Multicare is Panicking | May 14•2021
/
“I want to say to all the healthcare workers, you are important, you are valued, don’t give your value away. Greed has no conscious, if you let them get away with giving you a 1.25% raise they will come back and take more from you. I want you to know that I am with you, I am for you!”
-Pastor Christopher
Health care workers, faith leaders, labor unions, and community allies in Pierce County planned a car caravan around Tacoma General and Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital last Thursday, May 13. However, less than an hour before the caravan was scheduled to begin, MultiCare’s attorney sent a last-minute cease and desist letter to the Union.
The Employer’s letter claimed that the car caravan “may constitute unlawful picketing even if that conduct does not include all of the traditional elements of picketing activity” and that “MultiCare demands that UFCW Local 21, and any of your representatives, employees, or agents, cease and desist this unlawful behavior.” Translation? MultiCare took notice of their employee’s speaking up about management’s behavior and, in a moment of desperation and panic, the employer made a last-minute attempt to silence their workers.
While their letter may have stopped the actual caravan, their letter came far too late because the community had already converged at the staging area and was ready to hear from workers. We read the employer’s entire cease and desist letter to the community, and they were OUTRAGED. Management’s letter was a serious mistake because all it did was show the community the truth about MultiCare, that they don’t care about their workers.
Bargaining Team members Glen Steele and Alexis Dotts then spoke to attendees about negotiations and the chronic staffing issues at MultiCare. We shared moving stories of healthcare workers bringing COVID-19 home to their families, staffing levels so dangerously low that workers are burning out, management’s despicable behavior at the bargaining table, and their insulting 1.25% wage proposal.
The community leaders who attended demanded that we escalate our actions against MultiCare and promised to bring even more people to our next action. MultiCare’s attempt to silence their workers not only failed, it actually amplified our message more than the original action ever could.
We thank the Tacoma NAACP, Tacoma DSA, Union of American Physicians and Dentists, Tacoma Ministerial Alliance, Political Destiny, Unite Here Local 8, and SEIU 1199NW for joining us and for committing to this fight for health care workers’ rights and for safe, quality patient care in Tacoma and Pierce County. MultiCare workers have taken care of our community through a traumatic year, and it’s time for MultiCare to take care of its workers.
Stay tuned for updates on our next action. Perhaps we need to show them what a REAL picket looks like…
Your Bargaining Team: Glen Steele, Yvette Broeckel, Kelly Gusman, Julianna Van Enk, Gregg Barney, Patricia Brown, Alexis Dotts, Heidi Strub, Jamie Fenton Kurtis Chaffin, Rochelle Brummer, Ryan Boyd, Sammy Bainivalu, Teri Kruse,Wanda Rodriguez-Ramos
