Cheyenne Corneau had been working as a Medical Lab Technician for about a year in 2022 when her and her coworkers Colleen, and Marisa were talking about the need to get their coworkers involved in the union for better representation for lab techs at the next bargaining table. Looking around the region, they saw that their wage scale was below market value and they knew that in order to change that, their coworkers needed to be involved and ready to show MultiCare that their compensation needed to change.

So they reached out to their union representative to start building their Tacoma General med lab unit for the next negotiations. Cheyenne, Marisa, and Colleen talked to their coworkers about what they all thought the goals for negotiations should be, and asked them what they thought was needed to get it done and if they would take action to show MultiCare that they were serious.

When surveys for the MultiCare contract went out, they made sure that their coworkers filled them out and made their priorities clear. After that, they moved on to hosting meetings to talk to coworkers about the next steps. These were gatherings at their residences where everyone took ownership of the campaign and mapped out the workplace to make sure the message got out to everyone. Not only were Cheyenne, Colleen, and Marisa leaders, they were recruiting and training others to take the lead. That is how the rank-and-file builds power for themselves as a union.

In late 2023, Cheyenne was asked to serve on the MultiCare bargaining committee and agreed, giving lab workers a seat at the negotiation table. Other labs involved in the bargain heard about what is going on at the Tacoma General Med Tech Lab and have started to get more engaged right as these negotiations kick into high gear.

The women of UFCW 3000 are making history for workers every day. We are proud to be able to feature just a few of their stories for Women’s History Month!