Tell PCC Administration: Stop Undermining Our Co-Op Democracy!
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PCC administration is trying to block the union and community advocates from gathering signatures to nominate PCC workers to serve on the co-op’s Board of Trustees, which we believe violates the democratic process and the values of our co-op. Over the last several months PCC administration has:
- Obstructed workers’ access to comprehensive election information.
- Refused to allow workers to collect signatures electronically, even as COVID surges in our community.
- Banned signature-gatherers from being outside PCC.
PCC members deserve a fair process that values the voices of essential workers. Two longtime PCC workers, Donna Rasmussen and Laurae McIntyre, are currently running for Board seats and need thousands of signatures to earn their nominations. Please sign their petitions to get them on the ballot!
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
Call the PCC office at 206-547-1222 and tell them:
“I’m a PCC shopper, and I’m asking the CEO to stop blocking workers from running for the Board of Trustees. Give Laurae and Donna a fair and safe process to get on the ballot and let workers collect signatures electronically.”
You can also file a customer comment online at: pccmarkets.com/contact-us
THE POWER OF COMMUNITY ALLIES
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Contract fights can be challenging and isolating. We need the support of our vast and diverse membership, and also the communities where we live. When we get improvements in our jobs and working conditions, we raise the quality of life for ourselves, our families and our communities.
In July, Grocery Store Workers were not alone during their canvasses and informational pickets. Neighbors, church leaders, union leaders, social justice organizations, and many others turned out in solidarity, to add their voices and strength to the people who make their neighborhood grocery stores work everyday. The community allies remembered how these workers set out in snow and ice to ensure that the shelves were stocked and the stores were open through weeks of treacherous weather this past winter.
Community allies marched into the stores armed with ‘This Community Has My Back-One Good Job Should Be Enough’ buttons, taking selfies and letting members know that they were with them in the day to-day struggle for sustainable wages and livable scheduling.
Then community met with the store managers and presented their grocery list: Eggs, Kale, and La Croix were easy to find. However, there were more important items on their list that they couldn’t find in the store: Scheduling We Can Depend On… Wages We Can Live On… A Pension We Can Count On. They asked the managers to listen to the needs of their workers, because they are also the needs of the community.
Community members in Everett, Olympia, Centralia, Walla Walla and Spokane were disheartened when they heard about the looming strike with Providence hospital workers. Elected officials, faith groups and social justice groups have scheduled Community Lunchtime Listening Sessions in these hospitals to hear directly from health care workers about the critical issues causing them to vote for a strike.
The Providence health care workers will also be going to City Council meetings to talk to elected leaders about how Providence putting their profits before patients is a community crisis. Short staffing is one of the major concerns for Providence health care workers: “We need safe staffing levels to provide the highest quality of care for our patients.” Many local businesses and labor groups have shown their support by posting signs that say ‘Providence Hospital Workers Demand Patients Before Profits.’ At this time it is still unknown whether a strike will happen, but what we do know is the community is with us.
All of these actions, throughout Washington State, unite workers and their community. Together we advocate for good contracts now, and a future where all workers get what they need to thrive.
Hospital Workers Join Community to Oppose Closure of Harrison Medical Center in Bremerton
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For Immediate Release: August 23, 2017
Hospital Workers Join Community to Oppose Closure of Harrison Medical Center in Bremerton
The union that represents workers at Harrison Medical Center (HMC) in Kitsap County has declared its opposition to CHI Franciscan Health’s (CHI Franciscan) plan to close HMC’s Bremerton campus. UFCW 21 announced today that, while it supports having a new, unionized hospital in Silverdale, Phase 2 of CHI Franciscan’s plan should be to upgrade or replace the hospital that currently serves the largest city in Kitsap – rather than close it down, as CHI Franciscan intends.
UFCW 21 member Aimee Oien said, “As a Pharmacy Tech at Harrison and a Kitsap resident, I expect CHI Franciscan to put the community’s needs ahead of their corporate parent’s bottom line. Kitsap County gives CHI a huge property tax exemption. It just does not make sense for them to close the hospital in our largest city.”
It is the position of UFCW 21 that instead of cutting staff, closing a hospital and outsourcing work, CHI Franciscan should improve staffing levels, keep more union workers on the job serving patients, and maintain hospital beds in the largest city in the County. That path would be better for health care workers, patients and the community.
Aimee Oien is one of about 1,300 members of UFCW 21 who work at HMC in Bremerton and Silverdale. These workers are members of UFCW 21 which represents more than 3,300 healthcare and grocery store workers who live in Kitsap County, and more than 46,000 around the state of Washington. UFCW 21 is the state’s largest private sector local union.
BACKGROUND:
CHI Franciscan’s parent company, Catholic Health Initiatives, acquired HMC in 2013 and recently asked the Washington State Department of Health (DoH) for permission to permanently close the hospital’s Bremerton campus and relocate all HMC hospital beds to its Silverdale campus. CHI’s plan calls for opening one new hospital tower in Silverdale in 2020 and a second in 2023, at which time the Bremerton campus would be closed.
DoH had originally approved CHI Franciscan’s request, but then in an unusual move agreed to reconsider its decision after reviewing information provided by the City of Bremerton, which opposes the hospital closure.
UFCW 21 Encourages Everyone to Attend Hearing:
The DoH will hold a second public hearing on CHI Franciscan’s plan.
· Friday, September 8
· Bremerton School District Office (134 Marion Ave N. Bremerton).
· UFCW 21 members and allies will rally at 9:30 AM, prior to the start of the 10:30 hearing.
WORKING TOGETHER - Real Change - Community Ally
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