Providence Regional Medical Center Everett Professionals Bargaining Continues!

Providence Regional Medical Center Everett Professionals Bargaining Continues!

“It was clear the employer didn’t do their homework on the Case Management MOU—their expectations are completely out of touch with reality.” -Holly Gramse, Physical Therapist and member of our Union Bargaining Team.

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Providence St. Peter Hospital Professionals Annual Merit Increases & Status-Quo

Providence St. Peter Hospital Professionals Annual Merit Increases & Status-Quo

Providence recently informed our Union that, as is customary during this time of year, they would like to offer annual merit-based wage increases to PSPH professional employees. Our Union fully supports wage increases for our members and would be happy to discuss a process for wage increases before we begin contract negotiations, but it is important  to ensure that any raises are distributed fairly and equitably to all workers.

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Providence St. Peter Hospital Professionals Annual Merit Increases & Status-Quo

Providence St. Peter Hospital Professionals Annual Merit Increases & Status-Quo

On Monday, March 17 our union bargaining team for the RNs at St. Peter Hospital met with Providence to kick-off 2025 negotiations. To start our day, we focused primarily on the “non-economic” sections of our contract, encompassing Articles which don’t directly relate to wages, premiums, or benefits, and presented management with our initial proposals on items like

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Providence Regional Medical Center Everett Professionals BARGAINING BEGINS!

Providence Regional Medical Center Everett Professionals BARGAINING BEGINS!

On Tuesday, March 11, our union Bargaining Team for the Professionals at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett (PRMCE) joined management at the bargaining table for our first official day of negotiations for the 2025 contract cycle! 

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PRMCE TECH Online Vote on March 10

PRMCE TECH Online Vote on March 10

Through conference committee we have highlighted retention and recruitment issues throughout the Technical unit. Providence heard our suggestions and has proposed changes to Respiratory Care Practitioner (RCP) job titles and classifications. Specifically, the Employer is proposing to:

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Help Support Our Striking Union Allies by Donating to Their Strike & Defense Funds

Right now, nurses with Providence in Oregon and grocery workers with Kroger-owned King Soopers in Colorado are on strike for better staffing and safer workplaces. Join us and contribute to their strike and defense funds by using the links below. Donations help provide supplies like food, hot beverages, warm clothing, childcare, signs, and other needs as workers battle the cold rains in the PNW and the freezing temperatures in the Denver area. Their fight is our fight—and when we fight, we win!

Providence Centralia Service MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

Providence Centralia Service MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

On September 23, 2024, we had our second bargaining date with Providence and have passed several proposals. We were able to teach tentative agreements around recognition, union roster, meeting rooms in order to gain access and support the unit, and a few others. We are looking forward to our next session that will be around compensation.

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Providence Everett Case Managers Providence rejects our proposals

Providence Everett Case Managers Providence rejects our proposals

On September 18, our Bargaining Team met with PRMCE Management to address the significant impacts of the case management restructure. We presented a comprehensive set of proposals to protect our working conditions, including improvements to scheduling, PTO bidding, floating, low census, and FTE reductions.

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Providence St. Peter Technical Make your Voices Heard

Providence St. Peter Technical Make your Voices Heard

On September 4, 2024, we had our second bargaining date with Providence for our contact. We made progress today with several tentative agreements. We had clarifying conversations with Providence on topics that will help us move forward for our next sessions, which include exploring options on retirement plans, the Aetna network change, and our insurance premiums. Our next bargaining dates are September 18 and October 8.

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Providence St. Peter Technical - Positive Steps

Providence St. Peter Technical - Positive Steps

Last week on August 14, we had our first bargaining date with Providence for our contract. Both sides came to the table prepared and we had deep discussions with management on many topics including retention and recruitment, new employee orientation, training and precepting, equity and nondiscrimination in the workplace, and how we can build trust between the Hospital and caregivers. Our next bargaining dates are September 4 and 18. On these dates we will be discussing the changes to the Aetna health care network along with other economic proposals.

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Providence Centralia Service MOVING FORWARD

Providence Centralia Service MOVING FORWARD

Last week on August 15, we had our first bargaining session with Providence and came to the table prepared to pass many initial proposals. We shared with hospital Leadership our concerns around hours and wages and the difficulties many of us face around having to make decisions between necessities like housing, food, and transportation.

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Providence St. Peter Hospital Tech - Bargaining Kick-Off

Providence St. Peter Hospital Tech - Bargaining Kick-Off

In 2020 we organized our Union to address wage inequity, safety, and respect on the job... and stood together with our coworkers to win a strong first Union contract in 2021. We did this through our collective action and were able to achieve a wage scale, annual wage increases, benefits, job protections, and a solid base to build on in the future.

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PRMCE Union Grievance Newsletter June 2024

Through grievances, we can enforce our contracts and assert our rights! If you have experienced issues with your supervisor not following the contract language, please reach out to your RN union rep, Anthony Cantu, at (206) 436-6566, or Pro/Tech union rep Jack Crow at (206) 436-6614.


Labor & Industries Meal Period Guidance

On July 1, L&I will begin to enforce compensatory damages for missed or untimely meal periods. As a result of this new rule, Providence has added more meal period questions to the Kronos time clock. We encourage you to do the optional training on the Kronos changes so you can correctly log your meal periods. If you do not receive appropriate compensation for untimely or missed meal periods, we encourage you to file a complaint with L&I here.

Additionally, we currently have an active grievance which is on Step 3 for Pros, Techs, and RNs. We are seeking compensation for missed and untimely meal periods. We are also looking into potential litigation over this matter.

An example from L&I guidance:
Jimmy works a 12-hour shift as a nurse in a regional hospital. On his last shift, Jimmy received only one hour-long lunch break at the fifth hour of his shift. Jimmy has not received compliant meal periods for this shift because he did not receive his second, 30-minute meal period and he worked more than five hours after his first meal period ended without starting that second meal period. The second meal period is a missed meal period. Jimmy must be paid 11 working hours for the time he worked and must also receive an additional 30 minutes of pay at his agreed wage rate because of the missed meal period.
Pay for Missed Break: 30 minutes
Pay for Additional Time Worked: None


Meal Periods/Time Clock Rounding Class Action Lawsuit

Providence has appealed King County Superior Court’s decision on the class action lawsuit (Bennett et al v. Providence Health Systems) regarding missed pay for time clock rounding and missed second meal periods. This lawsuit covers all Providence hourly employees who were employed from September 2018 to May 2023. We will be keeping an eye on the Appellate Court’s decision, which likely won’t occur for several months.


RN Contract Signature

We are working through finalizing the contract with PRMCE. We have found typos in the document they submitted to us and have asked them to correct the typos. Although the final contract has not been signed, we have a valid and enforceable agreement. Please refer to the redline in the meantime: ufcw3000.org/find-your-contract/2015/2/12/providence-regional-medical-center-everett-rn-contract


RN Anniversary Wage Increases/Years of Service Step Progression

This grievance concerns RNs who did not receive their step increase between February 21, 2024, and March 2024 and did not receive an additional step. PRMCE responded to the grievance stating that they are working on providing retroactive pay to nurses owed step increases and are still getting their system in place to track additional step progressions. We find their answer unacceptable and are waiting to meet with PRMCE for Step 2.


RN Low Census Extra Shift Incentive

PRMCE responded to our grievance and stated that the new extra shift incentive language allows them to cancel/low census incentive shift RNs prior to travelers/agency RNs. We strongly disagree with PRMCE and believe that incentive shift RNs should be low censused with premium shift RNs. We are awaiting Step 3 meeting dates.


RN Low Census Index

PRMCE has not provided access to the low census index in every unit. The low census index tracks each nurse’s low census hours and helps determine the low census order. We are waiting for PRMCE’s response to our Step 2 meeting.


RN FMC Per Diem Scheduling

We have filed a demand to bargain for FMC per diem RNs who have been told they can only pick up 12-hour shifts. We believe this is a change in employment conditions. Additionally, we filed a grievance for FMC RNs who are being excluded from incentive shift pay, even though they have worked two shifts in a pay period. We will be meeting with PRMCE on July 29 to bargain over these changes.


Inpatient Rehab Closure

Providence has announced they will be closing inpatient rehab sometime in October 2024 and moving inpatient rehab services to an offsite Lifepoint/Providence facility. We are currently bargaining with PRMCE over the effects of this closure. Our next bargaining date is on July 17.


RN Self-Scheduling

Providence announced that some units will be moving from templates to self-scheduling. We have demanded to bargain over the effects of this change and are awaiting a meeting date.


RN Biweekly Weekend Rotation

Around June 19, Providence announced RNs will be working weekends biweekly to be “compliant” with the weekend language in Article 8. Under the new contract, we changed the definition of a weekend but did not change weekend scheduling language: “The Medical Center will make a good-faith effort to schedule all regular full-time and part-time nurses for every other weekend off.” We believe Providence is misinterpreting this language. We will be having a discussion with Providence next week to resolve this issue. If our discussion is not productive, we will be taking necessary next steps like a grievance.

Providence Sacred Heart Techs: We Ratified A New 3-Year Contract!

Providence Sacred Heart Techs: We Ratified A New 3-Year Contract!

After eight months of constant battle and momentous efforts by our bargaining team and the unification of our entire membership, we have finally settled our contract with Providence Sacred Heart. Our members’ efforts and commitment have yielded the best contract we have seen for our collective bargaining unit. This is a small victory in the greater war for recognition of our efforts and skills, and our value as caregivers to our families and community.

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