Jefferson Healthcare RN Contract Vote December 30
/After several bargaining sessions, our bargaining team is proud to announce that we have a tentative agreement.
Read MoreAfter several bargaining sessions, our bargaining team is proud to announce that we have a tentative agreement.
Read MoreYesterday (December 19) an online vote was held on the last offer on the table from Management at the end of the day from our last bargaining session December 9.
Read MoreYesterday (December 19) an online vote was held on the last offer on the table from Management at the end of the day from our last bargaining session December 9.
Read MoreMonday, December 23, 2024 @ 7:30pm
UFCW 3000 2805 N. Market St. Spokane WA 99207
Significant pay increases
Retirement security
Our Bargaining Team is excited to announce we have reached a tentative agreement with Samaritan Health Hospital that recognizes our hard work and dedication. The employer heard our team’s requests regarding wages and equity and made significant changes that the bargaining team believes will improve retention and recruitment while boosting satisfaction. We still have work to do and will continue the work through the next three years so that we can build on what we have worked so hard for. We look forward to sharing all the details at our vote.
Drop-In Vote Meeting!
Monday January 6, 2025
Room 404
6:00 AM — 10:00 AM
2:00 PM — 5:00 PM
Please join the bargaining team in voting YES! Complete documents will be available for review at the vote. You must be a member in good standing to vote. Please reach out to your Union Representative at (509) 340-7369 or any member of the bargaining team with questions.
“We stood in unity and achieved a fair and equitable contract for Samaritan RNs!”
Our Union Bargaining Team met with Seattle Children’s Hospital leadership and their chief negotiator this past Monday, December 16. The initial session was productive and moved rapidly.
Read MoreWe met with REI’s attorneys again this week to continue bargaining for a fair first contract for our coworkers. We discussed technology and data, union representation, communication, job vacancies and promotions, and health and safety.
Read MoreWe are happy to announce that our RN contract was ratified on Monday December 16, 2024.
Read MoreOn Monday, December 16, our Mary Bridge Registered Nurses (RNs) again joined forces with the Diabetes Educator nurses to continue negotiations with MultiCare over our 2024 Collective Bargaining Agree
Read MoreSince the beginning of November, Management has only been available for a few short bargaining sessions. This has been challenging. We need Management to come to the table and spend a full day with us bargaining. We are willing to work as long and hard as it takes to get a contract we can recommend to you!
Read MoreYour coworker-led bargaining team met with Rosauers for the second bargaining session on December 9th and 10th. With our few Tentative Agreements, we would be able to have the option to cash out 5 vacation days if we are unable to use them due to the needs of the business. We would also be able to have the option to gift our vacation days to our coworkers who may need extra time off due to life-altering events.
We continued to propose livable wage increases with the high inflation we have all felt the effects of, but the company came back with wage proposals that were not sufficient to our team. Our coworker-led Bargaining Team is asking all of us to come together in solidarity and show Rosauers that these economic proposals are unacceptable. Please join us by wearing a button until we get the contract ratified and to show the company, we are going to continue this fight until we win!
Our Auburn Medical Center Registered Nurses & Case Manager Registered Nurses bargaining team met with MultiCare on Wednesday the 11th for our seventh bargaining session this cycle- and after receiving management's responses in the morning, we knew we would likely have little to positively report about how bargaining is progressing...
With regard to the Case Managers entering the RN contract, management let us know that they would not have a response ready for us—despite having our most recent proposal in their court since November 21.
And in terms of the RN contract, MultiCare provided us with a wage proposal of 7.00% in the first year, which would result in our wages at AMC being equal to those at MultiCare Tacoma General and Good Samaritan in Pierce County... wages that these RNs negotiated around two years ago! Not to mention management further contextualized the proposal by stating that although they're not officially at their last and final wage offer- they are "getting close."
While our team hoped to be patient with MultiCare and lift AMC RN's wages to be competitive in the King County market—we're not sure we have the patience to wait for MultiCare's proposals to catch up to 2024.
"We need solidarity now, and in numbers..."
—Nick White, MedSurg ICU RN
Your Bargaining Team:
Nick White, RN; Sarah Murry, RN; Cory Larsen, RN
Amber Hamilton, Case Manager RN; Nicole Joseph, Case Manager RN
After meeting with the Employer on December 10 and 11 all day, our Union Bargaining Team has still not yet been able to reach a fully recommended settlement offer we can put to a contract vote.
We will be holding a Contract Action Team meeting via Zoom on Tuesday, December 17 at 5:00 PM to discuss with any and all of our interested bargaining unit coworkers where we are in this process and next steps.
"It has been slow going. While we have tentative agreement on most non-economic items, we are still working towards an agreement on wages and other economic sections of the contract. Management's current wage proposal is disappointing."
—Our Bargaining Team: Linnea Ellis, Patient Access Representative; Nicole Peschon, Coding Specialist
On Tuesday, December 10, following a series of well-attended vote meetings, our MultiCare AMC Professionals bargaining team are overjoyed to announce that our first ever union contract has been ratified!
This journey started before negotiations, and before winning our union election in the summer of 2023; through perseverance, dedication, and solidarity, we have transformed MultiCare Auburn Medical Center and are now proudly UNION REPRESENTED PROFESSIONALS!
So what are the next steps?
While we are awaiting the roll-out of our experience-audit forms from MultiCare, the Employer and our Union will review and format the new contract. Once finalized, it will be made available online & distributed throughout the hospital.
In the meantime, you can view vote materials on UFCW 3000's website:
View Contract Materials >>
Reach out to our Union Representative Ian Jacobson if you have questions about the contract, wages, or need union representation!
On December 10 and 11, Our RN Union Bargaining Team met with Hospital Management to continue negotiations. Both sides exchanged comprehensive proposals addressing economic and workplace conditions. Throughout the discussions, we emphasized the urgent need to offer wages and benefits that keep us competitive with nearby facilities like St. Michael Medical Center and Olympic Medical Center.
Read MoreUnfortunately, we were not able to reach agreement on an offer that we felt we could recommend! By 6pm, the furthest Management had moved was as follows:
Read MoreOur Virtual Health union bargaining team are overjoyed to announce that after a series of highly attended vote meetings on Monday, December 9, our 2024 contract has officially been ratified - with more than 98% of voters supporting the new Agreement!
While we are awaiting our new wages to go into effect (the next full pay period), Division Support Services and UFCW will review and format the new contract, and once finalized, it will be made available online and distributed throughout the worksite!
Reach out to our Union Representative Aimee Oien if you have any questions about the contract, wages, or need representation.
On Monday December 2, we informed the hospital management team that we were sticking with our original proposal for strong wage increases, emphasizing that it is essential for Jefferson to provide wages that are both competitive and sustainable to meet the high cost of living. Our other proposals included increased Shift Differential, On-Call/Low Census Standby Pay, Weekend Differential, Charge Pay, Preceptor Pay as well as changes to Resource RN parameters and pay, PTO Maximum Accruals (specifically when PTO is denied and the nurse is close to reaching the maximum), and changes to PTO Cash out and Deferral options. We also responded on language regarding Holidays and Low Census Rotation.
We had an extensive discussion about scheduling. Although both teams have an interest in some self-scheduling practices, Management's initial proposal for scheduling was restrictive and unsustainable, particularly around weekend work. We expressed in great detail our concerns over this proposal. Management agreed to review their proposal and make revisions. We are currently working on a response to their revised proposal as well as our proposals for Healthcare and Pension and the Addendum for Surgical Services RNs.
Our previous proposals included adding per diems in the bargaining unit and we are continuing to talk to per diems about this to ensure we are representing their interests. Please seek out and encourage your per diem colleagues to fill out the Union Showing of Interest cards.
Our next bargaining session is scheduled for Tuesday December 10.
For additional information contact Bargaining Team Members: Robin Bridge, Emily Bishop, Chris Beatty, Michelle Grimmer, or Union Representative Kimberly Starkweather (206) 436-6515.
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On Wednesday, November 13 our Auburn Medical Center RN and Case Manager RN bargaining team met with MultiCare to continue negotiations on our contracts at our fifth session with management.
After three sessions without a response to our initial proposal to welcome the Case Manager RNs into our union, we were excited to see that at our previous session management came prepared with a proposal on their placement on a wage scale & how years of nursing experience would factor into their union rates of pay.
However, management's proposal introduced some new challenges—for instance, the proposed Case Manager wage scales they presented differed from the wage scale in the main union contract; and although the wage scale for Case Managers appeared higher than that in the nursing contract, management later clarified that this is because Case Manager RN's years of clinical nursing experience are not counted one-for-one when figuring out where we would be placed on the wage scale. Additionally, MultiCare proposed a new set of premiums specific to Case Managers, such as shift differentials and a weekend premium, but at rates lower than those in the nursing contract. We ultimately felt that these differing wage rates, premiums, and experience calculations were designed to create a division between Case Managers and the rest of the RN unit. In response, we presented counterproposals in the afternoon that would align Case Manager compensation with the main nursing contract—ensuring that experience is recognized consistently, that wages are aligned more with the RN wage scale, and also rejected the proposed lower premium rates.
"Despite what we feel are efforts to divide us, we feel more united than ever before!"
—Nicole Geff; Case Manager RN
Meanwhile for the RN contract, we also began our morning reviewing the latest set of proposals from management at our previous session. We are glad that in some areas of the contract we are making progress on getting to a final agreement with the employer, however many our highest priorities remain on the bargaining table as open issues for continued negotiation:
SAFETY:
Maintaining free on-site parking, and working to secure language around transportation safety for nurses who have vehicles broken-into or damaged in the on-site garage.
STAFFING:
Updating our contract language to reflect the new hospital staffing law in Washington State, and pushing for additional compensation for nurses who care for additional patients above what the hospital staffing plan permits.
WAGES:
After receiving management's initial wage proposal at our last session—we were disappointed to see that their offer only provided a three percent (3%) increase in the first year of our 2024 contract—which doesn't even compete with the wages that nurses are earning in a number of Pierce County MultiCare hospitals.
We know that it would take more than twice that percentage—around 7.00%—to get us up to market with many other MultiCare nurses—so we hope management come to our next bargaining date on November 21 with a serious proposal that pays nurses at Auburn Medical Center for the lifesaving care we provide every day.
"Hopefully MultiCare find the rest of the budget for their next wage proposal!"
—Cory Larsen; RN
To learn more about our ongoing negotiations, and to team up with our union siblings in the Service Unit with SEIU, join your bargaining team for a UNITY BREAK:
MultiCare Auburn Medical Center Cafeteria
Wednesday, December 11
7:30AM – 8:30AM
After a series of highly attended vote meetings on Thursday, December 5, our Bargaining Team at MultiCare Capital Medical Center are thrilled to announce that our 2024 contract has been overwhelmingly supported by our Service, Office, & Technical union coworkers!
Read MoreWe are the Union. The members of UFCW 3000 are over 50,000 members working in grocery, retail, health care, meat packing, cannabis, & other industries across Washington state, north-east Oregon, and northern Idaho. UFCW 3000 is a chartered member of UFCW International with over 1.4 million workers in North America.
To build a powerful Union that fights for economic, political and social justice in our workplaces and in our communities.