On 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 MoreOur 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
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 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 MoreWith these priorities in mind, our team went to work—fighting to secure a strong, competitive contract for the Service, Office, and Technical workers at MultiCare Capital Medical Center. We believe the result is a contract that will stand the test of time and keep us competitive for years to come.
Read MoreOn the morning of November 20, our Women's Center Clinics bargaining team met to finalize proposals to kick-off negotiations with MultiCare. Now that we have won our union election, we are eager to enter the existing Clinics Collective Bargaining Agreement with UFCW Local 3000!
In order to prepare, we spent time reviewing wages, PTO, and a number of the articles in the existing contract to make sure that we are coming to our first day of negotiations with MultiCare stronger than ever. The terms of our bargain will mainly focus on how we are compensated on the union pay scales, and how the existing provisions of the union contract will impact our wages, hours, and working conditions.
After our review of the existing contract- and making sure our specific proposals matched the work we do at the Women's Center clinics- we provided availability to management through January 2025. We look forward to hearing back & getting to the bargaining table to fully realize our position as union members!
Once dates are set, we will continue to keep our coworkers in the loop throughout the process with bargaining updates after each session with the Employer.
"We're looking forward to moving forward! We feel stronger than ever before after seeing how high our unit's support for unionizing was. I think we're just feeling energized by the position we're in!"
—Liam Hughes, Medical Assistant @ Women's Center Sunrise; Carol Krings, Medical Receptionist @ Women's Center Puyallup
On Tuesday, October 1, your MultiCare Mary Bridge Registered Nurses and Diabetes Educator Nurses met management at the bargaining table to continue negotiations on our Collective Bargaining Agreement and to introduce the Diabetes Educators into our union.</strong> This is our third bargaining date with MultiCare since we began discussions in late August, and the progress we've made in such a short time is worth noting. Additionally, this session also marks the first time we’ve received responses from the Employer regarding the transition of the Diabetes Educator RNs into our union. While there’s still work to be done here, MultiCare appears aligned with our goal of accelerating their integration into our unit.
Read MoreAt the end of our second session on the Friday, we’re feeling optimistic about the progress we’ve made so far. Up to this point, we’ve been exchanging Articles that do not include economics with the Employer (however, we do anticipate an economic response will be coming from them within our next few dates!) and we’ve already come to agreements on a few new Articles:
Read MoreOn Wednesday, September 11 our Union RN bargaining team & RN Case Manager bargaining team met with MultiCare to continue negotiations on our successor CBA, & to introduce the Case Manager RNs into our union!
Read MoreBillie Thomas stepped up to become a workplace leader at Tacoma General for this years MultiCare contract campaign. Find out what inspired him to do so and how he and his coworkers stood together for a historic contract.
Read MoreRegarding the economic proposals for the main RN contract, because we’re still awaiting MultiCare’s response we decided it was best to hold off on addressing a few of the other Articles we’ve been discussing with Management; an approach that allows us to carefully weigh all our priorities as a team. While this decision was challenging, we believe that receiving strong compensation proposals from MultiCare will better inform our evaluation of our top priorities. Our goal is to maximize benefits for the greatest number of nurses, and we are committed to achieving that.
Read MoreOur historic win at MultiCare this year has sparked excitement from non-union workers at MultiCare worksites across the state. Our Union has shown that when workers fight together, they win together! Recently, we welcomed two more MultiCare units that have joined our union to make our fight stronger: Mary Bridge Diabetes Educator RNs and Women's Centers Workers.
Read MoreFriday night, after more than twelve hours of negotiations, our union Bargaining Team has come to a fully recommended tentative agreement with MultiCare for a strong new contract. We began the day with the understanding that our collective power and perseverance would culminate in a win for a strong new agreement for our co-workers. Our union Bargaining Team is fully recommending a YES vote on the contract offer.
Read MoreOn Monday, July 8, 2024, we kicked-off what we anticipate will be a pivotal week with MultiCare in our ongoing negotiations. As bargaining wrapped up today, we left feeling more encouraged that we may eventually reach agreement than we did going into the day. MultiCare’s newest offer includes some movement in both their economic and benefits proposals:
Read More
Our Union Bargaining Team is preparing for a crucial day of negotiations with MultiCare tomorrow.
As mentioned in last week’s update, our team submitted proposals to the employer during our last session that aimed to create momentum towards a fair agreement. We believe it was a significant step towards resolving our differences, intended as an olive branch to facilitate constructive dialogue.
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.
