Confluence Health Professionals Bargaining Update

“It [the company’s economic response] is not very long actually.” – Mara Vinnedge, Confluence’s Attorney.

“In the beginning of this process, the company consistently pressured us to hand off our proposals with strict timelines. We worked hard between bargaining sessions to prepare for today. We came expecting to have the company respond to our economic proposals. Despite having thirty-one days between this and the last bargaining meeting (on 9/16), they gave us very little to work with and weren't available to meet until 1pm.” – Trevor Schultz, Pharmacist.

“I’m trying to stay optimistic but in our last bargaining session, Confluence provided a 26-page response in 21 minutes, leaving only six minutes before we lost access to our venue. This week the company was unprepared, their attorney was late and then 13 minutes before we expected to meet they further postponed for an unrelated leadership meeting. In total, we waited for 5 hours and 11 minutes before Confluence was ready for a joint session. We had this date set for bargaining months ago.”  – Theresa Randolph, MLS Technical Consultant

While our initial bargaining sessions were largely positive and relatively low stakes, we now have reached the meat and potato economic proposals that our unit cares about most. This is often the most challenging stage of bargaining – especially when bargaining a first contract. An example from today: in response to our extensively researched wage proposal, the company stated "we don't want to change how we do things" without further discussion.

Our motto has become: "We don’t get what we deserve; we get what we’re willing to fight for."

All of you are a huge part of that mantra. The sticker-up action the day before bargaining helped start to build the muscle of solidarity and collective action. Actions like this show the company that we are all paying attention to what happens at the bargaining table. It was an important milestone for our union at Confluence – our first collective action across multiple bargaining units. This lays the groundwork to build lasting collective power. Future actions will continue to empower us!

While the company continues to delay their response to key issues, your bargaining team has utilized this time effectively – to develop responses and proposals, to train as union leaders, and plan how to strengthen our leverage at the bargaining table. The company’s approach today was disappointing, but we are proud of our unit and energized by the support you showed on sticker up day. We are ready to continue fighting for a fair contact!

If you haven’t already, sign up for our Contract Action Team to do your part in building our power!