Northwest Center
Making Headway

“Many changes have been announced recently without much input from those of us providing care. The MOU on office spaces we won provides a process that feels empowering and gives us a voice.”

— Our Union Bargaining Team

Our Northwest Center UFCW 3000 Bargaining Team: Jenica Barrett, Speech Language Pathologist; Cassie Villarreal, Speech Language Pathologist; Kimmy Burns, Physical Therapist;  Julia Szilard, Physical Therapist (not pictured)

We reached tentative agreements on many of the foundations of our first Union contract! These include who is covered by our contract, what happens when new positions are created, Union membership, Union Orientation for new hires, and more. 

One of the most vital pieces for us to achieve better working conditions and wages is having the time for union stewards to prepare for negotiations. Management has time to prepare for negotiations during the workday, but previously rejected our proposals that the employees serving on the Bargaining Team be released from work for preparation. Preparing for bargaining is time intensive, and when it is conducted outside of work hours it limits accessibility for employees that have other obligations. We advocated for bargaining participants to be released from work for preparation so that future Bargaining Team members can participate without barrier. 

Our team also finalized an agreement on collaboration for office space changes. Our next bargaining date is on July 26 and we will be focusing on jointly crafting language around caseloads and remote work and presenting our economic proposals.

Questions or to get more involved, contact your Bargaining Team Stewards or Union Representative Ian Jacobson at 206-436-6550.
 

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