MultiCare Covington Medical Center Contract Ratified

Bargaining Units has Overwhelmingly voted yes to ratify the contract!

We won:

• Historic wage increases that can help recruit and retain qualified staff!

• Increased PTO cash out

• Low Census Limits for RNs

• Staffing Accountability Language

• And other great wins!

The contract will immediately go into effect. New wages will go into effect on July 16.

If you have questions, please reach out to one of your bargaining team members or your union representative Ian Jacobson.

MultiCare - Covington Hospital - Headed closer towards an agreement

We met with the Employer on June 5 to resolve the handful of remaining issues that we have not agreed upon. While we made significant progress on all of our language proposals, and are extremely close on an agreement around wages, Management’s proposal to merge the Covington Clinic with Covington Hospital has proven to be complicated.

We have our next bargaining session on Tuesday, June 13, where we will dig into these issues with the proposed merger and evaluate if it is in the best interest of members.

“At long last, management recognized the need for limits around low census.”

– Poonam Gil, Surgery RN, Bargaining Team

“We are encouraged by the movement today and look forward to finalizing a good contract, hopefully on the 13th.”

– Ken Farrell, MedSurg RN, Bargaining Team

MHS Covington Medical Center Bargaining Continues

After seven months of bargaining and mediation we finally met with Management in person. This really allowed us to have productive dialog regarding our proposals. We hope Management will now listen and take our concerns seriously.

Due to Management’s lack of respect and movement we were forced to bring a mediator into bargaining. She has been helpful in bringing us closer to a fair deal, but Management says we are still pretty far apart. If Management actually listened and respected the concerns of their workers we wouldn’t be so far apart. It is time for Management to Respect us, Pay us and Protect us!

In order to keep the hospital running well and efficient, people have to have joy in their work! That joy comes from the service we provide to patients. However, if our service is not valued or recognized by management the joy we get from our service to our patients dies out... in healthcare we can refer to it as burnout. What we are asking for is not a lot, if the hospital is small and not growing administrators should look at themselves - it doesn't fall on employees! If they want to retain staff then they need to value people, if they are in the process of growing they need to value the great staff they currently have, so that when the growth comes we all provide excellent care. It almost feels like we are begging for safety nets just to fulfill our FTEs. Management constantly low census us and many of us lose out on pay. The cost of living is way to high for people to not be able to meet their FTEs and get a full pay check. We have proposed language to limit Low Census and to help us secure our pay checks and Management continues to ignore our needs. It was great having dialog but its time for Management to take action and give us what we need! They say they want to recruit and retain workers but they don’t want to make the actions to make it happen. Wages are only one part of retention working conditions and the ability to work to make the wages are the other part of retention.

“Meeting in person allowed for a freer flow of bargaining ideas across the table. We still haven’t reached a deal but we had great discussion.” — Ken Ferrell

“Today we were able to express that union members are as valuable as nonunion workers and we are entitled to guaranteed FTEs and full paychecks just like travelers and system float!” — Faith Soriano-Miller

“Management said that float pool is the future of staffing, but we know Core staff are the present, future and backbone of staffing.” — Luz Martinez

Join us our Contract Action Team meeting via zoom!
Thursday, May 25 @ 1pm-2pm or 6pm-7pm

If you have any questions, please contact our Rep Ian Jacobson 206-436-6550.

MultiCare Covington Medical Center - Respect us, Protect us and Pay us!

After months of being at a standstill with bargaining, we had a great, productive day. We proposed all our non-economic proposals, sent over our first wage proposals and received Management’s first counter. We are hopeful that Management will do the right thing and respect us, protect us and pay us!

“We have achieved and come to agreements on many of our non-economic language proposals. While not in agreement on everything, we have made a lot of progress!” -Ken Farrell, Charge RN PCU

“We hope Management realizes adequate staffing saves lives!” -Lolita Edge, CS Tech

“Every job class is important and essential to patient care and the function of the hospital. We all deserve to have good benefits and wages!” -Luz Martinez, Patient Care Tech

“It’s time for Management to realize that competitive wages, benefits and a safe working environment are vital to recruitment and retention.” -Faith Soriano-Miller, Charge Rn PCU

Kronos Outage Update —Last year there was a Kronos outage and Management overpaid many of us and then took money out of our paychecks. Our union in partnership with the other unions sued Multicare and won the lawsuit. However, now MultiCare has rejected the courts ruling and is in the process of appealing the Judges decision. We have demanded dates to bargain with Management and continue to work to find a resolution.

Staffing —While we are fighting for strong staffing language at the bargaining table, we also recognize staffing is a huge issue everywhere. We need to continue to elevate the pressure by submitting official complaints to state agencies and fight to pass legislation on staffing. Go to these links and Fill out these staffing forms when you are short staffed.

Collaborative Staffing Intervention (CSI) Report unsafe staffing and/or missed breaks and lunches.

DOSH Complaint —Report safety issues and/or hazardous working conditions directly to the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I).

DOH Complaint —Report unsafe staffing directly to the Washington State Department of Health (DOH). We encourage members who file a DOH complaint to also follow-up with a CSI report, ensuring the hospital as a record of the issue.

File CSI & DOSH ▸ufcw3000.org/csi

Covington Medical Center - United and ready to fight

Covington Medical Center
UNITED AND READY TO FIGHT

Bargaining

We are at a standstill with bargaining. We have proposed all of our noneconomic proposals and sent over our first economic/wage proposals but heard nothing back from Management. It has been over a month since we have seen any substantial proposals or progress from Management, and they have cancelled the last two weeks of bargaining that we scheduled. It is time for Management to get serious, listen to us the workers and come to the table with substantial proposals that will address our issues.

We come to work, day in and day out and work extremely hard to take care of our patients and community. It is time for Management to respect us and take care of us. Please keep an eye out for more information about our next steps. We need to take action and let them know that we are united and ready fight for what we deserve!

Kronos Outage

Last year there was a Kronos outage and Management overpaid many of us and then took money out of our paychecks. Our union in partnership with the other unions sued Multicare and won the lawsuit. However, now MultiCare has rejected the courts ruling and is in the process of appealing the Judges decision. The Three Unions have demanded dates to bargain with Management and continue to work to find a resolution.

Staffing

While we are fighting for strong staffing language at the bargaining table, we also recognize staffing is a huge issue everywhere. Whatever language we win in our new contract will not solve the chronic staffing issues and mismanagement that continues to plague Covington Medical Center, no amount of money could fix that. We need to continue to elevate the pressure by submitting official complaints to state agencies and fight to pass legislation on staffing. Fill out the staffing forms below when you are short-staffed.

• DOSH Complaint

Report safety issues and/or hazardous working conditions directly to the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I):
https://www.lni.wa.gov/workers-rights/workplace-complaints/safety-complaints

• DOH Complaint

Report unsafe staffing directly to the Washington State Department of Health (DOH). We encourage members who file a DOH complaint to also follow-up with a CSI report, ensuring the hospital as a record of the issue:
https://fortress.wa.gov/doh/providercredentialsearch/ComplaintIntakeForm.aspx  

• Collaborative Staffing Intervention (CSI)

Report unsafe staffing and/or missed breaks and lunches:
https://www.ufcw21.org/csi  

MultiCare Covington Medical Center - Management Needs to Bargain with Us!

Your Bargaining Team: 

Faith Soriano-Miller, RN – PCU 

Erin Reynolds, HUC in ED 

Lolita Edge, CS Tech in Sterile Processing 

Luz Martinez, Monitor Tech 

Poonam Gill, RN – PACU 

Austin Smith, EVS 

Ken Farrell, Charge RN MedSurg

Management has moved very little at the bargaining table. Our Bargaining Team came to the table ready to fight for a strong and equitable contract for all of our coworkers. We came to the table with multiple proposals to better our working conditions, including low census and staffing. Unfortunately, Management rejected our current proposals and refuses to bargain on the issues that matters most to us. 

“Management needs to respect our FTEs; just like Management has financial obligations, we too have financial obligations for ourselves and our families.” 

— Lolita Edge, CS Tech in Sterile Processing 

“We need to have better working conditions so that we can recruit and retain qualified staff.” 

— Ken Farrell, Charge RN MedSurg 

“A good contract is a reflection of how much Management cares and respects their employees.” 

— Faith Soriano-Miller, RN – PCU 

Please join our petition for a fair and strong contract. We call on Management to bargain a contract that respects us, pays us and protects us. 

If you want more information about what’s going on with bargaining, there are three meetings coming up to meet your Bargaining Team and get more information!

• Online Contract Action Meeting
  Thursday, November 17 • 7:00 PM
  https://zoom.us/join

• Lunch with Bargaining Team
  Tuesday, November 22 • 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM

• Online Contract Action Meeting
  Tuesday, November 22 • 5:00 PM
  https://zoom.us/join

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

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

MHS Covington Medical Center (Service, Technical & RN) WAGES UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED!

UFCW Local 21 members at Covington Medical Center unanimously voted to approve their proposed wage increases yesterday, Thursday, January 13,

The proposed increases will become effective Sunday, January 16; however, the Employer has warned that the Kronos outage could cause a slight delay in member’s seeing the difference in their paycheck.

Now we must prepare for contract negotiations later this year, which will be another opportunity to further increase wages and work on solutions to other workplace issues.

One of the best things you can do to prepare for upcoming negotiations is to sign up for a Steward training! In Steward training, you will learn your rights and protections and how to push back against unfair practices by management. You will also learn how to represent a coworker in a disciplinary meeting and uphold your contract.

To sign up for a training, go to: ufcw21.org/steward-training

MultiCare Covington Medical Center Service & Technical & RN - Emergency Wage Increases—Vote Scheduled

We are pleased to announce that we’ve come to a tentative agreement with MultiCare on emergency wage increases for all UFCW Local 21 members at Covington Medical Center! The proposed increases would align our wages with the union contracts recently negotiated at Auburn Medical Center.

It is also important to note that this is considered a mid-cycle increase, meaning that it is occurring outside of normally scheduled contract negotiations. Therefore, we are still scheduled to renegotiate your contract later this year, which will be another opportunity to further increase wages and make other changes to your contract. 

However, the proposed wage increase must first be approved by a vote of membership before they can be implemented. We will be voting online via “SimplyVoting” on Thursday, January 13 from 6:00AM to 8:00PM. 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, please visit ufcw21.org/update-your-information and update your information. If you do not receive an email to vote on Thursday, January 13, then please reach out to Union Representative Kent Tse at ktse@ufcw21.org no later than 5PM on the day of the vote to provide an updated email address. 

Have Questions? 

There will be virtual meetings on the day of the vote to explain the details of the offer and answer any questions. Drop-in anytime during the scheduled meeting times.

Thursday, January 13

6AM – 8AM & 5PM – 7PM

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

MHS Covington Hospital Bargaining Update (All Units) - EMERGENCY WAGE INCREASE TALKS BEGIN

We are pleased to report that talks have begun with Management for emergency wage increases for all UFCW 21 represented positions at MultiCare’s Covington Medical Center.

While we are not scheduled to start contract negotiations until later next year, today’s tight labor market has resulted in recruitment and retention issues that require immediate action on wages in order to stay competitive with neighboring hospitals. This is further necessitated by the wage increases that we negotiated earlier this year at other UFCW 21 facilities such as Auburn Medical Center and Tacoma General Hospital.

With this in mind, we were happy to hear from the Employer in an email to the Union on December 21 that they wanted to begin talks to increase wages before contract negotiations.

While we will work to expedite the process, we must still ensure that any proposed changes to our wage scales are fair and equitable for all members. Furthermore, any proposed changes to our wage scales will also require a full vote of UFCW 21 members at Covington Medical Center before they can be implemented.

We have requested additional information from the Employer and are working as quickly as possible to conduct a comprehensive analysis of possible solutions.

We’re also making the necessary preparations to conduct an online membership vote swiftly after an agreement is reached. An online vote will require that we have an updated email address from you, so please update your contact information if you did not receive this notice via email at:

ufcw21.org/update-your-information

Stay tuned for additional updates soon!