St. Joseph Medical Center Pharmacists Bargaining Update

On Friday, October 10 and Thursday, October 16 or union Bargaining Team representing the Pharmacists at St. Joseph Medical Center joined Management at the table for our first two sessions of contract negotiations.
 
Prior to our first session, our team met to review recent wins from other local health care union contracts, looked through bargaining surveys submitted by our coworkers at SJMC, and used this data to identify and draft the priority contract proposals we would make this round of negotiations.
 
At our initial session on October 10, we provided the Employer with a significant number proposals on both non-economic (language articles and other workplace protections) and economic (wages and premiums)- which includes sections of our contract addressing topics like PTO/Vacation submission and approvals, amendments to the grievance procedure (to ensure this process is clear and concise, where necessary!), and a process to review and discuss with the Employer when we feel our units are being staffed heavily by per diems when the hours could be filled by a regular FTE.
 
In terms of economics- we introduced a proposal outlining a new premium which would be paid to pharmacists who are required cover a secondary work-area, as well as proposals to increase the rates of a number of existing premiums- such as standby/on-call, and the preceptor pay. Importantly, we also presented Management with our proposal on wages- focusing heavily on what other union-represented pharmacists are earning across Washington State, and factoring in what it would take to keep Pharmacists’ wages at St. Joe’s competitive throughout the duration of our three-year Agreement.
 
Following a productive day on October 10 we felt the positive momentum continue on Thursday the 16; where we met with Management four separate times to exchange proposals back and forth- many of which we received only minor counterproposals on; leading to a significant number of tentative agreements!
 
While the proposals exchanged on the 16 only encompassed our non-economic contract proposals- we’re hopeful that we’ll get Management’s wage proposal at our next session (which we are working with the employer to formally schedule now- but are pushing for it to be as soon as possible to keep the momentum going!)
 
Stay tuned for continued updates as bargaining progresses. Should you have any questions, please contact our union Rep Ian Jacobson at 206-436-6550, or reach out to a member of our union Bargaining Team!
 
Our Union Bargaining Team: Tony Casanova, Clinical Pharmacist Specialist; Amanda Carter, Ambulatory Services Clinical Pharmacist; Becky Mountjoy, Clinical Pharmacist