CHI St. Joseph VMFH CommonSpirit DSS Virtual Health Tentative Agreement Reached!
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Our Union bargaining team: Chelan Henley, Patient Companion; Cynthia Otinga, (Lead) Patient Companion; Kim Stone, (Lead) Patient Companion; Faith Couch, Monitor Tech I; Rayann La Madeleine, Monitor Tech I
On November 26, after just seven productive negotiation sessions, our bargaining team at Virtual Health is thrilled to announce that we have reached a fully recommended Tentative Agreement on our 2024 successor contract!
As we prepared for negotiations, we carefully reviewed recently won union contracts in our region, and listened to the priorities expressed by our coworkers through bargaining surveys. With wages falling behind the regional healthcare market and our workload continuing to grow, we knew the road ahead would be challenging. But we remained focused, committed, and ready to work toward securing a contract that would support us for years to come. We firmly believe that the result is a union contract that will stand the test of time and keep us competitive for years to come!
Key Achievements Include:
Improved Union Access: Strengthening our rights to have union representatives meet with us at the worksite to investigate issues and enforce our contract effectively.
Reduced Per Diem Availability Requirements: Clarified and consolidated the minimum-availability requirements that Per Diem staff must provide- which we feel will improve retention of talented employees!
“Leapfrog” Language: To promote pay-equity, if a new employee is brought in at a higher wage than a current employee with the same (or greater) years of job experience- the current employee is brought up to the rate of pay of the new-hire!
Improved Equal Opportunity Language: Additions to the existing Equal Opportunity Article (6.1) in our contract which now holds the employer to enact practices which promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in our workplace, as well as a guarantee that employees who face harassment or discrimination receive updates within thirty (30) days following their report.
Wage Improvements:
We made significant leaps in addressing wage concerns, including:
Eliminating "Ghost Steps": Removing “ghost steps” (Steps where there was no wage increase for continued years of service for Monitor Techs
Significant Wage Increases for All Job Classifications: Workers in all represented positions will see wage increases- in most cases resulting in several more dollars per hour- making Virtual Health wages highly competitive with Pierce and King County rates!
Leadership & Workload Adjustments:
Throughout the negotiations, it became clear that the workload of our department Leads had reached a critical point. We fought tirelessly to address this issue, stressing to the employer that action was needed NOW. Thanks to the unity and determination of our bargaining team and the solidarity of our union members, we secured language that commits the employer to work with us—not against us—to identify solutions that will reduce the stress on Leads and better support them in their roles.
Additionally, we won a first-ever bonus for our coworkers in Lead positions, marking a significant milestone in our negotiations!
“We truly feel like nothing was left on the table… we’re all so excited to show everybody the contract we won!” -Rayann La Madeleine, Monitor Tech & Bargaining Team Member
Votes Scheduled: Monday, December 9
from 5:00AM—8:00AM & 11:30AM—1:30PM (Timeclock Rounding MOU Vote & Contract Vote!) & 5:00PM—8:30PM at the Franciscan Education and Support Center (Conference Room 1 A/B)
We encourage all Virtual Health members in good standing attend our VOTE MEETINGS to read through the fully recommended offer. Please Note: During our lunch-hour meeting (11:30AM—1:30PM) we will also be holding a secondary vote on the Memorandum of Understanding negotiated earlier this year, which offers workplace protections following the Employer’s change to Timeclock Rounding.
