VMFH St. Michael Medical Center Professional-Technical-Clinical Support Bargaining Update

We entered our sixth bargaining day with CommonSpirit for the Pro-Tech-Support contract. The day got off to a slow start as we waited for the Employer to review and respond to our comprehensive proposal from our last session.
 
The Employer returned in the afternoon with only a partial response to our comprehensive proposal and did not yet provide a full economic response. Our Bargaining Team spent the rest of the day reviewing their proposals, pushing back where needed, and continuing to focus the conversation on the issues that matter most to members: staffing, safety, recruitment and retention, and fair wages and benefits.
 
The Employer also introduced a new proposal to mandate assigned scrub colors for workers across the hospital, while offering no compensation or reimbursement for the cost of purchasing new scrubs. While this is a new proposal in these negotiations, it is not a new idea from the Employer. They attempted to push this same concept in the last round of negotiations several years ago, and our Bargaining Team rejected it then. We are prepared to push back again.
 
We are disappointed that this remains a priority for the Employer while workers continue to face serious issues around staffing, recruitment and retention, and safety. We urge CommonSpirit to focus on the real issues impacting members every day and to bring forward an economic proposal that addresses the needs of the rank-and-file workers who keep this hospital running and care for our community.
 
“They haven’t even had a real discussion on economics and the employer is instead making proposals that will create more of an economic hardship for our workers by proposing that all workers will need to buy brand new scrubs.”  Merry Brandt-MacFann
 
Our Union Bargaining Team: Robel Haile, Clinical Pharmacist; Bryson Andrews, ED Tech; Olivia Almeida, Respiratory Therapist; Merry Brandt-MacFann, CT Technologist; Lara Williams-Graham, Certified Surgical Technologist; Angela Roberson, EP Technologist; Rob Shauger, CNA