Capital Medical Center RNs - Bargaining Begins Soon

Our union contract is set to expire later this year on September 30, but bargaining will start sooner—Multicare has requested to begin negotiations next month. We will take every opportunity to address ongoing staffing issues and fight for crucial wage increases, so we're kicking our preparations into high gear.

Bargaining Surveys

Participation and communication are key to winning a strong contract, and bargaining surveys are one of the important tools we use. We use our surveys to understand our shared priorities and goals and to inform our proposals at the table. This is a great time to get refamiliarized with our contract and shine a light on any ongoing issues. Make your voice heard! Fill out your survey in the mail or online >>

Not getting updates or the survey? Update your contact information to get critical information about our campaign and stay informed about upcoming actions and events >>

Open Office Hours

April 24 & May 7
11:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Lunchroom

Our Rep, Kimberly Starkweather, will be in the lunchroom to answer questions and talk about issues.

Leaders In Action Training

May 22

Want to get more involved but not sure where to start? Reach out to our Rep for more information about this exciting training opportunity.

May Day March

May 1

We aren't alone in our struggle to defend our rights. In the last few months, the federal government has launched an all-out assault on the working class and our First Amendment rights. On May 1, labor unions, immigrant protection organizations, and workers across America are continuing 139 years of pushing back against the chaos and cruelty. UFCW 3000 members are showing up in force to May Day marches all around the state. If you've been feeling powerless, this is a powerful opportunity to stand together with your community and find the path forward.

Learn more about the marches and RSVP here! >>

Multicare Capital Medical Center Service/Office/Technical - Bargaining Update!

Embed Block

Add an embed URL or code. Learn more

Wednesday, October 2 marks our fourth bargaining date with MultiCare since we began negotiations for a 2024 contract for the Service, Office, & Technical union members at Capital Medical Center.

Transparently, our day began a bit slow in terms of meeting with management, with our Union team providing MultiCare with any remaining contract proposals we had in our court in the morning, and then waiting until just before the end of our scheduled time to receive proposals back from management.

Upon hearing back from management later that afternoon, we were presented with a number of responses on a few of the contract articles we’ve been exchanging back and forth with the employer; most importantly, wages.

Overall, it’s fair to say that we were shocked by MultiCare’s initial offer, not because it undercut our value and ignored regional competitors’ wage rates (as one can typically expect from an Employer’s first wage counter...), but instead, their proposal seemed to consider the rates of pay that competitors are paying in the greater South-Puget-Sound region, as well as the significant increases MultiCare workers in Pierce and King County won in union negotiations earlier this year.

There are varying increases throughout the numerous job classifications—mainly due to the varying market fluctuations for those classifications—but our bargaining team can say that while the wage proposal we received from Capital is not quite ready for us to agree to yet, it will serve to move market-based wage discussions much faster than we have seen at other bargaining tables!

We are looking forward to meeting with MultiCare for our next session on October 10 to continue working towards a strong contract for Capital Medical Center employees!

“We’re not all the way there yet, but we are cautiously optimistic!”
—Julie Hinchcliffe, HUC/Monitor Tech @ CapMC

Your Bargaining Team: Julie Hinchcliffe, HUC/Monitor Tech; Beatrix Sales, CS Tech; Lindsey Moorhead, Cath Lab Tech

Capital Medical Center RNs - Agreement Ratified with unanimous YES votes!

Capital Medical Center RNs
Agreement Ratified with unanimous YES votes!

We have a new historic agreement with a lot of great wins:

• New wage scale that eliminates 5 ghost steps with each step either equal or above Providence St. Peters Hospital to help recruit and retain quality Nurses.

• A committee to discuss call language and policies

• Health and safety language

• Increase premiums including float pay, excessive call pay, night shift and others. 

• Safe staffing language 

• And much more!

Scan the QR code to find the redline version of the contract OR go to: bit.ly/MHS-CMC-RN-Redline

Capital Medical Center RN - Tentative Agreement Reached

Our Bargaining Team: Bonnie Velleren, Carol Cairone, Cindy Dixon, Dennis Velleren, Elisabeth Hilderbrand

After a successful action of a petition in support of a strong contract and after a long day of bargaining we are excited to announce that we have settled a historic agreement that we believe is strong and equitable for all! 

What We Won:

• Strong wages that can help recruit and retain qualified Nurses!

•  New wage scale that eliminates 5 ghost steps and put us equal or above Providence St. Peters Hospital

•  A committee to discuss Call language and policies

•  Health and Safety Language

•  Increase premiums including Float pay, excessive call pay, night shift and others. 

•  Safe staffing language 

•  And other great wins!

Keep an eye out for ratification vote meetings!

“We are proud of the work we did, not only is it a landmark agreement but we were able to settle before the contract expiration date.” 

— Bonnie Verellen

“Management tried to take some things away but with the support of our coworkers we were able to fight back and win a strong contract.”

— Cindy Dixon

“Not only did we get wages that will help us recruit and retain good nurses, but we got a wage scale that matches Providence St. Peters and eliminates 5 ghost steps.” 

— Dennis Velleren

“We fought for the majority and the minorities. We wanted to make sure that not only the big departments get their issues brought to the table but so were some of the smaller departments!”

— Elisabeth Hilderbrand

Please reach out to a bargaining team member or your Union Rep Brandan Zielinski @ 206-436-6603 or bzielinski@ufcw3000.org 

Capital Medical Center RN Bargaining Update

Capital Medical Center

There is Still work to be done

We had another bargaining session with management on September 22. Overall we have made great progress and feel like Management has come a long way. However, while a lot of things are promising there is still some work to be done before we can settle a contract that is equitable for everyone. Between the last two bargaining sessions we have discussed economics, staffing, safety, and made a lot headway on some of those issues but Management still needs some more nudging. 
Join us in signing this petition and let Management know that we are united for a strong contract.  

Sign our Petition: United for Strong Contract!>>

“We as nurses are compassionate about safety, our concerns were heard after a hard fight leading to an agreement around safe staffing.” 
–Bonnie Verellen and Carol Cairone  

“Management is trying to take away pay from those who work on-call. Individuals on-call already have a family work life balance burden and now management is trying to reduce pay. We Deserve Better!” –Cindy Dixon and Elisabeth Hildebrand.

Capital Medical Center RN - SAFE STAFFING SAVES LIVES

Our Bargaining Team:

Cindy Dixon (PACU), Carol Cairone (OR), Bonnie Verellen (Labor & Delivery), Dennis Verellen (ICU/PCU)

Not Pictured: Elisabeth Hildebrand (Cath Lab)

Although the burden of presenting responses & counter proposals rested on management yesterday, September 14, your UFCW bargaining team knew it was time to finalize and present our official contract language on safe staffing. 

After receiving CMC’s proposals in the morning hours, we put our heads together to layout a very strong article which would aim to protect nurses & patients. This was presented it in the early afternoon, and Management expressed that they understand the need for staffing language, but appeared apathetic in it’s application. 

This did not deter us. 

We reworked our proposal, and when we met with management again, we lead our revisions with testimony from bargaining team members. This, paired with our revised language, made a proposal so compelling it pushed management into a discussion with us about the necessity of protections not only for ourselves, but for our patients. 

Nurses are the most trusted profession in the United States, and when we stand together to demand basic protections, we expect management to listen. 

Please reach out to your Union Rep or if you have any questions or concerns. 

Brandan Zielinski @ 206-436-6603 or BZielinski@ufcw3000.org 

Capital Medical Center RN - Bargaining for better pay, PTO, and patient safety

Capital Medical Center RN
BARGAINING FOR BETTER PAY, PTO, AND PATIENT SAFETY

On August 30, we met across the bargaining table from Capital Medical Center and proposed our economics. The market for Nurses in Washington state is evolving rapidly, and we’re holding it to Management to work with us to keep Capital Medical Center at the forefront of our needs.

Beyond the wage scale, we’ve continued to flesh out our counter proposals on PTO. Management initially brought us language to provide consistency between contracts, and we must ensure whichever plan we agree upon is equitable, and amends the ongoing concerns around benefits and accruals.

Lastly, our Bargaining Committee has been creative in our approaches to staffing and education. Although these conversations are still in their beginning stages, we know that our day-to-day lives as Nurses are about more than just pay and benefits: we must honor our safety as well as our patients!

Stay tuned for more information on joining the Contract Action Team (CAT)!

Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns to Union Rep Brandan Zielinski @ 206-436-6603 or BZielinski@ufcw3000.org

Our Capital Medical Center Bargaining Team (L - R): Steven Toff (Chair 1 Bargainer for UFCW), Bonnie Verellen (Labor & Delivery), Dennis Verellen (ICU/PCU), Cindy Dixon (PACU). Not pictured: Carol Cairone (OR) & Elisabeth Hildebrand (Cath Lab)

Capital Medical Center RN Bargaining Update

We had two more bargaining sessions with Management where we got a few more tentative agreements. We spent a lot of time talking about PTO. Management wants to keep us in alignment with all of the other MultiCare facilities, which we are okay with but they also need to recognize we are our own bargaining unit with our own needs.

We, as a Bargaining Team, want to be sure that none of us are left behind. If Management wants to make changes and put us in alignment, we want to make sure that all our coworkers are coming out on top.

“Things are moving in bargaining, but it seems like we have more questions for Management than what they are giving us. We need more answers from Management so we can get more done.” – Elisabeth Hildebrand, Cath Lab

“Management has made proposals around PTO that leaves some of our coworkers behind. We want to make sure none of our coworker are left behind!” – Cindy Dixon, PACU

Capital Medical Center RN - Bargaining Goes Virtual

Photo Left to Right:

Dennis & Bonnie Verellen, Brandan Zielinski, Elisabeth Hildebrand, Steven Toff, Malando Redeemer, Carol Cairone

During our first virtual bargaining session with Capital Medical Center, we received management’s response to our initial proposals, and used the remaining time to dig deeper into the issues facing RNs at Capital Medical Center!

“We’re working hard to identify a better process for all of us to recognize issues with payroll and quickly fix them. Our payroll systems are just too difficult to read!”

— Bonnie Verellen

“It’s time to rectify the differences between Capital Medical Centers healthcare with the rest of MultiCare at large!”

— Elisabeth Hildebrand

As we continue our hybrid model of bargaining, we also want to continue to stress the importance of hearing your voices throughout this contract negotiation. Reach out to anyone of us on the bargaining team, or our union rep Brandan Zielinski at (206) 436-6603 or via email BZielinski@ufcw3000.org

Capital Medical Center RN - We Are United for a Strong Contract

Our Bargaining Team (Left to Right):

Dennis Verellen (ICU/PCU)

Elisabeth Hildebrand (Cath Lab)

Bonnie Verellen (Labor & Delivery)

Carol Cairone (OR)

Cindy Dixon (PACU)

We had our first bargaining session and led on our vision of what a great Capital Medical Center looks like. With your input we presented our priorities to MultiCare management and told them that our team is united for:

• Competitive Wages that recruit and retain workers

• Safe Staffing for us and our patients

• Safe working conditions for all our coworkers

• Raising standards to meet other MultiCare Units.

“As we began bargaining, we shared with management the important of raising us to the standards of other MultiCare units up north. Just because we are in Olympia doesn’t mean we deserve less than others. We deserve the same services, benefits and resources as others.”

— Dennis Verellen

“We had a successful start to our bargaining coming to some agreements right out the gate. With your support and involvement I believe we will have a successful bargain and win a strong contract.”

— Carol Cairone

Together we can win!

Many hands make light work! If you are interested in being involved and staying up-to-date please join the Contract Action Team (CAT). Reach out to anyone of us on the bargaining team or our union rep Brandan Zielinski at (206) 436-6603 or via email BZielinski@ufcw3000.org.

Capital Medical Center RN - Bargaining Begins

We’ve received your bargaining surveys, reviewed your priorities, and now we’re preparing to meet management at the table. 

UFCW and Capital Medical Center are scheduled for Thursday, August 4 to begin negotiations around the RN Contract & your suggested improvements. 

GET INVOLVED!

Please contact your rep Brandan Zielinski at (206) 436-6603 or via email at BZielinski@ufcw3000.org if you’d like to be on our Contract Action Team! 

Please update your contact information to make sure you receive any future updates: 

Capital Medical Center Technical Service - Contract Ratified!

We are pleased to report that UFCW Local 21 members at Capital Medical Center overwhelmingly voted to ratify their new contract on February 25! As a reminder, your new contract includes:

• An average 16.50% wage increase,

• $1,750 ratification bonus, pro-rated by FTE,

• Per Diem differential increased to 15%, resulting in an extra 3% wage increase for all per diems,

• Increases to several differentials/premiums,

• And so much more!

If you have any questions about your new contract, please reach out to a workplace steward or call Union Representative Ian Jacobson at (206) 436-6550. 

Kronos Overpayment

It has been brought to the Union’s attention that MultiCare is demanding repayment from employees who were overpaid during the Kronos outage. The employer’s demands are placing extreme hardship on our members and, accordingly, the Union has demanded to bargain with the employer regarding their repayment program. We are also considering other actions that may help mitigate the effect of this issue on UFCW Local 21 members. 

Stay tuned for updates as this issue continues to develop.    

Capital Medical Center Service Technical - Tentative Agreement Reached! Vote Scheduled

Full details of the offer will be available during our online vote meetings!

Thursday, February 24
9AM - 10AM
6PM - 7PM
https://zoom.us/join
Contact the Bargaining Team or Union Rep for call-in details. Details will also be emailed out.

---

Our Bargaining Team has reached a tentative agreement with Management on a new three-year collective bargaining agreement for the Service & Technical unit at Capital Medical Center! We are excited to announce that this tentative agreement includes:

• Historic wage increases unlike we’ve ever seen at Capital, resulting in wage scales similar to Tacoma General Hospital,

• $1,750 ratification bonus, pro-rated by FTE,

• Per Diem differential increased to 15%, resulting in an extra 3% wage increase for all per diems,

• Increases to several differentials/premiums,

• Changes to Paid Time Off (PTO) that would result in higher accrual rates for most employees,

• And so much more!

While we did agree to a lower Extended Illness Bank (EIB) accrual rate, we were able to push out that change until January 1, 2024. In exchange, we won other improvements to EIB & PTO such as removing the cap on EIB accruals (unlimited EIB bank), EIB cash out upon termination in good standing, donation of EIB to coworkers in need, ability to cash out twice as much PTO each year and, when cashing out PTO, employees will be paid 100% of it’s value instead of the current 90% rate.

It’s extremely important that members attend the Zoom meeting to get a full understanding of the Employer’s offer and have your questions answered. However, voting will not take place at this meeting.

We will be voting online via “SimplyVoting” on Friday, February 25 from 6AM - 8PM. You will be receiving an email from UFCW 21 via “SimplyVoting” with your unique login information.

In order to vote, everyone needs to make sure their personal email is up to date in our records. If you did not receive this announcement via email, go to: ufcw21.org/update-your-information

If you do not receive an email to vote on Friday, February 25, then please reach out to Union Representative Ian Jacobson 206-436-6550 to provide an updated email address no later than 5PM on the day of the vote.

Capital Medical Center Technical Service - NEGOTIATIONS COLLAPSE

“We cannot have a deal unless the employer compensates us for the time worked without a raise since our contract was scheduled to expire in October.”

Bargaining Team: Adam Swigart, Julie Hinchcliff, and Maureen Ciglia

Your bargaining team met with management again on January 21 and 24 to continue negotiations for your successor contract.

We are disappointed to report that negotiations collapsed late into Monday night. While the union had made significant movement towards an agreement, the employer refused to make any meaningful changes to their proposal that would indicate that they were ready for a deal.

In fact, your bargaining team began our Monday bargaining session by informing the employer that we were ready to work into the night to reach an agreement. By mid-afternoon the employer stated that they didn’t feel that working into the night would be worth the effort, signaling that they did not care to reach a deal. Despite the management’s lack of enthusiasm, we continued discussions late into the evening. 

The major problem remains their proposed reduction of our Extended Illness Bank accruals and the removal of the day after Thanksgiving as a holiday. The union made proposals to mitigate the effects of such changes, however, we made clear that retro-pay back to scheduled expiration is the key to reaching a settlement on these issues. The employer responded with an insulting $275 ratification bonus instead of retro. MultiCare made explicitly clear to your bargaining team that they have no interest in paying employees at Capital Medical Center retro pay, even though they offered it to UFCW members at Tacoma General and Auburn Medical Center last year.

We did have informal talks about a higher ratification bonus, but it was nothing close to what we are owed for all the hours we’ve worked since our contract was originally scheduled to expire in October.

To make matters worse, the employer surprised your Bargaining Team by LOWERING their proposed across the board increase in the first year. Management’s excuse was that they needed to make such an adjustment to pay for other “improvements” they were offering since they had already exceeded their authority on the cost of our contract.

Your bargaining team felt strongly that we cannot accept an offer that cut our EIB accruals, removed a paid holiday, included a first year across the board increase that was lower than our last session, and included an insulting ratification bonus. 

We made clear to the employer that the Union’s movement towards the employer’s demands were not only contingent on retro-pay, but would also expire on Monday at 11:59PM. Since we failed to reach a deal, the union’s offer is now off the table and not available to the employer.   

We are working to enlist the assistance of a federal mediator, at which point we will schedule additional bargaining dates with management. 

Next Steps:

Stand up against MultiCare by reaching out to a Bargaining Team member or Union Representative to get “Keep your Hands off our PTO & EIB” stickers that you can wear in your workplace. 

Attend regular Contract Action Team (CAT) meetings to hear the latest updates regarding negotiations, plan actions to pressure management, and learn how to get your co-workers involved. Our next meeting is being held virtually February 2 @ 6:00PM

Capital Medical Center CAT Meeting

Wednesday, February 2 • 6:00PM

https://zoom.us/join

Contact your Bargaining Team or Union Rep for call-in details. Details will be also emailed out.

Capital Medical Center Technical Service - BREAKTHROUGH!

Your Bargaining Team met with management again on January 10 to continue negotiations for your successor contract.

We are excited to report that we’ve made significant process in negotiations with management having a sudden change of heart. At the end of our last session, management surprised us by making an economic proposal that ceded to a significant portion of the Union’s economic demands, which would bring Capital Medical Center employees up to market competitive wages. 

For the last few months your Bargaining Team has been showing MultiCare comprehensive data that shows that our wages are far behind what other hospitals are paying, justifying our proposals for large increases. Your Bargaining Team also expressed frustration that MultiCare has been willing to give employees at other facilities significant wage increases but not Capital Medical Center, as if we are not a priority to MultiCare. You also make this clear by wearing stickers in the workplace that informed patients that “MultiCare is Failing our community.”

They listened… but we’re not done yet.  

While historic wage increases are on the table, MultiCare is still proposing to cut your Extended Illness Bank accruals by about 40%. We warned management that if they want a deal anytime soon, their proposal must be withdrawn, or we will be forced to take further action. We know the community will not stand for MultiCare’s attack on healthcare workers EIB, especially in the middle of a pandemic, no matter the wage increases being offered.

We will meet with the employer again on Friday, January 21 and it is possible that we’ll have an agreement. However, this will be contingent on MultiCare withdrawing their EIB proposal. In the meantime, please continue to wear your union stickers at work and tell your manager what you think about their EIB proposal. 

“We’ve seen a breakthrough in negotiations, historic wage increases are suddenly on the table”

Bargaining Team: Adam Swigart, Julie Hinchcliff, and Maureen Ciglia

Next Steps:

Stand up against MultiCare by reaching out to a Bargaining Team member or Union Representative to get “Keep your Hands off our PTO & EIB” stickers that you can wear in your workplace. 

Tell your manager what you think about MultiCare’s proposal to cut your EIB accruals by about 40%.

Attend regular Contract Action Team (CAT) meetings to hear the latest updates regarding negotiations, plan actions to pressure management, and learn how to get your co-workers involved. Our next meeting is being held virtually January 19 @ 6:00PM

Capital Medical Center CAT Meeting
Wednesday, January 19 • 6:00PM

Capital Medical Center - Multicare is failing our community

“Does MultiCare even Care?”
-Bargaining Team: Adam Swigart, Julie Hinchcliff, and Maureen Ciglia

Our Bargaining Team met with Management again on December 20.

MultiCare made another economic proposal, warning the Bargaining Team that they are “reaching their authority” on wage increases at Capital Medical Center.

MULTICARE’S CURRENT OFFER
Year 1: 5.75%
Year 2: 2.00%
Year 3: 2.00%

We are again disappointed with their offer that would fail to raise our wages to market standards, including MultiCare’s own neighboring facilities such as Tacoma General Hospital. Furthering our frustration is their continued insistence on radically changing our Paid Time Off (PTO) and Extended Illness Bank (EIB) program, still asking to cut our EIB accruals by about 40%.

How does MultiCare think it is acceptable to reduce the accrual rates of health care workers Extended Illness Bank in the middle of a pandemic! It’s INDEFENSIBLE to propose takeaways to the very system that would defend a healthcare worker in the unfortunate event they become ill while protecting our community from COVID-19, especially as Omicron cases overwhelm our hospitals.

We will be reaching out to community leaders in the coming weeks to inform them of MultiCare’s attack on healthcare workers at Capital Medical Center. Ensuring the community that MultiCare is failing healthcare workers and their community at their most vulnerable time.

We will be meeting with Management again on January 10, then again on January 21 and 24.

Next Steps:

• Stand up against MultiCare by reaching out to a Bargaining Team member or Union Rep to get “MultiCare is failing our Community” stickers that you can wear in your workplace.

• Attend regular Contract Action Team (CAT) meetings to hear the latest updates regarding negotiations, plan actions to pressure management, and learn how to get your co-workers involved. Our next meeting is being held virtually, January 19 @ 6PM.

Join our online Contract Meeting and hear from the Bargaining Team!
Wednesday, January 19 @ 6 PM
https://zoom.us/join
Contact a Bargaining Team member or your Union Rep for meeting details. Details will be emailed as well.