Forks Community Hospital - Memorandum of Understanding Vote Scheduled! Long Term Care LPNs and RNs

In order to acknowledge current practice in the long-term care department, Union Representative Naomi Oligari will be on-site at Forks Community Hospital from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM on Thursday, November 9, to hold a vote on a Memorandum of Understanding.

As those of you receiving this notice are likely aware, at times, LPNs are compensated for acting in a charge capacity. Since current contract language does not acknowledge that LPNs can act in a charge capacity in long-term care, we will be recommending a “YES” vote on this MOU. Please stop by the conference room behind the cafeteria to cast your vote!

If there are questions, please contact Union Representative Naomi Oligari at (360) 662-1989.

Forks Community Hospital Service & Tech Contract Ratified!

Our Union Bargaining Team wants to thank you for participating in the contract vote. The collective bargaining agreement was ratified July 6 with 100% voting YES! This agreement:

• Increases wages a minimum of 15% over the life of the contract

• Protects affordable health care

• Adds multilingual pay to the contract

• Adds certification pay to the contract

Forks Community Hospital Service & Technical - Tentative Agreement Reached! Contract Vote Scheduled

After four bargaining sessions your service and technical union contract negotiating team has reached a tentative agreement!

• Improvements to the collective bargaining agreement include:

• Across the board wage increases.

• Improvements to on-call, shift differentials, and weekend premiums phased in over the life of the contract!

• Multi-lingual pay for people certified by Washington state as fluent in a language other than English that is regularly spoken with patients.

• Certification pay for some job classifications wherein people receive certs that are not already requirements of the position (to be discussed in the Labor Management Committee prior to implementation in early 2024).

Please join us for a drop-In contract vote! This Tentative Agreement is recommended by your bargaining team!

Thursday, July 6

• 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM

• 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Hospital Conference Room

UFCW 3000 members in good standing are encouraged to attend a meeting, ask questions, and vote on the contract. Contact a Bargaining Team member or your Union Representative for any questions!

Our Bargaining Team: Jen Smith, Aleda Adams, Micaiah Nelson, Cheryl Depew

Forks Community Hospital (RN) - New contract ratified

Forks Community Hospital (RN)
New contract ratified

Thank you for participating in the contract vote! The collective bargaining agreement was ratified on June 21, with all attending members voting “Yes” and the LPNs voting “Yes” to joining the RN unit. This agreement:

• Increases wages 16.25% over the life of the contract

• Adds LPNs to the RN bargaining unit

• Protects affordable health care

• Increases educator pay

“The Bargaining Team feels strongly that the wage increases in this newly ratified contract will continue to allow Forks Community Hospital to recruit and retain competent, qualified RNs. Thank you for participating in your union by attending the ratification vote!”

-Amanda Craft, Bargaining Team, ED/Acute Care RN

Forks Community Hospital RNs - Tentative agreement reached!

After three bargaining sessions we have a reached a tentative agreement that includes:

• Across the board wage increases

• Two additional steps at the top of the wage scale

• Reduction of full-time status from 37 to 36 hours so that 0.9 FTEs do not have to use PTO to maintain full time healthcare benefits

• Increase in education instructor pay

Join your co-workers and vote on the new contract!

The Bargaining Team looks forward to seeing you at the vote to discuss this unanimously recommended tentative agreement.

Wednesday, June 21
9 am—12 pm |1 pm—4 pm
Hospital conference room across from the cafeteria

Bargaining Team (L—R): Lisa Huelsdonk, Darlene Rondeau, Amanda Craft, Carlyn Beebe (not pictured, Annie Crippen)

UFCW 3000 Member Story: Aleda Adams

Aleda Adams, UFCW 3000 member, shop steward, and healthcare worker at Forks Community Hospital

It’s time for another #MemberMonday! Today, we are spotlighting Aleda Adams, who has worked at Forks Community Hospital for over 15 years. Since 2018, Aleda has also been a union shop steward, identifying issues that her coworkers face on the job and advocating for collaborative solutions. Her leadership has extended to Aleda joining both the Labor Management Committee and her unit’s bargaining team. During a recent wage increase contract vote, Aleda met with coworkers to ensure that each person understood the voting process. Aleda answered questions about wage scales and the tentative agreement, so that her coworkers could submit their ballots feeling confident about the information they had been given.

Beyond her own participation, Aleda is always encouraging her coworkers to become more active in our union. In fact, Aleda has convinced coworkers throughout the years to receive steward training as well! As she says, “There are ongoing benefits & wins we can get by being active in our union.”

Thank you for all of your hard work, Aleda!

Forks community hospital Technical & Service - Wage Increases Ratified

Forks Community Hospital Technical & Service

WAGE INCREASES RATIFIED

Thank you to all union members who came out on September 12 and voted to ratify wage increases! The vote overwhelmingly passed. You should see the increase on your paycheck this Friday, September 16.

If you did not this notice through email, please update your contact information at: ufcw21.org/update-your-information

For further information on your new wage increase or if you have any contract questions, contact Union Rep Brandan Zielinski at bzielinski@ufcw3000.org

Forks Community Hospital (Technical and Service) - Wage increase vote

Forks Community Hospital Technical and Service
Wage Increase Vote

Management and the Union Bargaining Committee have met and discussed ongoing wage concerns and have reached a tentative agreement on a mid-cycle wage increase. For details of the wage offer drop into one of the vote meetings. This is a fully recommended tentative agreement.

Join your coworkers and vote on the new wage increase:

Monday, September 12
12pm - 3pm
4pm-7pm

Forks Community Hospital - Lee Merrick Conference Room
530 Bogachiel Way, Forks WA 98331

To vote you must be a union member in good standing.

For additional information reach out to a Bargaining Team member or your Union Rep Brandan Zielinski @ 206-436-6603 or bzielinski@ufcw3000.org

If you did not receive this notice by email, update your contact information at: ufcw3000.org/update-your-information

Forks Community Hospital - Nurses ratify new wage increases

On Thursday, June 9, RNs at Forks Community Hospital overwhelmingly voted to increase wages and premiums! Wages and premiums will be effective after July 1 and increases should be on paychecks starting with the July 22 paycheck.

BIG THANKS TO THE BARGAINING TEAM!
Sarah Fletcher
Ryan Elmer
Annie Crippen
Darlene Rondeau
Lisa Huelsdonk

For more information or to find out how to get more involved, please contact Union Representative Brandan Zielinski at 206-436-6603 or BZielinski@ufcw21.org.

Forks Community Hospital - We Have Reached a Fully Recommended Tentative Agreement!

Your bargaining Committee has reached a tentative agreement on wages. Highlights of the agreement include significant wage increases for all nurses, increases to premium pay.

A contract vote has been scheduled for: 

Thursday, June 9 

12PM - 3PM

Forks Community Hospital 

Hospital Conference Room

530 Bogachiel Way 

Forks WA 98331

UFCW 3000 members in good standing are encouraged to attend the meeting, ask questions, and vote on the contract. For additional information reach out to a bargaining team member or your union representative Brandan Zielinski @206-436-6603. 

Update Your Contact Info!

https://www.ufcw21.org/update-your-information

Forks Community Hospital Service & Technical Update

Forks Community Hospital Service & Technical

New Incentive Shift Pay for Forks Tech & Service Workers

After pressure from members, Management has agreed to implement a new shift incentive for many classes of workers covered under the Forks Tech/Service contract! The incentive is for shifts picked up beyond an employee’s FTE. Per diem employees are also eligible for the incentive after working 5 scheduled shifts.

Incentives for designated shifts are as follows:

For LPN and Imaging

8 hour shift: $200

10 hour shift: $250

12 hour shift: $300

For Surgical Tech, NAC, MA, EVS, Dietary, Lab Assistant,

Admitting Clerk, and Clinic Receptionist

8 hour shift: $100

10 hour shift: $125

12 hour shift: $150

New Incentive Shift Pay for Forks RNs!

New Incentive Shift Pay for Forks RNs!

 After pressure from the Nurses, Management agreed to a new shift incentive, effective September 14, for designated shifts an RN picks up beyond their FTE. Per diem Nurses are also eligible for the incentive after picking up 5 shifts in a payroll period.

Incentives for designated shifts are as follows:

8 hour shift: $300
10 hour shift: $375
12 hour shift: $450

We are still pushing management to provide shift incentives for other job classifications. This incentive will run through January 1, 2022.

Forks Community Hospital Tech / Service - Contract Ratified with 100% “YES” VOTE!

Forks Community Hospital Tech-Service Contract was ratified on July 21. We were able to win significant market adjustments for a number of positions and overall COLAs over the 3 year agreement that bring us up to industry and area standards. We added new and increased premiums while maintaining our benefits.

“We achieved our goal of making improvements to our contract that make our facilities more comparable with and even competitive to surrounding hospitals and facilities.” — Our Bargaining Team

Forks Community Hospital Tech / Service - Contract Vote Scheduled

After historically productive negotiations, we were able to reach a tentative agreement before our contract expiration. We were able to win significant market adjustments for a number of positions and overall COLAs over the 3 year agreement that bring us up to industry and area standards.

We also were able to win:

A new preceptor program

Improved rest between shift language

Easier access to EII benefits

Increased premiums and differentials

With NO Takeaways!

“We achieved our goal of making improvements to our contract that make our facilities more comparable with and even competitive to surrounding hospitals and facilities.”

— Our Bargaining Team

We will be voting this fully recommended offer by mail! Please make sure your address and information are up to date.

You can view the full contract and wage scales online.

Contract with Proposed Changes - View Document

Wage Scale - View Document

Join an online vote meeting to hear more about the offer and ask questions. Vote meetings will be 7/13 at 8 AM and 6 PM. Details for joining will be mailed out with the vote instructions.

Forks Community Hospital Tech / Service - Bargaining Continues

We received Management’s economic proposals Wednesday. While we appreciate the effort they’ve made towards making sure our wages are comparable to surrounding hospitals, there are still areas for improvement.

We have proposed improvements to our Rest Between Shift language. We’d like to see Management value the rest and safety of all employees equally

Management is also evaluating our proposal to fully acknowledge and value our employees that work non-traditional hours. We hope they agree that evening and night shift workers make significant adjustments to family life, sleep schedules, and more.

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Once we reach an agreement, we will be voting our contract by mail

Please update your information with us here.

Forks Community Hospital RN - 100% “YES” VOTE! Forks Community Hospital RN Contract was ratified on June 22

We were able to win respectful wage increases that will allow us to recruit and retain good nurses for our community. We also added new and increased competency premiums while maintaining our benefits.

“We achieved our overall goal to raise our wages to be competitive with comparable healthcare facilities.”

Forks Community Hospital RN Bargaining Team

Forks Community Hospital Tech / Service - Management is Refusing to Budge

We’ve been meeting with Management for two days, and while we have been able to secure some improvements to our contract like protections for evening and night shift workers who are selected for jury duty, Management is refusing to budge where it matters most to our day to day lives.

We’ve been advocating for solutions to the problem of schedule changes after the schedule has been posted on the 20th of each month. Management has not been willing to offer concrete solutions that we can enforce.

Additionally, we have been advocating to make sure that longevity increases go into effect on the employee’s anniversary date. Currently, the wage increase doesn’t go into effect until the 1st full pay period afterwards. That means that someone could be missing out on almost 2 weeks’ worth of their contractual raise! Management has demonstrated the ability to make this change, but they say it’s an “administrative burden”.

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Have you been having issues with schedule changes?

Your story will help us win improvements to our contract. Tell us here:

Forks Community Hospital (RN) - Bargaining Team Unanimously Recommends a "YES" Vote!

Click on the links below for the following:
Update Your Contact Information
New Contract
New Wage Scale

Forks - Tentative Agreement Reached

Forks RN + Tech/Service - Close but Not Enough