Providence Centralia Hospital Technical Unit BARGAINING BEGINS!
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Our Union Bargaining Team [L-R]: Jennifer Mullins, CT Technologist; Shea Carney; Respiratory Care Practitioner; Shauna Allen, Pharmacy Tech; Jennifer Frunz, Mammography Technologist
On Friday, March 14, our Union Bargaining Team for the Technical workers at Providence Centralia Hospital met management at the bargaining table for our first day of negotiations for the 2025 contract cycle!
Leading up to our first session, our team met initially on January 10 to review feedback from completed bargaining surveys and used this data to conduct a thorough audit of our own Collective Bargaining Agreement. Furthermore, our union has been working in close collaboration with our coalition partner unions, SEIU 1199NW & WSNA, to analyze and research the strongest regional and national contract language for healthcare workers; combining all of these resources to inform our initial set of proposals for Providence.
To start of this round of negotiations, our team spent today focusing primarily on the “non-economic” sections of our contract, encompassing Articles which don’t directly relate to wages, premiums, or benefits. We presented management with proposals on various important workplace issues, including:
EXTRA SHIFTS: Ensuring union employees have priority over travelers and other non-union employees to pick-up extra shifts.
PARKING: Maintaining free on-site parking for employees of Providence Centralia
SAFETY: A thorough set of proposals aimed at promoting equal opportunity, enhancing workplace safety, & preventing workplace violence.
Later that afternoon, Providence made an initial set of proposals as well, with a focus primarily on amending some of the existing contract language to align with current system practices, along with proposed adjustments to the job titles in our contract to better align with standards in the healthcare market. However, we did not receive a comprehensive response to all our initial set of proposals by the end of our first day.
Our Bargaining Team spent our time between sessions with the Employer analyzing regional wages, market premiums, and discussing necessary improvements on benefits, such as our retirement and healthcare plans.
“We feel like today puts us off to a really good start- but we know that we have a lot of very important issues ahead for us and our coworkers. We’re looking forward to our next bargaining date on April 22 to keep the momentum going!” -Jenn Mullins; CT Technologist
CONTRACT ACTION TEAM MEETING:
Thursday, March 20 from 7:00PM – 8:00PM
Via ZOOM: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82464956402?pwd=FZTHRiDyDgFECrscRDXvPa88C1rtaP.1
Meeting ID: 824 6495 6402 Passcode: 002718
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