MultiCare Covington Bargaining update

On March 13, we received the Employer’s response and reached Tentative Agreements on several premiums and a shorter period for status review. We spent the rest of the day preparing counters to the Employer’s proposals. Our team prioritized the remaining articles left on the table and we are ready to present a counter on wages at our next bargaining date: March 27.

While there was movement, our team feels disheartened and is frustrated that the Employer is coming back again with across the board increases of 3% for the first year, 2% for the second year and 2% for the final year of the contract. While there were some market adjustments for certain positions within the tech and service contracts, we still feel like they do not address the gap between what we and many of our fellow union members at other MultiCare facilities receive. We are feeling disrespected and undervalued compared to our sister hospitals. We also feel that other hospitals get more resources; why are we getting fewer resources and less pay than our sister hospitals? We perform the same role, we should get the same pay.

In our next session, we will have a federal mediator to help us resolve the outstanding issues. A mediator is a third party who comes in, upon agreement by both parties, and helps work through the sticking points in negotiations. They are an impartial party, they don’t have ties to either side, who can come in and talk to each side about how to get to a contract. Both sides have agreed to bring them in and we are looking forward to working with them to get to a deal.

Our Union Bargaining Team: Erin Reynolds-Emergency Service Representative; Luz Martinez-Patient Care Technician; Fortunate Edwin-Patient Care Technician; Rich Maresma-RN; Poonam Gill-RN; Faith Soriano-Miller-RN; Gosia Marin-Surgical Technician; Omar Gutierrez-Distribution; Derek Howard-Engineering