CommonSpirit St. Joseph Medical Center Technical 3-Day ULP Strike Notice Delivered to Employer!
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Union Bargaining Team member Vanessa Giles delivering the strike notice to Management
After a long day of bargaining on Thursday, November 12, it was clear that St. Joseph Medical Center (CommonSpirit) was unwilling to accept our common-sense solutions for a fair contract. Instead, throughout the bargain we believe St. Joseph Medical Center violated workers’ rights under federal law by committing Unfair Labor Practices (ULP) including removing union literature from employee lounges and inappropriately questioning workers about their participation in concerted protected activity. We had made our position clear with our 99% strike authorization vote, that St. Joseph Medical Center either had to come to bargaining this week and, in good faith, consider our solutions to the major issues facing our coworkers and patients and respect our rights as workers or we were ready to engage in a ULP Strike.
“We are health care workers, advocates for patient safety, and the backbone of St. Joseph’s in Tacoma. Now is the time to stand up and make our voices heard and demand that our employer abandon their attempts to cut benefits and stop short-staffing our hospital,” - Chad Michels, CT Tech and Bargaining Team member.
Our Union Bargaining Team and St. Joseph Medical Center management finished our most recent bargaining session just after midnight early Friday morning without reaching a deal to address core issues of health care, on-call/standby, and wages, which are continually leading to inadequate staffing levels at the hospital and the inability to recruit or retain qualified technical workers. We urge all technical workers represented by UFCW 3000 at St. Joseph Medical Center to stand up for our rights as workers and against St. Joseph Medical Center's violations of labor law including interference with protected activity.
We gave our strike notice
Our 3-day ULP strike will start December 2 at 6am and end on December 4 at 11:59pm. Union Organizers will be at the Hospital regularly to assist with strike paperwork and strike shift sign up. Starting from December 2 at 6am, do not report to work, we'll see you on the ULP strike line!
To receive strike benefits you will need to complete a W9 form. You can find the W9 form and the strike FAQ on our union contract page here >>
Contract Action Team meeting: Tuesday November 17 at 5:30pm online via Zoom >>
Let's strike, united and unyielding, on December 2, and together, we will ensure that our community and our patients’ voices are heard!
For any questions, reach out to a Bargaining Team member or Union Rep, Charlie King at 206-436-6518.
Our Union Bargaining Team and Tacoma Mayor Anders Ibsen: (left to right) Charlie King (Union Rep), Maria Milliron (UFCW Recorder), Faye Guenther, (UFCW President), Vanessa Giles, Tacoma Mayor Anders Ibsen, Sissy Allison, Chad Michels, Michelle Gilmore, Monica DeWitt, Sean Embly (UFCW Secretary Treasurer)
