MultiCare Covington Medical Center - Bargaining Continues

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Your Bargaining Team: 

  • Faith Soriano-Miller, RN – PCU 

  • Lolita Edge, CS Tech in Sterile Processing 

  • Luz Martinez, Monitor Tech 

  • Poonam Gill, RN – PACU 

  • Austin Smith, EVS 

  • Ken Farrell, Charge RN MedSurg

We are close on our non-economic language but management refuses to prioritize the bargaining table and only bargain for a few hours a day. We have been working hard and deserve and strong, completed contract! It is not fair that we set aside full days to bargain, then management comes and tells us they have other meetings that they have prioritized over bargaining to get us a good agreement. We need management to commit to full days of bargaining so that we can get closer to securing a strong contract. 

We have proposed and made movement on language that will help to better our working conditions, and we have now made proposals for wages that will help us recruit and retain qualified staff. We work so hard to take care of our patients and our community—and we need the employer to show up and take care of us! 

“We have submitted our second economic proposal to management, and we are hoping that management will respect us and pay us so that we can recruit good workers and retain the staff we currently have.”

— Ken Farrell, Charge RN MedSurg

“Bargaining is frustratingly slow! The management’s lack of attendance at the table makes it seem like they don’t care about our issues.”

— Poonam Gill, RN – PACU 

“Hopefully at the next bargaining session management will start to work at a nurse’s pace!”

— Faith Soriano-Miller, RN – PCU 

While we are fighting for strong staffing language at the bargaining table, we also recognize staffing is a huge issue everywhere. 

Whatever language we win in our new contract will not solve the chronic staffing issues and mismanagement that continues to plague Covington Medical Center, no amount of money could fix that. We need to continue to elevate the pressure by submitting official complaints to state agencies and fight to pass legislation on staffing. 

Go to these links and fill out these staffing forms when you are short staffed:

DOSH Complaint

Report safety issues and/or hazardous working conditions directly to the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I).

DOH Complaint

Report unsafe staffing directly to the Washington State Department of Health (DOH). We encourage members who file a DOH complaint to also follow-up with a CSI report, ensuring the hospital as a record of the issue. 

Collaborative Staffing Intervention (CSI)

Report unsafe staffing and/or missed breaks and lunches.