PRMCE RN Back-to-back dates

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“Roll up your sleeves. While we are early in the process- we are feeling organized, prepared, and united in our goals to achieve the best contract possible for our fellow nurses. Stay involved and help us build a strong network of nurses in every unit ready to take action.” - Your Union Bargaining Team: Juan Stout, Terry Pierce, Kristen Crowder, Carrie Rimel, Stephanie Sausman, Amanda Chinnick, Scott Ryan, Kimball Conlon, and Tulena Lammers
 
We bargained back-to-back dates this week April 29 -30 and will continue bargaining next week (during nurses week), May 5 -7. Our team will bring guest speakers next week to present to the Employer on our proposals for the Health Care Training Fund and UFCW Sound Variable Pension Plan.

Across the Providence system, health care workers represented by SEIU1199NW have access to the Health Care Training Fund and our goal is to educate PRMCE on these enhanced education benefits and make them accessible to nurses at our Hospital.

Providence changed our retirement benefits last year and removed the discretionary contribution to our 401k and adjusted the match. Our team is proposing the UFCW Pension Plan as a supplementary retirement benefit. A pension plan is funded by a monthly Employer only contribution that will result in a monthly benefit for workers and their survival spouse upon retirement. We will be educating Providence on how the plan is structured and how it will help provide additional retirement security for our futures.

Our goal is to finish presenting all of our initial proposals during our next session.

Our team will be sharing highlights and tentative agreements reached in our updates- join us for the Contract Action Team meetings to dig into details!

*Note- that our team is being transparent on proposals being made throughout the bargaining process and the final recommended agreement may not include these items.

Highlights of proposals made this week:

  • Reducing time discipline may stay in our personnel files

  • Continuation of free parking

  • New safety and workplace violence prevention language

  • Inclement weather language that the Techs and Pros won at PRMCE

  • Improvements to Staffing and Staffing Committee language

  • Filling vacant shifts at time of schedule posting (removal of 20% threshold)

  • Emergent Needs Coverage Pay

  • 3 new holidays and definition of Christmas eve night for night shift nurses

  • Holidays and low census on standby, added definition of time

  • Required effort to give 1.5 hours notice of low census before shift

  • Rest between shifts pay for the full subsequent shift

  • Break relief nurses: 1 for every 6 nurses (including closed units), in addition to the DOH posted matrix

  • Clarified hours for 3rd shift weekend shifts

  • Improvements to assignment of low census: clarification and mitigation for excessive low census

  • Annual Market competitiveness review of hospitals within 30 miles of hospital and required wage adjustments

  • Low Census Standby will be offered to nurses placed on low census

  • Improvements to premiums including but not limited to: low census standby, standby on call, weekend, relief charge, certification, BSN, MSN/MN/ARNP/NP

  • Premium for nurses working as scrub techs (CVOR/CVL)

  • Staffing Premium when deviation occurs from DOH matrix/staffing plan

  • Pension Plan in addition to current 401k retirement plan

  • Continuity for health streams completion and compensation

  • Health Care Training Trust for improved continuing education benefits

  • Compensation and FTE protection for participation in workplace committees

Tentative agreements reached:

  • Current contract language for Recognition, Management Rights, PTO/EIB, No Strike/Lockout, and General Provisions

  • HR will respond within 72 hours for meeting room requests

All updates can be found on the UFCW 3000 PRMCE RN contract page here >>

JOIN the next Contract Action Team (CAT) Meeting: Tuesday May 12 at 8pm >>

Join us for our regular Contract Action Team (CAT) meetings every other Tuesday to dive into details, ask questions, and help build solidarity in our units. Use the Password: union
 
TAKE ACTION:

  • Happy Nurses Week! We appreciate the work all of us do and collectively the care we give to our community. 

  • Wear your Yellow and Blue union colors all week to support our Bargaining Team! We have the right to wear our Union bandanas, swag, and colors- let’s get creative and have fun with it.

  • File L&I for missed meal breaks: https://secure.lni.wa.gov/HealthcareWorkersComplaint/#/

Questions or to find out how you can get involved, contact a member of the bargaining team or Union Representative Anthony Cantu, 206-436-6566.