meeting with management to bargain our first contract. We have joined the RNs at Providence Centralia Hospital and other Techs, Service, Dietary, and EVS workers throughout the Providence system in Washington State.
However, since we started the bargaining process, it has become clear that Providence Centralia Hospital does not respect our Technical Unit. While the RNs have an annual leave and sick leave bank, the Tech unit has an extended illness bank (EIB) and paid time off (PTO) bank. As of January 2021, Providence has taken away our extended illness bank, which acts as a short-term disability plan during medical leaves of absence. Providence has implemented a lesser short-term disability plan and is benefiting from the WA Paid Family Medical Leave (PFML) program, which is funded by the State and WA workers. Instead of providing more time off to frontline workers during a pandemic, Providence is decreasing sick time and PTO and saving money by using the State’s PFML program.
In addition, they offered us barebone proposals and are not agreeing to memorialize several important policies such as leaves of absence and PTO. They are undermining our good faith effort to advocate for time to be with our families and to get the time off that we need to do our jobs well.
We know that we will need to take actions to show Providence Centralia that healthcare workers and community are aligned in advocating for basic needs in our hospital. We hope that you will join us. Please let us know if you have upcoming meetings we can attend and give an update, or if there are other ways of connecting our struggle with other advocacy campaigns on access to healthcare and basic human needs such as housing and food.
We are so honored to be your healthcare team and look forward to better care for all our patients.
Sincerely,
Providence Centralia Hospital Bargaining Committee:
Jennifer (Mammography), Jamie (RT), Verity (Pharmacy), Jennifer (CT), Kathy (RT)
We, the community members and patients of Providence, request that Providence keep healthcare workers safe and healthy in these unprecedented times. Caregivers are risking their lives and the lives of their families, every day to care for our communities. They face understaffing, insufficient PPE and possible loss of necessary time off. We have heard from caregivers that Providence is claiming budget constraints preventing them from providing these necessary provisions to keep our hospitals safe. If this is the case, we are calling on Providence to be transparent regarding their finances and budget.
We are aware that Providence received hundreds of millions of dollars in COVID-19 relief money, has billions of dollars in cash reserves, and is running two venture Capital firms in Seattle. We are asking that Providence protect the workers that care for us and our communities and not prioritize their bottom-line.
Given the lack of transparency with finances, we ask that Providence:
1) Respond to workers' information requests, including:
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Amount of COVID-19 relief funds awarded and how they are being used
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Amount and type of PPE available at each Hospital
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Providence's detailed financial reports for each Hospital
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Detailed accounting of Providence's community benefits activities at each Hospital
